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WISCONSIN  HORTICULTURE 
OUTSTANDING PERENNIALS 
                                    G. Wm. Longenecker 
M ANY good varieties of per- 
      ennials have been on trial 
 in the Horticultural gardens of 
 the Wisconsin College of Agri- 
 culture. The varieties listed below 
 have been found to be among the 
 best and are recommended for 
 trial in our gardens. 
 Aquilegia Crimson Star. Cen- 
 ter white; outside rich crimson 
 red. A good clear color. Long 
 spurs. Very good. 
 Aster Blue Bird. Very good 
 dwarf blue aster. Compact plant 
 covered with light blue flowers. 
 Aster Frikarti. Very large flow- 
 ers of deep lilac blue. Grows to 
 about 30 inches tall. A  good 
 bushy plant, well covered with 
 large flowers. 
 Aster Nonae Belgi Beechwood 
 Challenger. Very excellent red 
 aster. The closest to a red aster 
 yet produced. A good upright but 
 bushy plant with good clean foli- 
 age. 
 Aster Novi Belgi CoL F. R. 
 Durham. Plant very heavily cov- 
 ered with double and semi-double 
 dark blue flowers. In bloom for 
 several weeks; about 3Y2 feet 
 tall. 
 Aster Novi-Belgi Mount Ever- 
 est. Very excellent white aster. 
 Plant covered with flowers right 
 down to the ground. Lacks the 
 dirty appearance of some of the 
 other white asters. 
 Aster Novi Belgi Strawberries 
 and Cream. Flowers open a deep 
 pink then soften to a soft pink 
 when open, giving a very pleas- 
 ing combination when the plant 
 is covered with open and partly 
 open flowers; 4 feet tall; good 
 foliage. 
 Coreopsis Golden Giant. The 
 flower the good golden yellow of 
the ordinary cosmos. The flowers 
of coreopsis Golden Giant how- 
ever are from 3 to 4 inches in 
diameter, perhaps somewhat 
large for the small garden, but 
a good addition for larger areas. 
A good cut flower. 
  Delphinium Pink Sensation. A 
  good light pink flowered delphin- 
ium. Had several periods of bloom 
but the plants were not as bushy 
as they might be. Do not know 
how it will come through the 
winter as we have had it just the 
past season. Well worth growing 
however, if the price was a little 
more reasonable. A new patented 
variety. 
  Phlox subulata Blue Hills. Was 
just planted the past spring so 
did not flower as well as it might. 
The flowers that were present 
however were much clearer and 
had better substance than the 
old variety Lilacina. 
  Phlox subulata atropurea. Few 
flowers this spring because it had 
just been moved. Flowers a deep 
red. Should be of value where a 
low growing phlox with a red 
flower can be used. 
  Phlox  Harvest Fire. Large 
flowers of bright salmon-orange 
in large clusters. Foliage a good 
healthy green all summer. A very 
excellent garden phlox. 
  Phlox Tigress. Very large pyra- 
mid of bright orange-scarlet flow- 
ers. The flower clusters are made 
up of a number of long branched 
laterals giving it a long period 
of bloom. Was in flower for sev- 
eral weeks. 
  Shasta Daisy Chiffon. Attrac- 
tive frilled shasta. A light airy, 
flower but was damaged some- 
what by rain and the overhead ir- 
rigation. 
  Shasta Daisy Snowbank. Plant 
entirely covered with flowers for 
a long season. 
  Gypsophila  Rosenschleier. A 
small babysbreath very heavily 
covered with double pink flow- 
ers. Flowered for several weeks. 
Became somewhat bedraggled by 
the overhead irrigation and the 
beating of the soil up through 
the plants. Should however be an 
excellent plant in rock gardens or 
in rock walls. 
  Hemerocallis Margaret Perry. 
Only one stalk of bloom this year 
from three plants (first year). 
That one, however, was almost 5 
feet tall. The flowers were an at- 
tractive copper tinged crimson 
with a yellow base. Should make 
a good background plant in the 
large border. 
NEW IDEA FOR WATERING 
           PLANTS 
W ATERING plants directly 
     at their roots is a new idea 
for gardeners. A hollow iron rod 
is attached to the garden hose. 
The rod is easily pushed into the 
soil when water comes out of the 
pointed end. After pushing it 
down into the soil about 18 
inches, the water will soak up the 
soil at this depth where the roots 
really are. 
  So often a light rain will pene- 
trate only an inch or two which 
has the tendency of drawing the 
roots upward toward the surface. 
Deep watering, therefore may be 
of special advantage. 
April, 1940 
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