Editors’ Note: Among flower novelties many may prove mediocre, and a few superlatively good: hut all have the allure of the unknown quantity, and one of 
gardening’s chiefest thrills lies in testing out the stranger-at-the-gate for permanent admittance or rejection. Much preliminary sifting has already been done for us 
by Mr. Hamblin, so that only the selected best comes to notice in his notes and thus our readers get the benefit of appraisal by a disinterested critic and friend of 
plants. All who try out new garden flowers are asked to send in estimates of their values in the garden and experiences in their culture, giving some history of their 
introduction and advising the Editors of present source of supply. Thus we shall have a clearing-house of information and publicity that will widely increase the use 
of really desirable plants. If some do not come up to advertised virtues, let us frankly state their failings. To be truly helpful, personal observation only should 
guide our discussion. 
VER since I read the description of Turfing Daisy, 
Chrysanthemum Tchihatchewii, in the first edition of 
Bailey, 1 have wanted to see the living flower. Now 
that 1 have it 1 am wondering what to do with it. Its 
Latin name is its most wonderful character A tiny creeping 
weed, rooting as it goes, it has tiny dark green (evergreen) leaves, 
much lobed, with the Chrysanthemum odor. Solitary white 
daisies rise 6 inches above the foliage in May and June. It is 
the earliest species to bloom, a baby edition of the common 
Whiteweed of Eastern hay fields. It is not dense enough for 
carpeting, as other weeds push through it. Though I would 
like to call it useful for something, 1 fear it is merely a weed with 
a sneeze for a name (perhaps the name killed its usefulness). 
Eventually it will be sentenced to a crevice in a ledge in a rock 
garden where it can do little spreading. Somebody once found 
it in Asia Minor, and seeds are offered abroad. My plants 
came from Purdy, apparently the only American dealer that 
offers it at present. 
Belltwm minutum. also from Purdy, is a very tiny kind of 
Beilis perennis, measured in fractions of an inch, with little 
paddle-like leaves and tiny white daisies in May and June. By 
runners it spreads rather rapidly, but it is too small to compete 
with bigger weeds. It is truly perennial, our winters seem not 
to harm it; but as an ornamental plant its best home seems to be 
a moist, shaded crack in a ledge. 
The Sand Lily, Leucocrinum montanum , from Colorado, is 
hardy with no protection and grows as readily as Lily-of-the- 
valley. Its root crowns are like tiny Asparagus clumps, the 
leaves narrow and thick, dying away in midsummer. The 
blossoms are like small white Crocus or Bloodroot, close to the 
ground, stemless, many in the clump, waxy white, fragrant, in 
mid-May For the front of the hardy border it is excellent, and 
very permanent, even in light soil. It is best moved in August or 
September, for spring planting is too close to its blooming season. 
Among the Mertensias 
T HERE are several species of Mertensia native to the 
Rockies, and they have some ornamental value, but are no 
better than our common variety virginica. Prairie Bluebell, 
M. lanceolata, is much like our Eastern species, but considerably 
smaller, the leaves very narrow, glaucous, held edgewise. The 
flowers are deepest blue from pink buds in loose cluster to the 
height of a foot. May-June. It appears to grow well in dry 
soil in full sun. This is a very desirable plant for blue flowers 
for the spring border. Plants from Andrews. 
Mertensia sibirica has broad ovate leaves, the leafy stems 2 
feet high, with small light blue bell-like flowers through May 
and June. The foliage persists through summer. Seed from 
abroad. 
A pleasing companion plant for these of the same family and 
order of beauty, is Lithospermum multiliorum, also from western 
U. S. The curving sprays of flowers are of similar shape and 
golden yellow. The plant is hairy, with narrow leaves, not at 
all glaucous, but otherwise might be called a yellow Mertensia; 
one foot; June. Full sun and no care seem to be its require¬ 
ments; its deep red roots resent being moved, but the clumps 
will flourish forever. Plants from Andrews. 
Two tall Mertensias, quite unlike the common species, came 
also from Andrews. Mertensia ciliata is glaucous, the veins of 
the leaves very prominent The plant is coarse and stout, 2 
feet, in big clumps, the stems standing late into the summer, not 
dying away early as with our Eastern species. It is easily 
identified by the bristly edge of the leaf. The flowers appear 
from May to July, tiny, cylindrical, palest blue with light pink 
tube. There is with it a variety alba, pure white. 
Mertensia pratensis grows 3 feet high and is very similar, save 
that the leaves are not glaucous at all, but deep green and 
glistening rough hairy above. The tiny cylindrical pale blue- 
pink blossoms swing in loose panicles from May through July. 
Both these are hardly showy enough for the border, but ex¬ 
cellent for wild gardening, their chief distinction being the 
long season of flower and foliage. 
A Fragrant Anchusa 
G ROWN from seed, Anchusa sempervirens appears much 
like our old friend A. italica. It is taller, more hairy, with 
very large deep blue flowers. The blossoms are the largest of 
the genus, with a tufted white centre, quite distinct from the 
others. The general effect is that of a very robust “ Drop- 
more, ” the flowers well displayed. The big basal leaves are 
somewhat persistent through the winter, but it is tall and leggy 
in late summer like the others. May-July; 3 feet. A really 
blue perennial, it may be forgiven its leggy habits because of its 
ethereal color. 
COMMENT FROM MEMBERS OF THE “CLEARING-HOUSE” 
I N THE July issue Mr. Stephen F. Hamblin, writing of 
Thalictrums, says “the foliage effect of all of them is veri¬ 
similar, the color of the flowers, with height and season of bloom, 
seems to offer the easy way of telling them apart. ” Mr. Hamb¬ 
lin saves himself by the word “seems,” for 1 am sure after using 
catalogue and encyclopaedia that although they are really dis¬ 
tinct in growth, color, and flowers there is no “easy way” for me 
to name my Thalictrums. Mr. Hamblin speaks of trying out 
Thalidrum dasycarpum. 1 bought one plant from Horsford in 
1918 which grew to be four feet high with dark green, rather 
large leaves and feathery green and reddish flowers. This 
proved to be so lovely that more were ordered, but the second 
