_Editor Mayflower:_
I thought that I would write an account of the curious freaks of
Weigelia Eva Rathke received from Floral Park and transplanted to my
grounds two years ago this winter. On the near approach of spring it
began to grow rapidly, and soon bore its first crop of flowers. And such
flowers as they were it was a rare treat to behold. Their five-petaled
corollas, faultless in form, and each perhaps an inch and a half in
diameter, were of the darkest and most intense red; a color that is
almost unrivaled by any other, and which it retains till the last, is
one of its attractions. About a month later it bloomed again, and kept
up a continuous growth, which did not end till frozen down to the ground
in the following December, after it had attained a height of over two
feet. So I came to the conclusion that being a Northern shrub, and full
of sap, it was undoubtedly killed out, root and branch. The next spring,
when the ground had become well warmed up, I beheld two delicate, tiny
looking sprouts from the root, which I immediately took charge of,
giving them shade and an occasional watering. After awhile their growth
became more vigorous; and after having attained a height of about
eighteen inches they formed their terminal buds in early autumn, and
ceased growing. At present both of them are alive along their entire
length and all their buds are plump and dormant. I shall make a strong
effort to push this shrub when warm weather comes again, as it looks as
though under favorable circumstances it ought to thrive in the South. I
also believe that Weigelia Rosea would likewise be at home here, as it
is a thrifty large growing shrub in the North, and has every appearance
of being an iron-clad.--_Joshua Morris._