New York State College of Agriculture At Gornell University Ithaca, N. Y. Library on University Library tl iii ; THE MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN WUVHO GNV ALGINVA dO TING NAGUVS TIVWS V THE MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN BY IDA D. BENNETT Author of “The Flower Garden,” “The Vegetable Garden,” ete. WITH FOUR DIAGRAMS AND SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS vi CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGD XX. Pianr ENEMIES AND INSECTICIDES. . 208 XXI. Toe Vatue or «a DEFINITE COLOR ScHEME IN THE GARDEN; A WHITE, A Rep, a YELLOW AND A BLUE GARDEN, with TABLE OF Puants . . . . 215 XXII. Brrp Houses, NaratrortuMs AND FEED- ING Stations . . . . . . . 226 TaBLe of GERMINATION OF SEEDS . . 242 INDEX: «6 « & © «© «© «2 w «~ 246 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS A small garden full of variety andcharm Frontispiece Does this look like a promising garden spot? The result of a flower lover’s work in one year . As a low hedge Dene the myerenee aa is unexcelled A lovely mass of Gees, ogeratum uA tritomas > Varr G A successful treatment of a oiangular anete between drives Red and white wipe used as & ponds for aici bery : A wide border of ianinte aa pansies . A small back yard devoted to roses A rose arch is a most effective i for climb- ing roses ‘ A thrifty window box its masini hes slants Vines effectively used as porch decoration Funkia overhanging a bee pee with water poppies Tris used as a border for a ee A hardy border of larkspur and hsilyhocks Foxglove planted ao a pee ound of penn bery . . vii 48 49 74. 75 102 103 124 125 142 143 152 153 THE MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN CHAPTER I THE LOCATION WHEN one takes up the subject of the location of a garden one has to consider at the start just what ad- vantages are afforded by the piece of ground com- prising one’s special domain. If it consists merely of a city lot with its few feet of turf in front and a few square yards of wall-enclosed back yard, the prob- lem will be the simple one of making that little patch of ground as attractive and prolific of bloom and beauty as possible; and there are harder problems by far than this, though an undeveloped city back yard may look hopeless enough to the uninitiated. The small town lot affords greater advantages, as there is usually considerable space at the side or rear of the dwelling to allow of mass planting about boundaries and often of the laying out of a more or less formal 1 2 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN garden at one side. This is, of all, the happiest ar- rangement—that the garden shall be so situated as to be visible from the living-room windows, especially from those occupied by the busy mistress of the home. Usually the home is built and the garden added as an afterthought; this often results in an unfortunate placing, both from a practical and an esthetie point of view. That the garden should be sufficiently retired from the street to insure privacy, and at the same time close enough to the house to become an intimate part of the life of the home, goes without saying. And this is only secured when the garden comes to us, through vistas opened by the friendly windows, so that one may pause from time to time in the day’s employment to enjoy its beauty or run out for a mo- ment or two’s work among the flowers. A garden that takes one far from the house will not receive the constant intimate attention that is the heritage of the one where odd moments are utilized ; one plans for spare hours in the one, for spare moments in the other. ‘ The plans illustrated, while by no means the last word in garden arrangement, should be helpful in planning the small place garden or the arrangement of a city lot. In Plan A the house is centrally located on the lot and both a flower and a vegetable garden are arranged for, with considerable planting of shrubbery about the THE LOCATION 3° base of the house and an inviting circle of turf in front of the rear door. The radiating beds of the flower garden are excep- tionally favorable where one wishes to grow a great variety of flowers and shrubs in a restricted area, as low-growing perennials and annuals may occupy the fore part of the beds and larger growths be gradually introduced as the beds recede until, in the rear, they give place to tall shrubs or small ornamental trees. This form of planting greatly increases the apparent extent of the grounds and also serves as a screen for. unsightly objects in the rear. The long, straight paths make the care of the beds a simple affair and the number of beds and paths may be regulated accord- ing to the ground at command. A beautiful arrangement of the planting would be to run a triple row of tulips, hyacinths or narcissi along the edges of all the beds and sow English daisy seed, pansies, ageratums or other low-growing plants among them to cover the ground when they are through blooming. On the less sunny borders the lobelias would be beautiful, as would the dwarf morn- ing glories which remain open all day. The tufted pansies are permanent and beautiful border plants, especially the yellow ones, and one can compose very artistic color schemes by using flowers that harmonize with the edging plants in the different beds. Plan B is a much more formal laying out of a city Base Puantine Asour Housp A. Spiraea Van Houttei B. C. Hydrangea paniculata Bocconia BED D. E. F. X. Auratum and Candidum Ponies Shasta Daisies Gladioli Lilies BED 2 a. Hw.” Te J. K. Asters Nicotiana affinis Salvias Forsythias Tamarix BED 3 L. M. N. Deutzia(Pride of Rochester) German Iris Forgloves BED 4 oO. F, Q. Delphiniums (Gold Medal Anthericums Aquilegias ‘ Hybrids) R. Buddleia variabilis, PLAN A Broom May SJuly-Aug. Aug.-Sept.’ June July Aug.-Sept. June-July July-Sept. Aug.—Sept. Aug.—Sept. May May-Sept. May-June June-July June May June June-July July. Huicar 4 -5! 5 -8’ 5° 18” -2' 18” ~2' 2° -3 3° -6' 18” -2' gr -3 Q° —5! 3’ 8/-12' 2 -37 Qa 4! 6’ -8' 18” -2’ Qo Q ~6’ 6’ Cotor White Flesh color White White,pink,red White Various colors White Various colors White,rose,ete. Scarlet Yellow Pink All colors White, Tose, purple White White All colors Blue, white Violet Puan A PLAN B Broom Heicer Cotor B. Poolinfgarden; plant Water June-frost Pink, yellow, Lilies white X. Trellis in rear—Ampelopsis June-frost Trailing Blue berries tricolor XX. Side trellises—Clematis Aug.—Sept. 15’ White paniculata Sunnyside of garden; A. Ageratum All summer 6” Blue B. Delphiniums July-Aug. 3’ -6’ Blue, white C. Auratum and Candidum June-July 3’ -4’ White, red Lilies spots D. Tritomas Aug—frost 2’ -3’ Flame color E. Feverfew July 2 White F. Asters July-Sept. 15-18" Blue, white, red G. Lychnis and Garden Spiraea July 2’ -3’ Scarlet H. Physostegia Mid-summer 4’ -6’ White, pink I. Clethra alnifolia July-Aug. 3’ -5’ White J. Chionanthus May-June Tree White K. Altheas September Tree’ White, red, etc. Shady side of garden; A. Funkias Aug.-Sept. 2 White B. Azaleas Juke 2’ -4’ Red, white C. Rhododendrons June 2’ -8’ Red, white D. Hydrangea arborescens June 4’ -6’ White E. Salvias Aug.~Sept. 2’ -5’ Scarlet F. Nicotiana sylvestris All summer 4’ -6’ White G. Dogwood May Tree White H. Cercis Canadensis (Judas April 5 Rose color ree) Pots on steps of porch; Chinese Hibiscus in variety, or Bambusa Metake may be used. WEST ate & mig < SLBA PR EE Puan B 8 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN back yard, where utility is not so much considered as artistic effect. By using brick or stone division walls, cement walks and the like, considerable outlay may be indulged in, but the result will be permanent and satisfying. A very artistic effect may be achieved however, by the use of wooden trellises painted white, gravel or cinder paths and garden seats of wood. Ifa pool in the center is adopted it should be of concrete. Where this is not desired a rustic summer house may be substituted or a fountain or even a round garden seat, or a beautiful tree. Plan C with its accompanying table of planting is happily arranged at the side of the house, so fully in view from the windows of the living room and from the porch as to form an integral part of the whole. If a pergola outlines the half circle which characterizes the beginning of the garden it will form one more note in the symphony of the whole, or, if the porch is extended to cover the entire area between house and garden with steps leading to each separate path, rather than one broad series of steps, the result will be quaint and harmonious. Much attention has been paid in this design to the working out of a color scheme for the several beds, and careful attention to the harmony of adjacent beds. The same idea may be worked out in plans A and D. In this plan, as in A, the beds should all be edged with THE LOCATION 9 early spring flowering bulbs and later with blooming annuals or flowers of low growth. Plan D is an especially interesting plan for a for- mal garden, designed without special reference to the house, though it may be arranged quite as intimately as any of the others, Its special claim to preference lies in the fact that it may be extended from the small quarter of a circle, designed to fit into an odd bit of ground, to a half and even a whole circle, thus making an imposing formal garden. Like all the plans, consideration is given to the planting of low forms of flowers in the immediate foreground, pansies being especially suggested for the encircling outer beds, though verbenas or nasturtiums may be used where a more brilliant color scheme is desired. Where the quarter or half circle is used, then tall perennials, shrubs and the like may be employed in the rear and in the straight beds which border the design; but when the complete circle is adopted, then it will be best to keep the height of the entire planting rather uniform so as to have more the effect of carpet bed- ding. It is charmingly adapted to a rose garden and, if desired, the central beds may be devoted to rose trees rather than to the lower growths. For the practical care of a garden there is nothing so good as clean, well-cared for gravel or cinder paths, especially if some sort of curbing is used to confine the beds. Bricks laid in the old-fashioned saw-tooth pat- PLAN C 3BLOOOM BED 1.—Bivz anp Waits A. Ageratum All summer B. Heliotrope All summer C. Aquilegias June D, , Belphintums (Gold Medal July-fall E. Buddleias All summer F, Hyacinths,KingoftheBlues May BED 2.—YeE.tiow anp Waite A. Sweet Alyssum All summer B. Anthericums ay C. Anemones Sept.-Oct. D. Bachelor Buttons, double Ju E. Coreopsis, dwarf July—Sept. F. Lemon Lilies June-July G. Kerria May H. Forsythia April Border with triple rows of yellow, tulips rae 3.—ScarLer anp WHITE A. Candytuft All summer B. Verbenas All summer C. Shasta Daisies July D. Scarlet Lychnis July E. Nicotiana affinis All summer F. Salvias July on a yaad Van Houttei June ept Border with scarlet and white tulips BED 4.—Rose ano Waite SHADES A. English Daisy All summer B. Petunias, laree flowered All summer Cc. Vincas All summer D. Scabiosa June-July E. Weigelia May-June Border with red and white tulips BED 5.—Rose anp Waits Sabres A. Peonies June B. Candidum Lilies June C. Auratum Lilies July E. Gladioli ‘Aus—Sept. ALONG DRIVE AND ABOUT FOUNDATION OF HOUSE, GARAGE, ETC. 1. Hypericum Moserianum wy, 2. Spiraea Van Houttei 3. Deutzia (Pride of Rochester) Sane 4, Altheas Sept.—Oct. 5. Tamarix in variety May, June, Sept. HerautT 6” 12” 18” Q' 5 V 4? 6’ 6’ -12’ 6’ -12’ CoLoR Blue Violet Blue, white Blue, white Violet Blue Yellow White, red Scarlet White Scarlet White Scarlet White, red Rose, white Red, white White White, red All colors Yellow White White Rose, white Shades of rose This is a very interesting planting, as the carrying out of the color scheme in each bed gives opportunity for study and research, resulting in much en- joyable knowledge, 10 PLAN C PLAN D This plan is adapted to an irregular piece of ground and is especially suited to growing annuals and low-growing plants in the formal beds with tall-growing perennials or shrubbery in the borders at the rear. It will also develop satisfactorily as a plan for a rose garden in which case the central bed may be planted to tree roses or utilized for a rose arbor and in place of the shrubbery in the rear, rose trellises for such climbing roses as Mrs. Robert Peary, Climbing Meteor, Dr. Van Fleet and the like may be substituted. When used for growing annuals or other plants the central bed is designed for a cement lily-pool, or it may be planted to flowers, but the pool is much to be preferred. Where sufficient ground is at command the design may be repeated by laying out a similar series of beds on the far side of the shrubbery border. This gives a half circle and is a very attractive arrangement. The shrubbery in this case may be planted to ponies, with good effect, especially if interspersed with quantities of hardy lilies. Boxes of small evergreens or box, placed at the intersection of the paths will be very ornamental. 12 Es | Elen Ce ie nt 14 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN tern, with brick paths between, are altogether charm- ing in the old-fashioned hardy garden; especially is this true where the enclosing walls are of brick. Paths made from sifted coal ashes, the rough part used as foundation and the white fine ash for surface, are economical, easily cared for and most comfortable to work on—qualities not possessed by brick, cement or gravel. Where the garden is enclosed by a wooden fence of artistic design, painted white, narrow boards also painted white may be used to enclose the beds and will be quaint and old-timey. Whatever the curb- ing and walls or fences are, the garden accessories should correspond. Brick walls and paths will neces- sitate garden seats of wood which may be painted a brick red ; cement walls call for cement benches, urns, etc., while the artistic wooden fence is best supple- mented with garden seats, arches and trellises of wood painted white. CHAPTER II SOIL AND FERTILIZERS Lige the making of a garment, the making of a garden is largely a matter of material and style. But while the material of which our garments shall be composed is largely a matter of choice and taste, in the making of a garden we must deal with such ma- terial of soil, location and exposure as the good or bad of our environment supplies. Fortunately there is very little in the way of soil that cannot, by proper handling, be induced to respond to culture. I like to think that soil and plants are sentient things, feeling our moods and characteristics much as animals and humans do. If we deal with them generously and sympathetically, they will respond in kind, but the gardener niggardly in care, giving food and seed and moisture with a selfish hand, will reap a barren harvest. The only soil really unfit for cultivation is one of hard pan. Where this occurs there is really nothing that can be done except to remove it bodily and fill in the excavation with the best soil procurable. A 15 16 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN clay soil, on the contrary, is excellent for a rose gar- den when lightened with well-decayed manure and a proportion of leaf mold and sand ; such a soil may need underdrainage of tile or of broken stone and the like, but will not be lacking in fertility. A too sandy and light soil may be remedied by the addition of manure and leaf mold, or the decayed earth from the compost heap and from decayed sods, and so brought to a high degree of fertility and being light and warm will be in condition to work much earlier in the spring than the colder clay soil, Good loam such as produces a good crop of corn is an ex- cellent foundation for a garden as by the addition of muck and manure it may be adapted to a wide range of plants. Where a soil is in good mechanical condition, that is, soft and easily worked by the spade and fork, but seems dry and lacking in vitality, the addition of old well-rotted manure in the spring or fresh manure in the fall or late winter will put it in condition for the planting of most garden flowers. The proper pro- portion of manure is a wheelbarrow load to every square yard of soil. If the manure contains consider- able straw, this, decaying, will furnish a certain amount of humus which will counteract the dryness of the soil by retaining the moisture which a sandy soil allows to leach away. Sand forms a perfect drainage table by itself, but when combined with loam ' THE RESULT OF A FLOWER LOVER'S WORK IN ONE YEAR GATTHOXGNL SI VLVINOINVd VAONVUGAH AHL INVId TOAAH MOT V SV SOIL AND FERTILIZERS 17 and humus gives the warm, friable condition so neces- sary to successful plant growth. In cities it is ofttimes difficult to secure manure, especially old, well-rotted manure, for the garden, but there are few suburban or country places where it may not be had in abundance. Usually its place can be supplied from the various sources of waste fer- tility on the place. There are very few small town or suburban places in which poultry is not kept by many householders. Now poultry manure is one of the best concentrated fertilizers we have; rich in nitrogen, free from weed-producing seeds and easily stored and handled. If the droppings are removed from the perches daily and stored in barrels, sprin- kling a layer of dry earth over each successive layer, it will be in excellent condition to apply to the ground in the spring. The sweepings from the floors should also be saved for the garden, and being mixed with a considerable proportion of straw or other scratch ma- terial may be consigned to the compost heap, together with all the rakings from the lawn, the refuse from the garden, garbage from the house—anything of a vegetable nature or that will decay without creating an objectionable odor. If such a compost heap is arranged in some out of the way corner and kept within bonds by a frame of boards, but open to biddy’s activities, it will fur- nish an inexhaustible source of leaf mold or humus, 18 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN by the use of which, and a little bone meal, one may garden, quite independent of the bulkier manures. Another source of exceptional fertility is found in night soil that in country places might profitably be returned to the soil with the advantage of greater fertility and better sanitation. If a trench is dug through a garden bed, a foot or two at a time and such matter deposited and covered as soon as the liquid portion has seeped away, the result will be a soil that will grow anything and be in a mechanical condition that makes working it a recreation rather than a toil. One of the finest garden spots I ever saw was produced from indifferent soil by this means alone. Where poultry manure is used as a fertilizer a much less quantity is required than of stable manure —an eight quart pail full being sufficient for a square yard of ground and this should be trenched in so that the roots of newly planted things will not come into direct contact with it. By trenching is meant the method of laying back the soil across the end of a bed for one spade’s depth and width, filling in the trench thus formed with manure and throwing the next row of spading onto this; in this way all the manure is buried a spade’s depth below the surface where it remains moist, continues to decay, and at- tracts the roots of the plants down into deep soil in search of the food it offers. Manure left too close to SOIL AND FERTILIZERS 19 the surface encourages a surface growth of roots that are injured by drought and cultivation. The droppings from rabbits, Belgian hares and guinea pigs have the same value as the expensive sheep manure for which the florists charge so ex- travagantly and as it is easily saved and composited with dry earth, or simply dried by spreading out in the open air for a short time, it will form a well- worth considering source of garden fertility. Espe- cially is it suited to the enriching of window boxes and soil in pots. The waste water from the laundry and kitchen is valuable for any part of the garden, but seems especially acceptable to vines, which sel- dom are surfeited with moisture or food. Wood ashes are very valuable in the garden, espe- cially on a soil inclined to be wet, cold or sour. They furnish valuable potash and improve the mechani- eal condition of the soil; they should not, however, be mixed with manure, but rather be used as a sup- plementary addition, being applied after the ground is plowed or spaded and harrowed or raked in. Ap- plication should be made in spring rather than in the fall, while barnyard manure, on the contrary may be advantageously used in fall or early or late win- ter, especially if new or not well decayed. Bone meal is another valuable fertilizer and has the advantage of being always available. It does not, -however, add humus to the soil and this should, when 20 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN bone meal is depended upon, be supplied from the compost heap or other source. When using bone meal on beds of hardy perennials, lilies, shrubbery and those plants which, from the nature of their growth are not disturbed annually, but remain for several years where planted, two grades, or more, of bone meal should be used; a fine meal for immediate result and a coarse ground bone for more permanent effect. Even whole bones may be buried among shrub- bery and small trees to advantage. One quart of bone meal to a square yard of ground may be used on strong growing plants, a pint for annuals, while it may be omitted entirely on such plants as thrive best on rather poor soil. CHAPTER III HOTBEDS THE hotbed is so integral a part of the garden that it should precede rather than follow the construction of the garden itself, especially if the laying out of this is left until spring. For, while the ground is still cold with the snow and frosts of winter and the weather offers little inducement to out-door work, the hotbed with its mass of hot manure, underneath its covering of warm, mellow earth, is pushing and coax- ing forward, by heat and moisture and sunshine— all the potent forces cf the still distant summer—the tiny seeds and roots and cuttings entrusted to its care, so that when the beds of the garden shall finally have been spaded and fertilized and raked and nour- ished by sun and rain and drying winds into just the right condition to receive them, they shall be ready by the dozens and scores and hundreds, to re- spond to the call for plants and still more plants, for the possibilities of a packet of seeds, sown under fa- vorable conditions, are out of all proportion to their cost. Even the first cost of a really first class hotbed 21 22 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN may often be met by a single season’s production. Practically all hotbeds are the same in their work- ing, but there is considerable latitude in their con- struction, especially between the permanent construc- tion of one attached to a permanent home and one of temporary expedience. For a permanent hotbed there is nothing better than concrete and the expense of this form of con- struction is not great. For a small garden, including both flowers and vegetables, a bed three feet wide and fifteen long is ample. Florists make their beds much wider, but for the home gardener, especially the woman gardener, a bed three feet across is as wide as can be handled comfortably. The depth—whatever the size of the bed—will be the same, about four feet. In mild climates a more shallow depth will be prac- ticable, but in the colder parts of the country a con- siderable depth of manure is needed to give the neces- sary, continuous heat for a period of several weeks. The simplest way to construct a concrete hotbed is first to mark out on the ground where the hotbed is to be—a warm, southern exposure in the protection of a wall or building and with good natural drainage should be selected and as near the house as possible for convenience in caring for it. Next dig a narrow trench along this outline about four feet in depth and with as smooth and even sides as possible. Into this trench a good quality of grout should be poured and HOTBEDS 23 the sides paddled, to press back any large stones and fill any hollow places which may oceur. Above the surface of the ground forms will be needed to shape the upper part of the frame which should be a foot high in front and two feet high in the rear, the ends sloping evenly from rear to front. A frame of wood should be fitted to the top of the concrete on which to rest the sash; this may be of two-by-four or two-by- six and should have long spikes driven through at intervals of a foot to bind it to the cement wall. When the cement has thoroughly hardened the inside of the bed may be excavated—care being taken not to injure the cement walls, and the walls given a finish- ing coat of higher grade concrete. If a three foot bed is constructed and the regular florist’s sashes—three-by-six—are used, it will be necessary to lay them lengthwise of the beds and they may be arranged to slide in grooves, or if the bed is against a wall or building, be fastened to the frame with hinges which will be found very convenient when it must be closed quickly in case of storm or other emergency. Old window sashes, if well glazed and painted, make excellent hotbed sashes and on some accounts are to be preferred to the longer florist’s - sash, as they enable one to open a shorter section of the bed at a time, which is often desirable where a variety of plants grow in one bed. Florists usually grow but one kind of plant in a bed; hence all require 24 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN the same conditions of air and temperature. The home hotbed, on the contrary, contains plants requirig a wide variety of conditions, and partitions between the more delicate and the robust, and small sashes, just suited to their number, will facilitate caring for them. Concrete has one drawback—it is cold, and I have noticed that the plants close to the frame do not do as well as those farther from its chilling influence. For this reason an interlining of boards, any waste lumber about the place, will be of much assistance in forwarding the growth of the plants. The lumber does not need to be attached to the frame, just stood in place around the inside of the pit. The manure will support the boards sufficiently and it will not be necessary for them to extend above the surface of the soil. If a temporary, or an inexpensive permanent hot- bed is desired it may be constructed from any waste lumber at hand. In this case the pit should be dug the required size and a frame constructed, using four two-by-fours for the corners. The two in the rear should be about six feet long, those for the front cor- ners five. On these corner posts the boards for the lining of the pit are nailed before lowering it into the pit. The height above ground will be the same as the concrete frame. A somewhat cheaper bed can be made by extending the side and end boards only a few inches below the surface of the ground, but this HOTBEDS 25 construction is not to be recommended, as much dam- age is frequently caused by moles and field mice find- ing their way into the bed, a whole planting being often destroyed in a single night. For this reason all knot holes and broken places in the boards should be closed with pieces of tin or wood. In putting the bed in commission fresh horse man- ure is necessary; this should be that which has ac- cumulated over night, if possible, for which reason it will be necessary to secure it from a public stable or one where a number of horses are kept. It should be mixed with a considerable amount of bedding or ‘straw, as the burning of this alloy extends the heating -period of the manure very materially. The manure alone would give a quick, intense heat soon dissipated. It is customary for florists and market gardeners to pile the manure in a long pile and wait for it to heat; then fork it over and wait for it to heat again before filling in the pit. This is neither practical nor necessary in the management of a small hotbed; the small amount of manure used would simply dissipate its heat. by much handling; the better way is to place it at once in the pit, tramping it down in layers until within a few inches of the level of the ground, care being taken that it is tramped evenly all over, espe- cially in the corners. If this is not done the manure will settle more in one place than another, as fer- 26 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN mentation proceeds, and the earth will crack and sag in places, disturbing the planting. Over the manure in the bed:a layer of an inch of old, well rotted manure—that from last year’s hot- bed will answer—should be placed.. The object. of this is to feed the tender roots of the young plants and prevent their penetrating down into the fresh manure and being burned. Five or six inches of good mellow soil free from stones, sticks and lumps should be placed on top of this and raked fine and clear; if much rough stuff is present it will be an advantage to sift an inch or two of the top with a sand sieve. “If the soil is very dry it will be best to wet it down and wait for it to dry to a moist, mellow condition before planting the seed. Earth that will hold its form when pressed i in the hand, but looks mellow and ‘‘right’’ is best. If the manure is fresh and already heating when applied—and the presence of moisture on the sash will indicate this—the planting of the seed may be started in twenty-four hours. The temperature may also be ascertained by thrusting a fork down into the manure and leaving it a few moments, when the tines, on removing it, will show at once the amount of heat. In planting seed in hotbeds or other protected places it must be borne in mind that it will not be necessary to plant as deeply as in the open, unpro- tected ground. Conditions of heat and moisture be- HOTBEDS 27 ing under control, more shallow planting may be practiced which will make a few days’ gain in time of germination. There is one similarity, however, in all planting—the earth should be pressed firmly over the seed. The reason is this: when the seed ger- minates it sends out a little shoot with tiny, very tiny, little feelers on the end; now if this shoot in emerg- ing finds itself in a little depression between two grains of earth—a cavity too small to be noticeable to the eye—it may not in ‘those first critical moments of infantile life be able to connect itself with the atoms of earth on which its sustenance depends, for that little hole in the earth may prove a big and lone- some chamber to the little rootlet, across which it may not be able to creep in time. But if the earth is fine and soft and pressed snugly about each little seed there will be no disastrous spaces to cause decay. A piece of flat board with a handle on one face is a very handy tool to use in planting the hotbed. This will press the earth down evenly and is much better than the hand as it does not leave depressions in the ground to hold moisture and occasionally cause the fatal damping off:so destructive to plant life. In planting the hotbed the seeds should be classified, planting, as far as possible, those requiring the same degrees of heat and air and moisture in the same sec- tion of the hotbed. Plants which make a tall, vigor. ous growth from the’ start should be plarited in the 28 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN rear of the bed in order that they may not overshadow the lower growths. Cosmos, gourds and Cobaea scan- dens are a few of the plants that should be relegated to the rear. Plant each variety of seed either in long rows across the bed, especially those seeds that are sown in drills, or in little squares by themselves, separating each square or section by narrow strips of wood pressed into the ground. This prevents the seed of one plat washing into the next if too much water happens to be received at a time; it is also of much advantage when the time comes to transplant the plants to the garden, especially in the case of several colors of the same plant—as in the case of asters, which would be difficult to distinguish, but you will know, by the dividing strip of wood, that all on one side are white, on another pink, and so on. _ Very fine seed like begonias, carnations, etc., should not be planted directly in the ground of the hotbed, but rather in shallow boxes—codfish boxes and half size cigar boxes are about right—and these set on the surface of the soil; other fine seed may be sown broad- cast over the surface of the soil, pressed down with the board and then be covered lightly with fine sand sifted over. Somewhat coarser seed may be sown on the surface and have an eighth of an inch of fine earth, sifted over; other seed may be sown in shallow drills and the earth pressed back over it and quite HOTBEDS 29 large seeds should be sown their depth below the surface. All bean-like seeds should be planted with the eye down; Cobaea scandens and gourd seed should be set on edge; planted flat they are quite apt to de- cay, rather than germinate. As a Japanese friend said, ‘‘They are very corruptible.’’ Each variety of seed should be plainly labeled with wooden labels, with both the name and date of plant- ing and, if known, the period of germination. This last is a most important memoranda as it advises when the plants in a particular plat should appear. With- out it one is quite apt to expect results too soon, to become discouraged and to commence digging up the ground to see if the seed has sprouted—a performance not at all-conducive to successful germination. There is a wide divergence in the germinating period of various seeds; some, especially many annuals, ger- minate in from three to five days, others from five to eight and so on up to the slower growing gourds and hard-seeded plants which require from twelve to fif- teen days. But this is by no means the limit of seed dilatoriness, some seeds requiring a year to germin- ate. These, obviously, should not be planted in the hotbed, but rather in a protected bed in the open ground, or in a coldframe. When the planting of the hotbed or any one sec- tion of it is completed it should be sprayed carefully with a fine-rosed watering pot and covered with news- 80 MAKING OF A: FLOWER GARDEN papers ‘and the sash closed until such time as the plants appear, when the papers should be removed and replaced on top of the glass directly above the plants and the sash slightly raised to admit air. Air is very necessary to plant growth and one should aim to give as much as possible without chill- ing the plants. On sunny days the sash can be raised from the start a few inches if the precaution is taken to throw a rug over the opening of the sash on the windward side and to close the sash as soon as the sun has left it. It is equally important to raise it as soon as the sun raises the temperature inside suffi- ciently, as the heat increases very rapidly under glass under a direct sun, and it requires but a brief season of too high temperature to lay low an entire planting of seed, some plants being eee susceptible to burning. The hotbed should not be allowed to dry out or be kept too wet. It is best, usually, to water in. the morning, unless very dry at night and the weather promises to be dry; a good wetting at night followed by a stormy day or several days necessitating the clos- ing of the bed may spell disaster, for there is no way of drying out a bed in wet weather. Protection will be needed on stormy days and nights. For this there is nothing so good as straw mats. Fail- ing these, old carpet makes a warm covering, espe- cially if protected by a canvas cover to shed rain. A HOTBEDS 31 strip of canvas large enough to cover the entire bed and extend down the sides, and coated with preserva- tive paint or oil, is an excellent investment, as it can be used spring and winter. If the corners are mitred or folded and secured with loops to fasten them about the frame so that they cannot be blown away, one can tuck away the hotbeds on the stormiest nights with no fear of frost. It is rarely expedient to start the hotbed before the frost is out of the ground. Taking into consideration the time in which the slowest seed will germinate— say two weeks—and allowing six weeks more for the plants to have attained sufficient size for transplant- ing into the open ground after danger of frost is passed (which each one will know in his particular latitude), it will be a simple matter to decide just when the beds should be started ; it may be February in the vicinity of Philadelphia or further south, or late March or April in Michigan where we often find April 1st quite early enough. But north or south, east or west, it will be six or eight weeks before ‘‘corn planting time.”’ When all the plants are up and growing, lath screens over the sash during the hottest part of the day will be of benefit, especially as the weather grows warmer. later these may be replaced by screens of wire if it is necessary to protect the beds against chickens, cats and other predatory attacks. Full ex- 82 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN posure to sun and air is best after the plants have made some growth, providing there is no hint of frost in the air. While the beds should never be allowed to suffer from drought it will be best to let them dry out occasionally, sufficiently to harden the plants and encourage a stockier, woodier growth of stock and branch. If there is room to transplant the plants in the bed or one has auxiliary beds in which they can be transferred, much benefit will accrue, especially to such plants as asters, balsams, cabbage, cauliflowers and the like, though most plants recover quickly from the effects of crowding if the transplanting is ju- diciously done. Especial care should be given to hardening off the plants for a few days preceding transplanting, both by withholding water and by giving full exposure to the weather; but the night before actual transference begins the bed should be well soaked to enable the plants to store up a generous supply of moisture to serve them until the roots have recovered from the shock of transplanting and are ready to resume the work of extracting moisture from the soil. It goes without saying that the beds should be in complete readiness for receiving the plants, and this preparation should have been made several days in advance of transplanting and before a soaking rain if possible. Newly spaded and worked ground is in too light and porous a condition for the setting of plants HOTBEDS ; 33 or the sowing of seed; it should have time to settle and become close and firm but not hard. Where plants are to be set in straight rows, as in borders or in square beds it will be best to draw lines for the regular setting either by the aid of a garden line or by the use of a board. Where square beds are to be planted the use of a board is.a great help as it gives a place to stand or kneel without treading on the bed and the space at which the plants should be set can be marked on the edge of the board with chalk, thus enabling one to work rapidly and accur- ately. If the board is the width of the space between the rows so much the better as it needs only to be moved its own width to mark the new line of plants. Only as many plants should be lifted at one time as can be gotten into the ground before they wilt. In lifting the plants press the trowel well down be- low the roots and lift a bunch of plants at a time, do not separate the plants until you are ready to plant them, and then carefully, one at a time. Make for each plant a hole with the trowel large enough to re- ceive the roots without crowding, place the plant in position and draw about the roots part of the dis- placed earth, pressing it firmly down and about the stem; pour in sufficient water to fill the hole; wait for it to seep away and then fill in the remainder of the soil. Do not press this down hard, but make it level, dry and fine above the roots. All the holes of 84 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN a row may be dug at first; then the plants set and the water placed in each and the covering done last; this makes the work go off more quickly as there is then no waiting for the water to soak away. Afterall the plants are in, go over the bed carefully and see if any wet spots appear; if this is the case dry earth should be drawn over them. This dry mulch is the im- portant point in transplanting; if the roots are well wet down and then protected with a dry mulch of soil there will be no check in the growth of the plant and practically no loss in transplanting. The dust mulch keeps the soil and water underneath cool and prevents its drying out. If the surface soil were al- lowed to remain wet, the water would be all drawn to the surface by the action of the sun and the eapil- lary action of the soil; also the sun penetrating the open pores of the soil would heat the water, injuring the roots. Under the action of a wet soil and hot day, plants unprotected by a dust mulch are literally cooked to death. For this reason it will be readily understood that the beds should not be watered after planting, but should be left undisturbed for several days or until they show by the action of the plants that root growth is established. Should any plant show signs of wilting or of needing water it should be supplied by making a hole at one side of the plant, applying water and replacing the dry mulch. No protection of any kind should be given newly set HOTBEDS 35 plants unless protection from frost ig required by a fall in temperature, and to avoid this it is' better not to be in too much haste to set out plants, for it is far easier to protect plants in a compact mass in a hotbed than when distributed over several mandred feet of outdoor planting. Should a rain follow a planting and this be fol- lowed by sunshine, the beds should be gone over as soon as practicable to restore the dust mulch. | sepeog | eae a ” ” adue0 ‘oniq ‘par ‘os07y al ” » AS umosg ‘Moras ‘poy | Supers, ” ® Tudy pel pooig | sua ” tea , OATyA-YSryUTY Sl 7 * * oBryT Sl » ” * onig Ai » | Wepre] , ayy ‘ony & " ta ” AlTeog A ” qstopeoig: ” soTex | 9-21 ma ae ano T! Suyaog Pod 3009 sate jo 30 Pome, | euresy “PIPO CHAPTER VI BEDDING PLANTS FROM SEED A very decided saving in the season’s outlay for the garden can be made by growing one’s own bedding plants from seed. Many of the bedding plants pur- chased from the florists are quite as easily grown from seed as from cuttings, and will usually make a more vigorous growth than when subjected to the change from a heated greenhouse to the open ground. At any rate, the saving in expense is well worth con- sidering, as a hundred plants may be raised from seed for what one would pay for a dozen pot plants. Coleus is easily raised from seed sown in hotbed or flats, the seed germinating quickly and the plants growing finely from the start. A good many new shades and markings may be expected, and as the plants twill be showing individuality by the time they should go into permanent beds, one can readily select those which most appeal to one, and discard the undesirable ones. No special care is required in sowing the seed. Cover an eighth of an inch deep, ‘pressing the soil firmly above it, water carefully, 58 BEDDING PLANTS FROM SEED 59 cover with a white paper and glass until the plants appear, then place in a warm sunny window, shading the glare of the sun for the first few days with a bit of cheese cloth stretched across the window, then give full sun as the plants grow in size, for coleus depends upon the sun for the beauty of its foliage. Transplant, when large enough to handle, into similar flats or small thumb pots, if the number is not too large, plunging these into boxes of moist sand or moss and grow until planting time. The directions for coleus seed apply equally well to all the smaller seeded plants with the exception of heliotrope. Where these are required for bedding, extra care must be given to the question of humidity, as they are very sensitive to extremes of drought or dampness and must be kept just at the point of drying out, but never allowed to do so, for success. Salvias are, of all bedding plants, the most easily managed; the seed, which should be sown in flats or hotbed, germinates in from three to five days, and all the little plants ask is a chance to grow in sunshine and fresh air in abundance, but not cold air, as the salvia is a plant of warmth and sunshine, espe- cially in its early stages. Grown from seed they bloom earlier than from. cuttings, and I have had from spring-sown seeds plants five or six feet high and a mass of bloom by mid-summer. Dahlias are as easily grown from seed as salvias, 60 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN but should be planted in the hotbed or flat and kept warm and not planted out until the ground is warm —probably the first of June in the north. The single dahlias are especially satisfactory when grown from seed, and make excellent cut flowers, especially for corsage wear. Asparagus Sprengeri is so easily raised from seed that one should use it much more than is done, as nothing quite takes its place for window and porch boxes. Begonia igs another easily raised bedding plant; the seed of this being very fine should be sown on the surface of the soil in small flats, the seed being merely pressed into the soil and the young plants must not be exposed to extremes of temperature or moisture, and must be transplanted as soon as large enough to handle, into other flats, setting them an inch apart each way. Cannas, especially the ornamental-foliaged varie- ties, are very readily raised from seed, which should be first sandpapered on one side till the white shows through, then soaked in hot water till the inner shell cracks, and planted two or three in a four-inch pot, and when a few inches high all but the best one should be removed. Give air, sunshine and abundance of water at all times, and transplant into the open ground when all danger of frost is past, setting from one foot to eighteen inches apart each way. BEDDING PLANTS FROM SEED 61 The zonale geraniums are of the easiest culture and should be handled the same as salvias, dahlias and the like—gentle heat, sun as they grow stronger, but less water than cannas and a little hardening off be- fore transplanting. Lantanas are especially easy to grow and make de- lightful low hedges between lots or between different parts of the grounds where a low hedge is desired. Each little seed is a nut in reality and, curiously enough, will often give two plants from one nut. They grow very rapidly, and I have had, from spring planted seed, plants over two feet in diameter and a mass of bloom by mid-summer. They do not seem to be afflicted with insects or disease, and are altogether one of our most desirable bedding or pot plants. ‘The lobelia is so easily grown from seed that it may be used to edge beds of other plants as well as for vases, boxes, baskets and the like. Petunias are so desirable in all the many varieties that one can never go far amiss in planting them largely, both for mass effect on the lawn, for edging to the perennial borders or in front of shrubbery, or for window and porch boxes and for vases. The small flowered white snowball is one of the best for mass effect. The brilliant, and equally effective, carmine variety, and the Howard Star are also desirable in this respect, Brilliant being a very effective variety for massing in window boxes 62 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN where a mass of solid color is desired. But for per- fection and size of bloom there is nothing to equal the single, large flowering petunias, the Giants of Cali- fornia and the Ruffled Giants. These should be found indispensable to every complete flower garden. But if one desires to grow notable flowers of these giant strains one must be sure that the seed purchased is the best obtainable and to insure this one must pay a price that will guarantee it, certainly not less than twenty-five cents a packet, and give the seed a little extra care, planting it in shallow flats set in the warm greenhouse, hotbed or a warm window, and not allow them to suffer from too dry or too wet a soil or too hot a sun, or the lack of it. Prick out the little seed- lings as soon as large enough to handle, into other flats, setting them an inch or more apart each way and transplant again when they begin to crowd. Do not discard the tiny, weak ones, as these are quite often the choicer sorts, but when the plants are a few inches high and long before they begin to show buds the superior sorts are easily distinguished by the stockier branches and heavier, curlier leaves—indeed there is as much difference between the plants of the large flowering sorts and the common small bedding plants as there is between the flowers. A very satisfactory and rather uncommon bedding plant which from its many good qualities and ease of culture should be more in evidence in our gar- BEDDING PLANTS FROM SEED 63 dens, is the vinca, or Madagascar perriwinkle. They make neat, erect plants from twelve to fifteen inches in height; the foliage is dark green, glossy and en- tirely free from insect pests. The flowers, five petaled and star shaped, are produced in the greatest profu- sion from August until frost, and if lifted and potted will continue to bloom indoors all winter. There are three varieties, a rosy crimson with dark eye, white with crimson eye and pure white, all equally good. The seed requires heat to germinate, so should be sown in the hotbed or flats and given the same gen- eral treatment as other bedding plants. The ricinus is too well known to require special instructions for its culture, but best results are secured by planting the seed in pots and transferring the plants to the open ground when the soil and nights are warm. When disturbed in transplanting they are sometimes very slow in taking a start, but grow vigorously when once under way, and it is rarely that a plant is lost. The zanzabariensis variety is the fin- est for general culture, but where a high screen is de- sired, rather than a‘fine foliage effect, some of the taller sorts may be employed. Some of the vines usually purchased of the florists for vases, window boxes, trellises and the like are as easily grown from seed as any of the common garden annuals. Cobaea scandens is a case in point;-all that is necessary being to start in hotbed or flat, setting 64 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN the seeds on edge and covering a fourth of an inch with mellow soil. These are most desirable, both as climbers and as a source of cut flowers, for the plants commence blooming early and bloom every step of the way, from the ground up to the topmost branch, which is often an incredible distance from the ground. I have had them flaunt their pale green, lavender, mauve and wine-colored bloom from the tipmost branch of a tall pear tree, or from the top of a wind- mill tower. | The dainty little manetta vine is easily grown from seed, as is also its sturdier neighbor, the thunbergia, with its disc-shaped flowers of white with black eye, yellow with black eye and pure yellow. Kennilworth ivy grows readily from seed and self-sown plants of this and manetta vine are often found the following year under the boxes where they bloomed and seeded the year before. The ivy loves to creep into the crev- ices of the stone or brick foundations of the house, even creeping through the windows and growing luxu- riantly in the earth inside. Under one window in an earth fruit cellar the soil was green all winter with this delicate vine, which looked far too delicate to withstand the cold of its curiously chosen home. CHAPTER VII BULBS FOR SUMMER BLOOMING OF special interest to the summer garden, especially in the summer or the temporary home, is the class of plants known as summer-blooming bulbs, though some of them belong properly to the tuberous and corm class, as the dahlia, canna and the like. They have one general classification, however, in that they are bedded out in spring or early summer and de- pend upon house or cellar storage during the winter, in this being differentiated from those bulbs and roots which remain for the entire twelve months in the ground. The most conspicuous member of this class, used as it is so largely for ornamental planting in parks, on lawns and wherever a semi-tropical, ornate effect is desired, is the canna. This, while easily raised from seed, is usually started from the tubers which have been wintered in the cellar or purchased of the florist in the spring. Where cannas are grown for the bloom as well as for the foliage effect the plant- ing of tubers is really necessary, as only in this way 65' 66 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN can reliable varieties be secured. Of late years great improvement has been made in the size of bloom, the coloring and the abundance of bloom so that the canna can no longer be regarded merely as an ornamental foliage plant. The tubers can be started in house or hotbed any time after the first of February. As can- nas are very susceptible to decay, the earlier they can be started, all other conditions being favorable, the better. The bunch of tubers should be carefully looked over, giving one good eye to each piece, and removing all decayed or shriveled parts. They may be started in pots of soil, in boxes of sand or in bas- kets of moss, either medium giving excellent results; the moss (Sphagnum) has much to recommend it, as it is light and clean to handle. Very little is to be gained by too early planting in the open as, while they are less tender than some of the other summer bedders, still they will succumb to a late frost, and the labor of covering them nights and removing the cover each morning offsets the small advantage gained in time. Cannas are gross feeders and quite intemper- ate in the matter of drink, and they should be planted, therefore, in very rich soil—manure and marsh earth suit them admirably—and never allowed to suffer for water. If one has not city water or a water system on the place, then it will be well to plant the cannas within easy reach of such water supply as exists. The plants should be set from eighteen inches to two BULBS FOR SUMMER BLOOMING 67 feet apart, according to variety and the effect desired. Dahlias, while not enjoying the place in landscape gardening held by the canna, are magnificent when grown as a hedge or background for smaller plants. The flowers, indeed, leave little to be desired in effec- tiveness of size and color, and the many forms pro- duced meet the requirements of a wide diversity of tastes. For cut flowers and corsage wear, the single blossoms are more graceful and desirable, but for unique beauty and quaintness there is nothing to equal the cactus type—they are my especial favorites of all the dahlia family, especially the glowing car- dinal varieties. Unlike the canna, the dahlia winters admirably and need not be hurried into growth in the spring. Usually they will announce their readiness to grow by throwing out lush green shoots while still in the dark corner of a cool cellar. Like the canna they may be started in earth, in sand or in moss, or they may be held back (and this is the better way) and planted directly where they are to bloom when the soil is warm—about the first of June in the north. In separating give each tuber a live shoot and a por- tion of the old stock. Tubers having no live eye or shoot will not produce one, but may be used to graft a live shoot on if there are more than one shoot to other tubers and it is desired to produce as many plants as possible. Remove a shoot close to the tuber, cut the end to a wedge, cut a corresponding wedge- 68 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN shaped piece from the tuber it is desired to use and insert the shoot; place in the ground and draw the earth up firmly about the shoot; it will make as good a plant as though grown from the tuber in the origi- nal way. Dahlias require rich soil and abundance of water, especially when producing their flowers. They also require very substantial support, as they are easily broken by wind, and even by a heavy rainfall when in full foliage. A five-foot stake is none too long, and a six-foot one still better, and it should be stout in proportion and firmly set in the ground. It is well to set the stake at the same time, or soon after the plant is set, as the dahlia makes a whorl of big fleshy tubers, and if one waits until the stake is needed it will be difficult to set it close enough to the plant to support it without injuring the roots; when set with the plant, tying can commence as soon as the plant is a foot or more high, and proceed as growth progresses, A mulch of old manure or lawn clippings about the plants after they have set their buds will be of much benefit, especially if the plants are where they will not be disturbed by chickens scratching the mulch off the ground. Lawn clippings make an ideal mulch when undisturbed, and should be placed four inches deep to start with and added to as they wither. If left undisturbed they will settle into a close mat BULBS FOR SUMMER BLOOMING 69 that will keep the ground moist, mellow and free from weeds; stirred up, they are of little benefit. But if one wishes to grow dahlias for cut flowers and wishes to produce notable blooms that will make the professional florists sit up and take notice, he should start the tubers in the open ground about the middle of May, making a big, deep hole and laying the tuber, live eye up, therein at a depth of about four inches and cover with not more than two inches of soil at the start, adding the remainder as the plant increases is size, for too deep covering of the tuber at the start is the cause of much failure in dahlia cul- ture. And the planting should not be in formal beds in the garden, but down in the vegetable garden where they can receive the same cultivation given the corn, for that is just the sort of care the dahlia thrives under, ard not any exotic, professional treat- ment; just plain, everyday garden-culture, with a horse cultivator if possible or a hand cultivator if the garden is small. This and plenty of water will give the best that can be produced in this magnificent class of plants. The dahlia has its enemies, though some years they are little in evidence, and these are less troublesome in open-field culture than in the flower garden. The aphis, or green fly, is often in evidence, but can usually be controlled by an emulsion of tobacco stems in water or tobacco soap, sprayed on the plants; an "0 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN even better spray is clear hot water at about a hundred and forty degrees, or water at a hundred and thirty degrees may be used in a large vessel and the tips of the branches—the most affected parts—dipped in it and held there for one minute. The Green Leaf Hopper is more troublesome owing to its penchant for moving around just when one most wishes it to keep still. It is of all insect pests the most trouble- some to eradicate, but can be handled very early in the morning while the foliage is wet and the insect sluggish, by spraying with the tobacco or soap solu- tion. Gladiolas offer as few problems for successful growth as one could reasonably expect of a flower; a warm, sunny position, well enriched soil, either from a liberal fall application of manure to the bed or a spring dressing of sheep manure or the droppings from the rabbit warrens (which may well be com- posited during winter for this purpose), applied in the spring. The bulbs should be prepared for plant- ing by removing the dried skins and the dead root at the base of the bulb. Large bulbs may be planted from six to eight inches deep, small bulbs more shal- low, but the deep-planted bulbs can go into the ground earlier and remain later, and will require less staking than the shallow-planted ones. If one wishes a succession of bloom successive plantings of BULBS FOR SUMMER BLOOMING “1 bulbs will insure it, making the plantings every two weeks up to the first of July. Gladiolas are very satisfactory for cutting, as they may be brought in when the first flower has developed and every bud will unfold, often seeming finer than those in the open ground. Especially is this the case in extremely hot weather, when the blooms fade quickly. For mass planting a large number of bulbs of one variety is best, or one may plant two or more varie- ties that contrast effectively, as the blue or violet Baron Hulot and the yellow Sulphur King. One of the best. bedders of the red class is found in Mrs. Francis King. This is a light scarlet or flame color, and is an excellent cut-flower variety, selling well to the stores in the cities. It is also very mod- erate in price, the bulbs selling for something like two dollars and a half a hundred, or five cents each singly. The pure white varieties are always lovely, and some of them reasonable in price, so that they may be planted in masses, and in combination with the scarlet sorts are very effective. Augusta is a lovely, pure white variety with blue anthers, and Glory of Holland another beautiful sort, the anthers in this being violet instead of blue. Both of these can be purchased for fifty cents a dozen, and much cheaper in larger quantities. Most of the other white varieties show a slight penciling or suffusion of color. 72 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN There are some very rich, dark gladiolas in the newer sorts well worth cultivating, Deuil de Carnot, Europa, and Empress of India being especially desirable sorts. Caladiums form an important part of the summer’s ornamental planting. No other plant equals them in foliage effect. The immense, glaucus green leaves often measuring three feet or more in length by two or more wide, have a lush, tropical effect distinctly their own. The plant is a gross feeder and heavy drinker, and must have an unlimited water supply to be at its best. If one can procure marsh earth for the caladium bed it will well repay one to do so; marsh earth that has been thrown up in ditching and lain over winter for the action of the frost to subdue it is of course best, but where this is not obtainable the fresh muck from the swamp will be equally acceptable to the caladium, but must be buried under the garden soil as, left exposed to the air and sun, it becomes simply a piece of peat, more suitable for fuel than for plant food. Caladium tubers may be planted directly in the open ground, about the first of June, or may better be started in the hotbed in March and planted out the first week in June. Set the tubers three feet apart at the least, so that they may have abundant room to develop the massive leaves. If the bed is slightly lower than the surrounding lawn it will be all the better, as it will retain moisture to a greater degree than a raised or level bed which allows much BULBS FOR SUMMER BLOOMING 13 of the water to drain away. Thorough spraying of the leaves in dry weather is absolutely necessary if the bed is to present an attractive appearance, for the leaves collect and retain the dust to a surprising degree, but are easily cleansed by the hose or water- ing pot. The fancy leaved caladiums are exquisitely beauti- ful miniature plants more suitable for indoor culture than for bedding out, but may be used in porch or window boxes in favorable situations. They require a lighter soil than the Caladium esculentum, woods earth and fine white sand and the fibrous soil from the under side of sod furnishing an ideal compost. They require heat in starting and water should be given sparingly until growth is well under way, when a lib- eral supply may be furnished. For pot culture in the house or conservatory during the summer months they are ideal and should be largely employed to re- place the bedding plants which will be removed from the conservatory or house at the approach of warm weather. Three or four in a large pot will give a rich and charming effect, or they may be grown in window boxes very satisfactorily. In autumn, when they show signs of resting, water should be gradually withheld, and the pots stored in a dry, frost-proof cellar—a furnace cellar if possible. Tuberous begonias have come into wide popularity during the past few years, and few, if any, plants ‘74 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN surpass them in charm and beauty. They are espe- cilly adapted to growing in east window boxes and in sheltered spots on the lawn. They require the same quality of soil as the fancy-leaved caladiums—leaf mold, sand and fibrous loam and practically the same conditions of moisture when starting growth, but somewhat less when growing. A good method of start- ing is to pot the tubers singly in four-inch pots, care being taken that they are planted right side up, as there is little difference apparent between the crown and the root side until growth starts, and when there is any doubt at all about the matter it will be best to start the roots in damp moss placed in a shallow box or basket, where the tubers can be spread out side by side and kept just moist, until there is suffi- cient sign of growth to make planting safe. They may then be potted and allowed to grow until time to plant in permanent beds or boxes. Plant rather shallow, not more than an inch in depth, water spar- ingly until growth begins, and be sure that good drainage is provided to care for any surplus moisture. Tuberous begonias may be wintered in the pots in which they were grown, allowing the soil to become quite dry, and storing them in a cool but frost-proof closet, or they may be lifted and each tuber wrappeil in waxed paper and stored in a drawer in a cool room. Tuberous begonias that have been grown in the open RED AND WHITE TULIPS USED AS A BORDER FOR SHRUBBERY SHISNVd GNV SHLINIOVAH JO UAawod ACIM Vv BULBS FOR SUMMER BLOOMING 5 ground must, of course, be lifted, dried and wrapped in paper or stored in boxes of dry sand. ‘ Ismene calathina is a delightfully scented, distinct- ive summer flowering bulb, unique in form and color; the beautiful amaryllis-like blossoms are of the pur- est, most glistening white, while the throat is green and the anthers spring from the angle of the petals instead of from the spadix in the center of the flower. The leaves are broad and strap like and of themselves form a distinctive and imposing plant. They require warmth in starting and may be potted in the house ‘or plunged in the hotbed until time to plant out in the open ground, about the first of June. Any good garden soil will grow them successfully and a shel- tered, sunny position on the east or south will be favorable. In the fall before the frost has killed the foliage the bulbs may be lifted and potted and, after a few weeks’ rest, be again started into growth for winter blooming or the bulbs may be wintered in a warm cellar until time to start into growth another season. In storing in the cellar they should be placed in boxes of dry earth to prevent shrivelling. The Ismene is beautiful in front of beds of taller growth, especially where they furnish a green back- ground which increases the apparent purity of the large white flowers. The odor is so delightful that it, alone, would furnish a motive for the culture of this exquisite summer flowering bulb. 76 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN Montbretias require the same general treatment as gladiolas, and may be used to border beds of these flowers with excellent effect. They are very desirable for cut flowers, opening freely in water, and are ex- ceedingly graceful and dainty. They do not possess the range of color of the gladiolas, being found only in scarlet and orange shades, but they have a placa of their own in the summer flower garden, which could not well be supplied by any other plant. They are stored during winter the same as gladiolas, lifting the tubers when the foliage turns brown, and drying for a few days in a warm, sunny place; then remov- ing most of the stalk and storing the bulbs in paper sacks and hanging them from the ceiling of a frost- proof cellar or garret. Tuberoses are more sensitive to cold and dampness than most other summer blooming bulbs, and must be started in heat and not planted out until all danger of frost is past. In preparing the bulbs for potting in spring, the thick growth below tle bulb should all be removed, and all off-shoots. Plant the bulbs singly in four-inch pots, setting them with the tip just above the surface of the soil, or plant them in rows in the hot-bed, and this is preferable, as an éven temperature is assured with less trouble than in the house. Plant out when the soil and nights are warm. The double pearl tuberose will grow so tall a flower spike that staking will be necessary, and for this the BULBS FOR SUMMER BLOOMING 17 bamboo stakes are admirable, as they are less conspicu- ous than wooden stakes and, as they do not decay, can be used from year to year. Tuberoses are excellent combined with gladiolas as the blossoms are not conspicuous enough for mass planting, but are fine for cutting and for the delight- ful, if somewhat heavy, odor. Tuberoses are some- times late in blooming, but such plants as have not perfected their blooms at the approach of frost may be lifted and potted for the house or conservatory, as they are not in the least disturbed by the process. As the bulbs will not bloom the second year it is not necessary to lift those which have finished bloom- ing unless one cares to grow the little offshoots for a couple of years until they, too, reach blooming size, but as the blooming size bulbs can be purchased so cheaply this hardly pays for the time expended in their care. Summer oxalis is a useful little summer-flowering bulb, excellent for carpet bedding, for filling up gaps in the border caused by the failure of seeds to ger- minate or plants to grow. The bulbs of this variety of oxalis are so tiny that they are usually bought by measure rather than by the dozen or hundred. They need only to be pressed into mellow soil where they are to bloom. The bulbs in spite of their small size have a remarkable vitality and energy, and long before it will seem possible for 78 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN growth to start, the first tiny leaflets will be seen breaking the soil and bloom will follow so quickly as to seem simultaneous. A warm, sunny situation should be chosen, as the flowers are apt to remain closed in the shade and on cloudy days. Set the bulbs two to three inches apart as allowance must be made for the development for the remarkable production of new bulbs. When the time comes for lifting the bulbs in the fall, not the one little bulb planted in spring will be in evidence, but it will be found that a remarkable growth has been going on under the ground during the summer, of which the delicate fiower and foliage above ground has given no hint. In place of the one little bulb planted in spring a long, fibrous core, not unlike the soft cob of an ear of corn has formed, and, like the corn, it is completely surrounded with tiny bulblets, the whole forming a growth from three to five inches in length and an inch and a half to two inches in diameter. Each of these little bulbs will be removed for separate planting in the following spring. A tea cup full of bulbs planted in spring will, not in- frequently, give a peck of bulbs by fall, and these can be sorted and only the largest retained for future planting. No other bulbous plant known equals this » in productiveness. The care in winter is simply to lift the bulbs, dry in a warm, sunny position for a few days and, store in paper sacks with some light chaff—such as buckwheat chaff—among them, in a BULBS FOR SUMMER BLOOMING ‘179 dry, frost-proof place until time to replant in spring. Tigridias are showy, attractive bulbous plants of the summer garden, requiring the same treatment as montbretias and gladiolas, except that they are the better for starting in warmth, and should be stored in a dry place during winter, as they are somewhat addicted to mold. They are excellent for combining with gladiolas, as they are not sufficiently heavy in foliage and flower to be at their best alone. The large, showy flowers remain open but one day, but each flower is succeeded by another so that blooms have the effect of being far more lasting than they really are. White with violet markings, golden yel- low, golden yellow spotted with crimson, ivory white with yellow center spotted with crimson, and rose- pink with yellow, variegated center are the principal colors, and all are unique and beautiful and well worth a place in the flower garden. They are useful to combine with hardy lilies, as they furnish bloom at a season when these are no longer in evidence; indeed, the chief function of many of our summer- blooming bulbs is to extend the season of bloom of beds devoted to spring or June flowering bulbs and perennials. Requiring little room for growth, they may be interspersed between the roots of the more permanent plants and will benefit from the protec- tion these afford from the summer sun and drought. Crinums are among the bulbs which should be 80 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN considered as summer bedders, for it is the only sys- tem of growth which succeeds with this rather diffi- cult plant. Under expert culture it is a fine green- house and conservatory plant, but is something of a failure in amateur hands. If, however, a few simple rudiments of culture are mastered it becomes one of the most satisfactory bulbous plants grown. The crinum makes a very large and solid bulb with a long neck, and an abundance of thick, fleshy roots. When it is received from the florist most of these roots are, necessarily, removed. It has had a season of rest and should be in condition at onee to begin growth and the formation of buds. It should, there- fore, be planted out in the open ground as soon as the soil and the nights are warm. It must be planted in the sunniest, hottest spot available—a position be- side a south wall which will draw and retain all the heat of the sun is ideal. Very rich soil—one under- laid with a foot of old, decayed manure and topped with a compost of fibrous loam, sharp sand, leaf mold and well rotted, fine manure is best. In this the bulbs should be set with the entire neck and a show- ing of the top of the bulb above ground. Water very freely until the bulbs have made a complete leaf de- velopment, and then withhold water entirely, allow- ing the plants to dry out and bake, and bake, and bake. The hotter and dryer the better. Then with the appearance of the first hard rain, great, fleshy BULBS FOR SUMMER BLOOMING 81 buds will appear, in a night, as it were, and will soon hold aloft the great rosy-white flowers, indescribably sweet and stately. After the blooming period is over a second and even a third florescence will often follow if similar conditions of growth and complete rest are induced. The bulbs may be left in the ground as long as frost can be kept from them and coldframe or spent- hotbed treatment conduces admirably to this, but at the coming of cold weather they must be lifted and stored in boxes of dry soil in a warm cellar—a fur- nace cellar being a favorable place for them—until time to plant out again the following June. CHAPTER VIII PLANTS FOR VARIOUS SITUATIONS ORNAMENTAL leaved plants are by no means con- fined to the cannas, caladiums and coleus so much in evidence in our summer lawns and gardens. There are many hardy perennials of most effective foliage that, once planted, increase in decorative value from year to year, and make an appreciable difference in the care and expense of the grounds. For effective permanent planting there is nothing more desirable on the lawn than a large round bed of ornamental grasses. These, once established, require little care beyond an annual removing of the dead canes in spring, quickly accomplished by fire, which does less damage to the plant than to cut them back, leaving the stubs of the old canes to delay the growth of the new foliage. A mellow soil composed of wood or marsh earth, and good loam enriched with old manure, if applied in spring, or a heavy mulch of manure in the fall, which may be spaded in in spring, is about all they require, but water should be given 82 PLANTS FOR VARIOUS SITUATIONS 83 frequently during mid-summer for the development of the tallest canes and generous plumes. The tallest of all the ornamental grasses is found in the Arundo Donax, which when well established, makes a growth in good soil of twenty feet, and can be used with good effect for the center of beds of lower growth, as it is not as full in its development as some of the smaller sorts. Erianthus ravenne is an exceptionally fine grass which may be grown next to the Arundo Donax, mak- ing a growth of twelve to fifteen feet when established and showing finer plumes than the Arundo. The Eulalias, Japonica and variegata, are beautiful both in foliage and manner of growth, being more erect and compact than the Erianthus, which has more of the fountain-like form of the Gyneriums. The variegated form is especially beautiful. Gracilima univitata is a lower-growing form of Eulalia and can be used as a border plant for the taller sorts. Like the Erianthus, it shows a silver midrib and a silvery panicle of bloom. To these may be added the hardy fountain grass—Pennisetum Japonicum, also a droop- ing sort, but showing a purplish bronze in the flower head. All but the Arundo Donax can be raised from seed sown in spring in a coldframe and wintered under glass and set out in permanent beds the following spring. They are all long-lived plants, especially the 84 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN Erianthus, often enduring twelve or fifteen successive years of growth in one position. Often it will be found that volunteer plants have come up in favorable spots about the grounds, and these may be lifted and transplanted into other beds or in hedges, for which there is nothing finer. Not the least charm of the hardy grasses is the food they afford for the winter birds, who come in flocks on snowy mornings to feed on the seeds of the feath- ery plumes, and it is indeed a pretty sight to see them bend beneath the weight of snowbird, sparrow and junco. For a background, or for a tall growth in the center of beds or plantings of lower form the Aralia Cash- meriana is a very ornamental plant with attractive foliage and panicles of small white flowers in early summer. It grows five to eight feet in height and is of easy culture. The bocconia is a stately plant of distinctive, glaucus green foliage and stem, the under side of the leaves being snowy white, and during July and August it is crowned with feathery panicles of creamy-white flowers. It makes a noble clump which always attracts attention and requires little care beyond good soil and to have the rhizome shoots destroyed to prevent its spreading beyond bonds. It is a long-lived plant, dying to the ground in winter and springing up with renewed vigor year after year, often remaining twenty years in possession of the same PLANTS FOR VARIOUS SITUATIONS 88 bit of ground. It is easily raised from seed, which may be sown in the hotbed in spring and will make an effective plant the first season. The Gunnera scabra, or Chilian rhubarb, is a mag- nificent ornamental plant when ‘well grown—well- established plants forming a clump five feet in height and fifteen to twenty feet in diameter. To produce this superb growth, however, it must: receive liberal treatment; rich soil, abundant water supply and a sunny but sheltered position and winter protection. The large varieties of garden rhubarb make hand- some plants under favorable conditions. One growing in a corner of my own garden in rich soil and a pro- tected position throws up annually flower heads far above my own head and produces enormous tropical looking leaves of nearly three feet in diameter. The Rodgersia podophylla is another stately plant requiring about the same conditions as the Gunnera. Grown in rich soil in a sunny situation and given abundant water it produces its five-lobed leaves from two and a half to three feet in diameter, which change from bright green to a metallic-brown hue. In addi- tion to its ornamental value as a foliage plant it is crowned in mid-summer with fluffy sprays of spirea- like white flowers. ‘Another form of the Rodgersia —the tabularis—has an attractive, pale green foliage eighteen inches in diameter on three to four foot stems. During mid-summer it bears six-foot stems 86 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN of fluffy white flowers. These two forms should be purchased in plant form of the florists. The yuccas are too well known as isolated specimens to need description, but one would hardly recognize this old garden favorite when found growing in large, well-cared-for beds, as it appears in the large city parks. Yucca filimentosa is the variety em- ployed in the parks, and this throws up tall flower scapes five or six feet high and is only excelled by Yucea filamentosa variegata, which is distinctly mar- gined with creamy white. Both these plants should be planted in masses for fine effect, and once planted will be a permanent and beautiful feature of the grounds. Polygonum cuspidatum is a desirable hardy ornamental plant for a background for lower growth, for filling in waste corners and for many places where a free-growing, attractive plant is needed. The foliage is handsome and enduring, and the plant is entirely free from insect pests of all sorts. In mid-summer it is covered with masses of ‘foamy, greenish-white flowers, which spring from the axis of every leaf. It makes a rhizome root, so that its greatest fault is a tendency to spread, but it is easily eradicated, and if the new growths are kept down the parent plant will make a much more erect, effective growth. It is, at maturity, six feet high. The smaller plants are useful in porch boxes and PLANTS FOR VARIOUS SITUATIONS 87 for a screen for sleeping porches. They will thrive in any situation and condition. There are many low-growing foliage plants among the hardy perennials that are useful for edgings for beds of ornamental plants, and will thrive with little care, increasing in beauty from year to year. Among sun-loving plants for warm, sunny posi- tions the annual sunflowers are a most interesting class of plants. The miniature varieties are especially desirable, many of them possessing curiously twisted petals like the cactus dahlias, which make the flowers exceedingly graceful and picturesque. The ‘colors range from a nearly white type to a clear lemon, and through varying shades to deep, golden yellow. Stella has flowers of the richest golden yellow, while Orion, an improved variety of Stella, has petals twisted like a cactus dahlia. Both of these varieties bear single flowers, but there are many double forms well worthy of culture. Chrysanthemum-flowered is perfectly double and resembles in the fluffy doubleness of its flowers a chrysanthemum or aster. Double White Miniature has flowers nearly white. It is doubtful if a more popular flower has been in- troduced in the last score of years than the golden glow; this so closely resembles the sunflowers as to be considered by many as one of that family; it be- longs, however, to the genus Rudbeckia or cone flower. Most members of this family are distinguished by a 88 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN prominent, cone-shaped center from which they de- rive their name; this, in the case of the golden glow and other double varieties is not noticeable on account of the double character of the flower, but in the purple cone flower it is very conspicuous, the rosy-purple petals encircling a rich, brown cone dotted with golden spots arranged in spiral lines. The flowers _are very large and conspicuous, often six or seven inches in diameter and always attract attention. Newmani is a fine flower with bright orange petals surrounding a black cone, a striking and conspic- uous flower. Fulgida, a double form, closely re- sembles the well-known golden glow. Unlike this plant, the sunflowers do not increase by throwing out young plants around the crown of the old plant in such profusion as to make its presence in the garden somewhat of an embarrassment at times. It is best, in case of the golden glow, to lift and reset it every year or two, saving a few of the finest plants and dis- carding the rest and giving those retained abundant room that they may make stocky, strong-stemmed plants less prone to come down under a heavy rain. All of this class of plants are of the easiest culture, requiring only a warm, sunny position and good, fer- tile soil. An occasional cultivation with the hoe or a mulching with lawn clippings during the hottest weather will do away with the necessity of watering, PLANTS FOR VARIOUS SITUATIONS . 89 so insistent in the case of many plants, and reduce the care of this class of plants to a minimum. There are several varieties of plants that much re- semble in color and form, if not in texture, the sun- flowers; the sanvitalias, for instance, which bear showy, double, bright yellow flowers all summer. These may be used to edge beds of dwarf sunflowers. The yellow zinnias and the yellow marigold may also be used in this connection. All thrive under prac- tically the same conditions. The Gaillardias resemble somewhat the Rudbeckias, having a distinct center, but show colors not found in the sunflowers, and are handsomely zoned with two or more colors. Both the annual and perennial varieties are easily raised from seed, blooming the first season if started early in the house or hotbed and continuing until frost. Once established they will practically take care of them- selves. Coreopsis are admirable, slender-stemmed, grace- ful flowers excellent for mixing with the more angular and stiff sunflower and cone flowers. Like the Gail- lardias they are easily raised from seed sown in the open ground in May or in boxes in the house in March and transplanted to the open ground when the trees are coming into leaf. They require little care, and where time is at a premium the bed may be put in good condition, heavily mulched with lawn clippings and then left to take care of itself. The coreopsis is 90 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN excellent for cutting, having long stems and remain- ing in perfection for a long time in water. Indeed, all of the flowers listed are remarkable in this re- spect. Strongly resembling the coreopsis, the calliopsis produces its golden yellow flowers throughout the summer, rejoicing in the hottest sun and asking little attention save the room to grow and be beautiful. It is easily grown from seed which should be scattered where the plants are to bloom and thinned to stand eight or ten inches apart. Aside from the sunflowers, and flowers which in more or less degree resemble them, there are many plants which rejoice in a warm, sunny situation and may be planted in places where few plants would be available. The Eschscholtzias, or California poppies, make lovely sheets of bloom and are most effective when planted in large masses or used to border, or to intersperse, between taller-growing blue flowers, such as blue larkspur, blue iris, blue lupins, monks- hood, and the like. Though the prevailing color is the clearest, most golden yellow, there are several hybrids which are a distinct departure from the type. Mandarin, for instance, has the inner side of the petals of a rich orange, while the outer shows a bril- liant scarlet. Rose cardinal shows the inner petals white and the outer rose colored. Dainty Queen is a pale coral-pink, both inside and out, and Carmine PLANTS FOR VARIOUS SITUATIONS 91 King is, as its name indicates, carmine. Alba is a pure white form, but it is in the yellow varieties that the flower is best known, and it is this color that is recognized as the State Flower of California, All of us know, and many of us love that sturdy little salamander, the portulaca, which so delights in a hot, dry situation. The double flowers are excep- tionally attractive, and the plants are fine for edging, carpeting under taller-growing plants or for use on the rockery. It is only necessary to scatter the seed sparsely over the surface of the soil and wait for re- sults. Once established in the garden the portulaca may be depended upon to come up season after season -of its own accord. All single flowers should be pulled uy as soon as they show bloom and not allowed to go to seed, as they bear an enormous amount of seed and one pod is sufficient to seed an entire bed. Scarlet, crimson, white and yellow are the colors produced, and all are attractive, but the white are the daintiest of all, and look far too delicate for such an exposed position as the portulaca delights in. Most poppies are sun-loving plants and light up a garden with a very blaze of color during their season of bloom. This is especially true of the Matilija poppy of California, whose great white blossoms are borne aloft on tall stems five or six feet high, which often bear a dozen or more expanded flowers at one time. Almost as distinctive and beautiful is the 92 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN annual poppy, the Bride, whose great white cups are often the size of a pint bowl and borne aloft on stems five feet or more. I have grown them, solitary speci- mens, in sunny positions, of a size that made it neces- sary to bend the flowers down to see the golden anthers which made beautiful the interior of the great white cup. The Hunnemannias, or bush Eschscholtzias make stocky plants covered with large buttercup-yellow, poppy-like blossoms which ‘cover the plants through- out the summer and fall. The foliage resembles the ordinary Eschscholtzias somewhat, having the same glaucus color and feathery form. The golden bartonia is another showy annual well adapted to sunny positions. The foliage is grey, downy and thistle-like, the flowers, golden-yellow and exceedingly showy and brilliant in the sunshine. The seed should be sown where the plants are to bloom, as they do not bear transplanting well. One of the most satisfactory annuals for the garden is found in the Arctotis grandis, with its white, daisy- like flowers encircling a golden center and showing blue reflexes on the outer side of the petals. It makes many-branched plants and is covered from early sum- mer until hard frost with its beautiful flowers. No flower with which I am acquainted is more valuable for cutting, the flowers lasting in water an incredible time and the buds opening quite as well as though PLANTS FOR VARIOUS SITUATIONS 93 growing on the plant. They should be placed in a sunny position in the house, however, otherwise the flowers will remain closed, as they do at night and on cloudy days in the open. The plants are easily raised from seed, which may be started early in the house or hotbed and planted out in May, or the seed may be planted in the open ground in May, but earlier flowers are obtained by the first method. The Arctotis is much given to coming up self-sown, so that once established in the garden one is likely to have a per- manent supply of it, though it never comes up freely enough to be troublesome. If one is so fortunate as to have a secluded, unoc- eupied spot in garden or lawn, near to a summer house or garden seat, he may plant here those flowers of the dusk which, shunning the glare and publicity of the day, fold close their petals until the shades of night draw a protecting screen about them when, lo, there spring open to the night blossoms of white and of gold, of crimson and pink, filling the air with their perfume. All fragrant flowers are more searching and subtle in their fragrance when wet with the dew, but a few only unfold their sweetness to the night. Among the few night bloomers probably the best known is the old garden favorite, the four o’clock, which opens its flowers about that time in the day, continuing in bloom until the following morning. These are quite robust 94 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN plants and bear multitudes of showy flowers which at evening emit a strong, agreeable fragrance. Equally as well known is the old form of the evening primrose ; few of us but can remember the many hours spent, in childhood, in a vain attempt to watch the sudden unfolding of their yellow cups. A moment’s inatten- tion and, lo, the closely folded bud of an instant be- fore is a wide awake flower smiling at our discom- fiture. What is the secret of their unfolding that they so jealously guard it? One of the most attractive of our night bloomers ia the Nicotiana affinis, though this flower remains open on cloudy days and in shady positions. It is one of the most satisfactory garden plants, and combines so suc- cessfully with scarlet flowers that it should be lib- erally planted in shady corners where salvias or other scarlet flowers will grow. Usually it self sows and comes up here and there about the garden. I have not sown seed of any of the nicotianas for several years, but I never fail of plants of both the Nicotiana affints and Nicotiana sylvestris. Nicotiana sanderiae is a newer form of nicotiana, which comes in shades of red and is a very free bloomer. It is a rather later plant to come into bloom, though if one took pains to sow it in the hotbed in spring or in coldframe in fall it would give earlier results. I never sow it at all, de- pending on volunteer plants, and I find it exceedingly useful, as it comes into bloom at a time when other PLANTS FOR VARIOUS SITUATIONS 95 flowers are scarce, and looks well with the anemones, which bear it company in the fall garden. It usually comes up along the edges of the path, and I transplant it where I wish it to bloom, but last spring I treated all garden paths with herbicide, so shall miss my usual fall offering of nicotianas. The evening flowering stock, matthiola, is of little value except for its fragrance, but should be planted in conjunction with other evening bloomers. Plant the moonflower to cover the seat or arbor; this will give an abundance of lovely white flowers at night and on cloudy days. Plant either the hardy or the annual form. If the latter, soak the seed in warm water for some hours before planting. These little bits of special gardening add much to the interest of plant culture and will frequently make available an otherwise waste bit of land. Another good use to which an unoccupied corner may be put is to devote it to the starting of plants of hardy perennials, shrubs or trees from seed. A quite small piece of ground planted to seeds of hardy peren- nials in August or early September will furnish enough plants for an entire hardy garden, and the plants thus started will be ready for transplanting ° into permanent quarters at the time the seed would be going into the ground in spring, and will bloom the same year. Thus one saves a year in time. Many kinds of ornamental shrubs and trees may be grown 96 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN from seed, and one will be so busy with other matters that they will arrive at an-effective size before one realizes that it is to be expected of them. I often put off the planting of things of this sort thinking it will be so long before they come into size or bloom, not realizing that if I had planted them when I first thought of it they would have already reached ma- turity. PLANTS FOR VARIOUS SITUATIONS SUN-LOVING PLANTS NAME CLASS HEIGHT COLOR SEASON Amaranthus.......... Annual 3’- 5 Red shades All summer Anchusa Italica....... Perennial e - 5 Blue May-June Arctotis grandis....... Annual - 3 Blue, white July-Aug. Argemone hybrida..... Annual Fa meh atom a Ww . Annual 15-18” Blue, white, red TaLBept: Asters, in variety. Balloon vine. -Annual 8’ -10’ White All summer Centaurea i imp . Annual 3’ White, rose, blue June Coleus... ..... cee eee Annual 18” Green, bronze, crimson All summer Cosmos..........-.-. Annual 3’ 5 White, pink, ae crimson . ct. Dahlias.............. Tuberous 5’- 6’ All colors Suly—frost Gallardias............ An.&Per. 8/7 3’ — white, at rown summer Gladiolas............. Tuberous 3’ All colors July-frost Helenium............ Perennial 2/-4’-5’-6’ Yellow, red, ete. Aug.—Sept. Helianthemum........ Perennial 4’ 6” Yellow-red July—Sept. Helianthus........... Perennial 4’- 7’ Orange shades All summer Helianthus, in variety. . Annual 4-7 Yellow All summer Heliopsis. . -Perennial 3’ 48” Golden yellow All summer Marigold. . . Annual 12/"-15’" Yellow All summer Nasturtium. 6’ -10’ All colors All summer 12/-18” Rose, white All summer 12/-15” Red shades, white All summer nipta So Q” All colors June-frost Poppies..........+++- An. & Per, 18/’— 3 All colors _ July Portulaca. ........06. Annual 6” Scarlet, white, : yellow, rose All summer Pyrethrum...... «....Perennial 18/7 Red shades, white June-fall PUCK a io 2iscsie. ave ofnerses Perennial 9” poy y purple All summer Rodgersia............ Perennial 3’- 5’ All summer Romneya........--+-- Perennial 3’- 5’ White July Scabiosa...........+ ,. Annual 234’ All colors July Scabiosa............. Perennial 18//— 2’ White, blue June—Sept. PLANTS FOR VARIOUS SITUATIONS 97% PLANTS FOR VARIOUS SITUATIONS SUN-LOVING PLANTS (Continued) NAME CLASS Stokesia.............. Perennial Sweet Peas, in variety. . Annual Tagetes..........0005 Annual HEIGHT 18” 3’ - 6’ 12” COLOR Blue, white All colors Yellow SHADE-LOVING PLANTS NAME CLASS Anemonopsis eeacaisom aytonia... nvallaria. Digitalis. ............ Ferns.......220-0000- Marshallia. Podophylium Polemonium Polygonatum Primulas... Prunella.............- Perennial Shortia......... Saisie Perennial Spirea Aruncus....... Perennial Spirea Filipendula. ...Perennial Spirea gigantea....... Perennial Spi jrea Ulmaria. . ...Perennial ae enese . -Perennial Stenanthi 11 !Perennial icirtis Perennial Trillium. ... Perennial Vinee sicsicsicsa vie cie os Perennial HEIGHT Q 5’ - 6” 3-4 ? 3 4-5 18” 12-15" 4” COLOR Violet Creamy-yellow SEASON June-Sept. All summer All summer SEASON Late summer June Pinkish-white May White May While FORE All summer Gres. variegated All summer White Pink May Blue, white May-June White May-June White, yellow, red May Purple All summer White Early spring White June-July White, touched wrath pink June-July June-Ji White June-July Crimson June-July White Aug. White, spotted brown Fall White, crimson May Blue June TALL-GROWING PLANTS FOR BACKGROUNDS AND SCREENS HEIGHT COLOR NAME CLASS Aralia Cashmeriana....Perennial Bocconis: ose seus yes Perennial Campanula pyramidalis.Perennial Canna, in variety..... Bedder Cephalaria............ Perennial Cosmos.....-..0eee08 Annual Delphiniums.......... Perennial Grasses, oraninental . Perennial - Perennial Perennial 5/- 8 - 8’ 4’— 67 3’- 6 6’ 3 5! 4 - 6’ SEASON June Aug. Aug. All summer June Sept. June-fall All summer June-frost Aug.—Sept. MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN TALL-GROWING PLANTS FOR BACKGROUNDS AND SCREENS 98 (Continue NAME CLASS HEIGHT Hollyhock..........65 Perennial 6/’- 7’ sylvestris... . Perennial y— 7 , -Perennial 4/’-— 6’ -Perennial 6’ -Annual = 15’ . Annual 6’- 8’ eat Perennial y= 5! suaceeieiaseiass Perennial 4’—~ 5’ acuinia eval’ esavatnapals Perennial 5/- 6’ COLOR SEASON White, pink, yel- low, crimson, giant ug. July-frost White in July—Aug. Greenis! ie Aug.—Sept. Green All summer Bronze, green All summer White, red, pink May-June White Aug. Creamy white Sune-d uly LOW-GROWING PLANTS FOR EDGING, BEDDING AND THE LIKE NAME CLASS HEIGHT OOLOR SEASON ee sib satis MOU e als Cushion-like Crimson spines All summer A UCBs iss: scocsters givtetele Cust Carpet Purplish blue May Alchertia. estas noe . Tnconspicuous at summer Alyssum......-2.668 railing White summer Alyssum saxatile...... V Yellow June-July Arabis alpina Carpet White ae meen i alalina8 eke bes 9” Pink i summer Aubretia............. Rock Crimson, purple May-June Bellis. (English daisy).. 6”— 8” Pink, w! an crimson summer Campanula Carpatica..Perennial 6’/— 9” White, blue All summer Cerastium Perennial 6” White, silvery ‘ oliage une Draba......---.eeeee Perennial Dwarf rock White ee Glechomo........+.++ P ial Creeping Foliage onl; All summer ees Se eee co eee Oe Oerue: Te auld surnmer TIA eco foocav'e sates ats 3 erennial ri Lobelia, Crystal panes 6” Dew blue dunes ov. Lobelia heterophilla. . 6” Sky-blue June-frost Lychnis Viscaria...... Vv Deep red June orning glory, ager 1 White, rose, blue All summer Phlox Drummondi., 13” All colors Il summer Portulaca, .........4- 6” Rose, scarlet, : : white, yellow All summer Primula.............. Perennial 6//- 9” Yellow, orange, 4 crimson rin, Prunella... . ..Perennial Low Purple t minnie Santolina Perennial (Dwarf Evergreen with silvery-white foliage All summer Sanvitalia............ Annual” ' Dwarf Bright yellow All summer Bedum..........e000s Perennial 6”~ 8” White, Vellon i ee 7 jorimson, in ne—Se) Saxifraga (Mogasea)...Perennial 12” ee a ¥ mi . a ril~Ma; ae a sarmentosa. . penne oe ie ‘silvery feline A on aumtiee i elinava wisi syavwreie erennial Low tu n summer Viola (Tufted pansies)..Perennial 6” White, yellow, blue. All summer PLANTS FOR VARIOUS SITUATIONS 99 The foregoing list of plants, while fairly compre- hensive, is by no means exhaustive but is rather intended to direct the reader’s search for special plants for special positions. Almost any good floral catalogue—Dreer’s specially—will give detailed de- scriptions of the several plants and their various varieties from which intelligent selections may be made. The heights given the various plants, as well as their season of bloom must be taken as approximate rather than definite, as the part of the country in which they are grown will have much to do with the size they attain. The nearer their native habitat they are planted the more generous, of course, will be their development. Then, too, the matter of a poor or gen- erous soil, the amount of cultivation and general care will all be determining factors in the size they attain, their period of bloom, and size of bloom. In the matter of vines the water supply is im- portant, and the supplying of an adequate support will determine in a large measure the height to which they will grow. Certain vines, as for instance, the trumpet vine, if given a low support will grow to the top of it and then form a bushy head, ceasing, for all practical purposes, to be a vine. Such a trumpet vine growing on my own premises by the side of a gate post assumed this voluntary form, while a sister plant in the more favorable position supplied by a tall pear 100 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN tree flaunts its blossom from the topmost branches. Another trumpet vine of which I knew, found en- trance beneath the siding of a house and grew up- wards, through the dark to the eaves of the second story, where it emerged and formed a bushy top, con- tinuing to grow and bloom for years. For these rea- sons it is difficult to give a definite height for vines, Low-growing plants—rock plants, ground plants which creep or trail and have no upright measure— are seldom specified in feet and inches. CHAPTER IX THE AMATEUR’S ROSE GARDEN TuE growing of roses is a thing apart in the garden calendar; no other flower exacts so large a toll of patience, care and labor as the rose; no other flower repays so royally in bloom and fragrance. It should be of the garden a thing apart, rare, cherished and a source of much sweet exultation and pride, every bloom a cause for rejoicing. It should have a place to itself, for the rose is an aristocrat among flowers and impatient of the presence of other forms of flower life. If there cannot be a space set apart for a real rose garden, then at least a bed to themselves should be accorded or, if roses for cutting are all that is desired, then a row through the vegetable garden will give excellent results, as the cultivation will be more certain and thorough. This is especially desir- able in the growing of teas and hybrid teas. Out of nearly a hundred roses planted the past year a row of two dozen hybrid teas planted in a continuous row through the garden, with such low-growing things as beets and parsley planted on either hand did much 101 102 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN the best, giving a constant succession of bloom all summer and was still covered with buds when severe freezing weather sent the plants into their winter covering to sleep until the bluebird’s song should awaken them in spring. A piece of land lying towards the east and south is best for the rose garden, as they are essentially flowers of warmth and sunshine. Some protection against rough winds on north and west is always bene- ficial, but should not be too close. A rich, mellow loam, containing a portion of clay and well enriched with old, well-rotted stable manure, dug very deep and well drained, is essential for best results; where no clay is present in the soil it can be added and is well worth while. All the plants grown in pots for shipment in nurseries are grown in clay, and this is one reason they so well withstand shipping to distant points, as the clay adheres tenaciously to the roots, protecting them from injury. This it does when grown in beds, and less damage occurs from the ground freezing in winter or drying out in summer, as the roots are never entirely exposed to drought and cold. Clay also adds to the richness of the color. The ground should be prepared, if possible, enough in advance of the receipt of the plants to have become settled, as newly worked ground is too porous for planting. A heavy rain after spading will put it in good condition. Should the weather be too cold or A SMALL BACK YARD DEVOTED TO ROSES ead ee a ‘et fh id eee A ROSE ARCH IS A MOST EFFECTIVE SUPPORT FOR CLIMBING ROSES THE AMATEUR’S ROSE GARDEN 1038 wet when the plants arrive they should be unpacked in a cool place, away from the wind, and if only a day or two is to elapse they need only be taken from the packages and stood upright on a table or in a box, setting the plants close together but with the tops uncovered. Generally roses reach one in excellent condition, the earth on the roots intact and the moss and paper quite damp; if in this condition nothing more will be required, but if somewhat dry the tops should be sprayed, allowing the water to run down inside the papers. If very dry it will be best to im- merse the roots in lukewarm water until well soaked. Plants which come by mail with all earth removed should not be put at once in the open ground, but should be potted off in small pots not over three Inches and allowed to rest and recover before plant- ing. As a general thing roses will need no protection when planted out in early spring, but if there is much hot sun a screen on the west is beneficial and can be supplied by driving two or three stakes along the rows and tacking a strip of matting or burlap to them. This will protect from the sun without depriving the plants of air. Any bruised or broken roots should be removed with a sharp knife, and any broken or straggly branches, but the majority of roses will need little pruning. Only roses on their own roots should ever be pur- 104 “MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN chased. Grafted roses invariably run to stock suckers and are a bad investment at any price. Individual preference will, of course, be an impor- tant factor in the selection of varieties, but where an abundance of cut flowers is desired ‘there is no ques- tion that the preference should go to the hybrid teas; these, once established, will give constant bloom from May until hard frost, and the blooms will grow finer and more and more beautiful as the pldnt increases in size and strength. If notable-sized flowers rather than quantity is desired then all but the terminal bud on each spray should be removed; this is an ad- vantage, too, in cutting, as then there is no compunc- tion over sacrificing buds, as there is when all the buds are allowed to remain. It would be difficult to name a short list of most desirable teas where all are so good, but it is safe for the amateur to start out with the several varieties of Cochet (pronounced “*Cocha,’’) white, red, pink, crimson and yellow; the several Killarneys, Radiance, Charles Dingee, Madam Baden, Edward Mawley, and add to these as one’s taste suggests. Of the hybrid perpetuals one should include Frau Karl Druschki, (the best white rose to date), Gen. Jacqueminot, Virginia Coxe, Paul Ney- ron, Prince Camile de Rohan, Fisher Holmes and Baroness Rothschilde. Virginia Coxe is listed as a hybrid tea but has the hardiness of the hybrid per- THE AMATEUR’S ROSE GARDEN 105 petuals, so I plant it with those roses; it is, of all red roses, the sweetest and reddest. In my opinion climbing roses run altogether too much to the rambler class. To be sure a well grown and well cared for rambler is very beautiful when in full bloom in June, but has little to recommend it the balance of the season, and might well be relegated to a less important place than a front porch and its room given to the large flowered, perpetual bloomers like climbing American Beauty, Mrs. Robert Peary— an exquisitely beautiful rose of tea type with wonder- ful buds of creamy white—Meteor and climbing Wooten, both exceptionally rich colored red roses of tea type, white Maman Cochet, Papa Gontier and others of the class. Where a rambler is wanted a better selection than crimson rambler is the ever blooming crimson rambler, Flower of Fairfield. Lady Gay, a cherry colored and white of most delicate beauty is one of the best of its class and a very free grower. The much advertised blue rose Veilchanblau is more curious than beautiful, being a violet rather than a blue, but is a very vigorous grower, making beautiful strong canes with handsome foliage. Summer care consists of three important features —feeding, cultivating and fighting insect pests; the last should really come first, and last and all the time as there is little let-up, from the unfolding of the first leaf bud until frost, to the incursion of plant lice, 106 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN thrips, slugs and mildew. Fortunately the rose bugs appear but once in a season, but the aphis we have always with us. With a good water supply many pests may be kept in check by spraying for from fifteen minutes to half an hour each day, but this will have no effect on blight, mildew and ills of that na- ture. A good insecticide—or several—should be at hand from early spring on. Before the first leaves appear spraying once a week with bordeaux mixture will control most of the ills the rose is heir to, espe- cially black spot and blight. Lime sulphur solution is remedial for mildew and as a tonic, while hot water about one hundred and forty degrees will effectually remove all lice and slugs if used so that it reaches the under as well as the upper side of the foliage. Where the plants are slender enough to allow of dipping the tips of the branches into a dish of hot water very thorough work can be done with lice. The slugs work from the ground up so the water must be applied in the form of a spray. Picking all leaves that show perforations and destroying them is a great help; spraying with hellebore is also a standard remedy against slugs. Black spot is controlled by spraying, but every diseased leaf should be picked and burned. Always the new growth must be watched for lice as they appear first at the tip of the branches, where they may be easily controlled, but once spread to the THE AMATEUR’S ROSE GARDEN 107 under side of the leaves their eradication is more difficult. Sufficient manure should be spaded into the beds, together ~vith rather coarse bone meal to supply the early growing needs of the plants, but at the appear- ance of buds additional food should be supplied; this may take the form of liquid manure prepared by fill- ing a barrel with manure and water. A large lard barrel is a good size to use; this should be burned out. to remove the grease and fitted with a wooden spig- ot an inch or two above the bottom on one side. The barrel should be set on a box or other support high enough to allow a watering can to be set under the spigot. .Several inches of clean straw should be put in the bottom, then fill to the top with manure free from straw, cow manure being best. Then fill with water and cover to exclude flies. When needed draw off the liquid, replacing it with water so that the barrel is kept full all the time until the liquid be- comes too weak to be of use. The barrel should stand in the shade in an inconspicuous but handy place. The liquid should be applied at regular intervals of once a week, but should not be given when the soil is dry—after a rain or watering with the hose is best— and its application should be followed the next morn- ing with cultivation to restore the dust mulch. Cultivation should be continuous throughout the growing season. Where the plants are in straight, 108 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN long rows which admit of the use of the wheel culti- vator it should be used, but where that is imprac- ticable the hoe and scuffle hoe must be depended on. The scuffle hoe if held quite upright can be made to do quite deep cultivating and is invaluable for creat- ing a dust mulch. The beds should not be allowed to dry out, but if faithful use is made of the cultiva- tor or hoe it will not be necessary to water more than once a week, but that watering should be thorough, soaking down to the roots of the plants, then followed the next morning with a level cultivation. A thorough cultivation to loosen up the soil in the afternoon, followed by a good watering and an appli- cation of liquid manure towards evening and a light scuffling of the soil in the morning to produce the dust mulch, will be a good order to follow and will keep the beds in flourishing condition for a week. Cut all flowers as fast as they bloom, allowing none to wither on the plant and taking as long stems as possible; cutting down to a strong, outward turning bud will increase the number of blooming shoots and the thriftiness and vigor of the plants. CHAPTER X WINDOW AND PORCH BOXES THE box may be as simple or as elaborate as one’s means permit, but it must be borne in mind that the contents are the primal idea in its inception, the thing for which the box exists and, when once planted and sufficiently grown to be really effective, little if any- thing of the box will be seen. That it should be sub- stantial and roomy enough for the purpose, inconspic- uous enough to detract nothing from the contents and, if of wood, of a style and color to correspond with the house is really all that is required. The metal boxes have much to recommend them, as they contain reservoirs for the storage of water and thus require less attention than one of wood, but simple boxes made from six or eight-inch lumber, well caulked with white lead before nailing together, sup- plied with a drainage hole near the bottom at one end, and fitted with a plug, will answer every pur- pose. Even the boxes in which scythes come can be utilized quite satisfactorily, but will require more water than a more substantially built box. A box 109 110 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN eight inches deep and nine wide and as long as the window casing is a satisfactory size for single win- dows; oriole window and porch boxes will need to be somewhat larger. The boxes should be placed so that the top is im- mediately below the window sill and securely sup- ported, especially if under second story windows where the results of breaking loose would be very serious. Plants placed in the restricted confines of a win- dow box will require rich soil and a mixture composed of fibrous loam, or earth taken just below the crown of the grass from old sod, mixed with bone meal and old, well decayed manure is best. For north windows where ferns, begonias and the like will be grown the addition of leaf mold and sharp, white sand will be desirable, but on an exposed western side a heavier soil will be required. Fill the boxes quite full to be- gin with and in setting the plants press the earth very firmly about them, leaving the surface somewhat lower in the center than at the edges so that the water may remain more in the body of the box. When the boxes are to be filled with plants from the greenhouse the roots should be disturbed as little as possible. Simply press pot and all into the soil so as to make a hole the size and shape of the pot; then invert the pot on the hand, tap it against the side of the box to loosen the ball of earth and slip it WINDOW AND PORCH BOXES 111 into the hole, pressing the soil about it. Planted in this way the boxes may go at once into the positions they are to hold. ‘When plants are received by mail for the purpose they should have one of two treatments—they should either be potted off into pots and set in the shade for a few days until they have established themselves suffi- ciently to be turned out of the pot in a firm ball, or the boxes themselves should be put in a shady po- sition, planted and allowed to start growth before be- ing placed where they are required. Observance of this rule will avoid many disappointments in window box culture. Boxes may be very inexpensively equipped by plant- ing with cuttings from the house-plants, by placing them in some frost-proof, convenient place early in March and simply sticking cuttings of geraniums, fuchsias, vincas, and like plants where they are wanted; they will root quickly at this time of year and grow on very satisfactorily. Very attractive and inexpensive window and porch boxes may be developed by the use of common garden plants raised from seed. The bright colors which make the boxes so charming are especially noticeable in many of the summer annuals. The Phlox Drum- mondi give an infinite variety of pinks, scarlets, dark reds and white and are indefatigable bloomers, har- monizing exquisitely with the pinks and dark reds. 112 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN The ageratums are equally floriferous. Both the sin- gle and double petunias are exceptionally fine in boxes and choice should be made of the large or giant fringed sorts with their wonderful coloring and deep throats. Scarlet and white verbenas and white candy- tuft—this latter should have fresh sowings at inter- vals of two weeks—nasturtiums (these more espe- cially for porch boxes); the dwarf scarlet zinnias, schizanthus, lobelias, dwarf morning glories, all may be utilized for window boxes at a cost of a few dimes. As a general thing window boxes call for trailing rather than climbing vines, but there is usually much sameness in selection, trailing vinca, moneywort and the like being too often in evidence. Vinca, however, is very attractive if rather stiff, but is improved by nipping off the ends to induce it to branch, when it looks less lank. The variegated ivy geraniums are more attractive and have the added beauty of abun- dant and lovely bloom. Wandering Jew in the colored forms is especially good and for east and north win- dows the trailing fuchsias, abutilons and begonias are all beautiful and produce a most artistic box. There is one plant which I especially affect for north and east boxes—Panicum excurrens or palm grass. This is not listed by northern florists, but can be procured from any southern florist and is very striking with its long palm like leaves about three inches wide and as WINDOW AND PORCH BOXES 113 many feet long, arching gracefully over the sides of the box. For vines which both climb and trail, festoon and drape themselves about the box in graceful profusion there is nothing more charmingly delicate than the maurandia, and the white flowered solanum and scar- let manetta vine are especially pretty when grown together. Where a tall climbing vine is desired there are three especially desirable vines to choose, the Cobaea scandens, the various Passilflora—P. Pfordtu, for preference—and the Japanese morning glory. Any one of these will climb to an upstairs window, blooming every step of the way, and are easy to control. For south and west window boxes all the bright, sun-loving plants may be grown, geraniums, camphor geraniums, feverfew, petunias, verbenas, justitias, heliotropes, ageratums, Phlox Drummondi and coleus —if the tops are kept pinched back so that they do not get ‘‘leggy.’? Anything that would do well in similar exposures in the open ground may be used in the south or west box. Those plants which love the morning sun, but shrink from the full glare of the sun at high noon and later, should find a home in the east boxes. Petunias, of course, which do well anywhere, ageratums, helio- tropes, fuchsias, tuberous begonias, fancy leaved cal- adiums, Panicum excurrens, aralias, aspidistras bou- 114 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN gainvilleas, cissus, discolor crotons, Impatiens Sul- tanas, and so on. North window boxes are, aside from brilliant color, the most charming of all, for plants do so exceed- ingly well here if a proper selection is made. All the house ferns—Boston, Sword ferns, holly, Pieris tremula, aspleniums and the like; the asparagus ferns, especially Asparagus Sprengeri; the begonias, espe- cially the ornamental leaved varieties other than the Rex; many of the smaller palms, the palm grass, abutilons, fuchsias, Wandering Jew, vincas, cissus dis- color, will all thrive and show a freshness of green unknown to other exposures, and lack of brilliant bloom igs compensated for by combining those plants with variegated foliage as the abutilons, the spotted farfugium, the variegated silver and purple Wander- ing Jew, and so on. General summer care consists principally in sup- plying abundant water, in keeping the vines in check, removing all dead leaves and nipping back too am- bitious plants for, unless it is desired to screen the window underneath which the boxes are placed, they should not be allowed to obstruct the view; for this reason only those plants of moderate growth should be selected. For porch boxes, placed at a level with the floor and used in a measure as a source of privacy, taller plants may be selected and anything used which will thrive in a restricted area. I have used the WINDOW AND PORCH BOXES 115 Polygonum cuspidatum with excellent results in win- dow and porch boxes where a mass of foliage was desired as a screen rather than a floral display. It is a very handsome plant with its ovate leaves of a rich green, red stems and, in August, wealth of foamy flowers of a greenish white. White, by the way, is about the most valuable color in all window planting and should be used freely, especially with shades of red and yellow and to lighten up an otherwise too sombre planting. The Polygonum, by the way, is good for sleeping porch boxes as it furnishes a sereen, and climbing rather than trailing vines may be selected. For balconies I always like bright flowers as, being rather high, the softer colors are rather in- conspicuous. Trailing vines, too, are to be preferred and the nasturtiums are desirable. So common a vine as the wild cucumber can be used to advantage if it is removed as soon as it begins to fade. Its delicate flowers are lovely with pink geraniums, petunias, justitias and the like. CHAPTER XI VINES FOR EVERY PLACE A DIFFERENT vine for each position is quite pos- sible, for nature has been generous indeed in her of- fering of material to soften and beautify the rugged face of a cliff or the gnarled trunk of a tree. Vines follow fleet-footed on the trail of death and decay to cover with blooming spray and fruited branch and create a new life more beautiful than that which has passed. The wild clematis and convolvula flaunt their blooms from tree and fence row; the wild cu- cumber makes delicate tracery of green and foamy white flowers along the debris of the neglected ravine ; the woodbine flaunts from the crown of the dead monarch of the forest, and the wild grape—that sweetest of the vitis family when in bloom—haunts the woods and uplands where the wild elderberry grows. All are cosmopolite in their requirements, flourish- ing quite as well in the suburban garden or the city back yard as in their native woodland habitat. All that is really essential for successful growth is some- 116 VINES FOR EVERY PLACE 117 thing for the vine to cling to and cover, for that is really the life of the vine; frustrate that intention and it withers and dies, Being, for the most part, things of the wild the more natural the conditions of growth and especially the fare provided, the more successful is their culture apt to prove. Growing in a wild state they are usually found well footed in deep leaf mold and mellow loam, with conditions af- fording protection to the roots from sun and drought. Unfortunately many of the places for which vines are desired in our gardens and about our houses do not afford these conditions. A place against the side of a house, for instance, is about as discouraging for a vine or plant as can well be selected; a place in front of a broad porch, especially one with wooden floor and latticed foundation is far better, as the soil here is liable to be natural and: not composed of the hard pan, broken stone, brick and lime that usually distinguishes that in close proximity to the house walls. ‘When, however, these unfortunate conditions pre- vail there is but one remedy—the digging of a wide and deep hole, removing the soil and replacing with a good compost from the compost heap, manure pile and garden. Especial attention must be given to this matter of soil, for a vine is a permanent planting, not to be changed as long as the vine survives, which may exceed in years that of the gardener who plants it. 118 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN At any rate it is likely to be a matter of years during which the vine will demand more and more in the way of sustenance, which now can only be supplied in the way of top dressing. Where the soil about the house is fairly good, even then planting close to the wall has disadvantages, as the plant is apt to suffer for lack of moisture, the tendency being for the water to run away from the house, and on the side which receives little rain the ground is naturally quite dry. For this reason it is better to plant the vine out a distance from the wall, even as much as three feet sometimes, according to conditions. This need not interfere with the care of the Jawn or leave an unsightly bare spot, as it is only necessary to lay back the sod, set the vine in a deep hole of fine soil and bury the stem of the vine under the sod up to a point a few inches from the wall, where it may emerge and attach itself to the support provided. Certain vines, like the trumpet vine, the woodbine, the climbing hydrangea, will send out roots along the buried stem and so perfect a much better root system than when planted in the usual way. The matter of support is also of much importance and should, if possible, be provided from the start, as a failure to find support at once often results in the loss of a vine or much lost energy and growth in the search. Such vines as attach themselves to walls by VINES FOR EVERY PLACE 119 aerial rootlets need no support other than to be brought close to the wall at the start, so that the young rootlets may lay hold while still full of sap. If they once dry out their usefulness is lost and a vine long enough to be blown about by the wind will sel- dom make a firm attachment to a wall. Vines which require netting for support—as the various clematis—should have it in place when planted. Most of the clematis are quite hardy, but a few, those that bloom on the last season’s wood, as Madam Edward Andrea, are better for being laid down during winter and for this reason the netting should not be nailed to the wall of the house, but to strips of wood, which in turn may be fastened to hooks in the wall so that the netting can be easily detached and rolled up on the ground and protected. Vines that do well on cords, as most of the annual vines, are easily cared for by taking two strips of wood, one for top and one for the bottom, and driv- ing fence staples in them about a foot apart and run- ning twine—butcher’s twine is good—back and forth through the staples from top to bottom. When the time comes to remove the vines it is easily done by untying the ends of twine and pulling them out, leav- ing the vines in a bunch on the ground where they are easily removed. This is far easier than pulling the vines away from the twine. A vigorous growing vine throws off a greater quan- 120 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN tity of water through its leaves than any other kind of vegetable growth, and to meet this heavy evapo- ration must receive an abundant water supply, and not only is this necessary at the root, but frequent spraying of the foliage will add much to its beauty and health. The Japanese Ipomea is a notable ex- ample of this need of moisture. Give it enough to moisten the soil and it will grow and bloom, but give it enough to soak the soil to a puddle, after a season of ordinary watering and the blossoms will almost double in size over night. It must not only have suf- ficient moisture to make the food in the soil available —for in dry soil the food is locked up—but enough for a good drink besides, a drink that will reach clear to the topmost tendrils. The choice of a vine is not only a matter of beauty or of hardiness; it must be one of suitability also. If an object is to be screened against the sun or against curious observation, then a dense growing vine should be selected, such as the Aristolochia Sipho, the Am- pelopsis Veitchi, Ampelopsis Lowi or tricolor—this last a delightful vine, both in its manner of growth, its beautiful grape-shaped foliage marbled with pink, white and grey on a green ground, its peacock-blue berries in late fall and its perfect hardiness. It does admirably on a north exposure and if a low wall is to be covered it may be cut down to within three feet of the ground every fall and will make a rank growth VINES FOR EVERY PLACE 121 the following year. Indeed I think it is more beauti- fully marbled when so cut back, as the new growth is more in evidence, being lower. The wild grape should be grown, if only for its entrancing fragrance when in bloom. All the Vitis family are admirable, but there is one less well known that is the most beautiful of all the family—Vitis Henryana—a variety with five lobed leaves resembling dark green velvet with a silver mid-rib; to my mind the most beautiful vine I have seen. Schizophragma hydrangeoides is another remark- ably fine vine, very rarely seen, but which should be far better known. Perhaps its rather high initial cost may have something to do with its rarity, small plants costing a dollar, but it would be cheap at a much higher price were one more familiar with its merits. Imagine a fine hydrangea climbing up the wall of the house—for it is a self-supporting vine, clinging firmly to stone, brick and even to wood—and covered in June with great heads of white blooms similar to Hydrangea paniculata, but unlike the latter in that the blooms do not turn pink as they fade, but retain their creamy white color. The foliage is ovate, dark green and waxy and the thick, woody stems red. It is a vine that always attracts attention, either in leaf, flower or naked branches, and is of the easiest culture, doing best on the north or east side of the 122 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN house, in good woodsy soil, and requiring no protec- tion in the severest winters. Unless a very large space is to be covered most of the clematis should be cut back in fall or early spring. Clematis paniculata (Virgin’s Bower) can be cut to the ground every year and be all the more tractable for it. In fact, it is apt to grow unmanageable unless cut back severely every year, but the large flowered type is not sufficiently hardy as a rule to make much cutting necessary, the frost usually giving more than the needed assistance. Frequently the clematis will make a fine show the early part of the summer, then suddenly wither and die, and examination usually shows a punctured stem and a pinkish worm occupy- ing the hollow thus formed. When this happens there isn’t much help for the top of the plant, though it will grow again from the root, but keeping a watch of the plant may prevent the invasion, The presence of fresh green sawdust anywhere about a stem is al- ways a sign of mischief and if found before too large a cavity is made the worm can be removed or killed by running a wire up the hole and protecting the wound with absorbent cotton, a bit of gum or anything that will exclude air. Where wounds are near the surface of the ground, drawing earth up about it is often successful, The Bignonia radicams is a very showy and effective vine when covered with the bloom in July. It clings VINES FOR EVERY PLACE 128 to any stone, brick or wooden support and should never be pulled loose, as it will seldom attach itself anew. It is effectively grown as a hedge when the plants may be set three feet apart and trimmed up to the height desired before being allowed to branch. It will then throw out long, stout canes from this point which droop and present a mass of bloom in season. It makes a very handsome standard trained to a stake until of required height. The Bignonia has one great fault—that of spreading after the plants attain age; for this reason it should not be allowed to form seed as these will scatter in February or March and come up in unexpected places, and volunteer plants from the root are even more troublesome. If the plant could be set in a walled enclosure so as to be forced to remain there it would be a much more desirable tenant of the garden, but it is so fine when in full bloom that, for the time at least, one forgives it the sin of being too often in evidence. The Actinidias are also very useful for covering arbors, porches or for positions requiring dense shade. For positions where a light vine is more suitable the akebia and large-flowered clematis are desirable and there are many charming annual vines which can be easily raised from seed sown either in the hotbed or in the open ground. One of the prettiest of all these is found in the Bryonopsis. This belongs to the gourd family, Bee has pale green, smooth, ivy-like foliage 124 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN and is completely covered with small green fruit about the size of gooseberries, green mottled with white at first, but turning as they mature to a rich cardinal red. They appear at the axil of every leaf and when the vine has a chance to run along a horizontal wire they are lovely indeed. In the fall, sprays of the fruit may: be brought in the house and will remain perfect for some time. The Japanese morning glories are the most charm- ing of the summer blooming vines. For best results one should buy the seed in separate, named packets and start the seed in flats or tiny pots in house or hotbed, soaking the seed in warm water until they sprout, then planting the sprouted seed in flats or pots, or, if the weather is warm, in the open ground. They should be planted on the north or west side of the house if one would enjoy their beauties, for if planted on the east or south the first rays of the morning sun will close the blooms before one has a chance to enjoy them. They require far more space than the common morning glory—five feet apart is none too much—and just as much upward room as one can command. On too low a trellis they will climb to the top and then droop over, hiding the lower blossoms, for the Japan- ese morning glory branches and blooms from the root up. Pure white blooms, five inches or more in diam- eter, double white, fluffy blossoms; white spotted and speckled with crimson; blue and crimson edged with xX TWO MONTHS AFTER PLANTING A THRIFTY WINDOW BO NOILVUOOUG HOUOd SV CASA ATAAILLOUIIA SANIA VINES FOR EVERY PLACE 125 broad bands of white, terra cotta, steel grey; single and double blooms, all are found in this wonderful flower of the Orient. Good soil, cultivation and water, water, water, are the conditions that will produce the wonderfully large flowers that are known in Japan. I have raised Japanese morning glories that Japanese friends told me were larger than they grew, but I found it was water, and always water that did it. Another most interesting annual vine is the momor- dica. This has especially beautiful foliage of the grape style, and long golden-yellow fruit that opens when ripe, showing an interior full of scarlet seeds. Other members of the gourd family are quite worth cultivating; one of the most effective vines I ever grew was the orange shaped gourd. This has large, coarse foliage, but is exceedingly effective in a mural sort ‘of way, and when grown across the front of a porch or pergola is wonderfully decorative. No vine is so artistically beautiful as the Chinese wistaria when covered with its long pendent sprays of white or of lavender flowers. Unfortunately it is often a shy bloomer, requiring several years to come into flower; sometimes it never blooms. I have one myself that must be between fifteen and twenty years old and has defeated all efforts to make it bloom, though it grows rankly with a stem as thick as my wrist. Seedling plants are said to bloom seldom, so in purchasing vines of this particular sort one should 126 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN see that they are getting plants from cuttings of blooming plants, if possible. The adlumia or Alleghany vine is a delicate, fern- like vine, especially desirable for caskets and for po- sitions where a slight tracery of green is desired. It is a biennial, forming a fern-like stool of leaves the first year, but rising into a tall, slender vine the sec- ond summer. It does better when planted on the east or north side of the house, as a hot sun burns the foliage. It self-sows and once established on the premises volunteer plants will be found from year to year which may be lifted the second season and planted wherever they are needed. The wild cucumber, Echinocystis, is a very useful annual, especially for covering rough places or for porches, porch boxes or window boxes. It has one fault—the foliage turns yellow early in the season. For this reason its use in boxes should be temporary ; just allowing it to remain until it begins to look shabby and then pulling it up and substituting some- thing else, but while still fresh and green and covered with its delicate greenish-white sprays of flowers it is a very attractive and useful vine and as it comes up self-sown is always available. There are several florist’s vines which may be used as summer bedders and will prove both interesting and effective. The passion vine, Passiflora Pfordtit, is a beautiful thing, being covered the summer through VINES FOR EVERY PLACE 127 with its large pink, white and blue flowers which spring from every leaf axil. It may be purchased in pots of the florists in the spring or old plants may be cut into short lengths and rooted in the hotbed, as they root very readily when given bottom heat and the protection of glass. They are fine for pergolas and desirable for porch and window boxes where a climb- ing rather than a trailing vine is desired. The pas- sion vine will climb to the second story by mid-sum- mer, blooming all the way. A fine vine which has given me much pleasure is the Aristolochia elegans. This cannot, usually, be ob- tained of northern florists, but must be purchased of the Florida greenhouses, but it will well repay con- siderable effort to obtain. The leaves of the Aristo- lochia elegans are thick and leathery and the flower very striking and novel—a disc-shaped bloom about two inches in diameter of a creamy color overlaid with a network of reddish, purplish brown. It blooms profusely and in fall can be cut back and wintered in a dormant state in a warm cellar. A table back of the furnace suits it, or it may be brought into the conservatory for winter blooming. If one has the convenience of a suitable winter stor- age plant room in the basement, then one’s garden may be greatly enriched with plants from the tropics and semi-tropical parts of the country. Some of the southern trumpet vines are exceptionally beautiful 128 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN and there are many other tropical vines well worth trying, as well as many shrubs and bedding plants; the crape myrtles, the oleanders, hibiscus and many, many others. For window boxes there is nothing more daintily graceful than the little manetta vine with its foxglove- shaped blossoms of blue, of pink and of white. It is easily raised from seed sown in boxes of fine soil in house or hotbed in February or March. At the same time one may start seeds of the thumbergia, which requires similar treatment. CHAPTER XII THE ROCK GARDEN Tue rock garden is a sort of edition de luxe in the garden repertoire, that is, it is so to us of the Middle West where stones and rocks are about as rare as rooks eggs, but in New England they may often be a ‘‘virtue of necessity.’’ It is a fascinating necessity since there are so many delightful things that are especially suited to a-rockery; things that one seldom sees in the garden proper, while most of the common things, annuals, perennials, shrubs and small trees, all may be colonized in the pockets and comfortable crannies of a generous rockery. A rockery, to be at its best, should never be a mere tumulus of stones, though even that makeshift may be attractive with proper planting, but should have its beginning in some natural way, starting at some fixed point, as a group of trees which may be planted for the purpose; a stone wall or a building, or one great boulder may be the inception of the whole. The rocks at the beginning should be large and be so placed as to appear to crop out of the ground; they may di- 129 130 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN minish in size and height as the edge of the rockery is reached, but nowhere should they deteriorate into a mere pile of stones. The best location is one ex- tending from east to west so that a planting of tall shrubs or trees—as the larches, tamarax and tamarisk —may be made on the north side where they will not shade the lower planting. All tall shrubs and peren- nials must be on the higher parts of the rockery, the low-growing and creeping things being nearer the ground. Suitable pockets of soil must be provided and in the case of shrubs and deep-rooted perennials the pockets should extend to the ground. Certain rock-loving plants will do well in shallow pockets, but the soil must be of the best to start with—a warm, fibrous loam, well enriched with old manure, for ob- viously, the soil cannot readily be changed once the rockery is established, but must depend upon such top dressing as can be given in fall and spring for renewal. The rockery will afford spaces of sun and shade, congenial for many sorts of plants; there should be moist hollows where ferns and things of the wild-wood will thrive. On the northern side, in the shade of the trees many woodsy things can be colonized—the blood- root, trillium, hepatica, rock-loving columbine, ferns and the like. On the sunny edges many of the spring- blooming bulbs may be grown and will make a lovely ribbon of color in the early days of spring—hya- THE ROCK GARDEN 181 cinths, crocus, scillas, primroses, pollyanthas and many others that come almost as soon as the bluebird does. These early bulbs that have bloomed in the house in winter may be planted out in the rockery the next fall and will give good returns for years to come. One of the earliest plants to bloom, often appear- ing in early April, is the saxafraga (Megaseas). These have immense leathery leaves of deep green and large clusters of pink, deep rose, rosy-crimson and of white flowers that are very attractive and showy, and the plants are very hardy and entirely free from insects. Once established they require no further care. The tall-growing saxafragas are also very desirable for the rockwork, especially saxafraga pyramidalis, which defines itself clearly against the grey of large boulders. The rock-loving columbine is a beautiful thing planted on the west side of a big, grey boulder where the sun can etch its shadow on the rock. All the Sedums are at home in this environment and in- crease in size and effectiveness from year to year. Some, as the sedum acre, or golden moss, are low- growing forms, hugging the rocks closely; there are many forms of these; pink, white, yellow flowered, and all are good. The earliest of the low-growing plants to flower is the arabis or rock cress; this soon covers the rocks with its-silvery-green foliage, starred in April with 1382 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN white. The acena is a pretty thing for sunny po- sitions, with bronzy evergreen foliage and showy crim- son spines. In shady spots the ajuga and the al- chemilla may be planted and sweet alyssum will be at home anywhere that the sun can warm and wel- come it. The aubretia—false wall cress—is another pretty dwarf rock plant with silvery green foliage and bright, reddish-crimson flowers in spring. The callir- hoe is a showy trailing plant with finely divided foliage and showy, saucer-shaped flowers of bright, rosy crimson which cover the plants throughout the summer. The English daisy, Bellis perennis, is espe- cially suitable for sunny edges and for growing on the less pretentious mounds of stone. The draba is an- other dwarf-growing rock plant with white flowers and the Epimediums (Barren-wort,; Bishop’s Hat), also dwarf, have interesting leathery foliage that turns to beautiful tints of color in autumn and shows a greater range of color than most rock plants; crim- son and yellow of the Epimedium alpinum, the rosy red of Epimedium musschlanum, a pure white, yellow and rich violet of violacea. Then there is the fern family with many interesting members, not the least interesting of which are the English ferns, Scolopen- driums in variety, the maiden hair ferns, the Asplen- iums, with their odd criss-crossed pinnea, and all the well-known native ferns of the local woodland which f THE ROCK GARDEN 133 may be had for the taking. The well known ground- sell or ivy and the Kennilworth ivy are too well known to need more than a mention and each adapts itself to a home on the rockery. For taller growths one may use the orobus with its bright blue pea-shaped flowers in May and June. The prunella has round heads of purple flowers all sum- mer and the rexia or meadow-beauty has bright rosy- purple flowers all summer, and the tunica—a tufted plant with light pink flowers produced all summer— indeed, there is an endless wealth of suitable plants for a rockery and one need not be as restricted in choice as in more formal planting. For tall plants I like the foxglove exceptionally well, as planted singly it silhouettes so beautifully against a background of rock, of greenery or sky; this also is characteristic of the purple cone flower or rudbeckia. If possible, the rockery should contain several hol- low, cup-shaped stones that will afford bathing places for the birds, or bathing and drinking places can be hollowed out in the soil and lined with wire and cemented. Where the rockery has a high point a little water can be conveyed to this highest point by pipe or hose and so form a miniature cascade to trickle down the face of the rock into a succession of shallow stones, making grateful bathing spots for the birds who will bathe as well in its spray as in the pools 134 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN it forms. Jutting out from crevices along its path one should plant the moisture loving ferns. In sunny spots one may colonize a few cacti which will prove interesting, and become, if the hardy spe- cies are selected, permanent members of the rock family. CHAPTER XIII THE WATER GARDEN Tus affords one of the most fascinating forms of gardening and one of the simplest and least exacting, for, once put into operation in the early spring little further attention is required. Unlike the flower gar- den with its constant call for cultivation, tying up of plants, watering and general supervision, the water garden will need little more than to turn on the water as the water in the pool evaporates and, once or twice during the summer, to thin out the lily pads so that they do not crowd. Where one is so fortunate as to have a stream of water flowing through the grounds, as is often the happy instance in New England grounds, one can arrange an overflow in a low bit of ground by hollow- ing out and puddling with clay so that a most natur- alistis appearing pool will result. The edges should be banked with rocks and planted with moisture-lov- ing plants, such as the iris, planted in clumps. The iris appears to such fine advantage in such situations that it is worth constructing a waterside garden for 135 186 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN its benefit alone; they should be planted in clumps, some little distance apart and not in formal lines, for realistic effect. Where there is no natural water supply, resource must be had to the artificial pool of cement, and such a pool is indispensable in all formal gardening, and makes an objective point for the meeting of gar- den paths, or the end of a walk that is not supplied by any other form of bed or ornamental structure. The construction of cement pools is so simple that any one handy with his hands can construct one, so that where home talent is employed the expense is not of serious moment. The dimensions, horizontally, will depend upon the room at command and the amount one wishes to expend, and, of course, upon the location of the pool. The depth is always practi- cally the same—two feet for the growing of nymphas of various sorts, eighteen inches being sufficient when one prefers to grow the lotus. Where the pool is to form the center of a more or less formal garden of moderate extent, a diameter of twelve feet will be an excellent size, and a round pool is preferable to a square or oblong one. For isolated pools on the lawn or at one side, a larger pool of twenty feet long by fifteen wide will give room for the growing of a greater variety of lilies and a still larger one will ad- mit of the growing of the Victorias, especially Victoria Trickeri, which does not require artificial heat, but THE WATER GARDEN 137 may be planted out in open pools when the nights are warm—early in June, usually. The simplest way to construct an artificial pool is to mark out the circumference on the ground and then to dig a trench two and a half feet deep and as narrow as can be handled, making the sides as smooth and even as possible. Concrete will then be poured into this, using rather small gravel in the mixture and paddling it away from the sides so that in setting the concrete may have a smooth, firm surface. After the concrete has become perfectly hard (and sufficient time must be allowed for this part of the work) the inside of the pool may be dug out down to the bottom of the concrete wall and a cement floor laid, great care being given to the joining of the floor and wall, for it is at the angle of floor and wall that trouble from leakage usually occurs, It is better to cove this angle and leave the work as smooth as possible. If this is done, both in the rough and in the finishing coat which is applied over all, any cracks which occur in future will be easily located and repaired. Rough- ness here frustrates all attempts to locate the trouble and necessitates the going over the whole angle if re- pairs are needed. As the top of the pool should be a few inches above the ground—just how high being a matter of taste— forms will be required for this part of the work or conerete blocks shaped to the curve of the circle can a 138 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN be used, or, if one prefers that effect, the top can be laid in cobble or rocks. Either effect will be good, but where smooth concrete is used in other parts of the garden, walks, walls, seats, etc., the curb would better conform to these. In the two-foot pool about one foot of good soil is required, marsh earth and well-rotted cow manure being the best combination. Over this, after the lilies are planted, an inch of clear white lake sand should be spread. This will disappear during the summer, but may be resurrected again the following spring by peeling off the quarter of an inch of muck that will have formed from the decay of vegetable matter and the dust that has settled in the water. It is not necessary, however, that this foot of earth be used as the lilies may be planted in large boxes of cedar or galvanized iron tubs instead. These need not be over a foot deep and should be filled with the same soil used for the pool. There are certain advan- tages in this mode of planting as it makes possible the inspection of the bottom of the pool should a leak occur. Leaks in a well-constructed pool are not usual, but do occur sometimes, and in a pool filled with earth it is very difficult to repair them when full of growing plants. They seldom occur in the floor of the pool, but rather at the angle and in the wall, and when necessary to deal with them a trench must be dug around the wall, inside the pool, first letting out all THE WATER GARDEN 139 the water, until the trouble is found. Of course where the lilies are in tubs the matter is simple, as a few hours’ work will put things in order again. Small cracks above the earth line and in the wall are often successfully handled by painting with white lead. These are caused, of course, by frost, but properly protected in winter, frost will never find its way into the interior of the pool. Winter protection consists of letting out the water and filling the pool with dry leaves heaped high. Over these a cover of canvas or lumber must be placed, the center being sufficiently high to shed water freely. Two oblong structures of matched boards, two feet longer than the pool and as much wider as half the diameter, the center and ends resting on stout supports, and securely attached at the center, make a very satisfactory cover as it can be stored against a wall in a barn or other convenient place, while a round cover is very awkward to house anywhere. There are so many beautiful varieties of water lilies offered by the florists who specialize in this form of plants that it is difficult to make a choice. Perhaps the best selection for the beginner would be one or two plants each of Marliacea rosea, and Marliacea chromatella, both hardy nymphzas, constant and pro- lifie bloomers, and perfectly hardy. They come into bloom early, usually showing buds when the leaves are removed from the pool in the spring, though there 140 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN is no water in the pool, and the ground but slightly damp. Marliacea rosea is a beautiful pink flower five inches in diameter, and Marliacea chromatella a some- what smaller, lemon yellow flower. The finest white is Nympheza tuberosa Richardsoni, but unfortunately it is a rather shy bloomer when grown with other varieties and at all crowded. It is by far the hand- somest of all the day blooming hardy Nymphzas. But one should not confine the planting to the day bloom- ing Nympheas alone, as these close their flowers at about four o’clock or earlier in the afternoon, just at a time that they would be most appreciated. How- ever by planting a few night bloomers—which open early in the evening, remaining open until late the following morning, blooms will be open at the most interesting time of the day. These night bloomers are of the tender variety and must be purchased each year of the florists or wintered in a warm greenhouse, but they well repay the additional care and expense, as they much exceed in size and beauty the hardy Nymphezas, being often twelve and fourteen inches in diameter and of surpassing beauty of color and form. The blue Nympheas are especially admired and these are easily grown from seed planted in shallow, water tight dishes of soil covered with an inch of water and placed in the hotbed close to the sash. The seed should be scattered on top of the water, when it will sink to the bottom, germinating in about six days. THE WATER GARDEN 141 When the little plants are large enough to handle they should be pricked out into inch pots and plunged in a dish of water and grown on until June, when they may be planted out in shallow water in the pool. They will bloom the first year, but the blooms will be small. The second year they will have attained size and blossoms ten to twelve inches will be produced. The various lotus are easily grown from seed, in much the same way, but as the seeds of the lotus are large and very hard they must be filed or sandpapered until a white spot shows on the side of the shell; treated in this way and placed in a warm hotbed nearly every seed will produce a plant. Seeds of most of the best varieties of lotus can be obtained of water lily specialists, and as the seed can be purchased at from fifteen to twenty-five cents a packet, and the growing plants cost from three to six dollars each, it is quite worth one’s while to experiment with the seed. It is not best to grow the Nympheas and lotus in the same pool. For one thing the lotus require a more shallow water than the Nympheas, not more than six inches being desirable, while the Nympheas require twelve for best results. Again the root growth of the Nympheas is entirely distinct from the lotus, being club formed and not extending far from the original point of planting. For best results all small plant buds should be removed from these main roots each spring and the strength of the root given to the pro- 142 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN duction of one or two strong plants. On the other hand the lotus forms a rhizome root, of immense pro- portions. One lotus root planted in a twelve-foot pool will circle the pool in two seasons, hugging the wall and sending up tall leaf scapes and blossom stalks at intervals of a foot or eighteen inches, completely: ob- scuring a view of the floating Nympheas. If one wants to grow them in connection with Nym- pheas then it would be well to place another wall in the center of the pool three or four feet in diameter and make the earth in this higher than in the rest of the pool and-in this plant the lotus;.they will then make a beautiful center for the pool and will not in- terfere with floating lilies. __ If one wishes to stock the lily pool with plants of home growing, then only so much water should be let into the pool as will saturate the soil and leave just enough water on the surface to float the tiny pads of the seedlings. More must be added very grad- ually and carefully as the plants increase in size and length of stem. In planting the seedlings, merely press the roots down into the sand, and if inclined to float at first, place a little stone over each root. Water can be brought into the pool either by piping or by means of a hose from whatever water supply one has. The letting out of the water, however, re- quires a drain of tile carried from the lower side of the pool to a main drain or to a pit filled with gravel SalddOd UALVM HLIM GALNVId 100d V DNIONVHUAAO VIINOA QNOd V UOL YWAACUOM V SV GasN SIUt THE WATER GARDEN 143 at a little distance. It should enter the pool on the bottom by means of an angle tile, the opening of which should be level with the floor of the pool and well cemented into place. This opening, a three or four inch tile, can be closed by a wooden plug, also cemented in, through which a one inch hole is bored to be closed by an inch wooden rod extending above the water. Ifa ten or twelve inch tile is placed above this to keep back the soil it will be found that it makes a more reliable stop than a plumber’s trap, which is always liable to leak and give trouble. The swelling of the wooden rod hermetically seals the opening and in fall, or whenever it is desired to let out the water, it is easily removed by passing a chain around it and lifting it with a lever and fulerum, as a crowbar and a block of wood. Water lilies are often troubled with the grey aphis or plant lice; these are sure to appear in August if the plants have been allowed to become crowded. They are absolutely deadly, both on the Nymphaas and the lotus. Nympheas can be sprayed with kero- sene emulsion to eradicate them, but kerosene must never be used on the lotus, nor can it be used on pools containing gold-fish. For this reason the pads must not be allowed to crowd until they stand out of water. When the lice do appear the remedy is to spray with water at a hundred and forty degrees for one thing, and to get into the pool, either by wading or by means 144 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN of a long ladder laid across the pool or resting on a tile in the center and covered with a board, and re- move every leaf above water and if necessary the buds and blossoms also. It is surprising how quickly they will replace themselves so that the pool is not rendered unsightly for more than two or three days.