Sometimes favorite garden subjects of the olden days almost disappear from modern gardens, and many of the newer plants of true value are often too seldom seen.
Collinsia bicolor is one of the former.
Old Time Plant Collinsia
In the spring garden, Collinsia may attain a height of 20” inches in ordinary soil, blooming freely from June until frost. The inflorescence of this old-time plant is refreshing in its uniqueness of form.
The blooms are deeply lipped and borne in whorls, tier above tier, like a Chinese pagoda, which gives rise to the common name of Chinese houses.
The most common color combination is lavender and white, but several other colors appear from a mixed packet of seeds.
Gilia Capitata’s Characteristics
Gilia capitata is another old-timer with a long season of bloom.
It is known as the following the fairy thimble flower
The plant is erect and bushy, about 2 feet tall, covered with feathery foliage, and dotted with sky-blue thimbles.
Bees hover about the azure, inch-wide blossoms, and the flowers dry nicely in winter bouquets.
The double sorts of clarkia grown in light shade will produce great spikes of flowers in the poorest soil in the daintiest colors imaginable.
Thriving in cool soil, the blossoms look like crinkled rosettes or little carnations, and a bouquet of these charming pixie blooms will intrigue you.
Emilia Sagittata
Emilia sagittata, the tassel flower, is a delightful annual with fluffy, half-inch blooms that resemble silken tassels. The plant flowers early from seed and brightens the garden bed for a long period.
Flowers of Sapphire Blue
A mass of echium suggests a sapphire sea. At flowering time, the illusion of waves is realistic when the summer breeze stirs the blue blossoms.
Blue Bedder: White Hills
Blue Bedder is a proven variety; White Hills, the favorite white sort, furnishes a cool tone, always welcome where hot-tempered poppies and peppery petunias are glowing nearby.
Little Prince Candytuft
Another white-flowered plant. useful as an edging or for cutting, is Little Prince candytuft. Only 6” inches tall, it bears miniature spikes of snowy blossoms in hyacinth form.
This is a good sort for planting late in the fall. It will make your tulip bed a white delight in the spring.
Snow Crown
I like the white form of the Cleome Snow Crown for the touch of gold amid its pale petals. and the airiness of the flowers.
Gabon Boreale
A fascinating, bushy perennial that furnishes many tiny, white flower clusters for bouquets is Gabon Boreale, which presents the appearance of a dainty, green herb enveloped in fairy mist.
Catananche “Cupid’s Dart”
An unusual perennial, seldom seen, is catananche, called cupid’s-dart, from the shape of the leaves.
The blossoms are fairly large and somewhat resemble a double daisy, but what daisy can display blossoms of such melting, tender blue? These pointed-petaled flowers, ideal for cutting, last well.
Snow White
Snow White is a new variety, with blossoms of purest white, borne like those of the blue sort on plants 25” inches in height. These plants are drought-resistant, and the blooms may be dried for Winter decoration.
For the Hardy Border
Among the new digitalis, the Princess Pastel mixture is enticing in the delicate beauty of its coloring.
Witchers Thimbles
You will enjoy “witches thimbles” in the pink, apricot, buff, rose, and heliotrope on four-foot stalks if you plant it.
In a biennial, the plants should be given good drainage, and I find that they Winter well when grown on a slope, with pine needles tucked in under the leaves around each plant.
Good Perennials
Two good perennial bachelor’s buttons that seem to be very little known are Centaurea Orientalis and Centaurea ruthenica, with reddish and yellow blooms, respectively.
These blossoms are good in bouquets all summer, while the unopened buds are of decorative value since they resemble squatty bottles in brown basketry.
At most any hour of the day, one may see burly bees hovering over these tall plants, seeking their “coke” hidden in these fat demijohns of flower land.
44659 by Naomi Ingalls