40 
The Garden Magazine, March, 1923 
grown from seed gathered by Prof. J. G. Jack near Seoul, Corea, 
in 1905. (See Bulletin of Arnold Arboretum, Oct. 30, 1919.) 
It spreads rapidly by underground suckers, almost a weed, 
and thus there will soon be plenty of it. 
A Fall Blooming Low Perennial 
T HE Arctic Daisy (C. arcticum ) has long been known, but it is 
still rare in gardens and difficult to get from dealers. The 
flowers are solitary white (or pink) daisies some four inches 
above the tufted waxy foliage in September, a sort of dwarf 
Shasta Daisy a foot high. For the rock garden or edge of the 
autumn border this is very valuable, and we have too few low 
autumn perennials. As it is native to Alaska and arctic Eurasia 
it is perfectly hardy anywhere, but some hot summers seem to 
check its bloom. It has been in the catalogues for at least two 
years, and has flourished at the Harvard Botanic Garden for 
four years. 
A Tall Late Sunflower 
L AST spring a package of the novelty Autumn Glory ( Helian - 
thus angustifolius, spelled questifolius in the catalogue) 
yielded dozens of plants, and apparently they are perennial. 
The description and picture of the introducer seem fully justified. 
It is tall (6 feet), with many narrow leaves, and bears many 
coreopsis-like heads of deep yellow with dark centre through 
Sept.-Oct. until frost. It is the latest-blooming yellow peren¬ 
nial except the Chrysanthemums. According to the catalogue, 
seed came from the Department of Agriculture, but it is a native 
of the central seacoast and no new thing, though so far as 1 
know this is its first appearance as a cultivated plant. The plant 
is very like to H. orgyalis, differing in stouter, rougher stems 
and thicker, more shiny leaves, pale below. It is very like the 
H. angustifolius of botany books and perhaps the present name 
is due to poor writing of that on some label. The larger flowers 
may be a special form, worthy of the designation, Autumn 
Glory. At any rate it promises to be better than H. orgyalis 
which hitherto has been my favorite Sunflower. 
Late-blooming Bugbane 
A LTHOUGH introduced as Actaea japonica, and so given 
, by Mrs. Sedgwick in “The Garden Month by Month” 
the late-blooming Bugbane plant is a Cimicifuga, closely re¬ 
lated to our C. racemosa, possibly a geographical variety from 
Kamchatka, now Cimicifuga simplex. Well above the coarse 
meadow-rue-like leaves in September and October rise long, 
dense, white racemes, curved at the tip, to a height of 6 feet. 
Its season of bloom separates it from other Bugbanes, and it 
is a welcome relief from a mob of autumn composites—Aster, 
Helenium, Boltonia, etc. Seeds are scarce and must be sown 
at once; division is not rapid, and only in a few gardens can it 
be seen. Cimicifuga dahurica, also offered, remains to be tried 
and may be the same thing. 
Wilson’s Monkshood 
A NOTHER very late non-composite (Oct.-Nov.) is Wilson’s 
k Monkshood ( Aconitum Fischeri Wilsoni ) from China, 
a form related to the Aconite of the Northwest (A. Fischeri; or 
columbianum or californicum, etc.). It is almost a real Larks¬ 
pur in habit of growth and color of flower, tremendously supe¬ 
rior to the old A. autumnale which is a pale, dumpy, thing. This 
latest Aconite is very scarce indeed. Few gardens have it, and 
most nurserymen send regrets, even when they have it cat¬ 
alogued, or else console you with A. Napellus or autumnale, 
which are not it at all. My plants came from California, and 
as fresh seed alone will germinate, there will be a sowing next 
November if any seeds mature. 
WHEN THE SEEDLINGS ARE READY TO SET OUT 
ARTHUR W. HARRIS 
fi$®iOMES the time now when the little plants that have 
\f'(m arisen by the hundred in flats, in frame, or window (see 
pages 328-329, February Garden Magazine) must be 
teimdm shifted on to more commodious quarters. They are 
done with the infant stage and must begin their individual lives. 
Delicate handling just at this time means much. 
To remove the plants from the flat, when they are growing in 
paper pots or bands, grasp the flat by the sides and tilt it at an 
angle of about 60 degrees, jar one end against the ground until 
the plants squeeze together and an inch or so is gained at the 
upper end. Repeat the operation with one side against the 
ground: The plants will now have loosened up so that they will 
be easy to remove with a putty knife or a small trowel. It is not 
necessary to remove the bands from the plants when transplant¬ 
ing, but set them deep enough to cover the band entirely. 
Fill the hole around the plant with water and then fill it 
with earth, leaving the dry earth on top. It is not necessary 
to shade in the hottest weather. Set out as early as pos¬ 
sible after the ground is warm and in case of frost cover 
them with cone-shaped paper protectors (see February Garden 
Magazine, Page 329). 
The one fault of the band method of growing plants is a 
tendency to over-water, especially during cloudy weather. The 
earth on top may appear dry when deeper down it will be found 
still quite moist. As an actual fact, plants in bands do better if 
neglected somewhat, where plants in small pots if neglected soon 
will be spoiled. 
The amount of moisture removed from the soil depends upon 
two things: first, direct evaporation from the soil itself; second, 
that which takes place through the leaves. The greater the 
number of plants occupying the same area, or rather the greater 
amount of leaf area covering the given soil area, the greater will 
be the amount of moisture absorbed from the soil. In pots, 
evaporation takes place not only from the top but also through 
the pot itself, and the leaf area as compared with the amount of 
soil in the pot is large, causing the pot plants to use an excessive 
amount of water in hot weather. This means repeated watering, 
while in cloudy weather, only a normal amount is required. In 
bands in sunny weather, the evaporation will be normal as out¬ 
side of the amount of moisture used by the leaves themselves, 
there is very little evaporation. In cloudy weather, there will 
be hardly any. 
When seedlings are transplanted to either benches or flats, 
they are spaced about 1 in. apart. There are several times as 
many occupying the same area as when planted in bands, but 
it must be remembered that the i-in. size can be used only for 
plants with little top growth or those which are to be held only 
a short while before planting out; and—as already stated—the 
evaporation through the leaves is several times that of plants in 
bands under the same conditions. Every grower knows that 
when the soil is repeatedly watered without a chance to dry out, 
it becomes sour, and hardly any plant, especially a small seed¬ 
ling, will thrive in sour soil. Too little water very quickly re¬ 
sults in wilting but if the plants are watered again at once, harm 
is avoided; on the other hand it takes a couple of weeks of over 
watering to show up in the plants (they turn yellow and become 
stunted) and several weeks of careful watering to restore them 
to health, if possible to do so at all! Sometimes a mould devel¬ 
ops on the paper inside the bands which turns the ends up and 
causes the plants to become stunted. If, however, the bands in 
the flats are sprayed with any good fungicide before filling them 
with earth, this possibility will be eliminated. 
