Mrs. Countryman:  Will yucca filamentosa ever blossom in a garden in St. Paul?

Mrs. Sawyer:  It will, but it doesn’t always.  It does blossom in Minnesota, but I know that people have a great deal of difficulty getting blossoms.

Mrs. Countryman:  I have five plants growing four years and have never seen a blossom yet.

Mr. Hawkins:  I have had two growing three years, and I never have seen the color of a blossom yet.

A Member:  What kind is that?

Mr. Hawkins:  It is the yucca filamentosa.  It is an evergreen.  It should throw up a tall stalk with large branches and plenty of white flowers, I think hundreds of flowers—­that is the description.  It is a beautiful thing in the garden anyway.

Mrs. Countryman:  I have seen them in blossom in California.

Mr. Richardson:  I have seen them blossom many times in Winnebago.

Mrs. Countryman:  Give us the culture instructions.

Mr. Richardson:  I grew in nursery rows some odd stuff, had the same culture that the nursery had.  But when it blossomed one year I have been told on good authority it would be five years before that stalk would blossom again, only blossoms once in five years, but by having many stalks they don’t all blossom at the same time.  I have had them two or three years in succession but not on the same stalk.

Mrs. Countryman:  Do you cover them winters?

Mr. Richardson:  Never.

Mr. Hawkins:  I think the only reason why the yucca filamentosa doesn’t do well is because it is a plant of the southwest and grows in a warmer climate.

Mrs. Sawyer:  I had a varied experience in growing those plants, and I took a great deal of pains to learn all I could from different sources and different people, and I believe our trouble is our late frosts, I think that is conceded by people who have really gone into the question thoroughly.  Our late frosts injure them more than anything else.  A little protection in the spring is what they need more than protection in winter, and we know that they don’t want a wet place.

Mr. Hawkins:  I want to recommend a flower that should be very popular.  It is perfectly hardy, blossoms for years, the hardy pyrethrum.  It is a daisy-like flower, absolutely free from insects and a sure bloomer.  We have plants in the garden that have bloomed six years.  It comes in many shades, from white to deep crimson, blooms from the 15th of May to the 1st of July and makes a beautiful showing.  In regard to iris, did any one have any trouble with their iris coming a little ahead of time last year and being frozen?

Mrs. Sawyer:  I guess they all froze off.  I don’t think it was because they were ahead of time; it was because of the frost.

Mr. Hawkins:  What would you recommend?

Mrs. Sawyer:  I don’t think there is anything to do in weather like last spring, you can’t cover anything away from a hard black frost like that was.