22 
CARL PURDY, URIAH, MENDOCINO CO., CAL. 
Beautiful Hardy 
Plants for California 
One of the most interesting branches of 
my garden work is in testing our wild peren¬ 
nial plants in cultivation, and in endeavor¬ 
ing to naturalize them. Here in California 
we see them living through our hot, dry 
summers, flowering wonderfully in their 
season, and fully maintaining themselves 
without care. Why not use such material to 
brighten a large part of our gardens and 
reserve the more intimate portions for 
flowers which require care and water? I 
believe that this can be done, and I have 
facilities for testing it out in many places 
and under varying conditions. There is a 
wealth of fine material, and the Californian 
problem is to ascertain which of many 
sorts can be readily established in ordinary 
surroundings and just how to do it. I am 
glad to report a material degree of success. 
In my Hardy Plant Catalogue a fine list of 
Californian hardy plants is given, and it 
will be rapidly enlarged as a result of ex¬ 
periments that I am carrying on. Those 
interested in this subject should send for 
that list. In this catalogue I am giving some 
sorts which can be handled dry in the fall, 
as bulbs are. 
AMERICAN COWSLIPS 
(Dodecatheons) 
These earliest of spring flowers are known 
and loved under a variety of names and are 
much like a Cyclamen in flower. They like 
a loamy soil and naturalize easily. 
There are several Californian forms. In 
San Diego County is Clevelandii, tall, with 
white flushed soft pink flowers; in the North 
Hendersonii, very hardy, with rich reddish 
flowers. Other pretty ones are the pink 
Patulum, with exquisite little pink blossoms, 
and the Patulum, with light yellow flowers. 
The roots become as dry as tinder and are 
handled dry. They are good for pot-plants 
and will force well. The price of all is 4 cts. 
each, 40 cts. per doz. 
LARKSPURS (Delphi niums) 
We have in California a most charming 
race of Larkspurs that grow year after 
year. Two are scarlet. Cardinale, known as 
the scarlet Larkspur of the South, grows as 
high as 8 feet, and is most showy; it de¬ 
mands a warm situation and a loose soil. 
Nudicaule, on the other hand, likes shade 
even if it is heavy, and grows a foot or two 
high; it is ornamental in every part. My 
price for Cardinale, 25 cts. each, or $2.50 
per doz.; for Nudicaule, 15 cts. each, Si.25 
per doz. 
Different, but just as beautiful, are the 
sorts in blue and purple, growing from a foot 
to 3 feet high. Of these Variegatum is deep 
blue-purple; Emil®, light sky-blue. The 
roots of all are handled dry, and they 
take well to ordinary garden culture. I 
can supply the blue sorts at 60 cts. per doz. 
