TOWN GARDENING MARY HAMPDEN miT^i 1 Book > /l'5 n H^>~-' TOWN GARDENING THE HOME GARDEN ' BOOKS *-f--7. Y A LOKMK l.N IHh lUWA v.ArMM TOWN GARDENING BY MARY HAMPDEN Author of ' Kosp Gardening,' ' Bulb Gardening,' etc. NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1922 TO E. M. D. •Can all your tapestries, or your pictures, show More beauties, than in herbs and flowers do grow ? ' Abraham Cowley. CONTENTS CHAP . page Introduction ...... 13 PART I WORK IN MAY, JUNE, AND JULY I Choosing the Right Plants, Shrubs, etc. 19 II Artificial Beds and Borders, Boxes, Tubs, etc 27 III Preparing Garden Soil and Composts. 32 IV Planting and Potting .... 38 V Seeds, Cuttings, etc 42 VI Daily Routine and Seasonable Work 49 PART II WORK IN AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, AND OCTOBER VII Keeping up the Flower Display . . 59 VIII How TO Group Pot Plants ... 65 IX Preparing for Autumn Beauty . . 70 X Window Gardens and Conservatories . 75 XI Life in Town Gardens .... 83 XII Dajly Routine and Seasonable Work . 87 PART III WORK IN NOVEMBER, DECEMBER, AND JANUARY XIII Bulb-potting, etc. . . . .95 XIV Bedding-out for Spring . . . 104 XV Roses, Trees, Shrubs, etc. . . . 108 XVI The Hardiest Perennials and Biennials 113 XVII Fine Winter Effects . . . . n8 XVIII Daily Routine and Seasonable Work 123 9 10 CONTENTS CHAP. PART IV PAGE WORK IN FEBRUARY, MARCH, AND APRIL XIX Home-raised Plants ... . .129 XX Buying Trees, Climbers, etc. . .134 XXI Violets and other Buttonhole Flowers 139 XXII Rock Gardening and Alpine Plants 142 XXIII A Number of Novel Suggestions . 146 XXIV Daily Routine and Seasonable Work 151 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS A Corner in the Town Garden (colour) A Well -PLANTED Bank Hydrangeas Narcissi in the Window Box A Tasteful Display . Lilies and Yew Tree A Bed of Roses Clematis .... Aubretias on the Wall . . Frontispiece Facing page 32 »> > . 48 >» > , 64 1) * , 80 )) > , 96 >> > , 112 ,, , , 128 ,, , , 144 DRAWINGS IN THE TEXT An Artificial Bed on Asphalt Simple Ground Preparation . Safe Plant Watering, by Partial Immersion How to Plant Dahlias .... Windox-Box for not Hiding a Fair View A Tile-fronted Window-Box . A Simple Ribbon Bed for Spring . A Border of Warm Colour . Bed Spaced out Permanently by Mossy Saxifrage A Hint how to arrange Steps, Boulders and Rockery Wooden Supports for Climbers A Rockeried Mound . . . . Old Rose-Tree Trained to Espalier page 27 33 43 52 53 63 91 113 121 126 135 144 153 11 TOWN GARDENING INTRODUCTION The Town Dweller's Wants. What has been done. About Sour Soil. Watering Pot Plants. About a Sooty Atmosphere. What may be done. Way to do it. A MAN who pined to cultivate orchids in a town back yard would be deserving of scorn instead of sympathy, but the man with a great love for flowers, and a longing to have some beautiful blossom and foliage in the back yard, merits all possible encouragement. A woman who yearns to cultivate flowers for the house can do it surprisingly well with no better aids than a sunny balcony, boxes, pots and sheets of glass. And the dingiest town house can be transformed, in spring, summer, autumn, aye, and even winter, by quite a moderate outlay of time, money, and skill in gardening. But that is just where the difliculty comes in — as a rule the skill is lacking ; there may be general knowledge, bright ideas, rudimentary understanding of plants, but the attempts end in failure for want of being guided. This book aims at giving such plain instructions and valuable hints that the 14 TOWN GARDENING ignoramus can start flower culture with every prospect of success ; while the person who knows a little will be shown why things have gone wrong before, and how they can be made to go right for the future. There are as many different wants, of course, as there are houses — and individuals. It is best to set personal predilections on one side at first, and consider which trees, shrubs, climbers and other plants are likely to live and flourish, leaving till later experiments with subjects that may exist, but are so unfitted to the proposed environment that their appearance will, perhaps, never be more than third rate. For myself, I would rather have a display of perfect ivy, and brighten it annually by calceolarias, chrysanthemums, daffodils and crocuses — all in gold — which can be absolutely relied upon, than I would have roses all bhghted, waxen hyacinths and begonias all soot spotted, and pansies the size of lawn daisies. Most householders are restricted, or influenced, by what has been done by their predecessors. This is usually wise. If the Virginian creeper is a gorgeous drapery, for heaven's sake let the tapestry hang, and do not plant puny wistarias and clematises instead ; for both ' ampelopsis ' (as the mere amateur loves to call it) and ivy (which he never thinks of mention- ing as ' hedera helix ') need be but backgrounds to new ornaments. The disheartened man nearly always explains his gardening misfortunes by saying, * It's the atmo- sphere — the soots, you know.' Ten to one sour soil has been the murdering enemy. People are only real gardeners when they have come to look upon the hoe—used directly plants look sickly, INTRODUCTION 15 in preference to dosing with drugs or foods— as worth its weight in gold. Sour compost in receptacles in which plants grow is seldom sus- pected of kilhng them, but that, again, is mofe often the cause of failure than is the sooty atmos- phere. How does pot, tub or box soil become sour if it was sweet compost to start ? Well, water releases the manurial constituents, which should be assimi- lated by the plants or drained off through the holes below : if those holes or cracks in board are insufficient or choked up, the moisture is stag- nant and turns putrid, as a foul green pond. If the soil is always more or less wet, through too frequent watering, there is no evaporation, bad gases cannot escape, and the whole becomes poisoned. There is a safe rule for testing if a pot plant needs watering. Rap the side of the pottery with the knuckles half-way down, and if the ball of soil inside is dry enough for watering to be advisable, there will be a sharp ringing sound, not a dull muffled noise. Wooden receptacles can be fairly well tested in the same fashion if they are painted. If they are of bare wood all one has to do is to use one's eyes intelligently, for wood looks darker when it is damp than when it is dry. Some plants, etc., require a lot more water than others, but none flourish in soil that is mere mud. The oleander is often stood with its pot in a saucer containing water, but that is merely to wet the bottom compost and enable the roots to drink as they will ; and gardeners always put two or three nuggets or larger lumps of charcoal down low, but not quite at the bottom, so that a liltering process i6 TOWN GARDENING goes on. It is an excellent plan to add little bits of charcoal, bought from a florist for the purpose, to every pot, box, tub, basket, etc. etc. Draughts kill countless plants, shrubs, and even trees. The side alley by the house, usually the tradesman's path, makes a bad wind-shaft. The domestic animals are terribly destructive ; it is no use hoping seeds will ' come up * if cats are in the habit of scratching among them, and the soil is soon poisoned when a dog cannot be kept off beds and borders. Sparrows nip off bits of flower or leaf occasionally — the golden crocuses and honey- sweet primroses, and the tips of the ' grass ' of pinks, for example — but birds do more good than harm, I am convinced. A trough of water should be put out for them, especially in the earliest spring, when easterly winds are drying, and if a few handfuls of grass, chickweed, lettuce or watercress are laid near the pinks, the foliage of the latter will probably escape attack. Soot is a great evil, undoubtedly, yet the use of the syringe effects wonderful cures. If we leave our evergreen and other shrubs, our climbers that should be glossy, our rose trees that ought to be clean, for only chance rain to wash, we shall certainly see them sicken. We must syringe above and below the leaves, dip boughs and sprays in buckets where we can, and water often overhead, using the fine rose of the pot. For that which we call * soot ' is, in reality, a compound of many chemicals. It is not possible to wash the petals of a begonia without bruising them, but we can sponge outside-growing foliage, as we do sponge our indoor aspidistras ; and pot roses, geraniums, carnations, very many flowers too, may be cleansed by spraying them INTRODUCTION 17 tenderly with quite clear water through a scent- fountain. The more beauty there is within daily sight of town dwellers, the happier must they be ; the more attractive the home the greater becomes its title to the name. For if * four walls do not a prison make,' neither do they make a home. Green leaves and gay blooms should be reckoned as the rights of every dwelling. Part I WORK IN MAY, JUNE AND JULY CHAPTER I CHOOSING THE RIGHT PLANTS, SHRUBS, BULBS, ETC. The Tree-shaded Garden. Perennials that will live. Bedding Plants for shady Gardens. Drip from Trees. The hot, enclosed Town Garden. Perennials that will live. Plants for Heated and Unheated Glasshouses. Old and New Floral Schemes. AS seeds, roots, trees, shrubs, bulbs, etc., have to be bought, perhaps ordered from a distance, the first task in town gardening is to decide what to cultivate. Choosing cleverly is half the battle against adverse circumstances and three parts of the conquest of Triumph. Is the back garden tree shaded, and enclosed by high walls ? — If so, plants that will live all the year round, and do well each year, include the follow- ing:— 19 20 TOWN GARDENING Monkshood (Acoiiitum napcUus). Blue. Tall. Wolf's Bane (Aconitum lycotoiiiim). Yelloiv. Tall. Bugle (Ajuga reptans). Piivplc-blnc. Dwarf. Japanese Anemone (Anemone japonica). Wliiic or pink. Tall. Ox-eye Chamomile (Antliemis tinctoria) . Yelloiv. Medium. W o o D R u F F (Aspcnila otlorata). While. Dwarf. Michaelmas Daisies (Asters Novae-Anglia and Novi-Belgii). Of niauy shades of blue, violet, rose, lilac and while. Tall. Goat's Beard (Astilbcs Davidii and grandis). Majenta - rose. While. Tall. Violet Bells (Campanula glomcrata) . Violet. Medium. F u m I T o R Y (Corydalis cheilanthifolia) . Yellow. Fern-like leaves. Divarf. Lyre Flower (Diccntras spectabilis and cxiinia). Pink. Deep rosy red. Medium. Dwarf. Foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea, and p. alba). Purple. While. Tall. Leopard's Bane (Doroni- cum). Gold. Tall and medium. Plantain Lily (Fnnkia Fortunei rebus ta) . Silvery lilac. Handsome foliage. Medium. St. John's Wort (Hyperi- cum reptans) . Yellow. Medium, but spreading. Rose of Sharon (Hyperi- cum calycinum). Gold. Medium. Iris, or Flags (Iris ger- manica). Violet, Blue, Gold, Bronze, Lilac, Crim- son, White, and blends. Mediu)n. Yellow Water Flag (Iris pseudo-acorus) . Yellow. Tall. Creeping Jenny (Lysimacliia nummularia). Yellow. Trailing. Loosestrife (Lysimacliia vulgaris). Gold. Tall. Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria rosea). Purplish rose. Tall. Monkey Flower (Mimulus lutcus). Yellow. Medium. Solomon's Seal (Polygo- natum multiflorum). Whitey green. Tall. Primrose (Primula vulgaris) . Primrose yellow, or colouycd hybrids. Dwarf. Lung-wort (Pulmonarias augustifolia and saccha- rata). Blue. Rose. Medium. London Pride (Saxifraga umbrosa), Whitey pink. Medium. Golden Rod (Solidagos spectabilis and serotina lepida). Gold. Tall. Very tall. Periwinkle (Vinca major). Lavender blue. Trailer. CHOOSING THE RIGHT PLANTS 21 This list does not exhaust the plants that will thrive in shade ; there are other families, such as the cultivated blue-flowering lettuces (latucas), the crowsfoots (ranunculuses), meadow-sweets (spiraeas), ragworts (senecios), perennial phloxes (phloxes decussata and suffruticosa), hardy maidenhair (thalictrums), and spidersworts (tradescantias), for example, that are quite likely to do well, as will double paeonies and single hollyhocks, unless the tree shade is ubiquitous. Many plants thrive without more than glimpses of sunshine, but cannot endure drip from overhead branches. If any shrubs are wanted in tree-shaded gardens, privets, euonymuses, berberis aquifolium, common elder, common laurel, are the safest to choose. In open spaces the following should be tried : — Veronica Glauco- Mock Orange (Philadel- CcERULEA. Blue - pur- phus coronarius). White. pie. Spray Bush (Cotoneaster Veronica B u x i f o l i a. horizontalis) . White; White. autumn tinted. Salix Purpurea Nana. Berberis Thunbergii. The purple-stemmed dwarf Splendid autumn tints. willow. Atriplex H a l I m u s . American Currant (Ribes Purple flowers. Bright sanguineum) . Rosy red. green foliage. Bulbs to plant in shade include bluebells or wood-hyacinths, which are obtainable in blue, rose or white, daffodils and narcissi, snowflakes, lilies of the valley, meadow-saffrons, alliums, yellow winter aconite, wood anemones, fritillaries, snowdrops, Christmas roses, the Star of Bethlehem, Darwin tulips, which are perennial, not to be lifted each year, and crown imperials. As to bedding plants, the culture of which is dealt with in other chapters, calceolarias, lemon, 22 TOWN GARDENING gold, and terra-cotta brown, are famous for shady gardens, fuchsias, double and single, are almost as reUable, while the variegated species is so bright as to rival flowers for beds. Ageratums, for which a familiar name is badly needed, will open their fluffy grey-blue or bright china-blue blossoms, and the single petunias, especially of the smaller sorts, are just as complaisant. Tobacco plants like shade, but dwindle beneath trees. It is not much use to rely on pansies, for they straggle and turn sickly under tall trees, and drip spoils their velvet petals ; but of course they can be grown well in any open places, as may also the brave double daisies (Cellis perennis), in red, pink or white, that flower con- tinuously from spring to winter. These must have dead blooms cut off regularly, and be divided when their tufts become too thick, an operation that can be undertaken at any time, for the parent portion and the severed ones will soon produce buds again. The common or old-fashioned white garden pink is satisfactory in all situations ; if it scarcely blooms in some kinds of dense shade, it still beautifies the border by the cool bluish grey of its foliage. Trees and chmbers suited to shaded and shut-in town gardens are considered further on. Of course, the plants recommended are bound to thrive better in partial shade and well away from walls ; yet the owner of a deplorably formed * pleasure ground ' can take heart of grace and introduce them to it without much risk. The shaded front garden, or the slope down to the area, the portions of roof gardens behind chimney stacks and parapets, the balcony or verandah tubs, the window boxes, can all have their share of these floral and foliage subjects. CHOOSING THE RIGHT PLANTS The very hot, because sunny, enclosed garden, in London or other towns, may be made gorgeous annually with double and single zonal geraniums, ivy-leaved and scented-leaved geraniums too, zinnias, African, French, Scotch and Enghsh mari- golds, begonias, marguerites, asters, stocks, agera- tums, petunias, etc. etc. Snapdragons and wall- flowers love heat and arid soil. The right kinds of perennials for this garden would include the following ; — Starworts (Perennial Asters, of which Michael- mas daisies are but a few) . Blue, violet, crimson, rose, white, flesh, purple, helio- trope, lavender. Tall and medium. Yarrows (Achilleas ptmarmica, m o n g o 1 i c a and filipendula, Parker's variety). White. The last a brilliant yellow. Tall. Gold Dust (Alyssum saxatile). Yellow. Dwarf. Chamomile (Anthemis tinctoria Kelwayi). Yel- low. Medium. Rock Cress (Arabis). Double, single and varie- gated. White. Medium. Thrift (Armerias mari- tima and latifoUa) . Rose, white or lilac. Dwarf. Purple Rock Cress ( Aubrietias) . Crimson , rose, blue, purple or lilac. Dwarf. OxEYE (Bupthalura salici- folium). Gold. Medium. Rock Purslane (Calandrinia umbellata) . Magenta. Dwarf. Bell Flowers (Campanulas latifolia and persicaefolia). Blue, white. Tall. Knapweed (Centaurea montana). Purplish blue. The rose and white varieties usually succeed. Medium. The Rosy Knapweed (Centaurea dealbata). Deep rose with beautifully cut-out foliage of silvery effect. Medium. Valerian (Centranthus roseus,Centranthus albus). Red rose, white. Fairly tall. Ox-eye Daisy (Chrysanthe- mum maximum) . Wh ite. Tall. Chrysanthemums (Early- flowering border varieties). A II colours but blue. Tall, medium and dwarf. Perennial Larkspurs (Delphiniums). Deep blue, azure, indigo, or blends with pink and mauve. Tall. 24 TOWN GARDENING Fleabane (Erigeron speciosus) . Lave nder ivith gold centre. Tall. Orange Daisy (Erigeron anrantiaciis). Orange. Medium. AvENS (Geiims). Scarlet, double or single. Also orange OY yellow. Tall and medium. Helen Flower (Heleniums). All sorts suitable. Gold, orange, crimson-and-yelloii\ Tall. Sunflowers (Helianthus miiltiflonis) . Gold. Double or single. Tall. Day Lilies (Hemerocallis). Yellow, orange, lemon. Tall. Hollyhocks (Althcras). Double and single. Biennials,- but seldom fail to repeat themselves by seeding. Tall. Red - HOT Pokers (Knip- hofias or Tritomas). Orange-red. Often in bloom as late as November. Tall. Toad Flax (Linaria dalraatica). Lemon - and- orange. Tall. Cat ^Iint (Nepeta Miissini) . Pale lavender. Constant bloomer. J\Icdium. Evening Primroses (QEnotheras Lamarckiana and Youngii). Yellow. Tall. Biennials of this family sow themselves annually. Pi^ONiES. A II sorts are suit- able. Oriental Poppy (Papaver orientale) . Scarlet or criHiso)!. A gorgeous flower that should be more often seen in towns, tall. Iceland Poppies (Papaver nndicaiile). Orange, lemon, ivhite. Mediuni. Jerusalem Sage (Phlomis f ruticosa) . Yellow. Tall Alpine Phloxes (Dian- thnses subulata and stel- laria). Rose, ivhite, lilac. Dwarf. CiNQUEFOiLS (Potentillas) . Straivberry leaved. Blends of orange, lemon, scarlet, crimson, in double florists' varieties. Medium. Polyanthuses (Primula elatior). All colours. Some spreading light annual, such as siveet alyssum, should be sown close around polyanthus roots in April to protect them from sum- mer heat. Dwarf. Buttercup (Ranunculus acris Acre pleno). Gold. Double. Tall. Cone Flowers (Rudbec- kias). Orange or yellow, with broion. Tall. Mossy Saxifrage (Saxi- f raga hypnoides) . 1 Vhite. Dwarf. Stonecrops (Sedums). Gold, white or purple. Divarf. CHOOSING THE RIGHT PLANTS 25 Japanese Stonecrop virginica). Royal blue, (Sedum spectabile). Rosy violet, white. Medium. pink. Medium. Speedwells (Veronicas Ragwort (Senecios austriaca, incana, longi- Clivorum and pulcher). folia Spicata) . Blues. Gold. Rosy carmine. Medium or dwarf. Tall. Bedding Pansies (Violas). Spiderswort (Tradcscantia Most bulbous plants will succeed if the soil is enriched by old manure ; a special display each summer may be made with gladioli, Turban ranun- culuses, Spanish irises, and lilies. Montbretias can be succeeded by the blood-red Kaffir flag, Schi- zostylis coccinea, in October and even November, whose bulbs should be left in the ground, but covered by cinders during winter. Carnations and pinks of all sorts should be a feature of the very sunny town garden. A few Tea and Hybrid Tea roses should be tried. The choice of plants for glasshouses must depend upon whether there is sunshine or shade ; in the latter case ferns and foliage plants should be the permanent inhabitants, with some calceolarias, fuchsias, tobacco plants and primulas in summer. A sun-scorched greenhouse will suit cacti, begonias, clivias, amaryllis, pelargoniums, cannas, heliotrope, crassulas and camellias, but only if there is some heating given during winter to keep out all frost. If a very hot house is left to become cold in winter it should be used for annuals only that can be raised in it early, or bought, and for chrysanthemums for early winter adornment, these being stood outside during summer. A greenhouse that is neither very hot nor very cold naturally, one in the open garden, for instance, is exceedingly interesting if used for the more 26 TOWN GARDENING delicate outdoor plants, of which many are called alpines ; such as Salvias japonica, azurea grandi- flora, and Greigii, cistuses, androsaces, many sedums, saxifrages, and houseleeks, lithospermums, francoas, etc. The easiest greenhouse to manage is the one that can be kept to a heat varying between 50 and 60 degrees, by the sunshine and siunmer temperature, and, when those fail, by a small stove. Geraniums, fuchsias, carnations, primulas, cinerarias, genistas, spirneas, deutzias, hydrangeas, azaleas, liliums, plumbago, even a few roses, can then be cultivated, with palms, maidenhair and asparagus ferns. But no garden or glasshouse owner need despair, even in a town. The great thing is to choose inteUigently what to gi'ow, then learn a few plain rules of culture and apply them with unremitting cai^e. CHAPTER II ARTIFICIAL BEDS AND BORDERS, BOXES, TUBS, BARRELS, ETC. The Art of 'Crocking.' Obtaining Compost. Paint Colours. Rockeries, Basket Beds. Arches and Pillars. A GREAT deal of floral display can be created by the use of ornamental boxes, urns, tubs or hanging baskets alone. Artificial beds and borders are of course more effective still, because they hold more plants. An Artificial Bed on Asphalt. An artificial bed can be made anywhere, and on stone, brick, asphalt, or the leads of a roof, as simply as upon bad turf that is to be hidden or superfluous gravel. There must be first a layer of large stones with corner edges touching, that rain- water may be able to flow away ; if stones are laid 27 28 TOWN GARDENING with their sides touching they do not leave enough room for the water to flow through. Over these stones gardeners usually place torn-up old turves, top downwards, for these act like the charcoal in a filter. Next comes coarse earth, containing smaller bits of old turves and some little stones, and then the bed is made up of fine compost, but not dust-fine. In order to hold the earth up, in the form of a round, square or oblong bed, there must be a low bank of properly laid fresh turves, or a row of big slanted stones or strips of wood, solid or trellised ; or bricks may be employed. A border is made similarly, only one side will be against a wall, and it should slope gently down from the waU, that wet may not lie at the back. Any kind of box will make an ornamental receptacle for plants. Roses, tall perennials and shrubs need a three-foot or a two-foot depth of soil to grow in. Ramblers and other climbing roses, for instance, can be kept healthy in the very deep box or barrel for years ; a standard, or a vigorous Hybrid Perpetual or Hybrid Tea bush rose could not do long without a two-foot depth ; a small delicate Tea rose, or a dwarf polyantha, would be satisfied with a foot and a half or a foot. Roses often flourish in pots that have not as much depth, but then they can be repotted whenever the grower thinks best, and trees in boxes or artificial beds and borders are not usually disturbed. Grocers sell big wooden boxes. To make one of these ready for plants there have to be holes, the size of a halfpenny, burnt out of the bottom by a red-hot poker, at four-inch intervals. In small boxes the holes for drainage should be smaller. Sometimes the wood is slit down here and there. ARTIFICIAL BEDS AND BORDERS 29 but the hole system is safer. If the hot poker is used to char all the wood of the bottom and the lower parts of the sides, it will not be so likely to rot. * Crocking,' as it is called, is one of the first tasks a young gardener has to learn, and it is quite an art, for if the pieces of broken potsherds are laid clumsily over the drainage holes the water will be checked, while if the holes are not partly covered the soil will be washed through, and that will choke them. A concave piece of potsherd is usually laid, scooped-out side downwards, over each hole in a box or tub, and over the one hole in a flower-pot. Then two or three more bits, half the size of the one, arc slanted against it ; above these the skilled Crocker casts a quarter or half a handful of smaller pieces, letting them fall lightly, and then the coarse bits of compost go in, followed by the next-coarse earth or potting mould, and finally the surface soil. The mould should always be used just damp enough to crumble between the fingers, not stick to them. Florists and nurserymen sell potting soil, or potting loam as it is often called, for about half a crown a bushel for the best. The amateur gardener had better tell the shopman exactly what he wants potting soil for ; then the right sort will be supplied. Some has manure mixed in, some can contain peat, when peat is desirable, and the quantity of other ingredients, leaf mould, fine or coarse silver sand, or road grit, also vary. When old oil barrels are used for plants they have to be purified. This is done by turning one upside down over a lighted newspaper or wisp of straw, the flames from which will lick up all the oiliness 30 TOWN GARDENING and just char the inside wood. Halved barrels make nice-looking tubs. It is always wise to stand receptacles on bits of brick or blocks of wood — three or more to each — so as to raise them above the ground. Pots may be stood on a slate each, to keep worms from getting in through the drainage hole ; but large pots do better poised between two w^ooden laths laid on the ground. Window-boxes should be very slightly slanted by bits of wood placed underneath. It is seldom that one sees a really artistic green paint used for colouring tubs and boxes. A crude bluish-myrtle always clashes with the leaf shades ; it is just leaves that the artist-carpenter should study as a colour chart ; if he matches the greens of ivies, plane trees, or aspidistras, for example, he cannot err. Brown is a suitable colour for painting plant receptacles, only too many all brown alike give a spotty effect to a scene. Stone grey can be used with advantage in the vicinity of bright red bricks and tiles, though by a grey, dun, or cream town house it has a depressingly cold appearance. White enamelled tubs are pretty, and well suited to some trim modern house-fronts. A basket-bed, such as our ancestors frequently made, is merely an artificial bed, oval for preference, made very deep, with the sides held up by slanted stakes or staves, or wooden trellis, or wire netting. And the finishing touch is a simulated handle, arched from side to side, of wire or wood, or stout wires tightly wound round by straw. Real baskets, hamper shape, make charming plant receptacles, and are durable if coated with varnish-paint. They are excellent ornaments for balconies, or verandahs by the steps, and small ARTIFICIAL BEDS AND BORDERS 31 handled baskets may be slung up. Wire baskets are also useful. They should be lined with old inverted turves. To make a rockery mound anywhere is as easy as making a raised bed ; the same procedure should be followed, but after the soil is piled high the stones — which ought to include some large craggy pieces — have to be arranged on it, partly embedded, so as to form convenient pockets and nooks, varied by jutting-out slabs. There is no reason why the ends of a balcony should not have pretty rockeries. The arches and pillars set up to accommodate climbers should correspond with the style of the house. A huge mansion must not be approached under a series of narrow, low arches. A mere slice of a terrace house looks overpowered if a heavy rustic wood arch spans the entrance way. Wooden arches and pillars should be painted with tar as far up as they are to go into the ground, as this will preserve them. Pillars in a row from gate to porch, on one side of the path or on both, allow many pretty climbers to be cultivated. An important enough square-topped arch makes the foundation for a ' living porch.' A low trellis fencing is often put up to keep dogs from trespassing : it will be much more effectual if a few upright sticks are nailed to it here and there, and a strip of rot- proof netting stretched above it, not too taut. Old fish netting, put up at the top of wall or fence, is one of the best expedients for keeping away cats. CHAPTER III PREPARING GARDEN SOIL AND COMPOSTS About Lime, Sand, Soot, Leaf -mould. Cocoa-nut Fibre Refuse, etc. How to detect Poverty of SoiL The necessary Tools. About patent Fumigants, Insecticides, Fertilizers, etc. IT is futile to plant in undug garden ground. No matter what the soil is supposed to be like, it must be forked over at least. The depth to which this has to be done depends partly on what is to be grown, yet a two-foot depth may be regarded as necessary for all but quite dwarf subjects, or the more usual bedding-out * stuff,' geraniums, asters, calceolarias, lobelia, etc., which will put up with only nine or ten inches of ' worked ' soil beneath them. Trees and larger kinds of evergreen or flowering shrubs want a three-foot depth of cultivated soil for their roots to penetrate. If these roots, after living in prepared soil for a time, strike down upon ground that is rock-hard or full of clinkers, bricks, etc., they are either turned aside in search of better luck, in which case the trees do no good for a year or two, or they dry up themselves, and the trees * un- expectedly ' die. The amateur had better use a strong five-pronged 32 PREPARING GARDEN SOIL 33 fork to dig with, employing a spade to shovel out soil when that is necessary. A four-inch-deep layer of old manure put in two feet below the ground surface, and another layer put in one foot below the ground surface, prepare flower-garden soil satis- factorily ^ Top Soil ifC 4 If* MaNuke L^YEV Sccof^o ift OF Soil SurPacE op BORO^a OR BED Lower SOIL To Fork Weil AND PULVEK^ISE ■ Simple Ground Preparation. When only bedding plants and ordinary medium tall perennials are to be cultivated, it is often sufficient to put one layer of manure at the depth of a foot, forking for a few inches below where this is to lie, then incorporating a little of the old manure, broken small, with a few handfuls of builder's hme (not unslaked lime), with all the rest of the ground above. Lime can be bought from florists, nurserymen and builders. Unslaked lime is used to lay over insect-infested soil for a few weeks before forking it in, but the sites so treated should not be planted for several months. Slaked, or builder's lime — lime, that is to say, that has lost its chief burning effect through being stored — can be forked in, about a pint to a three-foot by three-foot space, at any time, and planting may follow in a few days. Lime of all kinds will damage leaves and stems if carelessly cast upon them. Lime is precious, to the town gardener especially, 34 TOWN GARDENING because it i^ a soil purifier, as well as a deterrent to, and, if often used, a destroyer of snails, slugs, wireworm, etc. Its other use is to release the chemical properties of manures, so rendering them fit for plants to feed upon. Fresh manure, from stables, cowsheds, or roads, is only fit for nourishing ground that will not be planted for three months or so ; it is too crude to dig in just before planting. Of course, one can put it in a foot deep, and sow seeds on the surface soil, because then it will be partly decayed before the roots reach down. Old manure, obtainable from nurseries, is dark, more or less fibrous and light, or capable of becoming light when dry. The disintegration of its constituents has brought it to a merely warming, instead of a heating, state. Extremely sandy, chalky, gravelly gardens are improved by old cow manure or mixed farmyard manure ; but old stable manure, from which all the long straw has been removed, is best for gardens of heavy or damp soil, and, indeed, for the great majority of town gardens. If the ground cakes hard very soon after rains it needs some sharp sand or grit to render it more porous. Crushed brick-rubble, with an equal part of coarse sand, either silver sand or roadside sand, is often used to make up soil for the top portions of beds and borders. When the gardener wishes to mix composts for himself for pot and box filling, he should obtain for his potting attic or shed, good loam, leaf-mould, very old fairly dry manure, coarse silver sand, fine silver sand, crushed brick-rubble or mortar, and roadside or river-bed sand ; also some florist's PREPARING GARDEN SOIL 35 charcoal, some old turves and old cocoa-nut fibre refuse. Old soot is a more useful ingredient for soils in the country than in towns, where lime should generally take its place, also for laying round plants to keep slugs away. The natural earth will, of course, have been sooted for years by countless chimneys, and even town-bought potting composts, or plain loam or leaf-mould, are usually very sooty. Peat is only necessary for a few subjects. The *' ordinary compost," as it is called, for growing pot plants in, consists of two parts of loam, one part of leaf-mould, and half a part of sand. Another admirable compost is made of one part loam, half parts each of old chopped manure, and leaf-mould and sand. To the first of these an eighth part of crushed brick-rubble can be added, on occasion, or slaked lime be added instead, in the proportion of a tablespoonful to a quart. Fine silver sand is needed in the sifted compost when seed boxes are filled and seedlings potted. Gardeners can collect their own leaf-mould, but it must rot for about a year, or longer, in a place where the weather can act upon it but insects cannot make the stack their home. Oak and beech leaves are best ; most leaves can be used, except those of evergreens. Old cocoa-nut fibre refuse is very useful for mixing with the pieces of old turves that go in first over crocks, or can be used with an equal quantity of coarse loam, instead of those pieces of turf. Fresh cocoa-nut fibre refuse makes a nice mulch over beds, borders and the tops of boxes, urns, etc., greatly improving their appearance, and helping to conserve moisture in the soil, and to protect roots from sun-heat or drying winds. 36 TOWN GARDENING Tliere are various kinds of chemically-treated hop manures that are excellent for using when natural manures are not obtainable, or when the hop's non-odorous cleanUness is preferred, Alas, there are town gardens so terribly poor as to surface soil — say for the first foot of surface — that this ought to be all taken away and a fresh laj'cr of loam put on ! Or this poor upper soil can be buried two or more feet deep, and the soil that has lain below be brought up to form the new surface. If the manure layers are added, as already advised, this treatment will be very efficacious. When all the things that lU'e alive in the garden are of a sickl}' colour as to foliage, and throw puny blossoms, or none at all, it is certain that they are d^^ng very slowly of starvation in exhausted groimd. Famous results can be achieved with but a few tools. The fork and spade should be kept company by a fine rake, not too heavy or long in the rake itself, a Dutch hoe with a five- or six-inch blade, a sharp steel trowel, a small handfork, a pair of secateurs for pruning, a sharp budding or pruning knife, and a two-inch blade steel spud. This last tool does a hundred small jobs, while the Dutch hoe could do but ten ! It will enable the gardener to prick over beds and borders often, thus keeping weeds down, soil pulverized, and insects very much disheartened. It will cut the daisies, dandelions, etc., out of the turf, or trim grass edges at a pinch. It is serviceable for chopping lifted perennial roots into pieces for replanting, for giving slugs a quick and merciful death, for drawing little drills for seeds, even for drawing the soil back when seeds are sown. PREPARING TxARDEN SOIL 37 There are plenty of admirable insecticides that may be used to clear ground of pests. These are soil fumigants, and are sold with instructions for their use. There arc dozens of useful liquid insecti- cides for washes, syringings, etc. ; also weedicides and weed-killers, mildew-washes, insect-powders, fertiUzers, etc. etc., to which the zealous gardener can turn for aid. The chapters given in this book about Daily Routine work contain hints for fighting most foes ; also suggest how chemical manures may be applied. CHAPTER IV PLANTING AND POTTING Plants by Rail or Post. About Cheap Plants and Seeds. To keep Potted Plants from Flagging. Shading and Shielding Plants. Sticking and Tying Plants. A Beautiful Geranium Display, Another Attractive Filling for an Urn. THE month of May is usually the time when the town dweller most wants to garden. He is right, if he must buy plants, but March is the month for starting seed sowings if plants are not to be bought, and it should never be forgotten that the planting season for roses, and most trees and shrubs, is from October to April. May having arrived, an order is probably sent by post to some advertising florist, with the result that it has to ' get into the queue ' with orders that have been arriving for months past. So the goods are not delivered till the weather is too hot for planting to be safe. The garden-owner who has been delayed had far better go to a florist's shop or a nurseryman's grounds and select what he requires. Delightful day or half-day trips can be made to famous nurseries within twenty miles of London ; and most big provincial towns have noted growers in their neighbourhood. When trees, roses or shrubs are received by rail 38 PLANTING AND POTTING 39 or post, their roots should be examined, for if these are dry they should be ' puddled ' (or dipped in manured mud) before being planted. Or, if plant- ing has to be delayed a few weeks, let a trough about a foot deep be dug in the garden, water poured in, the trees laid in slanted, the soil raked over and made only slightly firm. The green por- tions of the travellers should be frequently syringed, and a semi-shady position is best for the trench. If there is no garden, some soil in boxes can take the place of a trench. The true gardener is nothing if not ingenious. To order the cheapest goods is to court failure. If one selects poor plants one does at least sin with one's eyes open, but cheap plants or trees sent for are sure to look astoundingly cheap when they arrive. As for cheap seeds, there is just this to be said — there may be a few good ones among the rubbish. Cheap bulbs are bound to be either aged bulbs, bulbs dried up through keeping, or bulbs too juvenile to bloom. A few fine specimens in an otherwise rather bare garden are more satis- factory than a garden crammed with miserable plants. Needless to say, the very best quality in plants, etc., should be used for boxes, pots, urns and wherever the space is extremely precious. We have already noted how pots, etc. , are crocked and filled with compost for the reception of plants. Now a word about actual planting. It should be the worker's aim to make things so firm that they will remain upright when buffeted by wind and rain, yet not so squeezed into the soil that the roots are stifled and cannot penetrate further. A geranium will bear ramming in firmly ; a carnation never thrives so treated. The surface half-inch should 40 TOWN GARDENING generally be quite loose, above the firmer soil. There is an art in giving the pot a rap or two on the potting bench, bottom downwards, to settle the soil and make the surface lie evenly. To leave a saucer-Hke hollow round the stem is wrong, except for a few plants that must never dry up, such as oleanders. To pile a hillock against the stem is wrong, for that means that water will always run off and descend only by the rim of the pot or box. Roots should be very tenderly tucked round by fine sandy soil, after they have been spread out as evenly as possible. If a rose-tree or plant has its roots all on one side, however, they must ijot be spread in all directions, but a stick will have to be placed to support the stem opposite to the roots, behind the stem. Stakes and sticks, with ties, should be given while potting is done to all plants that are to have them and are large enough. Plants frequently flag, may even lose most of their leaves, after being potted ; the ideal treatment of newly-potted or repotted plants is placing them in air-tight frames for twenty-four hours. Deep boxes, glass covered, will serve for frames, or oiled linen will serve for glass. Sprinkle the foliage w^ell, water the soil through the fine rose of a can, then leave them alone for a day and a night, after which give a little air, more by degrees. In hot May, June, or July, weather plants require shading from sun-heat for twenty-four to thirty-six hours after potting. If they are near a window, or the conservatory glass, a piece of thick musHn should be tacked up between, or else laid right over them. Sheets of newspaper, or the cheap crinkled paper in cream or pale green, are useful to slip in for screens behind plants in a greenhouse. During PLANTING AND POTTING 41 spells of cold winds a little screening should shelter repotted plants. Tender handhng is always essential : a geranium even, or ordinary hardy fuchsia, will shed leaves that are bruised, cracked or muddied. Sticks ought not to be too prominent nor too thick, and painting them the same green that is shown by the leaves of the plant is a most artistic device. Green wool is a fine material for tying, as it does not cut stems ; green ' raffia ' is stronger for large plants. One quick way to adorn a house front is to prepare window boxes, and two large boxes, tubs, split barrels (or ornamental stone or rustic vases) to stand by the door steps, then order mixed dark red, scarlet, salmon and white geraniums to fill them. The plants may be rather crowded in, as this induces them to bloom instead of making lavish foliage. Small plants of only about half a dozen leaves can stand six inches apart, bigger ones at nine-inch distances. The show of the mixed varieties will be more interesting than one of all red. Another idea would be to order carmine, deep rose, pale pink, blush and white flowering geraniums. A charming scheme for an urn or tub is to plant all the soil with tufts of blue lobelia, three inches apart, and sink a pot rose in the middle. A dwarf polyantha rose will be best, either pink or white. Mrs. Cutbush and Ma Paquerette, Mignonette and Anne Marie de Montravel are capital varieties. CHAPTER V SEEDS, CUTTINGS, ETC. How to Sow and Cover. Outdoor Seed Beds. Sweet Peas. Hardy Annuals. Dahlias and Chrysanthemums. Tuberous Begonias. Small Greenhouse Plants from Seed. Clematis Jackmanii. Other Climbers to Plant. SEEDS are sown in boxes, pans or pots. There are reasons for choosing one sort of receptacle for some kinds of flower seeds, another kind for others. It is a question of good judgment. Begonia seed, which is very fine, will illustrate this : if sown over the surface soil (it is not covered in, or, if at all, only by a Uttle fine silver sand) there is a great depth of soil below, whereas in a seed-pan or shallow box there is only a two, or three, inch depth. The greater the quantity of compost the more difficult it is to keep it just moist enough and never too moist. If the compost in the pot became water- logged it would turn sour, or else mildewy, and the begonia seedlings, either the sprouts just starting or the visible green seedlings, would rot off. Yet no seed will germinate without sufficient moisture, so it is prudent to cover all pans, boxes, or pots of sown seed with a sheet, or many little overlapping pieces, of glass. These should be turned daily and wiped, and no water should be administered until the surface soil looks really dry. 42 SEEDS, CUTTINGS, ETC. 43 Then strong sunshine on the glass would probably scorch up the seedlings, so gardeners lay some white paper or a little dry moss upon the glass. The danger with moss is that it may not be absolutely insect- free. However, baking it in a hot oven for a few minutes will make it harmless. There is no hard and fast rule as to the depth to which seeds are to be covered in with sifted compost, but the general idea is that it may be to the same depth as their own greatest size. Take a little wallflower seed in the lingers, note that it is longer than it is broad ; sow it, and then lightly scatter as much fine compost as would be necessary to quite cover it stood on end. Time that is spent in sowing, one by one, seeds that are not too minute to be picked up, is never time wasted. Overcrowded seed means not only that much seed is wasted, because the seedlings are crushed to death, but, even after a lot of thinning out has been done, the remaining seedlings will be much weaker than if they had grown in sufficient space from the first. The soil seeds are sown in should be perfectly W^r'fR.L.NE Pa.l Safe Plant Watering, by Partial Immersion. 44 TOWN GARDENING level, so that water will not lie in tiny pools, firm without being hard, and sufficiently moist for the seeds to adhere but not float. It is always best to water seed receptacles from the bottom, not the top. This is done by holding the pot, box or pan up to the very rim in tepid water for a minute or two. When the moisture is seen to be appearing at the surface, making the compost dark, the watering has been successfully performed. Needless to say, seed receptacles must all be properly drained, but it is enough to use inverted crocks over holes or cracks, then fill up with ordinary compost, giving a surface half -inch, or inch, of very fine sifted compost. In the case of using pots, however, for any delicate subjects, there ought to be small stones or broken-up crocks for an inch above the inverted crocks, or else some coarse lumpy compost. The more dehcate the nature of the plant that is to be raised, the more desirable is silver sand in the compost. Equal portions of loam, leaf-mould and silver sand is a good seed compost. Manure is not needed, and would be harmful in some instances. The compost for striking cuttings in may be the same. Before inserting a cutting, however, scatter enough silver sand on to hide the soil, then make the hole with a pencil, penholder, or round stick of suitable size ; this will thrust sand down with it. Insert the cutting, press the soil tightly round it with the finger-tips, add more compost so that the level is maintained ; sprinkle the foliage, then enclose the pot, pan, or box in a frame, or glass-covered box or cover it by a bell-glass. Cuttings should have their lowest leaves cleanly removed. Cuttings of fuchsias and geraniums will root quite SEEDS, CUTTINGS, ETC. 45 easily in May, June and July under glass, shaded from sun-heat. Seeds of begonia semperflorens varieties, primula obconica, primula malacoides, the Fairy primrose, or the little trailing fuchsia procumbens, sown in glass- covered pans inside a sunny window-will produce plants for early winter bloom in a warmed green- house. Seed sowing in town gardens is usually work thrown away, so if there is no greenhouse a small frame is almost a necessity. The next best plan is to choose the best possible site, quite in the open (or in front of a south, south-west or south-east facing wall, fence or hedge, some two or three feet from it), and make a raised bed to sow seeds in. It should be treated with a soil fumigant, or else deluged several times with a weak solution of carbolic hquid, be many times forked over during the following v/eek, and will then be ready for use. A seed-bed must be quite surrounded by strip paths of sharp cinders, not soft ashes, as then slugs and snails will not cross to it. A seed-bed may be made in a deep box if there is no garden. Sometimes a town garden is fairly healthy and not infested by insects. If runner-beans are known to flourish in it there is no reason why sweet-peas should not, if safeguarded from birds by having several lines of black cotton stretched to little upright sticks about four inches above where the seedlings will appear. Sow at three or four-inch distances, after soaking the seed for at least twelve hours. Carbolic powder, sparingly cast along the rows, will be a sensible precaution. In this fairly good garden seeds of many hardy 46 TOWN GARDENING annuals, not the largest-growing, may be sown, although May and June are very late months. Candytufts, Virginian stock, gilia tricolor, scarlet flax, small varieties of mignonette, sweet alyssum, night-scented stock, the rose of heaven (Agrostemma coeli-rosea), orange erysimum Perofiskianum and Viscaria cardinalis are suitable. Double and single tuberous begonias are easy to cultivate if bought as bulbs of flowering size. They have to be laid on damp sand, inside a warm window, or in a frame or greenhouse, until they sprout. Actual sun-heat should be kept off them. As soon as the sprouts are a quarter of an inch long the tubers can be put one into each three-inch wide pot of sandy compost. When the pots are root- lilled and the weather genial the begonias can be planted in beds, window-boxes, etc., or be given pots of five-inch diameter. Musk may be sown in pots now, stood inside windows ; the seedlings must be thinned out to one inch apart. The town gardener can hope to succeed also with oxahs rosea, one of our prettiest pot plants, having shamrock-like leaves and gay rose blossom. It is similar to musk in its requirements, for it may be cut down, when it has flowered itself out, and if given a top-dressing of manure-and-loam compost and kept watered, will soon bloom again. Also it ma}^ like musk, be occasionally divided, and portions of its clump put an inch or two apart into other pots, window-boxes, tubs, etc. Both plants, and dwarf lobelias, are pretty in hanging baskets. During May clematises from pots may be planted. It is necessary to dig a deep wide place, fork the bottom, lay in old manure, and partly fill in with SEEDS, CUTTINGS, ETC. 47 good soil first. A clematis put in above that will be almost sure to thrive. A little old chopped manure may be mixed with all the upper soil. Clematis Jackmanii will clothe a town house front gloriously, perhaps help to form a porch, or run up to be trained horizontally along a balcony's railing. There is a deep purple variety, in addition to the familiar violet-purple, also a white (alba) and a crimson (rubra). They are best suited by a west aspect, in my experience, but south-west is excellent, and north-west often succeeds. Full exposure on a south wall is generally too scorching. In late May and June young plants of dahhas, and early-flowering chrysanthemums, should be bought and added to the garden borders, in sunshine or else potted up, or pottcd-on rather, as they are sure to be in pots already. They can he stood out. Carbolic powder should be scattered all round them. A beautiful climber to obtain, in a pot, ready for turning out against wall, fence or trellis, is the Climbing Knotweed (Polygonum Baldschuanicum), a perennial that dies down each winter and puts forth vigorous growth of reddish stems and red-shaded leaves each spring. The florescence is whitish, in panicles, having a mist-hke effect in June and July, but the next stage is one of myriads of creamy seed-vessels that are as decorative as flowers. A south or south-west aspect is desirable. Then by buying three or four plants of the purple bellflower (Cobsea scandcns) and putting them in rich soil in front of Virginian creepers, the town dweller can gain an uncommon and lovely flower show all summer and autumn, provided there is no stint with water. Cobaeas will climb in a greenhouse even faster than out of doors, and may be 48 TOWN GARDENING cultivated on sunny balconies or in glass porches. Three plants arc enough for a tub or ten-inch pot. They can endure a sooty atmosphere if stringed twice or three tunes a week. CHAPTER VI DAILY ROUTINE AND SEASONABLE WORK GENERAL TASKS FOR MAY, JUNE AND JULY PATHS and lawns require rolling after rainy weather, and should be frequently swept with a birch broom, as this removes ant-hills and worm- casts. Lawn sand can be applied to portions of lawns to destroy weeds, as it works most efficaciously in hot weather. Still a great deal may be done by up- rooting dandelions, etc., and transplanting grass ' weeds ' from borders or paths into the holes, after clipping the blades short. A slight sprinkling of any good fertilizer will do old lawns good, after rain has washed it in. Lawns that are used for games, or much trodden, need watering in seasons of drought if in the open. Tree-shaded lawns are usually damp enough in summer and too damp at other times. Lawns should be cut twice a week, if possible, but it is usually sufficient to clip the edges once a week, and use the sharp crescent-bladed turf- edge-cutter once a month. 49 D 50 TOWN GARDENING If a lawn is badly worm-infested a solution should be made of one pound of slaked lime in four gallons of water, and left to stand three da3's. Then the clear liquid must be poured off, free from the sediment, and applied to the turf through a iine-rosed watering-can. If this is done some damp early morning, after a thorough rolling the previous evening, the worms will come up to the surface and may be swept off in quantity. Rose-trees becoming infested with green-fly should be syringed after sundown with a solution of four ounces of soft-soap and one dessertspoonful of paraffin in two gallons of water. Next morning, early, they should be syringed with plain water. These operations, repeated three times, with a day's interval betw^een, will cure the pest in almost all eases. Box edgings can be clipped into shape ; also all clipped evergreens. The greenhouse plants should be watered with discrimination every evening, and syringed two or three times a week at least. Plants must be shaded from fierce sunshine through glass roofs, either by whitening the latter, or nailing muslin or tiffany across it, if there is no natural canopy of climbers. Leaves of all pot plants under cover, except * woolly ' leaves, such as those of begonias, geraniums and primulas, should be sponged once a week if large enough. Spraying is always safe. Any of the fairly robust pot plants, such as geraniums, pelargoniums, heliotrope and hydrangeas, that are infested by insects can be dipped quickly in a solution of four ounces of soft-soap in six gallons of water. This must be done in the evening, as ROUTINE AND SEASONABLE WORK 51 sunshine must not fall on them till they are dry. They must be dipped in plain water the following evening. A glasshouse that is badly infested can best be made clean and healthy by fumigating it every other evening for six days. There are little vapour cones sold by florists, that only need to be set alight and left to smoulder out, after all doors and wind(jws have been closed. They should be stood on the stone or brick flooring and used scrupulously according to the special instructions supplied. Keep dead flowers picked off sweet-peas before seeds can form. If carnations in the border die off mysteriously sink some partly hoUowed-out halves of potatoes, smeared with fat, just below the soil, after sticking a small stick through each to show its whereabouts and enable the trap to be quickly lifted for examina- tion and reburied. Lay lettuce and cabbage leaves, fat-smeared, downwards on borders to trap slugs. Place damp hay in' some small pots that have been smeared with grease, and invert them on stakes among the dahlias, hollyhocks, roses, etc. Water indoor ferns, aspidistras, arahas, etc., more as the weather becomes warmer. SPECIAL WORK FOR MAY Plant out young dahlias, or divided sprouting old tubers, late in the month, in very well manured soil, in sunshine, or in rich compost, three plants to a spUt barrel, or one plant to a ten-inch pot. Examine the tubers carefully before dividing them, to be sure that each piece severed has an ' eye.' However 52 TOWN GARDENING groat the pains taken, no divided portion not possessed of an ' eye ' can spront, and the ' eyes ' are situated round the collar of the tubers. Propagate pinks, of the garden hardy sort, by pulling oH little shoots with rootlets already forming from the base and old stems, and plant them in Palinq i-| L E . ; • How TO Plant Dahlias. lines in semi-shade or at intervals of an inch round the edges of pans or large pots, in cold greenhouses, frames, or stood out of doors. Use sandy compost and keep their foliage sprinkled. Fill window-boxes, urns, tubs, baskets, etc., for ROUTINE AND SEASONABLE WORK 53 adorning real city houses and gardens, with dwarf miniature-leaved varieties of ivies, Creeping Jenny, London pride, Rose of Sharon, scented-leaved geraniums (which can be often dipped in water), hartstongue ferns, lobelia erinus, musk, and small specimens of berberises, cotoneasters, euonymuses, boxes, Japanese honeysuckle, arbor vitse, veronica glauca-c(jerul(ia, liypericum patulum, symphoricarpus radicans (the snowberry tree). Add to actual or artificial borders or beds, at the end of May, calceolarias, geraniums, carnations (from pots), dwarf French marigolds, lobelia erinus. Window-Box tor not Hiding a Fair View. A Pink ivy-loavcd geranium. B Fuchsia procumbcns. C Carmine ivy-leaved geranium. D Pink begonia seraperflorcns. snapdragons, sweet-williams, willow-leaved beet and ordinary crimson beet, early-flowering chry- santhemums, kochia tricophylla (the summer cypress that takes on autumn tints), the common house leek (Sempervivum tectorum), yellow stone- crop (Sedum acre), orange stonecrop (Sedum kamschaticum variegatum), Japanese stonecrop (Sedum spectabile), often two feet tall with heads of rosy flower in late autumn, miniature sweet alyssums, Pigmy dwarf nasturtiums, and variegated arabis and periwinkle for the sake of their leaves. Charming combinations of the above can be 54 TOWN GARDENING made, and the subjects advised for window-boxes, etc., can be used in beds, and those recommended for beds may be tried in boxes, urns, barrels, etc. Many, too, will be useful for pot culture. Musk, dwarf lobelias and miniature sweet al^'ssum will spring up from seed in pots in hot windows even of the Strand, and Cupid sweet-peas have been known to grow from seed (three seeds in a seven-inch pot — se^'en-inch diameter, of course) in Bethnal Green ! In suburban places there is no danger in using all the usual bedding plants. A consideration of what grows in town parks will teach town dwellers that smuts are not to be too much dreaded. Roof- top gardens are the best for plants in crowded districts, owing to there being no walls to draw them up into a thin, lanky condition and to exclude air and sun from them. But in the suburbs, verbenas, stocks, asters, marguerites, petunias, begonias, geraniums. Swan river daisies and dwarf snapdragons are but a few of the favourites that will flourish. SPECIAL WORK FOR JUNE Watch for grubs in the rose buds, and young leaf shoots, and pinch them out, cutting back damaged portions of the branches. Stand most of the room plants out, in semi-shade, when gentle rain is falling. Fill the z^j/orsZ-situated receptacles or garden ground now, as no frosts need be feared. Remember that a fine show of Tom Thumb dahlias, from plants bought now, can be had among the stones of a sunny rockery, even if it be but an ROUTINE AND SEASONABLE WORK 55 area slope. These ten-to-twelve-inch dahlias are very bright in effect. A shady area slope will look cheerful if planted all over with variegated periwinkle, with sunk pot shrubs at intervals, suitable sorts being golden privet and euonymus, and berberis aquifoHum. These shrubs should be removed in November and kept growing in cold greenhouses, frames, or rooms. Shady areas in the suburbs, where houses are not very high and have air-spaces between them, are fit for most of the bedding plants and perennials advised for shady gardens. Sow some pots of mignonette, thin out to five seedlings in each six-inch pot, keep them outside until September's end, then enjoy the flowers indoors. The seedhngs should have their tips pinched off when they are six inches high to encourage bushy growth. Sow three seeds of the trailing fuchsia (Fuchsia procumbens) in a four-inch pot, under or behind glass. Pot on when roots show at the base. Sink the pot in moss in a hanging wire basket in a sunny window. Beautiful trails of leaf and blossom will result. Keep dead roses cut off trees. Continue to bed out, or plant dahlias or chry- santhemums. Cut down spring-bloomed perennials. Sow dwarf sweet alyssum over bare spaces on sunny rockeries, or to carpet among tall plants in ornamental garden vases, window-boxes, beds, etc. Sow wallflowers for next year in a very shallow drill across open ground. Lay down some sweet-pea faggots over the fiUed-in drill to keep birds off. Water the garden if there is a spell of drought. 56 TOWN GARDENING One thorough soaking is right in a week, two are better, but * a httle watering ' done wholesale every evening is disastrous. A portion of a garden can be deluged at a time, another portion the next evening or earty morning. SPECIAL WORK FOR JULY Tie green-grey wool round the sheaths of opening carnations that might otherwise burst. Gather rose petals for potpourri. S\Tinge rose-trees that have done their first flowering ; cut their branches back that have borne blooms. Give some old decayed manure as a mulch to the roses, all but those that have not been planted a year. Give weak liquid manure to dahhas that are grow- ing well ; also to roses, hollyhocks, delphiniums, pansies, verbenas, stocks, asters, heliotrope, fuchsias and sweet-peas. Geraniums do not flower well if overfed, but most other bedding plants do better for extra nourishment. Peg down verbenas and ivy-leaved geraniums. Lift bulbs of ranunculuses, anemones, tuhps, hyacinths, etc., lay them on newspaper in dry sunny sheds or rooms to dry for a week or so, then wipe each and store in perfectly dry sawdust or chaff, or chopped-up baked heather or moss, or old dry broken-up cocoa-nut fibre refuse. Give sticks and ties to all plants that need them. Nail loose trails of clmibers to the walls. Pot some bulbs of freesias in ordinary potting compost, putting them one inch deep and two inches apart, in any sized pots, those of four and a ROUTINE AND SEASONABLE WORK 57 half or five inch diameter being best. Stand the pots in shade in airy rooms, greenhouse or frames, and avoid giving much water : the soil must not get quite dry, but too much moisture will mean failure. More will be required as the plants grow. Bring them into sunshine when growth is a few inches high. Part II WORK IN AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, AND OCTOBER CHAPTER VII KEEPING UP THE FLOWER DISPLAY Reserve Plants. Frames in Yards and on Porch-tops. How to add to Beds and Boxes. The Art of removing Plants. Early- flowering Chrysanthemums, Kochias, Beets, etc. Refilling Window-boxes. Meadow-saffrons, etc. NO matter what plants the town-house occupier speciaHzes in for the summer show, he should have a few too many, and keep those growing on, somehow and somewhere, so as to replace any of the flowering or foliage specimens that fail. There are bound to be misfortunes and accidents. It is easy to imagine the doleful appearance of a bed of dwarf blue asters in which two plants turned out to be violet, or of a stone vase by the hall door in which three of the ring of red begonias, surrounding a white marguerite, had perished. In window-boxes any awkward gap will spoil the whole display. 59 Co TOWN GARDENING If there is only a backyard, supposing it receives some sunshine, a fair-sized garden-frame will prove of immense value. A flat roof-top will be an even better site for one ; the sun-heat will not be too fierce if some old Japanese reed mats are kept to lay over the glass or over the open frame, or to fasten to thin erect bamboo canes as a screen. The bamboo canes answer delightfully if their lower lengths can slip into sockets of iron affixed to the wood of the frame, and the screens serve, in chilly times, as shelter from winds. There is often a large roof above the porch, in a town house, either entered upon through a stair- case window or by a balcony. This should be made the foundation of a really fine plant-show, of course, but it can be turned into real use as well, if a long narrow frame for growing things in is placed at the edge nearest the road. It will be hidden by the parapet, and the plant display may rise just behind it, leaving the gardener space at the two sides to visit it in comfort. Many ironmongers and florists stock small deep frames that could be used end to end. In these frames, shaded and^ sheltered by the parapet, the surplus begonias, stocks, asters, ver- benas, geraniums, etc. etc., can be grown on in readiness to fill gaps. They may also be used for taking cuttings in, say of calceolarias, gera- niums, fuchsias, pansies, violas and carnations ; for receiving seed-pans and boxes of pricked-out seedlings. When making any addition to beds, tubs or boxes, it is necessary to get the soil into fit con- dition, neither too dry nor too wet, which a watering overnight usually secures, and also to prepare KEEPING UP THE FLOWER DISPLAY 6i similarly the soil round the plants that are to be lifted or turned out of pots. Then they will ' come away,' dug out by the trowel or released from pots, with what is known as ' ball of soil intact,' and the roots will not only have no rough usage, but need not know they are moved from one place to another. This being so, neither foliage nor blooms will flag. I have moved a dwarf hybrid perpetual rose- bush in July, when it was in full flower, and re- planted it in another part of a garden, by this method, without there being the slightest check to its growth or injury to its health ; but this necessitates the utmost care, of course, and deep and wide digging by a spade. I do not recom- mend the attempt to be made by any amateur, but merely describe it here as an illustration of how simply any small plants can be removed safely. Even when no plants have failed in beds or receptacles, some may have proved stunted, or have yellowed foliage, or have insisted on growing too lanky, instead of bushy, so make a bad effect. Even when none of these troubles have occurred the beds or receptacles may look rather bare, and then a store of blue or white lobelia, of dwarf chrysanthemum-flowered asters, dwarf French mari- golds, the iceplant (Mesembryanthemum crystaUi- num), pigmy godetias, stocks, violas, etc., will justify its existence. Crimson beet is a serviceable tall plant to keep in reserve, and summer cypresses (Kochi trico- phylla), each in a small pot, may be either used to add to insufficient plant displays or be potted on once or twice to make pretty plants to use on the dining-table or in the drawing-room. 62 TOWN GARDENING A favourite expedient of my own is to dig up a portion of a front-garden edging of mossy saxi- frage (Saxifraga hypnoides) in the middle of summer, and set its dainty green tufts as a close carpet to beds, or tubs, where the flowering plants stand rather too widely apart. By October's end the saxifrage tufts will be happy little plants to use for winter bedding, or for making edgings and additions to rock-gardens ; variegated arabis, purple rock cress (Aubrietia) may be similarly treated. Annual plants, such as larkspurs, stocks, asters, clarkias, that bloom early in the summer, frequently go yellow now and begin to die. Well, the town- dweller need only repair to the nearest florist, purchase some early-flowering chrysanthemums, just budding in pots, and turn these out, balls of soil intact, as described. They will give him ample reward a little later. Or, as the year begins to think of waning, it will be better to sink the pot chrysanthemums, with a view to housing any that have not done flowering when frost threatens. Naturally, geraniums in pots, and countless other of the plants florists offer, can be used in these ways, only the town-gardener seldom knows where to keep large quantities of delicate plants during winter. The chrysanthemums can be cut down in November, and packed closely in a box of a little soil, have some more soil thrown over them, then be stored in an attic by a window that is often open. With a minimum of watering they will survive till spring, then can be divided and re- planted or repotted, or, if placed in warmth, will send forth shoots that can be detached as already rooted 'cuttings.' Old newspapers will suffice to keep frost from them in the attic, whereas succulent- KEEPING UP THE FLOWER DISPLAY 63 stemmed geraniums might generate moisture, turn mildewy, or succumb through the cold. Fuchsias are easier to keep than are geraniums or marguerites. If the window-boxes have to be wholly refilled now, early chrysanthemums are quite the best plants, and the grey-leaved, yellow-and-scarlet blossomed, succulent Echeveria secunda glauca, sold A Tile-fronted Window-Box. A Green euonymus. B Gold chrysanthemums. C Echeveria secunda glauca. D Pale blue tiles. E Deep blue tiles. F Cream tiles. by all florists, will be a pretty, inexpensive edging, that will be neat and effective as soon as installed. Echeverias may be placed closely together in large pots, or singly in small ones, to be housed during winter. There is a charming method for refurnishing semi-shady window-boxes, urns, etc. Buy some miniature variegated euonymuses that can do duty until next June, then plant among them bulbs of meadow-saffrons (Colchicums), three inches apart, two inches deep. These are flowers shaped like giant crocuses ; the common kind is a lovely peach- mauve, and there are crimson, purple and white varieties that cost much more. Their marvellous merit is that they will bloom about six to nine weeks after the bulbs are planted, and then the fohage will appear and make a nice carpet. 64 TOWN GARDENING A few ordinary crocuses and snowdrops put in among this carpet in November will make a pleasing note later in front of the variegated shrubs. But let the purchaser of all the bulbs make sure that he obtains those of flowering size. It is often worth while to fill a garden border with thousands of young bulbs, to grow on for the future, but the town-house front demands the mature and very best. r Photo / t^liii'y NARCISSI IxN THE WINDOW BOX CHAPTER VIII HOW TO GROUP POT PLANTS Hardy Plants for Groups. Foliage Subjects. How to Grow Them . How to make Groups — and Where. THERE are probably a hundred amateur gardeners able to grow pot plants to two or three individuals able to group them satisfac- torily. Sometimes failure is bound to be, because of an insufficiency of mosses, ferns, foUage and cluster plants with which to hide the pots of their taller comrades. Now a winter-heated greenhouse seldom forms part of the town estabhshment, so hosts of suit- able dainty plants must be avoided and hardy ones cultivated. It is a refreshing fact that these will be inexpensive. Some of them may be ob- tained by lifting and potting portions of plants that happen to be in the borders ; if this is done in the hot months of the year they must be kept cool and shaded for several days afterwards ; others can be bought, in small pots, ready for use ; others may only be obtainable in masses, in boxes, then should be potted. The following are reHable, dwarf, calculated to show off the colours of the flowers beneath which 65 E 66 TOWN GARDENING they are to make a foliago-and-floral carpet without so much as an inch of pottery remaining visible. tallJigJit sti'»!s of red, rose or zcJiitc blossom. Hawkweed (Hicracium A R A B I s. Plain and variegated. Gold Dust (Alvssum saxa- tile). Stoneckops. Gold, ' ivhite, ora)ige, purple and red. Mossy Saxifrages. White and rosy flowering. Saxifraga F o r t u n e I . White. London Pride (Saxifraga iimbrosa). Saxifraga C r u s t r a t a. Silvered rosette foliage. OxALis Rosea. Pink. O x A L I s Valvidiana. Yelloiv. Creeping J e n n y (Lysi- macliia niimmularia) . Green or gold leaved ivith yelloivfloivers. Lobelia Erinus. J)i all colours. LlTHOSPERMUM PrOSTRA- TUM. A divarf evergreeii of spreading habit that has blue blossom. K E N I L W O R T H I V Y (Linaria cvmbalaria) . Pale lilac. Perennial Candytuft (I b e r i s sempervirens) . White. Hypericum Empetrifolium. YellouK Hypericum Polypiiyllum. Yello-w. Alum Roots (Heuclieras) . A II have clusters of attrac- tive leaves, from which rise aiirantiacum) . Orange. Geranium Cinereum. One of the true geraniums, or cranes' bills, whereas the greenhouse ' gera)iiums * are really pelargoniums. Pale pink. Geranium Endressii. Deep rose. Geranium Prostratum. Magenta. Spleenwort {Asplenium trichomanes) . Fern . Holly Fern (Aspidiiim lon- chitis). Parsley Fern (AUosorus crispiis) . POLYPODIUM V LT L G A R E Cambricum. Fern. The Brittle Bladder F E R N. (Cystopteris fragilis). Will succeed, if given a compost of peat, silver sand, loam, and coco-nutfibre refuse rubbed into poivder. Plantain Lilies (Funkias lancifolia and lancifolia albamarginata). Lilac. A foot tall, with spreading leaves. S N O W - I N - S LT I\I M E R (Cerastium). 5 / Iver foliage. Bellflowers (Campanulas portensclilagiana, iso- phylla alba, gargauica, HOW TO GROUP POT PLANTS 67 fragilis, carpatica). Vio- let, white, blue. Sandwort (Arcnaria olcarica). White. Golden Sandwort (Arenaria verna cicspi- tosa aurca). Gold foli- age. Woodruff (Asperula odo- rala). While. Thrifts (Armcrias cepha- lotcs, lauclieana and plan- tagjnca. J^ose, crimson or white. Trailing Snapdragon (Antirrhinum glutonisum). Cream. Kii^NKY Vetch (Anthyllis montana). Rose. Cat's Ear (Antennaria Can- dida). Silver leaves. Pink bloom. Bugle (Ajuga reptans atro- purpurea). Purple-bronze leaves. Hen-and-Chicken House Leek (Scmpcrvivum'globi- ferum). Yellow. Common House Leek (Scmjicrvivum tcctorum). Pale red. Lambs' Wool (Stachys lanata) . Silver woolly leaves. Mock Maidenhair (T h a 1 i c t r u m minus adiantifoliurn). Foam Flower (Tiarella cordifolia) . Fern-like leaves, /lowers like a minia- ture creamy meadow-sweet. Bronze-leaved Foam Flower (Tiarella pur- purea). Flowers rose. Trifolium Kerens Penta- i'Hyllum. Bronze and green leaves. Flowers white. Speedwell (Veronica gen- tianoides v a r i e g a t a). Creamy - marked foliage, blue flowers. There arc countless other hardy plants and ferns that can be well grown in cold greenhouses, frames, or room windows where air is freely admitted ; the gardener who learns to dehglit in the variegated tufts of the Speedwell named, for example, should inquire after other dwarf members of the family ; the lover of one stonecrop, house leek, or saxifrage, will find dozens more waiting for his patronage. Among larger foliage subjects of extreme value in making groups of fairly hardy pot plants are taller plantain lihes, hardy geraniums, saxifrages and outdoor maidenhairs (ThaHctrums) ; and their blossoms add, of course, to their value. Arahas, 68 TOWN GARDENING eucalyptus citriodora, lemon verbena, French laven- der, like palms and aspidistras, only require to be kept safe from all frost. Then there are annuals of great foliage value that should have been sown or purchased earher, of which the Golden Feather (RTethrum aureum) is a popular example. A group of plants against a wall, or other back- ground, should have the greatest height behind, either as a clump in the middle back row, or to form the whole back row except for the edge, which may be a single, double, or triple edging of dwarf and semi-dwarf growers. A group in an open space may have the highest plants in the middle, or in clusters all over the space, or as single specimen plants rising at even distances. A pyramid can be built up easily, so that all the foliage represents a sloped mass, of sugar-loaf shape, and the blossoms either repeat this shape themselves, or rise gTacefully out of it according to their different natures. One tine pjTamid group on a balcony or porch- top, for summer, would consist of chimney bell- flowers (Campanula p^Tamidalis), blue arahas, and summer cypresses in front of the aralias, white tobacco plants (Nicotiana aihnis), crimson beet and mock maidenhair (Thalictrum minus adiantifolium), deep blue ostrich feather asters or blue larkspurs, and white carnations, golden feather, purple-leaved bugle, variegated arabis, and, lastty, an edging of indigo blue lobeHa. A simpler group can be built up with single dahhas, Pompon dahlias, Tom Thumb cactus dahlias, then ferns with zinnias here and there, then a belt of the bronze-leaved foam flower, then one of oxalis HOW TO GROUP POT PLANTS 69 rosea, and a final edge of closely-set pans of gold, white, orange, red and purple stonecrops. Let the town-gardener note that many of the tiny plants can be cultivated in the pans sold for sowing seed in, and this is a help in carpeting among other plants. Groups of chrysanthemums, in scarlet-crimson, yellow and cream, with pots of scarlet-and-orange montbretias, among beets, ferns, etc., edged by mossy saxifrages and echeveria secunda glauca, will be charming. Pot Michaelmas daisies and other perennial asters are of great value on account of their late blooming. It will, perhaps, be a revelation to the town-dweller that so many exquisite floral displays can be suc- ceeded with, even within a city area ; but, in truth, by growing hardy plants chiefly, just pre- served from frost, by washing foliage and frequent use of the .syringe, by occasional waterings with a weak solution of fertilizer in rain-water or the weakest of liquid manure, by removing all spent blooms at once and never allowing dead leaves to rot on the plants, above all by giving enough water regularly but never too much, great triumphs may be recorded. And plant groups look beautiful in so many spots — on balconies, between verandah pillars, against arch sides or pergola poles, in wall recesses of bay windows, at the sides of the porch or steps, on the summits of mounds or rockeries, against fences or trellises, by chimneys, on the leads over built-out kitchens, in conservatories, before summer-houses, etc. etc. I CHAPTER TX PREPARING FOR AUTUMN BEAUTY Succession of Effects. Pot Plants on Steps. Retarded Geraniums. Cork-covered Parapet Boxes. Choice of Chrysanthemums. Hardy Plants in Pots for late Blooming. Meadow-saffrons. Pot Dahlias. THE clover town gardener does not expose all his lloral effects to the public gaze at the beginning of summer ; he reserves certain additions, so that when heat, dust and smoke has tired out some of the flowers, taken the beauty off the house front or the back garden, he can make up for that by introducing beauties in other forms. Let us suppose a house up half a dozen steps. Pots, all of one size, scrupulously clean and with saucers to fit, may stand on the sides of the steps, a dozen in all, and the plants in all can be similar, or match in twos. Thus the top ones could be of glossy aralias, three feet high — so usually called castor-oil plants, which is quite wrong -the next pair could be golden chrysanthennuns, the lowest pair the summer cypress (Kochia tricophylla), which will have begun to flush red and orange. Or quite ordinary lavender JMichaehnas daisies, crimson beets, or tuie-grown ' Love-Ues-bleeding,' and miniature annual dwarf sunllowers, would look 70 PREPARING FOR AUTUMN BEAUTY 71 novel. Of course, if ivy-leaved and other geraniums have been grown on in private with a view to this late debut, have had embryo buds picked off until latfJy, they will now make a brilliant display. Then, at the top of the steps, there might be groups of more plants, or long-shaped boxes to He on the stone ledges of the parapet walls. These boxes always look best when covered witti virgin cork, which is so easy to nail on wood. Some persons like to paint virgin cork with silvery metalHc paints ; liquid aluminium paint is the newest thing. Another idea is to have white-enamelled long boxes, like window-boxes, to stand against the side walls or raiHngs at the top of steps, and these are, of course, easily seen and avoided on dark nights. Then there may be huge tubs, split barrel-shape, or taller, filled with chrysanthemums, in pinks, peach-mauve and gold, and edged by cat's ear (Stachys lanata), with a few plants of Kenilworth ivy or trailing fuchsia (Fuchsia procumbens) to overhang. They are sure to attract admiration. The town-house owner who wishes to astonish his neighbours by a late show of flowers, should order chrysanthemums for blooming in October and No- vember, then surround these by a row of a very dwarf kind of chrysanthemum to flower earher. The florist or nurseryman will be able to provide ; to recomimend varieties here would merely confuse, since there are hundreds suitable, and tradesmen in different localities cultivate different favourites for sale. A further plan for making autumn floral is to cultivate pot and tub Helen-flowers (Heleniums), cone-flowers (Rudbeckias), and even red-hot pokers. The last, known scientifically as tritomas^ or 72 TOWN GARDENING kniphofias, have to be potted singly in November or April, however, and should be given liquid manure once a week all summer. The Caffre flag (SchizostyHs cpccinea) is another bulb for potting in November or March. It is a glorious plant, with long, narrow leaves and spikes of blood-crimson blossoms that appear in October and November. As it is a hardy perennial the pots should be put into cold frames during winter and be stood out during summer. The best way to keep pot plants out of doors is to sink them up to the rims in a deep bed all of cinders. This bed can be made up anywhere, on gravel, cement, tiles, etc., against a wall. The roots in the pots are thus kept cool, moist, yet not too wet, for rains drain through the cinders, and slugs and snails are kept away. It is quite a good idea to add schizostylis bulbs to the window-boxes in April, if care is taken not to injure the sprouting rootlets when other plants are put among them. A couple of dozen pots of Caffre flags ranged along a balcony or verandah, making a line of crimson-scarlet so late in the year, will win a town gardener great praise. Plants of the Japanese stonecrop (Sedum specta- bile) are beautiful pot ornaments for the glass porch or back steps of the house. There is a great deal to be urged in favour of always sinking pot plants in the window-boxes, because a succession of effects can be so easily arranged, and when this is carried out this tall handsome sedum, so unlike the humbler stonecrops, with its rose-flushed, blue-grey glaucous leaves, is a very line autumn tilling. I have seen ornamental crimson flower-pot covers used, instead of window- PREPARING FOR AUTUMN BEAUTY 73 boxes, each holding an eight-inch pot containing what may be called a clump of Japanese stone- crop, from which rose many of the marvellous cluster-heads of rosy bloom. Among the seeds that are capital to sow in March in a warm greenhouse, to produce pot plants that will be handsome even when frosts are due, arc those of the varieties of Japanese maize {Zea Japonicas variegata, and quadricolour). However the seeds may be sown, the seedlings are transferred singly to two-inch pots, then simply given a shift into slightly bigger pots every time those they inhabit are overiillcd by roots. The young plants are stood out during summer, after being hardened off in frames. The leaves are magnificently streaked and coloured. Another name is Indian corn. A raised bed, on a little lawn, looks well indeed in autumn when the gardener can sink pots of Zea among red chrysanthemums, or dwarf dahlias, behind a thick Ijelt of Japanese stonccrop. If the advice in a previous chapter has been carried out, all tlie rockeries, semi-shady borders and beds, even under trees, may be alight — there is no more suitable word — with the bright presence of meadow- saffrons, those big crocus-shaped blossoms whose peach, rose or white petals glisten in sunshine or moonlight. The ordinary peach-mauve is very cheap, so bulbs should have been generously planted. The slopes of grass banks by the lawn should have been dotted over with them too. Now is the time to keep every inch of the beds and borders especially tidy by use of the spud, which will chop weeds up, destroying many insect foes meanwhile, and let air into the soil. Pot 74 TOWN GARDENING dahlias are suitable for growing in porches or on porch steps, may even be kept in halls and rooms for weeks while they bloom. Those that stand outside to adorn the sides . of walks, seats, summer-house thresholds, roof gardens, etc., may very likely be able to continue their flowering long after the planted-out dahlias are blackened, for they will, of course, be given shelter, in the house if there is no conservatory, at Winter's first hint of danger. Happily for town dwellers, autumn has a splen- dour all its own, when Virginia creepers clothe our walls in living ruby and the hues of many flames. CHAPTER X WINDOW GARDENS AND CONSER- VATORIES How to Ventilate. About Gas and Temperature. Balcony Glasshouses for Alpines. Bulb Potting. Plants for Rooms. Flower-tables in Sun and Shade. A WINDOW garden may be in a miniature glasshouse, a sort of Wardian case, or merely a collection of plants on a table, or on wire stands, or in jardinieres, inside the room. But it means, to the scientific gardener, in any case, a collection of plants grown without artificial heat. Now a room that is constantly well ventilated makes quite a healthy plant-house, near its glass, but a room in which only chinks of ventilation are allowed, and the windows are fastened tight up every night, is not a happy home for vegetation of any sort. Draughts do a lot of mischief when on a level with the plants, whereas draughts above them act but as valuable ventilation. Gas is, of course, very harmful to plants, yet constant sponging and spraying will mitigate its evil, provided the air is purified by sufficient through ventilation, which means letting enough 75 6 TOWN GARDENING wind blow through the room to entirely change the air ; during which process plants should be placed elsewhere or have light mushn thrown over them. The temperature of rooms will be found exceed- ingly different, apart from the changes of temperature wrought by our Enghsh climate, and the differences are also great according to the districts and environ- ments. A south-facing window on a Hampstead hill is baking hot at times ; one in a city square would be little more than baskijig hot, the sun fierceness reaching it tempered by haze ; yet the Hampstead room will contrive to be terribly cold, south though it is, on a bitter night or day of winter, whereas the room in the city square will have many more degrees of temperature to its credit. Exposed windows are good, in a way ; and bad, in a way. The house gardener had better buy a self-recording thermometer. All the ordinary greenhouse plants — geraniums, primulas, cinerarias, fuchsias, helio- trope — need a winter temperature of 50° to keep them going, though they will not die if there is a drop to 45 or 40° at night occasionally. Also, plants can be safeguarded, when there is danger of frost, by covering them with muslin, wrapping new^spaper round the pots to stand high around them, inverting glass shades over them, keeping a small oil lamp burning between them and the window, or having a small oil stove lit on the hearth. Of course outside window-conserva- tories, or fixed plant-cases on balconies or porch- tops, cannot be used for delicate plants unless slightly heated at night, and occasionally by day, from November to April or even May. If the owner wishes to manage these economically and without WINDOW GARDENS 11 much trouh)le, he should cultivate only perennials, especially ' alpines.' There are thousands of familar favourites, from primroses to roses and chrysan- themums, that will do well if given open-air treat- ment when summer heat would weaken them under glass ; there are thousands of exquisite, uncommon alpines that would revel in the shelter, blossom as freely in the heart of towns as in the country, and keep up a succession of gay bloom. The following have been grown in a little ' alpine ' house in the west centre of London : — Saxifraga W a l l a c e I. While, blooming from April to July. 6 in. high. Saxifkaga H y b r I d a Splendens. Tall rose spikes among fine leaves. February to June. Saxifraga Stracheyi ALJiA. White. April and May, 2 //. Saxifraga D e c i p i e n s Rubra Grandiflora. Bright crimson. May to July. 7 in. Saxifraga Trifurcata. While. May to July, i ft. Saxifraga Burseriana. Silver cushions of foliage, white flovuers. February to April. 3 in. S E M P E R V I V U M ArACII- NOiDEUM. The curious Cobweb house-leek . Sedum Ewersii. Grey, shining trailer, with rose flowers all summer. 4 in. Primula Malacoides. Lilac. All summer, on into winter, i jt. Must not be scorched by sun. Calvary Clover (Paro- chetus communis ) Blue. July to September. 6 in. Barbary Ragwort (Othonnopsis cheirif olia) . February to July. Yellow, silvery foliage. 18 in. Red-centred St. John's W o R T, OR Rose of Sharon (Hypericum Moserianum). Gold- an d- scarlet. Trailer. A 1 1 summer. Sun Roses (Helianthemum vulgarc). Varieties, yellow, red, while, pink, etc. All summer. 8 in. Dactylis Glomerata Ele- GANTissiMA (Variegated grass). 2 ft. Plu.mbago L A r p e n t .«. Cobalt blue. Autumn and winter. 8 in. /Ethionema Grandiflora. Rosy longheads of blossom. May to September. 2 ft. 78 TOWN GARDENING Pot shrubs to grow, if there is space, are — Andrew's Broom (Cytisus Japanese Quince (Pyrus Andreanus). Gold-and-red. japonica). Red, rose or White Broom (Cytisus whitey-blush. albus). Rock Roses (Cistuses can- Cream Broom (Cytisus didissimus, florentinus, prsecox) . Cream . f ormosus , purpurens , etc . ) . Sweet Daphne (Daphne Rose, white, yellow, red- mezereon). Rosy red or purple. Summer, white. February and Ghent Azaleas. Yellow, March. apricot, copper, etc. Quite Trailing Daphne (Daphne hardy, hut do not bloom cneorum). Rose. unless the dead flowers of Myrtle (Myrt us communis). previous year have been re- Ivory white. moved to prevent seed-pods. Bulbs to pot for the miniature greenhouse on a verandah or outside a window, include freesias, Spanish irises, Roman and other hyacinths, ixias, sparaxis, tulips, narcissi, tigridias, tritonias, oxalises floribunda and brasiliensis, scilla sibirica, early- flowering gladioli, chionodoxas, anemone fulgens, and tuberous begonias. Bulbs should mostly be potted about their own depth deep, but the soil above their tips must not be pressed as hard as the soil against their sides, but left loose, or as it is called, friable, that they may be able to pierce easily through it. [See chapters on Daily Routine, and Seasonable Work.) As a rule, pot plants for inside rooms are bought regardless of their suitability. A double petunia may look charming in a shop, but gassy air will turn it black ; a cactus is quaint, but dies unless there is plenty of sunshine ; primulas usually rot off at the collar if there is not sun enough, and are burnt to death if there is too much. Primula WINDOW GARDENS 79 obconicas are a fairly safe choice, and a capital investment, because they can be divided as they overcrowd one another, several pot specimens being made out of the first ; but handhng the roots, probably also the stems, without gloves on, will undoubtedly give a skin rash to many persons. I can vouch from experience that one can become so accustomed to the influence as to suffer no results, as it is possible to become used to mosquito and even bee stings, yet I think it best to give the warning. In one case known to me a lady wore gloves when dividing her primula obconicas, but happened to rub her eyelids with her fingers, and had a bad rash, or sort of eczema, upon the former in consequence. The Fairy Primrose (Primula malacoides) is very dainty, and, I believe, innocuous. Single fuchsias are so graceful that it is surprising how seldom they are chosen instead of the doubles. Show pelar- goniums are as easy to manage as the zonal pelar- goniums we call geraniums, if they are often washed to keep away green-fly. Clivias and amaryllis are suitable if there are facilities for keeping them during winter. Yellow genistas, deutzias and spiraeas can be planted out in the garden, if ^there is one,|or sunk in their pots, in cinders, mulched by cinders and some cocoa-nut fibre in October's end, and lifted and repotted in March. Of course it is a con- venient plan to hand such plants as these to a florist to be repotted. Chrysanthemums in pots must be in the air until they are fully set with buds, preferably till the buds show colour : all but the latest kinds, which should be brought in, in any state, at the end of October. Roses will bloom in town windows if they can be 8o TOWN GARDENING kept out of doors from May to blooming time, stood out after their first blooming until the autumnal crop of buds is well forward, then kept in cold frames during winter. They really need frequent syringing, which is a difficult matter indoors, though dipping the branches and sponging bigger leaves and the stems will suffice. Marguerites only last for a time ; cinerarias, especially of the Star type (Cineraria stellata) will thrive in city air, indeed sootiness seems to keep off the ' fly ' that is so ruinous to greenhouse specimens ; they must have warm sites, of course. Border carnations, perpetual carnations, and annual marguerite carnations, can all be recom- mended. Malmaison, and other winter and earhest spring blooming kinds, often succeed enough in rooms to delight the possessors, and can be perfectly grown in little balcony greenhouses if given plenty of top air. The flower-table in the sunny window may be a real joy ; the best kind has a three- or four-inch-deep zinc or tin tray on the top, but a few bits of wood nailed round an ordinary kitchen table, to make the top like a tray, with sides four or more inches high, and a sheet of white mottled or green Ameri- can cloth or linoleum put into the tray so as to come partly up those sides, will prove quite con- venient. The following are a few plants to grow in pots ; suggestions for others must be gleaned from other pages of this book : — 1 'huto Vasey A TASTEFUL DlSl'LAV lied aloiii; l-"iont : (ii:uAMUMS, Dwakf Roses aiui Lii.ilms in pots At I'-I't : KuoNiuMS in box, Ivy Geraniums behind Window liuxes : Ivy Geraniums, Double Nasturtiums and Lobelia Ov....... ^....y