The Garden Magazine, April, 1924 
123 
The Gaillardia and Other 
“After June” Gaieties 
any effect in conjunction with the Boltonia, yet against the 
cloud-like background of the white daisies of this tall Asterwort, 
the blue (lowers of the Sage were displayed for more beauty than 
they really possess. This Sage somehow reminds me of another 
member of the Mint family, one of Miss Jekyll’s gray favorites 
which 1 discarded with other gray subjects, the educated Catnip, 
Nepeta Mussini, which needs a mass to show any character, as 
does the Sage. Our cats do not think any more of it than they 
do of common Catnip, and I’ve always considered them smart 
cats. 
Again 1 am unorthodox, according to the Jekyll color school 
in believing that Gypsophila paniculata does not pay sufficient 
rent for the space it occupies—it is too gray and vague; and 
later 1 am not at all fascinated bv the warm browns of its drying 
stems. However, a native plant of much the same airv effect 
and more lasting, both in 
the garden and for cutting, 
and which I think much 
more interesting is the 
Flowering Spurge (Euphor¬ 
bia corollata). a common 
roadside wildling in certain 
localities. Its regular snowy, 
green-centered (lowers on 
their airy stems always look 
clean and refreshing. 
Clumps of it among the 
Globethistles and Cone- 
flowers help to conceal any 
bare stems near the ground. 
1 noticed last summer that 
the Spurge was replacing 
the Gypsophila as a cut 
flower in florists’ windows. 
The most brilliant individual plant in my “after June” plant¬ 
ing was a newcomer and a mysterious stranger until it was well 
in bud. This was Liatris scariosa, the finest form for the 
garden of our Blazing-star or Kansas Gay-feather. This 
cluster of rosy, purple spikes was undoubtedly rendered more 
showy and brilliant by being backgrounded by a bank of white 
Boltonia. This is a garden picture 1 can highly recommend for 
late August and early September. 
It seems strange to me that so handsome and responsive a 
mid-summer bloomer as the Buddleia should not be more fre¬ 
quently grown. Although sold as a shrub, it is best treated as 
an herbaceous perennial, for it kills to the ground each year, but 
it is hardy with a liberal mulch and springs up from the roots, 
putting forth its lavender tassels from the tip of every branchlet 
until freezing weather. Planted with orange African Mari- 
TN ORDER to add a live- 
1 lier note and break the 
monotony, a clump of a 
prairie plant seldom seen in 
gardens and which 1 have 
always admired both for the 
beauty of its unusual foliage 
as well as for its golden 
spike of sessile sunflowers, 
was placed about half-way. 
This was Silphium lacinia- 
tum, the Compass-plant. 
The large, peculiarly cut 
leaves, given a chance to de¬ 
velop in the more kindly soil 
of a garden, are unusually 
effective without the blos¬ 
som. 
The most brilliant dis¬ 
play of early July in the 
prairie garden comes from 
the Black-eved-Susans in 
great patches and smaller 
clumps scattered here and 
there, enlivened by an occa¬ 
sional plant of the flaming 
orange-scarlet Butterfly- 
weed (Asclepias tuberosa). 
The wild plant is Rudbeckia 
hirta, but the best garden 
form is R. Newmani or 
speciosa, and a fine plant 
for a glowing mass of yellow 
and brown. 
BOLTONIA IS A LUSTY LATE SUMMER STANDBY 
This tall Asterwort with its abundant, daisy-like bloom is very effective in mass as a background plant; Mr. 
Duffy companions the specie asteroides with the azure blue of Mountain Sage (see opposite page) in his 
hardy border. It also lends itself well to naturalistic uses as here in Mrs. Chanler's Tuxedo, (N. Y.) garden 
