The NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE

J"

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

JULY, 1949 The American Horticultural Society PRESENT ROLL OF OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS July, 1949

OFFICERS Presidellt, Dr. Fred O. Coe, Bethesda, Md. First Vice-Preside"t, Mr. Frederic P. Lee, Bethesda, Md. Second Vice-President, Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, Washington, D. C. Secretary, Dr. Conrad B. Link, College Park, Md. Treasurer, Mr. Carl O. Erlanson, Silver Spring, Md. Editor, Mr. B. Y. Morrison, Takoma Park, Md. DIRECTORS Terms expiring 1950 Terms e.'"C pir'ing 1951 Mrs. Walter Douglas, Chauncey, N. Y. Mrs. Mortimer J. Fox, Peekskill, N. Y. Miss Alida Livingston, Oyster Bay, N. Y. Mrs. J. Norman Henry, Gladwyne, Pa. Dr. David V, Lumsden, N. Chevy Chase, Md. Mrs. Arthur HOf1: Scott, Media, Pa. Dr. V. T. Stoutemyer, Los Angeles, Calif. Dr. Freeman Weiss, Washington, D. C. Dr. Donald Wyman, Jamaica Plain, Mass. HONORARY VICE-PRESIDENTS Mrs. Mary Hazel Drummond, Pres., Mr. Allen W. Davis, Pres., American Begonia Society, American Primrose Society, 1246 No. Kings Road, 3424 S. W. Hume St., Los Angeles 46, Calif. Portland I, Ore. Dr. H. H arold Hume, Pres" Mr. Harold Epstein, Pres., American Camellia Society, American Rock Garden Society, University of Florida, 5 Forest Court, Gainenille, Fla. Larchmont, N. Y. Mr. Carl Grant Wilson, Pres., Mr. John Henny, J r., Pres., American Delphinium Society, American Rhododendron Society, 22150 Euclid Ave., Brooks, Oregon Cleveland, Ohio Mr. George A. Sweetser, Pres., American Rose Society, Dr. Frederick L. Fagley, Pres., 36 Forest St., American Fern Society, Wellesley Hills, Mass. 287 Fourth Ave., Mr. Wril. T. MaIshall, Pres. Emeritus, New York 10, N. Y. Cactus & Succulent Society of America, Dr. Franklin Cook, Pres., 228 Security Bldg., Phoenix, Ariz. American Iris Society, Mrs. Hollis Webster, Pres., . 2747 Hurd Ave., Herb Society of America, Evanston, Ill. 300 Massachusetts Ave.. Mr. Marvin C. Karrels, Pres., Boston 15, Mass. American Peony Society, Mr. Edwin C. Freed, Pres., 3272 S. 46th St., Midwest Horticultural Society, Milwaukee 14, Wis. RR 2, Downers Grove, Ill. SOCIETIES AFFILIATED WITH THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 1949 American Begonia Society, American Primrose Society, Mrs. Mary Hazel Drummond, Pres., Mr. Carl Maskey, Secy., 1246 No, Kings Road, 2125 5th Ave., Hollywood 46, Calif. Milwaukie, Ore. American Camellia Society Box 2398 University Station American Rose Society, Gainesville, Florida Dr. R C. Allen, Seq., Arlington County Garden Club, Box 687, Harrisburg, Pa. Mr. Wales C. Brewster, Pres., 3015 Second St., N., Arlington, Va. Benson Garden Club American Fuchsia Society, c/o Mrs, D. 1>1. Bowen, Headquarters: Calif. Acad. of Sciences, 4244 Burdette St., Golden Gate Park, Omaha, Nebr. San Francisco, Calii American Iris Society, Cactus & Succulent Society of A.tner!c&, ::'Ir, Sam Caldwell, Secy., Mr. Carl F. Brassfield, Pres., 444 Chestnut St., 8060 Lankershire Blvd., Nashville 10, Tenn, No. H ollywood, Calif.

Publication Office, 92nd St. and Elm Ave., Baltimore, Md. Entered 88 second·cI8B" matter Janna.., 27. 1932. "t tbe Po.t Office a\ Baltimore. Md., under the A~"I of AUiUst 24., 1912, California Garden Clubs, Inc., Georgetown Garden Club, Mrs. Wm. D. Shearer, Pres., Mrs. R. H. A. Carter, 533 South Walton Place, 3231 Reservoir Rd., N. W ., Los Angeles 5, Calif. Washington, D. C. Calj.fornia Horticultural Society, Holly Society of America, Miss Cora R. Brandt, Secretary, Charles A. Young, Jr., 300 Montgomery St., Bergner Mansion, San Francisco, Calif. Gwynns Falls Park, Baltimore 16, Md. Chestnut Hill Garden Club, Iowa Rose Society, Mrs. Bryan S. Permar, Treas., Wm. H. Collins, Sec.-Treas., 41 Crafts Rd., Iowa State Hort. Soc., Chestnut Hill, Mass. State House, Des Moines 19, l a. Community Garden Club of Bethesda, Midwest H orticultural Society, Mrs. L. W. Pogue, Pres., 100 North Central Park Blvd .. 11 6 Chevy Chase Drive Chicago 24. Illinois Chevy Chase, Md. National Capital Dahlia Society, Fauquier & Loudoun Garden Cl ub, Mr. George R. Hitchcock, Pres., Mrs. Wm. F. Rust, Pres., Washington, D. C. Lees·burg, Va. Pittsburgh Garden Center, Schenley P ark, Federated G.c. of Cincinnati and Vicinity, Pittsburgh 13, Pa. Mrs. W. R. Grace, Sr., Pres., 7911 Hamilton Ave., Plainfield Garden Club, Mt. Healthy 31 , Ohio. % Miss H arriett Halloway, 804 Central Ave., Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati, Plainfield, New Jersey Walnut and Central Parkway, Potomac Rose Society, Cincinnati 10, Ohio Mr. R. E. Scammell, Treas. Garden Center of Greater Cleveland, 2810 Bladensburg Rd., East Boulevard at Euclid Ave., Washington, D. C. Cleveland 6, Ohio San Francisco Branch, American Begonia Society, Garden Center Institute of Buffalo, 2390 18th Ave., 1500 Elmwood Ave., San Francisco 16, Calif. Buffalo 7, N. Y. Takoma Horticultural Club, Garden Club of Alexandria, A. C. Barret, Pres., Mrs. Malcolm Matheson, J r., 4719 Brandywine St., N. W ., Ferry Point, Washington, D. C. A lexandria, Va. Welcome Garden Club of the Twin Cities, Garden Club of Danville, Mrs. V. S. Garnett, Pres., Danvi lle, Va. 1606 N. 2nd St., Monroe, La. Garden Club of F airfax, Woodridge Garden Club, Mrs. Edward Howrey, Pres., Mrs. Alma E. Marshall Burke, Va. 1326 Allison St., N. E., Garden Cl ub of Virginia, Washington. D. C. Mrs. C. J ames Andrews, Pres., \iII orcester County Horticultural Society, 929 Graydon Ave., 30 E lm Street, Norfolk 7, Va. Worcester, Mass. The National Horticultural Magazine

\ '01. 28 Copyright, 1949, by THE. AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOC IETY No.3

JULY, 1949

CONTENTS

Sages for the Garden. HELEN M. Fox ______"______103

Collecting Plants Beyond the Frontier in Northern British Col um bi a. MARY G IBSON HENRY ______. ______._ 114

Cardinalis Barberini. M AR JORIE F. WARNER ______130

Amaryllis Hybrids. GEORGE B. FURNISS ______._ 135

Rock Garden Notes: Boy kirvia ] amesi. K AT HLEEN MARRIAGE 138 Cilia N uttalli. K ATH LEEN MARRIAGE ______.__ 140

A Book or Two ______.. ______.. 142

ViburtllUm suspensum 146

Published quarterly by The American Horticultural Society. Publication office, 32nd St. a nc1 Elm A\·e .. Baltimo re. J.\II d. Edito ri al office. Room 82 1, 'Nashington Loan and Trust Builrling, Washington , D. C. C~:lDt ribution s from a ll members ore cordially invited and should be sent to the Editorial office. A ,sub.scrlptlOn to the magazine is include d in the annu al dues to all m ernbcl' S; to non-memh el'i the pl'1('e I fi. ve dolla 1"8 a yea r. ii Cottscho-S chleisller Salvia Cocci17 ea Sages for the Garden

HELEN M. Fox

It is the inevitable fate of the collec­ and blues, the colors are frequently tor to widen his fi eld. Consequently an brilliant. Almost all of the sages have enthusiast for herbs is likely to find a strong smell. himself deep in salvias. However, with the passing of time, space and labor be­ CLASS I ing limited, only the handsomest plants SAGES SUITABLE TO BORDERS OR and those most suitable are kept in the A HERB GARDEN. garden and the others are eliminated. No herb garden would be complete From the gardener's point of view without Salvia officinalis one of the sages can be divided into three cate­ bes t known of all herbs, used before gories: those hardy in northeastern the days of written history for medicine United States and attractive in either and flavor and native to the Mediter­ a herb garden or perennial border ; ranean. The plants grow about two coarse sages with large leaves which feet high and form a much branched require a great deal of space; and lastly shrubby and long-lived perennial. They sages lovely but not hardy that must bloom in June and there are three col­ spend the winter indoors. There are or forms, one a lavender blue, another many species in each of these groups dull pink and a white-flowered form. and only those tried and found satis­ This last is lower than the type and factory have been chosen to be men­ has smaller leaves. As with all herbs tioned in this article. the plant can be grown from seed or Many of the sages are native to the increased by cuttings. In early Near south west and Mexico. In fact, ac­ Eastern literature the leaves of Salvia cording to Carl Epling, the authority officinal-is were likened to camel's on Labiatae, the subgenus Calosphace tongues, because of the long slender is entirely American and originates shape and puckered surface. They look from the highlands of central Mexico grey but are grey green and have given and Central America. Sages seem to the name of "sage green" to our color be at home in all temperate and a few termin ology. The leaves taste of cam­ tropical climates. phor and smell sharp, acrid and pep­ All sages have square stems, fl owers pery. Too strong a use of herb leaves in whorls, with a two-lipped calyx and as a flavo r is unpleasant and is hard two-lipped coroll a. The stamens are on digestion. inserted in the throat of the corolla Another well-known herb of the sage with only the lower pai r fertile and the family is SalV1:a scla1'ea, clary sage, upper pair either rudimentary or lack­ which is used as a fixative in perfumes ing. T he shape of the lower lip has and as a medicine. It is native to south­ been a determining factor of a species. ern Europe and is biennial. Its beauty In some species the bracts subtending is due to the colorful leaflike bracts the fl owers are more colorful than the tinted violet-blue and roseate which corollas. Bright yellow is missing in subtend the whorls of fl owers growing the genus through a few have pale yel­ in pairs of threes and also to the silky low fl owers. But when it comes to red gleam of the fo liage caused by the light

[103] 104 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE July, 1949 on the long soft hairs. The flowers hardy perennial in orth Eastern open in July. The plant grows two U ni ted States and has to be replaced feet or more high and has large, coarse, each year either with seed grown plants irregularly dentate leaves. Var. Tu·rl?­ or cuttings. The plant grows from two estan-ica has violet bracts shaded with to three feet high. T he stems are hairy green and the whole plant is larger and the calyces white with fur, but the than the type. leaves are shiny, ovate, toothed and Another biennial and from the same about fo ur inches long. The flowers region but not as hal'dy as sclarea is grow in long terminal spikes and have Salvia a1'gentea which has white fl ow­ the upper lip covered with purple hairs ers. The whole plant looks grey with and the lower one marked with two its alm ost sil very fo li age. long whi te spots. They are colored One of two annual herbs for the gar­ either lavender-blue, pale blue or white. den is Salvia hor111,i11,U11/~ which brings "Blue sage" as Salvia aZU1'ea is gaiety to any planting because of its called, is to be found wild from South conspicuous leaf bracts colored ei ther Carolina to Florida and west to T exas white, deep blue or rose pink. The along sandy roadsides and in open plants grow about eighteen inches high spaces. In the garden it blooms way and self sow freely once they have into October where it makes a hand­ bloomed in the garden. Another well­ some companion with other late bloom­ known and popular annual is Salvia ing sages as also to pink sp eciosu11'! splende1'1s. The red form is planted al­ lilies and late aconites. It is prettier most too frequently but unusual color than jari11acea and has somewhat stiff­ forms wi th fl owers of deep purple or er stems but even they neecl staking. salmon and even white are charming. They rise to two to four feet high and These are best reproduced by cuttings. are rough to the touch, since the whole A European sage indispensable fo r plant is covered with tiny hairs. The the border is Salvia pratensis which leaves are lanceolate, narrow at both begins to bloom the end of Mav and ends and toothecl part of the way and repeats on and off all season. It grows bluish green. They have no petioles two to three feet high and the stems and are about three inches long. Leaf­ are sometimes slightly recumbent. T he like bracts subtend the crowded fl oral flower spikes are subtended by a pair whorls. The fl owers about one inch of green bracts and rise to from seven long are a "dull blue violet," the calyx to fourteen inches. The leaves are is green marked brown and furry. The humpy, hairy below, roundedly and un­ floral spike is about three and a half evenly toothed and grow smaller and inches long. The texture and shape of narrower as they ascend. The fl owers fl owers and leaves is very pleasing. come in either violet-blu e, magenta or Like the above, only prettier, is Sal­ pink and sometimes blue and in others vi.a Pitcheri generally sold under the white. name of t'1zurea gTandifiora. According Lov~ l y either in the herb garden or to Bailey, stem and foliage are slightly perenmal border are Salvia ja?'i'nacea greyish from a fin e mealy pubescence and Salvia azureG-. Fa,Tinacea is called visible only under a microscope. The "mealy cup" and comes from western stems are two to five feet high. The Texas and southern New Mexico and leaves two to ·fi ve inches long are lance blooms in late summer. I t is a half shaped, the upper ones almost linear July, 1949 ' THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 105

Go ttsch o-Sch i eisll er Salvia officinalis in H e1'b Gal'den with Alliu11'l,s 106 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE J ul y, 1949 and finel y sawtoothed. T he small fl ow­ Caucasus comes Salvia vert'icWata a er cl usters fo rm dense spikes at the stunning plant that blooms in July and tips of stems and branches. T he calyx grows about a foot high and eighteen is ribbed, the corolla bright blue, deep­ inches across. The lyrate pinnatifid ly two-lipped and often one inch long. leaves are woolly, soft to the touch, There is also a white fo rm. T his plant dark yellow green with scalloped mar­ is native from Minnesota to Illinois gins and measure over two inches long and south to Texas. and across. The violet blue fl owers A delightful shrubby and hardy per­ grow in whorls On spikes nine inches ennial is Salvia supe1'ba sometimes er­ long. T he principal color of the plant roneously called ne1'/'/.e1'osa. T he plant comes from t he reddish violet stems is not over eighteen inches high and and calyces which persist after the has violet spires of flowers that repeat corollas have fallen. during the season. After the fl owers A hairy plant is Sa.lvia sylvestris fall the reddish bracts are handsome originally from E urope but found natu­ and colorful. rali zed in Ontario and P ennsylvania. A ll through June the' fl owers bring CLASS II purple to the garden, handsome with COARSE SAGES FOR BORDERS OR yellow lilies. T he stems are three feet FOREGROUN D OF SHRUBBERY. high, the leaves with many veins are There are always places in front of netted on the under surfaces. The a shrubbery or along walks where a fl owers are helm et-shaped, violet-blue fragrant, somewhat coarse plant is wel­ and white or lighter. The calyx is come. Among the silges many answer green and red and the buds before to this descripti on. One of these is opening qui te red. The plant smells Sa.lvia gluf'im,osa from E urope and Asia faintly of clary. which blooms in J uly and is unusual F rom southern E urope and the O ri­ among the sages in having pale yellow ent comes Salvia virgata a sprawly, flowers. The leaves, too, are tinged hairy plant blooming in September with yellow, five inches long and two with spikes of lavender blue fl owers. and a halt across and slightly odorous Bearing the unpronounceable name when touched. T he plant is not espe­ of Salvia hei,'osolY11I/,etana is an August cially good looking but is effective in blooming plant three feet high with the right position. larger fl owers than most of the coarse From the region that- has given so salvias being an inch long and wide many lovely plants, namely where Yun­ and having greenish white tubes and nan and Szechwan bo rder on Tibet, violet blue lobes. T he lower tip has a comes Salvia Przewalski, which blooms large white mark on it and dotted lines the end of May and into June. The of color. T he leaves look as if a piece humpy leaves are triangular or hastate, had been torn out of each side near the doubly toothed, large and yellow green base. The flowers have no scent. and growing on long petioles. The fl owers grow in spikes, seven inches CLASS I II long and are violet blue, almost royal SAGES N OT HARDY IN NORTH EASTERN purple, with hairy calyces tinted ma­ NORTH AMERICA genta. The spikes are so woolly and so Where the winter climate is severe long they resemble purple foxgloves. these beautiful plants have to be win­ From Europe, Asia Minor and the tered indoors. Some of them are so July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 107

M a.rga1'et DeM. B1'O'W1l Salvia officinalis val'. alba 108 T H E N A T IO ?-J AL H ORTl CULTURAL MAG AZI NE July, 1949

Gottscho-Schleisner The pink v ar-iety of Salvia splendens July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 109

•

Gottscho-Schleisner Pineapple sage Salvia elegans 110 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE July, 1949

deli ciously fragrant it is worth the in the bud stage they are pale yellow trouble of holding them over to keep green and look like white spots. The them alive. One of these is SaJvia whole plant is brilliant with flowers elega li S formerly call ed n(tilans and of a vivid scarlet with a tinge of crim­ popularly known as ,Pineapple sage, a son. They are born in whorls in short native of Mexico as are so many of terminal spikes. The plant flowers vig­ the gorgeous half hardy relatives. Its orously for a long time. The leaves .. outstanding character is its fragrance smell faintly of sage ·but the flowers of pineapple which can be imparted to seem odorless. It is easily increased jams, jellies and stewed fruits. The from cuttings. plant is roughly hairy, grows into a Almost the loveliest blue in the whole much branched shrub two to four feet garden is carried by the flowers of the high. The brilliant red-tinted carmine Mexican Salvia patens a true sky blue flowers grow in a spike one foot long. and of a soft texture. Sometimes there They are fairly long and narrow and are forms of a deeper, less attractive look like fire crackers. They begin to shade of blue. Unfortunately it is a open in October and after the plants shy bloomer and to keep the right have been moved to the greenhouse color going and start it early, it is best sometimes bloom all winter. to increase from cuttings. The plant The seed of Sal'via coccil1ea, a bril­ grows two to three feet high. The liant scarlet flowered plant, came to me flowers are large and conspicuous, be­ from the South West Arboretum and ing two inches long and are borne in an the plants bloomed two and a half elongated panicle and look a little like mOllths after sowing. It is perennial beaks of parrots. The foliage is arrow­ and native to damp places in American shaped, softly woolly and the leaves tropics where it is a weed. The plant diminish in size as they ascend the has been naturalized in Alabama. The stems. There are three white trans­ stems grow to two feet and are verse bands at the base of the lower lip. branched and covered with long silky A neat little shrub from Texas and hairs. The leaves are cordate with cre­ Mexico is Salvia G'reggi that begins to nate margins and forest green. The flower in September. It is woody and petiole and veins on the under side are much branched and thickly clothed hairy, the rest is smooth. The flowers with green, linear, oblong leaves which grow in whorls spaced far apart and smell peppery and sagey. The whole form an elongated spike five inches plant is only faintly hairy. The flow ers long of whorls composed of two clus­ in racemes about two inches long are a ters each with seven to eight flowers. beautiful shade of deep rose, with dark They are brilliant yellow red. The up­ bluish tones and the stalks are rose per lip of the corolla folds down on magenta or wine red. The flowers are either side and the lower one extends thin textured. In the white form called and forms four lobes . alba, the blossoms are white and in a Si milar to the above in effect is S al­ form called 1'osea they are pink to red. via. microph'ylla from central and south­ In all plants they are sparse in propor- • ern Mexico. It is a bushy, much tion to the size of the shrub. branched plant, about two feet high Ohe day a packet of seed arrived and softly hairy. The leaves are small from California which was so fragrant spatula-like and finely dentate, one inch it could be smelled through the en­ long and three-quarters across. When velope. This was seed of Salvia Cleve- July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL ~vIA G AZINE 111

C ot/scho-Schleisll er Salvia microphylla 112 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE July. 1949

COllscho-S cMeisner Salvia Brandegeei July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 11 3 landii. The fragrance is so strong it are said to be co ml11on with S. apiana persists in herbarium specimens years and S. leHcophylla. and S. Co lH1'1'1.b(]Jriae. after the plants have been collected and In its native haunts, the species comes dried. The fragrance is entirely de­ up after fire , ch iefl y from seeds. The licious, fl owerlike with a tiny tinge of outstanding character is that the mid­ sage and when the plant is in bloom in dle of the lower li p fo lds upward. Sal­ the garden or on the terrace the whole via 111 cllifera revaluta is characteri zed place is scented. Clevela.l'Idii is native by strongly revolute leaves and very to the mountai ns behind San Diego at short stamens and pistils and comes 2200 feet and is a common low shrub from the Island of Santa Ro a where it on dry upper Sonoran slopes for a con­ blooms in June. siderable portion of San Diego county A shrubby Californian is Salvia and adj acent Lower California. The Bmndigee i blooming in early spring. plant grows three feet high, blooms in The plant is several feet high and has July and has grey stems tinged reddish long slender leaves characteri zed by and elegant grey leaves si milar in tex­ humpy round glands over the whole ture and shape to thos·e of 0 fficinalis. surface. The leaves are bright green The margins are finely and roundedl y above and \o,",oolly below. The attrac­ serrate, the leaves two inches long and tive flow ers are half an inch across three-eighths across. Superficially the and grow in many flowered whorls in flower heads look like beebalms. The short terminal spikes and are pale pink­ inflorescence is rounded, composed of ish violet in the greenhouse, probably glomerules which are solitary or in two deeper out of doors. The unopened to three remotedly interrupted spikes. buds are woolly and tinted lavender. These glomerules are subtended by The leaves have a pleasant fragrance luiry, pointed and overlappi ng leaf-like as have the fl owers. bracts. The flowers of a dark violet blue do not open all at a time. They Two annual sages from California are three-quarters of an inch long and close the list. The first is Salvia C alum­ slender. When in bloom the glomerule ba1-iae, with the leaves mostly basal and is two inches across. The lower tip is flow ers in glomerules subtended by plain and oblong. round colored bracts. The other is From the dry plai ns and foot hills C0111mon spring plant in Southern Cali­ in the southern part of California in fornia, Salvia carduacea, and is ten to low altitudes and also from the nearby fifteen inches high, has thistle like basal islands comes a shrub called Black leaves and the flowers are in close Sage, Salvia 11lellifera, highly prized by whorls. It is very woolly. The flo w­ beekeepers. It grows three to six feet ers have soft long cottony hairs on the high, has leaves similar to ofjicillalis calyces and a violet corolla. and is fragrant but not nea rly so much This is by 11 0 means a complete list so as Clevelamdii. The fl owers bloom 'but merely a selection by one gardener in early spring, are pale blue and some­ of sages found attractive for the ga rden. times tinged rose or white. H ybrids Peekskill, N. Y. Collecting Plants Beyond the Frontier In Northern British Columbia PART VIII 1935 EXPEDITION MARY GIBSON HEN RY*

The morning of July 15th I awoke count, and one does not notice trifling at four and watched the rays of the di scomforts. ri sing sun touching the mountain tops. Next morning, July 16th, began with As always it was one of nature's mag­ another gorgeous dawn as the rising nificent sights. It was clear and cold, sun emblazoned the sky with a hundred 15 ° F. at getting-up time. I always shades of changing red. The deep pur­ wore a silk nightgown with a sweater ple mountain, sharply outlined against so dressed hurriedly. Perhaps J 0 was the brilliant sky, made an impressive wiser, she slept in her clothes. Two spectacle, It was Jo's birthday and hours after sunrise it was only 28°. very fittingly it was a glorious day, the Later on, at mid-day, with a brilliant best gift she could have had and she sun shining in a cloudless sky the tem­ a ppreciated and loved it all, even as I perature rose to 80°! It was a joy to did. be alive on such a sparkling day. On There was, as usual, a heavy coating cloudy days the mid-day temperature of ice on our water bucket. Nearby usually hovered around 40° -50°. These in a cosy grassy nook, hundreds and extremes are not unusual, but it , does hundreds of purple violets, Vioba make dressing a problem. Once our neplwophylla, bloomed with serene clothes were packed we could get noth­ loveliness. Hardy little gems of the ing more until we stopped for the northland, they looked for all the world night. Donning an extra flannel shirt like a patch of violets at Gladwyne! in the morning usually solved the prob­ After a short ride we turned west lem ; it was then easy to peel at noon and stepped off the map. when it became warm. I brought with In a few hours we came to a splendid me a small prospector's thermometer spruce forest, and after that we rode so I co uld record the daily temperature through meadows that 'were pure un- ­ in my diary. alloyed blue, for Polemonium caeru­ That night we slept in the shadow le'um acutifioru111. grew here in count­ of Mt. Bertha. As the evening shadows less myriads. They were simply mag­ deepened, M t. Bertha became tinted nificent and nearly at their zem ith. with that wonderful glowing red that Hundreds of M e1r te·11.sia panic~~ lata I had seen on her huge hulk before. raised their gorgeous heads of deeper Ever so graduall y she turned 'dark pur­ blue bells among them, the blues min­ ple until night enfold ed her in a coal gling superbly and scarcely a leaf was black mantle. Above our tiny white visible. Never can I fo rget the beauty tent she seemed to stand on guard. of our camp spot that night when we There were many mosquitoes and other ' The Royal Scottish Geographical Society 1'e­ avid insects here, but in a place of such cently awarded Mrs. H enr y the Mungo Park Medal for her explorations in Northern British Columbia, awesome beauty only the big things 1931·1935.-Ed. [114] July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 115

U pp er- Tha.t night we slept in the sh.adow of M t. B ertha. Lower-Joseph'ine deN. H enry beside a trappel?s cabin. 116 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL :MAGAZI NE July, 1949

et our tent ri ght in the midst of that D. nivalis, D. glab ella, D. lonchoca.1' pa heavenly meadow. Dark clouds soon and D. incerta. . A ll were yellow fl ow­ came bringing a hailstorm of short ered. The amazing Saxifmga opp ositi­ du ration. fol·ia, hanging upside down under a In spite of being woefully short of rocky ledge, was studded with its hand­ food, Jack helped us celebrate J o's some jewel-li ke li ttle lavender fl owers. birthday that night by producing a This plant actually seems to melt the wonderful two story cake that will al­ snow, as I found it sometimes growing ways be remembered as one of the right through a solid sheet of snow bright spots of the trip. It was a happy with just about a half inch margin of occasion but I mi ssed the other mem­ bare ground around it. Time passed be rs of my fa mily and wished they too quickly, as indeed for me it always too, were with us. W e slept soundly does on a mountain, and as the sky in thi s enchanting spot. was dark and stormy, we knew we N ever, never can I forget my horror must hurry to get back " home" before next morning when I awoke and saw dark. the devastati on our horses had so The way down was steep and over blindly wrought. Only a few torn and rough stony ground and wet scrubby bedraggled polemoniums remain ed to vegetation. McCusker went so fast greet us. T heir all too brief day was that much of the time I had to run over fo r they had served as a mid­ down the steep, rocky incline. W e ni ght feast for our fo ur-footed com­ forded the creek again crossing it lower pani ons ! T he early morning tempera­ down where it was deeper than before. 0 ture was 44 , the first mild day we The water was so swift I could scarce­ had had for some time. ly "make it." I took off my stockings Again the horses needed a " day off" wrung them out, poured the water out to rest. After wading an icy creek, of my shoes and put them on again. thigh high, accompanied by McCusker, Supper as usual tasted mighty good I climbed a mountain, alt. 7400 ft. T he even if our butter and jam were at day was cl oudy and as we rose above the bottom of the river! timberline, a wild, wi ntry scene of dark O n July 18th we delayed our pack­ jagged mountain crests, too steep to ing up and departure for a while as it hold snow, was spread befo re us. The was rain ing hard. Ben, the Indian, beautiful Salix alaxe11sis was growi ng remained behind with some of the plentifully in rocky debri s, at about horses. We left much of our duffl e alt. 5000 ft. It is an astoni shing shrub­ here, to pick up on our return. At by wi ll ow with glo sy deep oli ve green times we rode through the beautiful wrinkled leathery leaves that are felted northern fir, Abies lasiocarpa. T here with now whi te wool beneath. An­ were many forms. Some with horizon­ other notable will ow that grew on that tally extended branches and others moun tain top was SaHx polaris var. with drooping branches grew side by selwyne11s-is. It creeps over the groun d side. The trail , at best a faint "game and it full height, up there, was but 1 trail," just about vanished. The or 2 inches. The sun did not shine all branches of the spruce trees were al­ day and it was 0 cold and blustery most as hard as iron. Everyone of us on the summ it that I was scarcely ahle and most of the horses were cut and to breathe. There we re few fl owers in bleedi ng somewhere. Our clothes blo0 111 except the brave little Drabas, merely became J11 0re ragged. July. 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 117

J OSeph111e H em'JI 11 8 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE J uiy, 1949

July 17. L ooki11g east dow n over th e valley of the sO$t th fork of the Nelson River - M ar ')l G. H em',)I.

L ooking west from mountain, altitu de 7,400 ft. , east of A llie Pass- K. F. M c­ C.tsker. July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 119

. Mar3' G. H enry

Abies las'iocarpa. . Trees with ho·rizo·ntal branches a{nd others with d?'ooping branches grew side by side.

hdy 20-Sou.theast f1'0111£ 111£0untain, altitude 7,600 ft. 120 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE July, 1949

That afternoon the rain turned to of the mountain there was much fallen sleet and snow. Darkness came sooner timber to scramble over and this was than we expected. We co uld scarcely always slow, hard work and greatly see and our horses could hardly stand retarded our progress. There were fre­ on the icy rocky ground that was whit­ quently small rivers or streams to wade ening all around us. For the time we and bogs through which we must lost our bearings . Vve stopped and struggle. camped where we were, right on the The sky though clear early in the rocks. Noone was comfortable but no day soon clouded over. There was so one complained. much more snow this year than I had N ext morning I peeked out of the yet seen in northern British Columbia, tent at four. It was still bitter cold the scenery was more magnificent than and the ground was covered with snow. ever. After a long CJ nd strenuous climb Soon we heard Smoky's cheerful laugh we rose above timberline and the mar­ and Tony's happy echo, louder here velous sight of peak after peak of snowy than usual because our tents were all mountains met our eyes. The fl owers, set closely together. Again rain de­ too, were beautiful. scended and washed away the snow Not far off large deep purple mats and ice. Vv'ith daylight we retraced our deco rated the ground. Upon approach­ steps unti l we reached a faint Indian ing they t urned out to be composed of trail, when we continued on over the masses of a striking deep purple-col­ Akie Pass. In places the trail was ex­ ored species of dodecatheon. They tremely rough and we covered miles on were very lovely, almost the color of foot to rei ieve the horses. We forded violets instead of the usual magenta. and camped that night on the Aki e The flow ers were sweetly fragrant. R iver. It was a very pleasant camp The large snow white, golden centered ground in this narrow vall ey and the blossoms of Dryas ·integr1Jolia nestled rugged nearby mountains towered like small water lili es over its closely above us. There were many splendid matted dark green foliage. It is a most clumps of the small but exqui sitely lovely dwarf evergreen creeper, a tiny lovely white ladyslipper of the north­ prostrate shrublet, really. Snow lay land, C yp1'ipediu11'~ passe1' i1'bU11'b, no deeply in all the hollows. The dark flower on earth more beautiful. An­ gray sky made the mountains seem other interesting orchid was the little whiter than ever. C oral101'hiza tnfida. There was an at­ We soon reached a steep slope where tractive narrow-leaved form of S ali.'!: mountainside was nothing but broken brach'yca.rpa, a 3-6 ft. shrub, one of the shale. With every step the shale slid prettiest of the northern willows. so badly it seemed impossibl e to cross The fo llowing day I climbed a moun­ over it. Indeed, in places the whole tain northeast of camp, alt. 7600 ft. side of the mountain seemed to slide McCusker took hi s instruments for ob­ in an indescribable and horrible way servations as usual, while I carried my and it looked as if we might easily get plant press and camera. There were, lost forever, buried under tons of rock. of course, no trails up any of these IE we had stood still for even a few mountains. We just headed for the seconds we might have been firmly an­ base and then went up. IE it was im­ chored there. On other occasions I possible to negotiate one place we had had run into similar situations. It is to find another. Often near the foot necessary to cross or climb over such July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 121

N ear the SOU1'ce of the Akie River. 122 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE July, 1949 places at high speed. Making it even earth was in the making the molten more difficult, much of the shale was rock that formed these mountains must glazed with a coating of thin ice. A have been heaved and doubled up. terrific gale was blowing and for a Since then, but still in ancient prehis­ while going safely either forward or toric days, glaciation has taken place, backward seemed almost impossible. so that now each of these mountains As we climbed up higher and higher has a huge S on the eastern and west­ our "vay became steeper and rougher ern sides. The S is just about as high until at last we found ourselves at the and as broad as the mountain, and out­ foot of the rocky tower-like formation lined with snow it forms a most un­ that forms the summit of the mountain. usual and spectacular sight. This peculiar promontory was not vis­ Just to the north of us rose a truly ible from camp or from our trail. At magnificent snow white mountain, quite first glance it ~ee med impossible to regularly formed and shaped like an climb to the top, but the old adage, elongated dome, with a dark rocky tur­ "where there's a will there's a way" ret at one end. The turret was sur­ holds especially true in the mountains. mounted by a symmetrical peak. If After scrambling over huge rocks and ever a mountain resembled a church fl oundering around in a doubtful and this one did. Intense cold prevented us dangerous fashion in deep fresh snow, from remaining long on this inspiring we fo und a sort of "chimney" or verti­ mountain top, long enough only for cal wide crack in the rock where pres­ McCusker to take the necessary eleva­ sure with arms and feet on both sides tions and observations. My half sand­ of the slit in the rocks substituted for wich and small piece of chocolate, that the usual type of footing. I enjoyed usually formed my lunch, emerged the exhilarating and exciting climb tre­ from my pocket as I tried to shield my­ mendously, the uncertainty and dan­ self from the frigid blasts, behind a ger adding immensely to the thrill. At rock. In a few moments I was slip­ last, as I peered over the stark, cold, pmg, sliding, stumbling and falling bare rock that formed the summit, my down the mountain for the several heart pounded with that particular sort hours it took to reach its base. Two of joy that only mountain climbers can little greenish orchids, growing in the understand. I thrilled at the thought deep soft moss, caught my attention, that for hundreds of miles in every Listem borea.lis and L. co1-data. These direction there was no other human tiny plants, only a few inches high, soul , only J 0 and Smoky on another were not at all showy but anyone fond mountain, far away, and the men in of orchids would enjoy their small but camp, mountains, mountains every­ attractive fl owers. where and in every direction as far as The thermometer must have fallen the eye could see. The sheer ones very low in the night, for next morning looked inky black and the curious the ice on our bucket was extra thick. ledges formed by erosion and white There was time to climb another moun­ with snow, partially told the story of tain and, among other plants, I found their ancient geologic history. ArniCIJJ obtusifolia acuta Raup growing We saw, to the northwest of us, the up above timberline, the new variety I other side of the great crum pled moun­ found in 1932 ; and then the major part tains that rose west of Redfern Lake, of the topographical and botanical ob­ that we had seen in 1932. W hen the servations for the year was over. J ul y, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 123

Mary C. He-m'y July 21-McCusker works on the 111.ap, altitude 6,500 ft. in the Akie Pass. Looking northeast f1'01% mountain, altitude 7,600 ft. 12.+ TI-IE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE July, 1949

July 2211(1 found us starting on the we came to an extra bad place she homeward trek, retracing our trail struggled so violently she almost back over the beautiful Akie Pass. We jumped on top of me and I just got climbed up on foot and so reli eved our out of her way in time. horses, for the way was difficult and N ow McCusker is an able topogra­ heavy with muskeg ! pher but he is not equ.ally skillful at We stopped early, about 11 A.M., pitching a tent. That afternoon he set right beside a little lake. The water in up our tent and while he was pegging ~he lake was the warmest I had fe lt all it down, it collapsed. J 0 and I laughed summer, temperature 56°. Alas, it was and Smoky, who was nearby, rolled too shall ow for a swim! That after­ over and shook with glee. McCusker noo n I fou nd time to climb a small persevered and set up the tent again, mountain by myself. There being no but after one glance at it, that night I sign of any ki nd of a trail at all, I just decided to sleep in my clothes, as J 0 aimed up through the dark forest. always did, and this at times had de­ Snow lay on the ground by the time I cided advantages. was above the tree line. The grandeur Food in camp was now really scarce, of the country, everywhere I turned, not much left but a little bacon, flour, and the fascination of the awe-inspiring sugar, cocoa and salt. Jack did his best, and tremendous silence lured me on no one could have done better, but he and on. Suddenly from the rocks just could not make something out of noth­ above, bleak and bare except for ice ing. We sometimes gathered the pret­ and snow, came a long drawn out howl. ty Alliu111 schoenop·rasu11'I, sibiricu111, a Again and again it came, in eerie fash­ native garlic, to flavor our meager diet. ion. the only so und in a world that was But the days were days of unalloyed otherwise as silent as the grave. I bliss for we were riding through the scanned the mountainside but saw no marvelous blue mountain meadows of living creature. It sounded like a moun­ the northland. So plentiful was Pole- tain lion I heard screeching in the New 111oniu11'J, caeruleU1q~ acutifionM1't in these Mexican mountains years ago. Doubt­ great stretches that, in places, it al­ less this was a cat of some sort, I sup­ most seemed as though we were riding pose it was a lynx. After wandering through Heaven's own blue. around and searching unsuccessfully When we reached the Caribou Pass, for it for some time, I started to de­ July 25th, all the fl owers seemed to be scend the mountain. Soon I came to in bloom. The fl oral display in the far timber and my footsteps were sound­ north is nothing short of miraculous, less as I trod on the velvety forest for all the seasons of bloom are crowd­ floor. Nearby some large animal could ed into a few short weeks, making this be heard as it prowled about, breaking northern world a fair sight indeed. We sticks and not small ones either, a bear, camped in the Pass for several days perhaps, judging by its heavy tread. I in order to climb and explore the near­ had wandered farther than I had in­ by mountains. tended to, as it took me quite a while The first evening J 0 and I walked to get back to camp, but I enjoyed this up on the ridge we heard a familiar 1ittle venture. by myself. sound. A robin was fli tting about ext day there was some bad mus­ among the little timberline balsams, keg to traverse. I was off and leading Abies lasioca1'pa, and calling sweet­ Belle to make it easier for her. When ly in true southern fashion . We July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZI NE 125

K. F. M cCnske'i'

August 1. L eaving La1Iwier Pass. 126 THE I ATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE July, 1949 remembered seeing and hearing one not before my plant press was drenched in this same place in 1932, proba­ through and as heavy as lead on my bly the same bird! The inconspicuous back. My moosehide gloves held the Ca1npanula wniftom was blooming water as if they were made of rubber through tufts of pale gray lichen. Now and now and then I emptied them. Af­ and then I saw C. lasiocarpa. Alas, ter a while the snow stopped and a this season I did not get a single thick blanket of fog descended. Mc­ glimpse of my favorite campanula, the Cusker resorted to his compass for we beautiful C. mwita. The two inch high could scarcely see an arm's length golden yellow Solidago 11%tltimdiata ahead. Rarely have I turned back, but dotted the ground with small and this time I did. Vie had no lunch nor dainty yellow tufts. The adorable little had we any desire to eat. Every stitch Kal111,ia polifolia 1nic1'ophylla was cov­ I had on was soaked and when th.e ered with its crimson pink blooms. wind blew it seemed as though it blew Nothing could be more enchanting 011 my bare skin. We just rushed on, than this tiny 6 inch shrublet. The almost blindly, through fog as dusk showy and attractive OxytToPis splen­ came on until, at last, we reached de'I1,S grew plentifully in dry places. The camp. That evening supper tasted un­ pretty flow ers rising from silver foliage usually good and the tent seemed very made a delightful display. cozy. Higher up the mountain we found a We were caught in a storm in a simi­ snow bank and went coasting. It was lar way on another mountain the very great fun, we just sat on the bare snow next day. and down we went, but not always The 28th I again went up a moun­ right side up! That night we had a tain, alt. 8,000 ft., through pouring soft mattress to sleep on, composed of rain that trickled through my hair and the beautiful little Cassiope tetTagona. down my back. My felt hat, as usual, The following morning we went was stuffed with flowers. It was rare­ coasting again. Then we divided up for lyon my head. The flowers of course the day. I aimed for one mountain and were lovely. PotentiUa ,uniftora, one of Jo for another. We always went our the nicest mountain plants, P. nivea, different ways, so we could double the snow white on under side of leaves, al­ amount of ground. It soon began to so P. dissecta are all tidy plants with rain. Black clouds gathered from every pretty yellow flowers. They rank high­ direction and a downpour descended. ly as rock plants. There 'were many Return to camp? That thought was saxifragas and they clothed the rocks far from my mind and I laughed. My with close green cushions, cascading thoughts were dwelling on the beauti­ over boulders and following along crev­ ful flowers I knew must find at home on ices in graceful fashion. Among those that high hill. And so with trickles of I collected here were S. caespitosGl, S. ice water running down my back, I tT'ic~tspidata, S. cernua, S. nivalis with climbed on up, up through lupines, dainty cream-colored flowers and S. marvelous mertensias, dainty little fiageUm'is, yellow-flowered. When I o xytropis a:rctobia, forget-me-nots and reached the summit of the mountain monkshoods, masses of them, blue as I it was snowing again. wished the sky were and rosy velvet On the 29th, still in Caribou Pass, paint brushes that contrasted brilliant­ we were cOl11pletely "snowed jn." ly. The rain soon turned to snow but Large white flakes descended and lay July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 127

Mal'y C. H enry Cypress C1'eek-J0 t1'ying to keep her clothes fr0111, falling apart. 128 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL :MAGAZI NE ] ul y, 1949 thickly on all the mountains. Balsam After that we came to a strip of spruce trees, too, were heavily laden, making forest and then reached the last of the this wonderful white world the most timber, a dense growth of small rigid beautiful Christmas scene I ever saw, timberline balsam. This latter nearly although it was July ! tore my clothes to "tatters" and my The days were getting short and this hands and face got scratched as usual. evening McCusker brought us a can­ High up, M ertensia pa,nict~lata was just dIe at 8:45 ! It seemed like quite a beginning to open its sky blue bells, "citified" luxury. Farther on 1 came to a sort of pocket The 30th cleared somewhat and in the rocky ~round where grew the found us on our horses again. J 0 and most startlingly beautiful forget-me­ Smoky rode off to the east and I went nots I had ever seen. They were a to the west up over the shoulder of a wonderful deep robin's egg blue! The mountain. Erige1'on com.positu,s tr-i­ greeni sh tint was most unusual and fi dus, the prettiest erigeron I have seen very handsome. Although the rain had and wholl y sui table for the rock gar­ stopped where I was, the mountain den, was the most interesting plant I summit was buried in storm. fo und. Fishing was excellent along Cypress The others ran into lots of excitement Creek and in the Graham River. Fish­ when they saw some goats. Smoky ing in the evening meant a good break­ made a lariat and roped one for J 0 to fast next day. During the evening of play with. It jumped into the nearby August 1st it only took a short time to river but soon swam ashore and then catch three beauties. they let it go. We rode for much of the next day The season had been a wet one with through valleys along Cypress Creek much rain, many storms and some­ and it seemed again as though the sky times even inside our tent the ground had descended to beautify the earth. was so wet, it "squashed" at every step. N othingcould have been more beauti­ The horrible muskegs were still bad fu l than the immense meadows of light but our horses, many by this time with­ blue polemoniums and through them out packs, struggled and -fo undered rose the deep blue spikes of D elphin­ bravely through them, while we fol­ iU111, SCop1dloru111, glaucu111.. There were lowed as best we co ul d on foot. Ex­ many handsome color variations of the hilarating swims in icy lakes or rivers delphiniums; in addition to pure white always refreshed us in the evenings. fl owers some of the plants bore pale The rain and snowstorms only showed sky blue, deep heli otrope, gray or us the beauty and made us appreciate pinky plum-colored flowers. The little all the more the delicious warmth of sapphire-colored Penste11Wl1 p1'ocenu. the midday sun. carried many lingering blooms and the That night we camped in Cypress dark midnight purple flowers of Aco­ Pass. Unfortunately next day it was nitu11~ delph-inifoliu111 were beginning raining again, but I longed to climb one to raise thei r ornamental spires. Later more moutnain, my last for the year. on we came to an opening in the forest o I tarted out anyhow to climb where th:! delphini um grew with great Ylount Laurier. At first we went up vigor. One of the plants reached above through houlder high scrubby will ows, my horse's ears. Scarcely believing our sopping wet and growing so densely eyes McCusker measured a stalk. It that they were difficult to penetrate. stood 9 ft. 3 in . tall! July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 129

M G?')! G. Hen!')! 11~ f1'ont of the cook's tent. L eft to right, M cCusl?er, M1'S. H en1'y, Josep hine, S11wl?y a1~d Tony.

There were some magnificent ferns, a million stars come sparkling into the Athjwi$£111> Fq:lix-fe111:ina, growing in the deep blue above. The great round woods above the Graham River. Their moon rose slowly with supreme majes­ size was amazing, for never in my life ty from behind the distant coal black had I seen any of such noble propor­ mountains. tions. So I dismounted to better ex­ I bid a speechless goodbye to my be­ amine them and take some specimens loved hills, but the northern moon is a for my press. A frond measured 4 ft . beckoning moon and I knew that some 2 in. long! day I would answer the "Call" again. August 3d found us riding through LOG-1933 miles of beautiful meadows all abloom June 28-Near Taylor Flats, north shore of with delphiniums. That afternoon we Peace River. came to two wagon ruts. My heart July 5-Forded Graham River. Three of sank. Worse yet a row of fence posts our men almost drowned. Lost 450 lbs. fooo. soon came in sight. We had reached July ll-Camped in Laurier Pass for a few Baxter Brady's ranch. Our trip was days to climb. over and we were on the broad high­ July 14--Caribou Pass. July 18-Akie Pass. Begin to map new ter­ way of everyday life once more. ritory. After 491 miles on horse and foot July 19-Camped by Akie River for several in 41 days, we reached Hudson Hope days to climb and explore. July 22-Start homeward. on August 7th. That night I sat on the July 2S-Caribou Pass. Climbed mountains high bluff that forms the north bank for a few days. of the Peace River. The days were Ju!y 31-Laurier Pass. short now. As darkness dimmed the Aug. 2-Cypress Pass. Aug. 7-Arrive Hudson H ope after 491 red glow in the western sky I watched mil es. Cardinalis Barberini MARJ ORIE F. WAR N ER In recent years I have seen quanti­ should be used, as they are very glut­ ties of the cardi nal fl ower (Lobelia tonous of it. Although it does not ca rdinalis L.) bloom ing in flo oded fear the cold, it is better to put it in meadows in western N orth Carolina. a warm or temperate place over win­ Possib ly because the blossoming peri­ ter. Also being very fri endly to heat, od was fa r advanced, or because the one must not fail to water it. plants were in dense masses, the fl ow­ By transplanting every year it lasts ers looked less brilliant than they a long time; other wise the multitude seemed in my Iowa childhood. A s I of its offspring will choke and de­ recall it, the sight of a soli tary spike or stroy it. In F ebruary or not much two reflected in the water at the open­ earlier it is taken up and transplant­ ings of the "swales" was a memorable ed, removing the offsets for propa­ feature of our drives through fl ooded gation, and in a longer or shorter ri ver bottoms. They were always inac­ time, if the original plant is vigorous, cessible without deep and muddy wad­ the off sets will be still more so. The ing, and we rarely picked them. It was new shoots, separated with their not because we mi nded wet fee t but rootlets from the rootstock, should that my fa ther could not stop fo r such be planted at a depth of two fi ngers, adventures. Possibly also, we came to well to the top of the foliage, spread­ realiz e that after we got it home we ing out the rootlets so that they may had only a pale image of the brilliant absorb nourishment more abundant­ scarlet flower in its natural setting. ly, and when they are planted, water In later years I have seen it grown them immediately so that the soil effec ti vely in bog gardens or in other may adhere to the roots, and set rich moist soil s, but it never thrills' me them in the sun. For this plant is like the inaccessible wildings of long averse to dark and shaded places, ago. My early memori es gave the zest where it readily decays. But if it of contrast to the first account of its shows signs of blooming premature­ cu ltivation in E urope. Ferraril, who ly because of the excessive heat of kn ew the cardinal fl ower ill the gar­ the sun, it should be moved. The den s of Cardinal Barberi ni in Rome, plant comes true from seed ; so one gives elaborate direction s for its cul­ cannot look for any variety from thi s ture. source. 2 The American Trachelium also I n P re-Linnean times the cardinal ca lled the cardinal plant, b e i n~ of a fl ower was variously known as Ra­ very delicate nature, is to be grown puntium, Rapunculus, or Trachelium, in pots wh ich will guard it fr 0111 the which seems to be the oldest name. many evil s to whi ch thi s plant is F errari called it " Tracheliul11 Ameri­ subject. Good garden soil well pul­ canum, fl ore rubro," but F abio Colon­ veri zed and free from all pests na, a contemporary Itali an botani st who classed it as a R apuntium, set it JFerraTi , Giovanni B a tt.ista. De ROTum cu ltura. up as a new genus under the name R o~ ae , e."'< cudebat S. Pauli nu s, 1 633, p . 1 88, 344. 3 40. Al 0 hI : F lor a , overo Cultu r a di fi ori . .. Cardinalis Ba.rbe1'il1i. In his notes on trasporta ta dalla lingu a latina nell' italian a d a Lodovlco Aureh. R om a, P. A. Facciotti 1 638 20ur extr acts; are n ot exact or complete trans­ p. 190·191, 342·34 3. " !a ti ons.-M.F.'V. [1 30] J uly, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 131

VI!-7- ., ', :; i u~ "(r ~tfj ;l:m(i a ~jtU,~ - hl Iltarum quoque l fLGS Cl\ RD J~- ' A,! 1<; BAI\BERINr. tu,.,ca~ jtores,f{ j{)UC1J1l radice repe11t la8efc jiue 101 ,promeJ IIt:a~a,' /i quia tia, ~ deinde Je ( triJ ~/i5 diz vulgal ra jim 110 jtr,r mc(1,to" rum «., lumdt.. tdta pli. fid eXt tid )u1. JjJi("am {ilJp/i,; 132 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE July, 1949 the Mexican plants of Hernandez.3 was brought to his notice by the rever­ Colonna supplements the descri ption of end and learned J oannes Baptista Ser­ the "Cacauaxochitl" with that of a new salis (or Sersale), Clericus Regularis and beautiful plant which he thinks Neapolitani Theatinorum, who had sent closely related to it, the " Planta Cardi­ him other rare plants, but had given nalis Barberini," or "F los Cardinalis no habitat for any of them. Colonna Barberini," which he characteri zes as implies that the cardinal flower was al­ the "largest of the Repuntiums, with a ready in the Barberini gardens in spike of scarl et fl owers," and con­ Rome, but as he was located in Naples, tinues: he may not have had a chance to exam­ This exotic and particularly ele­ ine it critically until he got a specimen gant plant, lately brought to those of from Sersale in the same city, Ferrari, us who are interested in such things, whose directions imply that it had been appears to be without a special and grown successfully before 1633, does e tabli shed name. With its rich scar­ not mention either Colonna or his strik­ let di urnal fl owers, exceedingly joy­ ing name fo r the plant, and probably ous in aspect, in color related to the did not know it had been dedicated to vesture of cardinals, it has been, as the Cardina l. There is nothing to show we may guess, designated by bota­ when or how it reached either Naples nists and commonly called by the or Rome, but it was in Italy in June, name of "Herba cardinali s." 1628. Wherefore I, considering its ele­ Having been known and cultivated gance and novelty . . . would not in Italy so early, one might surmise it wish either to abandon the illustri­ had been introduced to Europe by an ous name "Cardinali s," or to detract Italian explorer, but it was known in from it in any way, but rather to France before the date of Colonna's de­ render it more di stinguished by plac­ scription. It is in the "Catalogus plan­ ing the individual plant as a species tarum horti Renati Morini, , , M.De. under this generic name. Therefore XXI" (Parisiis, 1621 ), and is illus­ I wish to openly publish the name trated (page 133 ) in Pierre Vallet's "Cardinal is," as associated with the "Le jardin du Roy tn~s chresti en Loys di stingui shed and renowned Cardinal X III" (Paris, 1624) . Barberini. 1621 is the earliest date fixed for the Colonna pays elaborate tributes to cardi nal fl ower, though it may have Cardinal Francesco Barberini ( 1587- been in Paris before that. Both Val­ 1679) and hi s uncle, Pope U rban VIII, let's book and Rene Morin's "Cata­ and in honor of the former assigns logus," which is a kind of trade list, "Cardinalis" as the genus, with "Bar­ include two other " Canadian" plants, berini" as the cognomen or specific one of which bloomed in France in name. He gives a detailed technical de­ 1613, and the other in 1612. Vall et's scri ption and a figu re of the plant figures were drawn trom plants in the (page 131 ), and in conclusion says it garden of Jean Robin, who as "King's 3H ernandez. Francisco. N ova plantarum, ani­ Botanist" was often first to receive and malium et mineralium mex icanorum historia .. . dein 8 ~8 rd o Antonio R eecho in volumeD digesta. propagate novelties brought home by Romne. sumptibus B. D evers ini & Z. Masotti, French explorers. Morin gave on ly its typ is V. MasCRrdi, 1651. "Fabii Columnae Ly ncei in ~l al'd i An to nii Recchi . .. R erum medicarum common name, "Cardinalis planta," )layne Hispa ni ae volumen , Annotationes et addi­ tione ," p. 7 9·880 . Colonna' preface is dated which afterwards was generally used June, 162 8, b ut his n otes r emained unpublish ed till 1651. as a synonym with "Trachelium Amer- July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 133 134 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE July, 1949 icanum fl ore rubro," which was pre­ est patrons of the sciences and arts of sumably given to the plant by J ean hi s time; and it was fitting, in that he Robin. It is on Vallet's plate, which was a lover of plants and had many of was certainly drawn by or before 1623, the newest and handsomest species in and is apparently the earliest botanical hi s collection at Rome. Ferrari's "De name. fl orum cultura" ( 1633) includes plants Mordant de Launay, in " Bon Jardi­ from other Roman gardens, but is spe­ nier" ( 1813 ), says the cardinal fl ower cially devoted to those of Barberini, was sent from Canada to France, and where even among the stately fl owers thence to England, and E ngli sh records brought from every part of the world, support thi s. R. T . Gunther, in his the American cardinal fl ower was spe­ "Earl y British botanists and their gar­ cially prized and cultivated. dens" (Oxford, 1922, p. 331), prints a What may be called the Italian in­ li st written by J ohn Tradescant the terlude of this plant played a big part Elder in hi s copy of Parkinson's "Para­ in its popularization. The seventeenth disus," showing that he got "Cardinali s century produced numerous manuals planta 2." in 1629 from "Mr. Robine," of gardening, many of them largely presumably J ean Robin of Paris or his imitated or translated from Ferrari. son Vespasien. The plant was already So the latter's cultural directions occur in possession of J ohn Parkinson, who in German, Dutch and French, as well in his "Paradisi in sole paradisus ter­ as Italian, usually without evidence of restris" (London, 1629, p. 356), de­ further knowledge of its culhivation. scribes the "Trachelium Americanum One of the more origi nal and practical flore ruberrimo, sive planta cardinalis. of these garden books, Georg Viesch­ The rich crimson cardinals fl ower," er's " Blumengarten" (Niirnberg, 1645, which he had received from France for p. 71), states that the cardinal flower is hi s garden. Both "Mr. Robine" and "particularly beautiful and royal col­ Rene Morin sent many plants to Tra­ ored," but the a l!lthor says he has never descant, and probably also to Parkin­ paid any great attention to it because son, but there is no record of this plant the plant is difficult to grow. The strik­ in England before 1629. ing beauty of the fl ower was soon Parkinson was one of many who widely known, and it found a place in have inferred that it was "the plant most of the botanical gardens and fine of the cardinal." I originally supposed private collections. it had been named in honor of some I have not followed all its European prelate, but such an association would wanderings nor traced its different surely have been preserved by history names, but infer that the plant must or tradition, and I have searched in have been largely distributed from vain for any other save with Barberini. Paris in the first place, because of the Both Ferrari and Colonna indicate that early use of "Trachelium American­ the plant had no other personal associa­ um," which originated there. It would tions, and emphasize the idea that the seem that the high-sounding C a1'di'IULlis common name was given from the col­ Barberini would have found popular or of the fl ower, "related to the vesture favor at once, but I ·find no references of cardinals." to it; apparently Colonna's notes, after Colonna's dedication to Cardinal remaining unpublished so long, were Francesco Barberini was natural, be­ little known after publication. Mean­ cause the latter was one of the great- whi le the plant received other names, July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 135 notably "Rapuntium." Colonna him­ too much of "pomp and circumstance" self classed it as "Rapuntium," and to fit a plant of such lonely individual­ Linne in his "Species P lantarum" (v. ity. The Linnean name seems a tri ne 1, 1753, p. 930), cites under Lobelia less personal and therefore less in co !! · ca1'dinalis the polynomial, "Rapuntium gruous, but to those who know it besl, maximum, coccineo spicato fl are. Hern. the technical name is relatively unim­ Mex. 879, t. 880." This name was not, portant. Whether its scarlet spikes a! e of course, by Hernandez . but it was seen across a sunny stretch of marsh­ easy to overlook Colonna's authorship; land, or among the rocks in a ru s hill ~ the omission of his name, Ca1'di11alis trout stream, it is preeminently the Barbe1'ini, while citing hi s description cardinal fl ower. and figure, was probably deliberate. T he loss of this grandiose name was \Valpole, New Hampshire not an unmixed misfortune, as it savors March, 1948

Amaryllis Hybrids

(Syn. Hippeastrum) Easy to Grow

GEORGE B. FURNISS Should you want some brilliancy of sands in open fields for a period of at color to cheer the drab dreary season least three years, covering from seed­ between the time when the Tuberous ling stage to blooming size ; and longer, Begonias quit and begin again, then we for larger bulbs. The weather is ex­ sugest the H ybrid Amaryllis. A hot­ ceedingly " unusual" hence their culture house is not required; household heat does not require a uniform tempera­ with plenty of light is sufficient in cold ture. The days in summer are gener­ climates to have bloom out of season ally hot and nights cool but no rain. from these fl owers of distinction, with Winter days may be in the 40s or 50s their decorative foliage. They are in­ F. and nights 40s and upper 30s. Morn­ dividualistic and do not behave alike. ing frosts may occur which dip as low When they show signs of growth, help as 20; perhaps 16. Plants are given them along; and when they want rest, moisture at all times so irrigation is which is shown by yellowing of foliage practiced in summer and in winter in and lack of vigor, then ease up on the absence of adequate rain. Average soil watering. This difference in behavior is sandy but heavy soil seems to answer. spreads the blooming season over a Bulbs and plants are not tender. For long period, instead of all plants com­ instance, the writer, in central Cali­ ing into flower at one time such as fornia, winters his potted hybrids in occurs with many other bulbs. cold frames without artificial heat or Perhaps we may get a better under­ covering other than the glass whitened. standing of thei r simple needs by know­ The sash is kept propped up about an ing how the bulbs are grown for the inch to permit a circulation of air. market. In Southern Cali fornia, bulbs Bulbs and fo li age survived last winter, are commercially grown by the thou- six weeks of unprecedented, piercing 136 THE )JATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE July, 1949

cold and frosts, frequently 24 low, and mixtures, includi ng soil, leafmold, and this included a pot of a year-old seed­ sand, but all growers agree on good lings. Many subtropicals were killed drainage ... about 1 inch of broken back. crock. Bone meal is used for enrich­ Home gardens of Southern Califor­ ment as it is slow in action and does nia grow the bulbs, which are naturally not burn tender roots; about a round­ evergreen, in the same beds among ing tablespoonful to a 6 inch pot. The other perennials. However, for home bulb sits with neck and shoulder above use the bul bs are mostly grown in pots the soil surface and surface an inch so as to be portable for display pur­ below the pot rim as a basin for water­ poses in patios, summer and lath­ ing. The soil is settled about and be­ houses, porches, home entrances, nooks, tween the roots by thumping the pot and interior decoration. The fl owers up and down on a solid surface; this when protected from the sun, bloom is to avoid air pockets from forming with richer color, softer texture and within the soil. The pot is thoroughly last longer. Many growers repot every watered and the'n set aside in a well year which dispels the idea that the lighted room in about 50 degrees; too roots should remain undisturbed. This warm a room will induce immature information is a boon for those in cold growth. After growth takes hold, wa­ climates because a few bulbs may be tering is gradual. Deep planting en­ bloomed in the house and the balance courages offsets which weakens the stored over winter. The storage meth­ mother bulb whereas shallow planting od is this : In late September watering affords a few bulblets which may be is slowed up by lessening the amount pried off, with a table knife, when and frequency so that by early N ovem­ thumb size and planted. ber the soi l is about dried out. P lants Again, there are those who grow the are then knocked out of the pot, the plants year after year without disturb­ root washed free from soil by sousing, ance until the roots break the pot. then shaken of excess water and dried These growers carefull y renew the sur­ off in the shade for a few minutes. The face soil annuall y under the erroneous· roo ts are fleshy and fragi le and are idea that the roots must not be dis­ handled carefull y. Some of the foliage turbed and in addition use liquid fer­ may have yellowed while most is still tilizers. This is an easy way but re­ green which finally snuffs off. potting annuall y, or even occasionally, P lClJnts are thE. .. planted in a box of is considered to give better results. If d1"jl sand. nose tips sli ghtly covered, plants are kept in the same pot, then a and stored in a cool light place . . . resting period is allowed from Septem­ li ght needed at sprouting time. The ber to November. as above outlined, bulbs may remain dormant in the dry and then watering is gradually resumed. sand three or four months, or until the This resting time may be varied ac­ temperature reaches about 45-50 de­ cording to climatic conditions. Some grees normally, or artificiall y appli ed let the bulbs go dormant in the pot and to ha ten. As green tips show, the there remain dry until green tips ap­ bulbs are taken up with a hand fork pear. Each method has its advocates. and put in 6 in ch pots, or 7-8 inch for Despite what is done or not done some larger bulbs. Many different soil for­ bulbs go dormant or refuse to so do. mulas are used varying from straight All methods come to the same criti­ garden soil, generally sandy, to various cal period. This is when the pla nt fin - ] uly, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 137

I-The b'btlb is ove1' 30 ')Iears old. Lu,ther Bu-rba,n/?, the "Plant Wiza1'd," was then introdvbcing his sensational "G'ia.nt Hyb1'id Hipp.:astntms" and this ,is one of the on:gil1als. 2-The off-set shows 1/.0 a,dvantage f1'0-m be'ing nursed by the 1nothe1'-bulb. Had it been detached when. thu11'bb-size a.nd separately grOWl1, both would now be bette1' off. 3-The 11'bother-bulb has had its bloom. The cl'"tster is a substittlte, borrowed fr011'Da 1'ecently PU1'chased bulb (shorn of TootS) so as to show tha,t the first flower produced comes undenwu1'ished; flowered witho'btt foliage 3 11wnths after pla11ti11,g. Enc1'gy was derived f1'011'L bu,lb tissue (];l1d fro'I1'" scant rootlets that were j1'(St forming; replace1nent of 1'00tS lost takes about a year to restore. 138 THE NATIOl AL HORTICULT1JRAL MAGAZINE J uly, 1949' ishes blooming and at which time the a 6 inch pot and give one thorough flower stems are cut off at the base. watering and place in a well lighted Instead of resting as most bulbs do, the room at 45-50 degrees.- After an inch bulb then begins a new cycle of growth. or two of green growth, heat may be Jew fl ower-buds begin to form within gradually raised to 60. No water as. the bulb for next year's bloom. Also, long as soil is slightly moist, testing by begins a renewal of bulb tissue which inserting the finger deeply, next to the has become exhausted, soft and flabby, rim. Over-watering may rot the bul b from fl ower production. This build-up and high heat forces premature growth period requires fu ll sun, hot weather because there is lack of supporting root to ripen the bul b, and a supply of plant system for normal function. food to restore energy. A li quid nutri­ Buy selected bulbs from reputable ent is made by usi ng a garden fertilizer dealers. Q uality is worth the higher in proportion of a rounding tablespoon­ pri ce asked. Bulbs are grown in fi elds. fu l to a gallon of water applied fo rt­ in mass crops, mostly in California and nightly (lst and 15th of the month for F lorida, and generall y without regard memory" convenience). Pots are gen­ to selection of seed or parentage. Vig­ erally plunged in the open garden for orous seed bearers, as a rule, produce strong heat and also kept moist until vigorous bulbs but these lack quality September arrives for the resting in fl owers and the run of the fi eld is. period. T he time to buy new crop mostly that. T he older, larger bulbs bulbs is from October to February; produce more fl owers, perhaps two the earli er, the better. These are shorn crops, and larger blooms. of roots and a mass of roots is neces­ sary to produce quali ty fl owers. Use Oakland, Califo rnia

Rock Garden Notes

Boy!?illia Jam,esi chera li ke but wide open-no drooping Among the huge tumbled rocks of bells; they smile straight at you. Buds. pink granite above timberline on Pike's are bright crimson, open fl owers clean Peak there grows Boykinia ja111,esi, one pink, dying fl owers dull crimson, so of the very best Rock Garden plants. whoever dubbed it "Purple Saxifrage" This Boykinia has everythi ng that is was either color blind or saw it grow­ desi rabie-except an eagerness to bloom ing in some soil that turned it sour. while young. From April until Christ­ It is well worth the drive up the mas its foliage is attractive, round P ike's Peak highway, plus a short leaves one to two inches in diameter cl imb, to see this beauty trickli ng down toothed and frilled around the edges, six-foot vertical crevices between big neatly imbricated, a clean live green boulders and spilling out into fl at pools. until frost when they turn crimson and on and between rock tables, perky pi nk remain ornamental until zero-ish weath­ spikes generously decorating the whole. er slaps them down. Rising fro111 this W hile this saxifrage is distributed generous foliage (from June to Sep­ over other peaks of the Colorado Rock­ tember according to altitude) are six­ ies, sometimes even as low as 7,000 feet inch spikes of rose pink flowers, heu- elevation, it seems to revel in just the July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 139

Kathleen M a:r·riage The h0111 e of Boykin:ia Ja11q,esi, Pike's Peak. 140 THE 1 ATlONAL HORTICULTURAL ~IAGAZINE July, 1949 conditions that it find on Pike's Peak. over rocks, then higher the panorama One friend brought us this, in hi s northward of plains from which high horse's nosebag, with an offering of ridges, bluffs and baby mountains rise other high treasures from 12,000 feet and tail off eastward. up in the Tarryall range. It grows, too, Higher still-now above timberline on Long's Peak. In all its haunts it -where Boykinia decorates rocks still is always between rocks. Does it know in their elemental upheaval-views be­ that such suggestion of mass and per­ come bigger and bolder. We can look manence enhances its beauty? southwards to the Sangre de Cristo Now for luring it into the garden: it range, a happy hunting ground too for is quite easily transplantable but is plants, while at our feet the ground rather slow in becoming established drops away suddenly a thousand feet and rea ll y quite deliberate about de­ or so to a gravel slide where we first ciding to bl oom. When it does it is found the little A qu,ilegia saXi111,Q1'!,tana. worth the wait. In our garden it grows There are no words to describe the happily in a mixture of equal parts combination of delights on such a trek. sandy loam, peatmoss and sharp sand Acres of alpine flowers, breath-taking (or clean gravel) on an extremely por­ views and intoxicating air defy descrip­ ous subsoil ; this in a north exposure tion. and always snuggling up to a rock. In KATHLEEN MARRIAGE. this climate of sunny dry winters it Colorado Springs, Colorado. chooses any exposure except south­ even in its cold mountain home at 11 ,- Cilia Nuttalli 000 feet. Gilias of the Rockies incline to have One plant tucked into a retaining an appearance of gay abandon, colorful wall by steps at our mountain summer but untidy. One that is most neat and cabin (9,000 feet) bl ooms faithfully tidy is C. N~~ttalli) fit for any Rock every yea r. This faces north and lives Garden and assertive enough for the in partial shade of spruces most of its front edge of a small perennial garden. tim e. At the first glance the white star-like Chemical reaction? We find the lit­ five petal flowers suggest an erect tle soil contained in the gravel ancl dwarf phlox ; the light green narrow chiprock around its roots in its native leaves are arranged in tufted whorls habitat is a slightly acid humus, often at intervals along the stems rather sug­ pine duff. Probably it has a fine dis­ gestive of the needles of lodgepole pines regard for chemistry. All it asks is a under which they grow. comfortable rooting medium and op­ Two recommendations for this as portunity to keep its feet and its collar well as for its well-behaved foliage and dry during autumn and winter. fl owers: its general appearance is good, It is no hardship to travel either never straggling, and it is a tireless driving the road or climbing the trails bloomer. to ee this at its best. P ike's Peak with Although its general rooting habit its atell ite humps is a lone peak about looks amenable to transplanting we a hundred mi l·es east of the continental have diffi culty in establishing collected divide so at every turn there is a glori­ plants, even youngsters. Seed germi­ ou open view first into spruce-edged nates well and plants in the garden do­ valleys each with its ice cold water a little self sowin g successfully. stream hurrying and tumbling down V/ e find it about 10,000 feet up, on July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL :MAGAZINE 141

Kathleen 111 a'1''1'iage Gilia 1 '1'/;~ttalli the Continental Divide in sandy or Query gravelly soil, often in deeper richer soil than many true alpines choose. One of our members, li ving near the ·Gentiana pGII'1'yi and P enste11'bOn pro­ District of Columbia, would like sug­ ,cerus are usual companions, all of them gestions for a plant to grow between 1n clearings of Lodgepole Pine (P. paving stones in a shady location, that conto1'ta) . wi ll be evergreen and will give off a We drove a mile or so off the road last June along a "timber road" near pleasant odor when trod upon. N atu­ Leadville to fll1d a level clearing in the rally it should be a plant of relatively pines for lunch and a nap. Our rugs low stature. \Vhat wo uld you suggest. had for mattresses hundreds of plants Remember that shade in this case of Gilia m£ttalh, its young fresh green stems not yet showing buds. means shade! From trees and with KATHLEEN MARRIAGE. some root competition. Soil is l1atu­ Colomdo Sprin.gs, ColO1'ado rally acid in mild degree. A Book or Two

Pacific Coa·st Gardening Guide. Nor­ There is no reference to the author's vell Gillespie. Doubleday and Co., own garden but there is a goodly list Inc., N ew York, 1949. 306 pages, of names of persons who have helped illustrated. $3.00. in one way or another and they are This book is written for gardeners mostly persons who do garden and gar­ on the Paci,fic Coast with some data den well. for other western gardeners in those re­ gions that have some relation to the H ow to I-nC1'ease Plants. Alfred C. conditions of the West rather than to Rottes, A. T. De la Mare Company, those of the great Rocky Mountain Inc., New York, 1949. 279 pages, plateau. The author, former garden illustrated. $3.00. editor of Sunset Magazine, now in a T his new volume is designed to take similar positi on on the San Francisco the place of Mr. Rottes' earlier ".Prac­ Chronicle, for thirteen years has had tical P lant Propagation," and he has ample opportunity to know the sort of made every effort not only to widen thing that his reader's group would the scope of the fi,eld treated but to in­ like to know and has proceeded to sup­ clude all the fruits of experience and ply the data in palatable form. It is research that have accumulated. simply written and well organized. It Mr. Hottes says in his preface: "This is not intended that the book should book is not a record of personal dis­ have all the answers to all possible in­ covery. To those nurserymen, scien­ quiries, nor is it intended as a source tists and amateur gardeners who have book for data on all the possibilities devised clever new ways of propaga­ that li e ahead of gardeners in that great tion, I acknowledge credit." area with its diversified climates and Nevertheless in the lucid and simple soils. fashion that we have come to expect F or what it sets out to do, it is well from Mr. Rottes, he has gone over the done. It should have many readers who field and presented the materials in the will find it just what they have been fami li ar question and answer method looking for. that has served him well before, and F Or the non-western gardener pos­ that has been so eminently satisfactory sibly the most interesting feature wi ll to a large public. There are two in­ be the li sts of nursery addresses given dices, for further assistance. aft er many of the special chapters for now the Eastern gardener turns to the Shn fbs for th e Ml:lde'r Counties. W. , Nest with pleasure as a source of Arnold-Forster. London: Country plants that fo rmerly he might have had Life Ltd.; Charles Scribner's Sons, to find, only in nurseri es abroad. Re New York, 1949. 367 pages, illus­ may regret only that the li sts are not trated. $10.00. longer and that they are not annotated This is a delightful book to read to suggest the extent of the material whether one means to find in it any in­ offered. That he can find out for him­ spiration or not. It is also the sort of self! The most in teresting chapters book that is almost impossible to re­ and li sts are those that relate to the view in any fashion that will not be ir­ several groups of plants that do ex­ ritating to the possible reader, and that traordinarily well on the Coast. is on e's last wi sh in such cases. [1 42) July, 1949 TH E NATIONAL H ORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 143

It has to do with the remarkable desirability of using good stuff , will lie nmnber of woody plants, that have in our reaction to the stimulus of read­ shown themselves to be des irable fo r ing about plants that we may not know planting in the warmer parts of Britain, at all , but that we ought to want to especially Cornwall. It is also con­ know. Many of them will be quite im­ cerned with the use of these plants in possible fo r most of us but I beli eve positions that will be relatively perma­ that all of us will be intrigued to fin d nent with the sad knowledge of the perfectly familiar friends in the li sts, changing world scene that will make things that we should not have looked the preservati on of large private es­ upon as needing the more tempe rate tates with thei r amazing collections of climate of the south of E ngland. fin e plants, more and more difficul t of The Paci·fi c Coast people will be de­ maintenance. The author poin ts out in li ghted with much of it, the people in this connection that since towns are the Pacific northwest will be specially continually planting trees and shrubs delighted even after their recent winter in the parks, on their streets and else­ season, the people in our South should where, it is perfectly reasonable t o con­ read with some concern to be sure that sider the planting of rare and splendid they are not overlooki ng even more thi ngs if they have the stamina to en­ than they are now neglecting, the rest dure the conditions. A ll of thi s is qui te of us, yes, we will have to read for the sound and we can well take this to sheer deli ght of knowing what is beau­ heart although our own problems relat­ tiful wherever it is. ing to permanence may wear a di ffer­ There is little likelihood that such a ent face. book coul d ever be written here with The fi rst chapters are largely given any profit to anyone, unless it were re­ over to annotated li sts of plants that duced to encycl opedic fo rm and so cur­ would " do" under certain specified civ­ tailed, in which fo rm it would lose its ic conditions. They are, of necessity, chief delights. But it is a book that repetitious. T he later chapters are should be read by the serious horticul­ given over to the di scussion of trees turists w ho live over the enti re coun­ and shrubs in general from among try, as a spur to their ow n gardening those that would come into the earlier and thei r own activities private and requirements of the author's field. One civic. T he sections on camellias will of the continued references is to wind, not enliven too many collectors here a subject that is not often very fully and I am sure that the so utherners wi ll handl ed in most books. There are many yield no pride of place to the Califo r­ references to plants seen by the author nians in regard to clones of Call1,etl-ia in this country and some comments of Sasanq~w. T he people interested in de­ the diffe rences in behavior. There is ciduous magnolias shoul d rise in a body no intention, however, of writing the to pursue the new names and fo rms, book for general appeal, it is specific the azalea people in this country will and local. It is rather sport none the sniff at the treatment of their hobbies, less to find the tables turned in some especially the mixture of Kaempfe ri X cases and a British author telli ng a malvatica hybrids among the Kurumes, British subject how some things grow and the notation of the Kurume hose­ and behave over here. in-hose vari eties as doubles . Much For us, the great value of the book more could be made of many kinds of beyond bringing to our attentio n the li ttle details, but that is not important. 144 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZI NE July, 1949

The vi tal matter is to read it and then when she was here some time ago. No go out and do something in your own attempt is made to cover the fl ora of garden and town. the entire area. The arrangement is that of a diary and we feel the suc­ cession of bloom; but there are a few Table Setting fo?' Eve?'yone. Dorothy brief pieces at the end for cultural ad­ Biddle and Dorothea Blum. M. Bar­ vice. The plates are only so-so but one rows and Company, Inc., New York, gets a good look at the fl owers of H 0114- 1949. 128 pages, diagrams. $2.00. ogloss~m~ watsonianum" lYlons01'lJia spe­ It would be very neat to dispose of ciosa and a most interesting habit pic­ this as "more Biddle and Blom" but ture of Crimm~ longif oli-u?l/I~ as well as that would be hardly sporting. It tells some of the things that we already in the usual vernacular that is peculiar know about at least in part. to this pair what tb.ey feel should be done about setting the table for every kind of occasion, except the plain busi­ Gm-dens in the Modern Landscape. ness of eating good food without dis­ Christopher Tunnard. Charles Scrib­ tractions. There are the useful bits ner's Sons, New York, 1949. 184 about tables set up in flower shows pages, illustrated. $5.00. for the animals to look at, the poor This is a very irritating and there­ creatures who pay the gate and come fore very useful book. On looking for the fu n of it. There are all the usu­ quickly through its pages one is im­ al good points and all the usual care­ pressed with the almost malicious skill lessness, such as approval of a table in which the author has gathered damn­ presumably set for Beatrice by Dante ing evidence from our past to serve as with a centerpiece that included orien­ a prelude for our inevitable future. His tal persimmons! The typical careless proposals for that future may look as adjective like " luscious" applied to the comical in some future time as do the flowers of Streli tz ia ! relics he has presented. But wherever If you want to annoy your family one looks, or however one reads, he here are all the prescriptions. If you must remember the title, which has a want to run the gauntlet in the fl ower limited and very specific meaning, even show, here are plenty of notions ! if the author does not always stay with­ It is not a garden book, Thank God ! in its implicit bounds. The important thing for any reader perhaps is to realize that the profes­ A Garden of South Af?'ican Flowers. sional landscape architect is looking at K. C. Stanford. Maskew Miller Ltd., the garden with an eye that is now af­ Cape Town, South Africa, 1949. 63 fected in its vision by the ways of pages, 14 plates. $-. thought and feeling that are supposed­ This slender volume, Miss Stanford ly stirring the architects. The treat­ tells us disarmingly was "written for ments of plant materials and the gen­ my own satisfaction." It is entirely eral discussion of plant materials will personal and limited in treatment to not interest us very much since they the special plants that Miss Stanford are based upon British locales but the has grown in her own garden and nurs­ way in which Mr. Tunnard and the ery. The prose has the same contagious artist Mr. Cullen look at them should quality that we recall from her lectures be of the liveli est concern while their July, 1949 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 145 comments are good for more than one For our readers this will be a refer­ smile. ence work. It is written in so clear and There is an entertaining final chapter simple a fashion that O;lce the special by Dr. Hudnut, Dean of Harvard Uni­ vocabulary is accepted, it will be read versity that should be read with equal with interest that grows on one. It care. Much of all this is quite daft but probably will not be a book that one it remains a good book in spite of the will use in place of the smaller hand­ fact that the weak will ape the poorer books intended for "home use" but it portions, for the quick will be quick­ should have a wider use than the or­ ened even to the creative urge, for they dinary reader might sus pect from his will remember that no artist provides fi rst consideration. a formula. Pnming IsS i1'I'Lple. J Ohl1 and Carol Che11,.ist7'Y and Uses of Insecticides. E. Grant. Frank McCaffrey Publish­ R. de Ong. Reinhold Publishing ers, Seattle, 1949. 59 pages, deco­ Company, New York, 1948. 345 rated. $2.50. pages, illustrated. $6.00. This is a review of the moment of Quoting the statement on the dust all the things that have been said be­ c-over this book is "particularly well fore about the proper ways of pruning, adapted for use as a textbook in agri­ brought to the moment, in a Seattle lo­ tural colleges as its method of presen­ cale with examples for discussion that tation is highly systematic and thor­ might not be found in many other ough, and since the treatment is pre­ groups. The illustrations are sketches, sented from the practical point of view. too much on the arty slick-magazine­ It will also be an excellent volume for style to please this reviewer but very insecti<:ide manufacturers, botanists, smartly done. The advice is quite entomologists, and all who are con­ sound, the presentation will make no cerned with agricultural research." particular demands 011 concentration, "Particular attention is given to the and the advice if followed should make subje<:t of fumigation. The auth-or for better garden care. There are a furnishes a definite critical evaluation goodly number of ideas put forward by for all the insecticides discussed. This the authors that could be debated, but is intended to be a handbook of insecti­ that only adds to the value of the book cides designed primarily for the use of for thinking people; and no book is a growers in all branches of agriculture. good book for the non-thinker for he It includes a complete dictionaFY of will get into trouble anyway with any insecticides, and glossary, and numer­ book. ous tables of data, standards of per­ As one can note by the number of formance, etc. The inclusion of these pages, it is not very much of a book, data in the form of appendices will in­ the text being scarcely more than an crease the value of the book to the prac­ expanded magazine article, enli vened ti'cal user." by sketches and fortified by li sts. The Gardener's Pocketbook

Vibun7U17iL SUSpe17SU1I'l, before I recalled that the scent was that of the aronia common to these One who has lived 1110St of his life parts, a somewhat pungent not al­ in an area with essentially deciduous together pleasing scent, nothing to com­ flora is always interested in any other pare with the delightful odor of V. and it has been noticed that in reo-ions b Carlesii and its kin but infinitely better far south of this (D.C.) there are many that that of some of the deciduous areas in which the broad-leaved ever­ species. green shrubs and trees for his borders The growth is so dense without 111 i tigate in part the ash-gray color of pecan groves in winter, among other clipping, that one could certainly con­ plants this evergreen viburnum. sider this for use as an informal hedge. How well it would respond to shears Unlike many such, it grows with a would depend probably upon the skill fair pace and in five years has made a of the operator, who would have to 0'0 thi,ck shrub some 8 feet tall, and possi­ b over the plants twig rather than lop bly 5 feet through. The carriage of the branches is essentially upwards so that off th.e wh~ l e mass as one may safely do WIth privets. On the other hand the leaves show as much of the some­ since in southern regions, the what lighter colored, under surfaces circula~ hon of all moving airs in summer is as they do of the more glossy upper an essential, one may 110t want a thick surfa.ces. This habit is also happy in hedge, certainly not one that would be that It does not hide the inflorescences as dense as a well trimmed clipped borne as in all viburnums but ar~ hedge might make. carried quite differently. Instead of rising a.bove the. leaves they hang The only other evergreen viburnum down wIth a cunous curve as if the fl owering at the time or even a little crowded mass were being poured from earlier was Vib",t.r11u1n Tim£s so often some container. The individual fl owers used for hedges in Great Britain and are not large but are neatly made as in gardens on the Pacific Coast. This in other snowballs, an off-white color, has a rather more open habit in the not quite creamy nor even rose-tinted South and an entirely different habit in all regards with leaves that fall into in bud, but just not quite pure white. ~nore natural positions and flat topped The most interesting thing about the Inflorescences that give off a faint but plant is the scent that diffuses through quite sweet scent in the cold airs. the garden even on the somewhat chilly Whether or not either of these spe­ da,Ys of mid-winter. In Mississippi, cies ever produ.ce their fruits in the thIS year it began to flower in , late South where there are low tempera­ D~ember and was in full bloom by tures during the fl owering season I do mId-January. As the fl owers are not not know. Their berries are said to showy little thought was given to the be black but no one has noted whether pl~nt when the garden began to fi'n they pass through all degrees of red WIth curious perfume that seemed and purple before they turn black, de­ strangely reminiscent of some fam iliar tai ls of no import to the taxonomist shrub. A little searching brought me but of more than passing interest to to the viburnum but much time elapsed the gardener. [146] The American Horticultural Society

I NVITES to membership all persons who are interested in the develop­ ment of a great national society that shall serve as an ever growing center for the dissemination of the common knowledge of the members. There is no requirement for membership other than this and no reward beyond a share in the development of the organization. For its members the society publishes THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE, at the present time a quarterly of increasing importance among the horticultural publications of the day and destined to fill an even larget role as the society grows. It is published during the months of January, April, July and October and is written by and for members. Under the present organization of the society with special committees appointed for the furthering of special plant projects the members will receive advance mate­ rial on narcissus, tulips, lilies, rock garden plants, conifers, nuts, and rhodo­ dendrons. Membership in the society, therefore, brings one the advantages of membership in many societies. In addition to these special projects, the usual garden subjects are covered and particular attention is paid to new or little known plants that are not commonly described elsewhere. The American Horticultural Society invites not only personal member­ ships but affiliations with horticultural societies and clubs. To such it offers some special inducements in memberships. Memberships are by the calen­ dar year. The Annual Meeting of the Society is held in Washington, D. c., and members are invited to attend the special lectures that are given at that time. These are announced to the membership at the time of balloting. The annual dues are five dollars the year, payable in advance; life membership is one hundred dollars; inquiry as to affiliation should be ad­ dressed to the Secretary, 821 Washington Loan and Trust Building.