April, 1912 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
39 
Campanula perstcifolia is 
one of the best of its 
family 
Gaillardias have splendid 
bloom m late summer or 
autumn 
Of the pentstemons try 
the scarlet Barbalus 
T orre^ii 
Bocconia cordata, the 
plume poppy, is for 
background effects 
Pyramidalis is the tallest 
form of campanula, and 
very desirable 
home-environment insensibly educates himself into a color critic 
of the highest order. He understands and appreciates the won¬ 
derful combinations of nature; he knows exactly wherein X’s 
garden is a success and Y’s, laid out by a landscapist of equal 
note, is a failure; the one artist had grasped the key, or, better, 
struck the note of his patron’s home, the other had imitated his 
own past triumphs on larger estates and failed totally to 
interpret Y’s. 
There are, therefore, other reasons beside the consideration of 
cost which should induce the new householder to plan and plant 
his own grounds. I do not say his work will be better done than 
the work of the professional, but that it may be as well done, 
and that the doing it will be of immense profit to him both j^hysi- 
cally and mentally. And the actual labor involved is greater in 
anticipation than in execution, for the time of waiting for the 
seedlings to mature and the border to “find itself” is more tedious 
to the imagination than it is in experience. The average house¬ 
holder will find that little plants grow more quickly than he 
expected. 
It is not, perhaps, generally known that many perennial ])lants 
bloom from seed the first season. This is the case if the same 
seed be sown indoors in shallow boxes or in a hotbed in December 
or January, and most others from seed sown outdoors in August 
or early September of the preceding year. The latter plants will, 
of course, be larger and the blooms better. But the householder 
who has neglected sowing until March or April, need not despair 
of bloom. I had in September plants of salvia farinacea (a very 
pretty, blue-flowered perennial) two feet high and in full bloom 
from seed sown in a coldframe as late as x\lay. Delpbiniums, too, 
grew from seed sown in the open ground as soon as it was in a 
dry and workable condition, flowered during their first summer, 
and the majority of gardeners, amateur and professional, will 
agree that no hardy plants produce lovelier garden effects than 
the improved hybrids of this perennial. Seeds of the named Eng¬ 
lish hybrids may now be obtained from American seedsmen for 
the trifling cost of fifteen cents per retail packet. Among the 
most heautiful of the named sorts are Lizzie, azure-blue with 
creamy yellow eye; Duke of Connaught, a hybrid of splendid 
form, and of a brilliant, almost gentian blue in shade; Rembrandt, 
sky-blue and lavender, with silver sheen, and the King of Del¬ 
phiniums, a very vigorous grower, with immense dark blue flow¬ 
ers on tall strong spikes. This last variety sports considerably, 
but as its hybrids are more beautiful, even, than the parent variety, 
T consider its sportive character rather a recommendation than 
a defect. Of all the larkspurs, however, none is more beautiful 
to me than the improved fonnosum —a variety long known and. 
in my opinion, never excelled. In my garden, individual blooms 
of the fonnosum, grown from seed procured in Germany, have 
measured over two and one-half inches in breadth, rivaling the 
largest of the English hybrids. The color of the formosum is, 
I think, the finest and most brilliant blue in the floral family; 
the texture of the flowers is of unusual firmness, and the brilliant 
petals are overlaid with a glistening silver sheen like a light 
frost. A large white eye—more properly, white eyes—edged 
with blue and long wrinkled spurs, reminding one of purplish-blue 
{Continued on page 55) 
The white columbine, nivea 
grand i flora, grows 
quickly 
Don’t miss the beauty of 
the pyrethrum daisies in 
your garden 
Heuchera’s red flowers 
last from spring until 
the fall 
Most forms of dianthus are 
suitable ; the one shown 
here is Heddeivigi 
Perhaps you know crimson- 
eye hibiscus as marsh¬ 
mallow 
