House and Garden 
its debut, and marked an epoch in plant introduc¬ 
tion. It is a double form of R. laciniata. There is 
probably no plant so universally grown, both here 
and abroad, and when one stops to think that the 
millions of plants now in cultivation are the offshoots 
of a single plant all produced within a decade he is 
apt to be dumfounded. 
In all probability the original plant appeared on 
the prairies west of Chicago, was observed and trans¬ 
planted to some plant-lover’s garden. And while 
its beauties were appreciated the importance of the 
find was not. Once in a while nature changes its 
usual method of procedure and produces what 
would be called a “freak” in animals and termed 
a “sport” in plants, being a departure from the 
type. 
In the cone flowers, as also in the sun-flower and 
many of the composites, the ray-florets are what 
produce the dominating tone of color, but the true 
flowers, those being perfect and capable of reproduc¬ 
tion, are minute and are situated in the Rudbeckias 
in the cone. The golden glow is a case where the 
true flowers in the cone have been changed into ray- 
florets, and hence a double flower, generally not 
capable of producing seed. 
An authentic history from the time of discovery 
to its introduction to the public does not exist. 
In “Gardening,” April 15, 1895, Mr. William 
Falconer, then its editor, under the heading “A New 
Double Sun-flower,” calls attention to it, saying, 
“ It is a new double sun-flower, or rather a Rudbeckia 
—whence it came no one knows.” The florist having 
it stated that “somebody sent it, but who sent it or 
where it came from we haven’t the least recollection.” 
The following spring, 1896, it was sent out as a 
novelty under the name of golden glow. In the fall 
of 1895 Mr. James Jensen, superintendent of one of 
the West Side Parks at Chicago, sent me three plants 
saying that they were a double form of Rudbeckia 
laciniata that he had found growing in a German 
garden on the west side. I heeled them in over 
winter. 
In the spring John Lewis Childs brought out 
his novelty, golden glow. I obtained three plants 
from him, and being satisfied these plants and those 
sent me by Mr. Jensen were identical in species, 
I planted tbe six in one group and in the September 
15, 1896, issue of “Gardening” I illustrated the 
group and as a prophecy said: “I imagine this 
flower will become as popular as the dahlia sun¬ 
flower ( Helianthus multiflorus plenus). This Rud¬ 
beckia likes good soil and plenty of moisture and 
should be taken up and replanted every second year. 
The Rosy-Flowered Crown Vetch 
T HE illustration shows a group of this rampant, 
hardy trailer, Coromlla varia, that has been 
growing in a most trying situation for over 
ten years and been replanted but once. Immedi¬ 
ately behind the bed is a deep ravine, which, in 
addition to the fact that the bed is full of the feeding 
roots of neighboring trees, causes the situation to be 
an unusually dry one. It is seldom artificially 
watered. The flowers and foliage are handsome, 
the flowers being pink and white in umbels con¬ 
taining from sixteen to twenty flowers of pea-shaped 
form, arranged in the manner of a crown. It is a 
long bloomer, especially in half shade, my plants 
being in bloom from June almost to frost. It is a 
good ground cover for hard, dry situations where 
hardly anything else would grow, but is too rampant 
a grower to place among tbe general run of peren¬ 
nials. 
208 
