“ Throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream , 
Of pansies , pinks, and gaudy daffodUs. ’ ’—Milton. 
ALYSSUM. 
ALYSSUM BENTHAMI COMPACTUM. 
Every garden should have Sweet Alyssum and plenty of it. This little low growing 1 plant has some 
excellent qualities; its small, white flowers, borne in great profusion, arc delicatety fragrant and valu¬ 
able for cutting; it is a good basket and pot plant. In the border the seeds are sown thickly so as to 
make a mass of plants, or they are placed in lines for edging; it is a very valuable plant for carpet 
bedding, giving a pure white sheet as a contrast to colored flowers adjoining. It is desirable to sow 
SWEET ALYSSUM. the seeds early in spring or even in the previous autumn. The Sweet Alyssum plant has a stem about 
a foot in length, but it is weak and partly lies down so that the surface of a bed of it is only eight or nine inches above the surface of the soil. It 
will be readily understood that with this habit the plant will do duty well in a hanging basket. In fact it will make a handsome hanging basket for 
winter, if kept in a place sufficiently cool. To prepare a basket of it for winter blooming, fill it with good, rich soil, and sow the seeds in it about 
the last of August. If the plants come up thickly thin them out; a dozen plants at most are enough for a good sized basket. 
Alyssum, Sweet, hardy annual; flowers small and sweet, in clusters; one foot. • 5 
Benthami compactum.a new dwarf, compact annual variety, not over six inches in height, bearing its pure white fragrant flowers in 
greatest profusion during the entire summer.. 10 
Wierzbeckl, hardy perennial, yellow; one foot. .. 5 
saxatile com pactu m, perennial, ten inches high, compact habit, golden yellow flowers. The popular name is Gold Dust. 5 
AMARANTUS. 
AMARANTUS SUNRISE. 
Our warm summers suit admirably the varieties of Amarantus 
cultivated for ornament. These are plants which are striking on 
account of their foliage or peculiar mode of bloom. The seeds start 
readily in a warm, open and dry soil. In rich ground the plants and 
leaves are of larger size, but the coloring is apt to be less bright. The 
seed can be sown in the house, in a hot-bed, a cold frame, or in a seed 
bed in the garden, and the plants transplanted into place, or the 
seeds can be sown where the plants are to stand if the soil is line, and 
the spots are protected until the plants appear. The plants should be 
given sufficient space to develop well on all sides. Annual. 
Amarantus, atropurpureus, a fine variety, with blood- 
red foliage and drooping racemes of flowers . 5 
bicolor, ruber, leaves fiery red, maroon. 5 
caudatus (Love Lies Bleeding), long drooping 
“chains” of flowers; pretty for decorating; 4 to 5 feet in 
height . 5 
cruentus (Prince’s Feather), flowers somewhat simi¬ 
lar to A. caudatus, but in erect masses .. 5 
•Henderi, an improvement on A. salicifolius; foliage beauti¬ 
fully variegated ; 2 feet; should be in every collection. 10 
melancholicus ruber, compact habit, dark red ; 18 in... 5 
salicifolius, beautiful in habit and color; pyramidal; 3 ft... 5 
Sun rise, the most brilliant of the family. The top of plant 
brilliant crimson, the lower leaves dark maroon . 25 
tricolor (Joseph’s Coat), red, yellow and green foliage; 
2 feet ... 5 
M ixed varieties. 5 
“ Now blooms the lily by the bank , 
The primrose by the brae , 
The hawthorne's budding in the glen , 
And milk-white is the sloe.”— Burns. 
The Abronias are 
trailing plants, with 
prostrate branches 
several feet in length, 
and bearing clusters 
of sweet-scented flow¬ 
ers. The plants and 
flowers are very much 
like the Verbena. 
They are natives of 
California, where we 
have seen them growing abundantly. Our customers report the 
greatest success the second summer, from seed dropped from plants 
of the previous year. Perennials blooming the first season. 
Abronia umbel lata, rosy lilac, white eye . 5 
arenaria, waxy yellow.. 10 
ABRONIA. 
