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PLATES
PLATES
A south slope is the ideal situation for a garden, since it insures good drainage and the greatest amount of sunlight. The garden should also be open to the east and west, if possible; that it may have the benefit of the morning and evening sun. Shelter on the north is desirable, as north winds are disastrous to Roses and tender perennials. Partial shelter on the west should be given in localities where the prevailing winds of winter are from that quarter. The south side of a building, or even o
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For Laying Out the Beds
For Laying Out the Beds
Use a long pole with a sharp stake passed through a hole at one end and fastened with a nail driven through it horizontally, so that it can turn easily, with a number of holes for pegs at the required distances—six, eight and one-half, twelve and one-half, fifteen and nineteen feet. Drive the movable stake firmly into the ground, and do not remove until the work is finished. Slip the sharp marking peg into the hole, which it should fit closely, and mark out the circles. For the half circles, or
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For a Twelve-foot Foliage-bed
For a Twelve-foot Foliage-bed
One Ricinus in centre; three Ricini four feet from first, an equal distance apart—or about eight feet. Alternate with these three clumps of tall-growing Cannas. Surround with a row of scarlet Salvias, set one foot from edge of bed and twenty inches apart. Edge with Little Gem Sweet Alyssum. PLATE III. Plan for Rose-garden and Foliage-bed....
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Another Twelve-foot Bed
Another Twelve-foot Bed
One Ricinus in centre, surrounded at three feet distance by six of the largest sized Caladiums three feet apart. The third row, three feet outside, to be composed of low-growing Cannas—Queen Charlotte, Chicago, Florence Vaughan, or Papa—eighteen inches apart. Edge with dwarf Nasturtiums....
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Nine-foot Bed
Nine-foot Bed
One Ricinus trimmed in umbrella form—that is, the lower leaves removed so that the upper may serve as a shade for the Cannas. First row, six Allemannia Cannas; second row, twelve inches outside, twelve Burbank Cannas, fourteen inches apart; third row, twenty-five Italia Cannas, fourteen inches apart. Edge with Coleus, set fifteen inches apart....
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Nine-foot Bed
Nine-foot Bed
Centre three discolour Cannas, grouped in the corner. First row, twelve Black Beauty Cannas, eighteen inches apart; second row, eighteen inches outside, twelve large Caladiums, twenty-seven inches apart....
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Twelve-foot Bed
Twelve-foot Bed
Three Ricini in group, equal distance apart. First row, three feet out, scarlet Salvias, twenty inches apart; second row, twelve inches out, white-flowered Vincas, twelve inches apart. Edge with scarlet Phlox Drummondii or blue Tom Thumb Ageratum, six inches apart....
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Nine-foot Bed of Ornamental Grasses
Nine-foot Bed of Ornamental Grasses
Large clump of Arundo Donax in centre. First row, three feet out, three Erianthus Ravennæ, six feet apart; second row, twelve Eulalia gracillima univittata, two feet apart....
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Eight-foot Bed
Eight-foot Bed
A large clump of Setaria magna in the centre. First row, Coix lachryma, eighteen inches apart; second row, twenty inches out, Pennisetum Ruppellianum, eighteen inches apart. I cannot too highly recommend the planting of ornamental grasses on the lawn. They are extensively used in parks and in other public grounds, but not nearly so extensively as they should be on private grounds. Many of them are perfectly hardy, and once established grow in beauty from year to year; others in the Northern Stat
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Chapter TWO Soils
Chapter TWO Soils
In every garden the matter of soil is of first importance. In case of an outdoor garden the existing conditions will largely determine the class of plants to be grown. A good loam—that is a non-coherent mixture of clay and sand with a proportion of such decayed vegetable matter as leaves and the fibrous roots of grasses—is the best garden soil, being what is termed warm and early. Soil containing a good proportion of sand is warm, while a preponderance of clay makes what is known as cold or wet
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Chapter THREE Fertilisers
Chapter THREE Fertilisers
Fertilisers in the form of animal manures, chemicals or vegetable matter come next in importance to a good soil. Horse, cow, sheep, and poultry droppings are the cheapest and most direct in results. Of the four, cow manure is probably the best for the majority of plants, especially Pansies, Iris, Violets, Ferns and others which love a cool soil. Cow manure is known as a cool manure, and is suitable for a warm or sandy soil. Horse manure, which is more heating, especially when from young stock, i
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Chapter FOUR The Hotbed, Cold-Frame and Sand-box
Chapter FOUR The Hotbed, Cold-Frame and Sand-box
The hotbed is an enclosure, affording bottom heat and protection from cold, for the propagation of tender plants unsuited to sowing in the open ground, and for starting plants too early in the season for open-air operations. The hotbed is usually started in February or March in the latitude of Philadelphia, while April is early enough in the latitude of Detroit and Chicago. Plants are transferred to the open ground when all danger of frost is past. With the exception of a few plants like Poppies
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Chapter FIVE Purchasing of Seeds
Chapter FIVE Purchasing of Seeds
Buying seeds is largely a matter of experience. So glowing are the descriptions in the numerous catalogues sent out that one may easily be led into ordering many worthless novelties, and many desirable ones for which there is neither room nor sufficient knowledge of their wants to grow them successfully. Cheap collections, where one is requested to send ten cents for a catalogue and twelve packages of seeds, are worst of all. In buying flower-seeds, as in everything else, one never gets “somethi
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Chapter SIX Starting Seeds in Flats
Chapter SIX Starting Seeds in Flats
There are many choice seeds, especially in the greenhouse varieties, that cannot be handled successfully in the hotbed—Begonias, Gloxinias, Cinerarias, and Primulas among them. All seeds too fine to be covered do better with house treatment. For starting these the shallow boxes or flats, as they are called, are used. Shallow cigar-boxes, or the larger ones sawed in two and the lid nailed on for the extra bottom, make convenient sizes for the finest seeds. They may be used from year to year if ca
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Chapter SEVEN Transplanting and Repotting
Chapter SEVEN Transplanting and Repotting
Tender annuals should not be planted out of doors until all danger of frost is past—usually about the twentieth of May in the latitude of Detroit and Chicago, and correspondingly earlier in the latitude of Philadelphia. Corn-planting time is safe in all latitudes. Even hardy annuals, if not too crowded, do better in hotbeds and boxes until the nights are warm. Vines especially suffer from cold nights and cold ground, and often receive a set-back from which they may not recover all summer. It is
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Gloxinias
Gloxinias
Like all fine seeds the Gloxinias often give a surprising number of plants from a single packet. The seed is sown on the surface of small flats in the house and the plants appear in about ten days. They are very tender at first and must be protected from undue heat, moisture, cold or draughts. They may be potted when large enough and plunged in the shady side of the sand-box, in a cold-frame, on the east side of the house, or in a shady corner in the open ground, where they will be protected fro
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Heliotropes
Heliotropes
Are more easily raised from seed than from cuttings, which require special care. Several of the new varieties, like Lemoine’s seedlings, give exceptionally large and early flowers, ranging in colour from pure white through all the shades of lavender, purple, and blue to deep indigo. If wanted for winter blooming the seed may be sown any time during the spring, but for bedding out it should be sown in February or March, and the plants duly potted off and plunged in a box of sand in a warm, sunny
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Lantanas
Lantanas
Are hard-wooded, shrubby plants, the leaves more or less rough and prickly. The colours range from pure white through various shades of lemon to orange, red, a new bright scarlet, and the rosy lavender of the Weeping Lantana. The seed in its immature state is incased in a green pulp or berry, changing to blue as it ripens, and consists of a little nut with several kernels, so that one is sometimes surprised with two or more plants from what seems to be a single seed. The seed may be started in t
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Petunias
Petunias
Probably no common flower of the garden has been so improved during the last few years as the Petunia. The small-flowered variety of a few years ago with its straggly habit and narrow range of colour—chiefly white and faded magenta—is now superseded by magnificently fringed and ruffled beauties in a wealth of colour, from purest white to glowing crimson, and a velvety purple that is almost black, with wonderfully veined and tinted throats and thick, stocky stems. It is difficult to realise that
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Primroses
Primroses
Require the same general treatment as other house-plants. A good compost of leaf-mould, loam, and sand is best for the first few shiftings, manure being added as the plants attain size. Repeated shifting hastens blooming, while keeping the plants in small pots retards it. When ready to bloom they should be fine, large plants in five-or six-inch pots. They should blossom in November and, if well cared for, they will flower from that time on until spring. In potting the Primrose care must be taken
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Chapter NINE Outside Window-boxes
Chapter NINE Outside Window-boxes
The outside window-box is a thing of beauty if well cared for, a disfigurement if neglected. So greatly does it add to the cheerfulness and apparent size of the rooms under the windows of which it is placed that I should advise its use whenever practicable. One of my pleasantest recollections is a window-box full of Heliotrope under a sitting-room window, filling the room so full of perfume that going into it in the early morning was like stepping into a garden of fragrance. Window-boxes do well
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The Pansy Bed
The Pansy Bed
To obtain the best results seed should be sown by the middle of August, using fresh seed of the year if procurable. Rather than delay planting, however, it is better to risk the lessened vitality of last year’s seed—sowing somewhat more generously as an offset. Sow as thinly as possible in the cold-frame or a spent hotbed, in drills two inches apart, drawing the earth from the sides of the drills and pressing it down with the board. The drills should run lengthwise of the bed from east to west,
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Phlox Drummondi
Phlox Drummondi
Try a border of the dwarf Phlox Drummondi, sown to make a colour scheme. Set six to eight inches apart, in the form of scallops, the point coming between every other plant of the tall, perennial Phlox. Make the rows two or three plants wide at the centre, narrowing to a single plant at the point, using scarlet or pink, and filling in the space between the scallops and the straight edge of the bed with solid white. Or a double scallop, one beginning in the centre of the other, may be made of scar
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Salvias (Flowering Sage)
Salvias (Flowering Sage)
It is surprising how seldom one sees the Salvia grown to any considerable extent outside the public gardens and parks, though no other flower can compare with it in richness of colour and freedom of bloom, but there seems to be an impression that it must be purchased from a florist or grown from cuttings. Salvia is much more desirable for bedding than for any other purpose. In the house it is subject to attacks of red spider, which make it more trouble to care for than it is worth, while in the
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Sweet-peas
Sweet-peas
So much has been written on this subject that the culture of Sweet-peas might, without much exaggeration, be called a cult. Though blooming with its head in the sun, the Sweet-pea loves to plunge its roots deep in the cool, moist earth, and the seed should be planted as early in the spring as the ground can be worked, or, better yet, in the fall. This late fall planting has much to recommend it, as there is more leisure and the work is apt to be better done than in the hurried days of spring whe
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Verbenas
Verbenas
In sowing the seed of Verbenas it is best to keep colours separate, as white, pink, scarlet, scarlet with white eye, and the new Mayflower Verbena—one of the finest novelties brought out in recent years. They should be started early in flats or hotbed, soaking the seed in hot water for three or four hours before planting. It germinates very irregularly, often coming up after one has ceased to expect it. The soil should be kept moist so long as there is any chance of more plants appearing. Verben
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Adlumia (Mountain Fringe, Climbing Fumitory, Alleghany Vine)
Adlumia (Mountain Fringe, Climbing Fumitory, Alleghany Vine)
One of the prettiest of summer vines is the Adlumia, though it lasts but one short summer. It is a biennial, stooling the first summer and the second summer bursting into a wealth of tender green foliage, as finely cut as a fern, with hundreds of sprays of delicate flowers—a delightful vine when grown on the north side of the house, where it retains its fine green throughout the season, though in the hot sun it is inclined to burn. It is especially appropriate for funerals. It self-sows, and onc
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Clematis (Virgin’s Bower)
Clematis (Virgin’s Bower)
The large-flowered Clematis are the most expensive vines we have. So slowly do they propagate from cuttings that the price remains high from year to year. The cheapest way to obtain them is to raise them from seed and, though this is a more or less uncertain method, the expense is so slight compared to the purchase of plants that where many are required it is worth repeated efforts. Plant the seeds in flats in the house either in fall or spring. Cover an eighth of an inch and press the soil down
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Bignonia Radicans (Trumpet Vine)
Bignonia Radicans (Trumpet Vine)
It is to be regretted that this fine vine is so common and old-fashioned that no one seems to appreciate it sufficiently to bring it up to its really magnificent possibilities. When grown as a shrub no finer plant for a hedge could possibly be desired. For this purpose the plants should be set about three feet apart, or even closer, if it is desired that the hedge should be useful as well as ornamental. Set in an even row where the hedge is desired, tie each plant to a stout stake, and allow onl
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Canna (Indian Shot)
Canna (Indian Shot)
All Cannas—the gorgeous orchid-flowered, as well as the old-fashioned sorts—can be easily and cheaply grown from seed and will give blossoming plants almost as soon as those started from bulbs. When one must buy plants and the fine new varieties are desired, the starting of an eight-or ten-foot bed is a matter for economical consideration. Five or six dollars is as little as one can expect to pay for such a bed if plants are purchased, but by starting the seed the cost is reduced to a mere bagat
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Ricinus, or Castor-oil Bean
Ricinus, or Castor-oil Bean
Probably the most effective and tropical-looking plant in cultivation to-day is the Ricinus, and fortunately it is within the reach of everyone. It is usually seen as a solitary specimen on the lawn, or as the centre of a bed of other plants, or probably in a long row; it is more effective, however, in a group, and thus grown makes a good background for low plants. Seed should be started early in house or hotbeds. It germinates in twelve to fifteen days. The best results will be obtained when st
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Crinums and Amaryllis
Crinums and Amaryllis
For the past year or so an unusual amount of interest has been shown in this magnificent class of plants, followed in many instances by grievous disappointment, as, led away by the glowing descriptions of the dealers, investments are made in bulbs whose proper culture is entirely unknown. It is to be regretted that dealers sending out bulbs requiring special treatment—as the Crinums—do not give instructions for their culture. It would save a vast amount of disappointment, complaint, and distrust
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Chapter FOURTEEN Aquatics
Chapter FOURTEEN Aquatics
There is special delight in the cultivation of aquatics, due partly to the novelty of the work, and partly to the feeling of rest associated with this particular branch of floriculture. One can rarely go into the garden in the early summer without seeing something to do, a plant to be trimmed, or a vine the wind has blown down, and always plants needing water. When the lily pond is reached, be it natural or artificial, one feels that here there is rest, for an established lily pond seldom needs
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Chapter FIFTEEN The Care of the Summer Rose-bed
Chapter FIFTEEN The Care of the Summer Rose-bed
The old-fashioned June Roses, with their long season of flowerless bloom, hardly repay the trouble of raising. The hardy perpetuals and hybrid Teas may now be purchased so cheaply that, even though a large proportion of them should not survive the winter, a small outlay will replace them. The thorniness of the old hardy June Rose adds greatly to the labour of caring for them, and this alone would lead some to discard them. If, however, one clings to the old-fashioned Roses from economy or sentim
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Chapter SIXTEEN The Hardy Lily-bed
Chapter SIXTEEN The Hardy Lily-bed
There is no better investment for the garden than a bed of hardy Lilies, which should be started in the fall as early as the bulbs may be had. This is often later than is desirable, but the matter is entirely beyond control. The best that can be done is to get orders for foreign-grown bulbs placed early in the fall. It is not necessary to wait for the new catalogue, as the old will give the varieties and approximate cost. The main thing is to get in the order early that it may be filled promptly
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Fall Bulbs, Tulips, Hyacinths, Crocus, Scillas, and the Like
Fall Bulbs, Tulips, Hyacinths, Crocus, Scillas, and the Like
The first hard frost in September—about the 20th inst. at the North—is usually followed by a few weeks of mellow fall weather. If one has been so fortunate as to have saved Cannas, Caladiums, and other tender bulbous plants by night protection or by turning the hose on very early in the morning before the sun reaches them, they will grow and ripen well in these last warm days. These sudden falls of temperature usually find the gardener unprepared, and unless water is at hand plants will be cut d
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Chapter EIGHTEEN Hardy Shrubs and Plants for Fall Planting
Chapter EIGHTEEN Hardy Shrubs and Plants for Fall Planting
In some localities, especially in the South, the practice of setting out hardy plants in the fall has much to commend it. The mild winters, during which growth is never entirely checked, allow the plants to fully establish themselves; but in the Northern States, where the severe winters set in early and last long, the plants do not become sufficiently established to stand the severe cold followed by the hot summer. They sometimes live through the one only to succumb to the other. Plants moved fr
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Chapter NINETEEN Winter protection
Chapter NINETEEN Winter protection
When the frost has cut down the flowers, and robbed the shrubs of their leaves it is time for the fall cleaning of the garden. This should be completed before the leaves begin to fall, as if left until then they will greatly complicate matters. Pull up and consign to the compost heap all annuals, weeds, stalks of perennials, Lilies, and ornamental plants, and the litter used for mulch during summer. This last might be left on were it not for the fact that it is likely to harbour insects which wo
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Chapter TWENTY Care of House-plants In Winter
Chapter TWENTY Care of House-plants In Winter
Plants for winter blooming should be brought into the house before the nights get chilly. By becoming gradually accustomed to the air of the house before the doors are closed and the fires started, they will be less affected by the change. Do not crowd into the window more plants than it can conveniently hold. Plants must have room to breathe and grow, and abundant light. No plant should touch its neighbours. Even with this amount of room at the start they will be badly crowded before spring, an
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Time For Germination of Seeds
Time For Germination of Seeds
In the foregoing tables it will be observed that a flower occasionally appears in two or more sections. When this occurs, the first date indicates the time in which strong and fresh seed should germinate in flats in the house, or in hotbeds; the latter indicates the time for old seed, under less favourable conditions, and marks the limit of time in which plants may be expected....
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Chapter TWENTY-TWO Blooming Season of Various Trees, Shrubs, and Plants
Chapter TWENTY-TWO Blooming Season of Various Trees, Shrubs, and Plants
T.—Tree. S.—Shrub. V.—Vine. H. P.—Hardy Perennial. A.—Annual. H. H. P.—Hardy Herbaceous Perennial. E.—Evergreen....
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Chapter TWENTY-THREE A Chapter of Odds and Ends
Chapter TWENTY-THREE A Chapter of Odds and Ends
Tools: There is always a tendency among beginners to overload with the paraphernalia of their calling, whatever it may be. When the first enthusiasm passes, and one becomes a careful and successful worker, all that is superfluous is gradually dropped, and one realises that it is brains and not tools that make the successful gardener. A hotbed, a cold-frame or two, a work-table in some convenient place, a trowel, wheel-barrow, spade, pitchfork, rake, hoe, a few yards of stout cord, a hatchet to s
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Chapter TWENTY-FOUR A Chapter of Don’ts
Chapter TWENTY-FOUR A Chapter of Don’ts
Don’t forget to air the hotbeds on warm, sunny days, and to protect them on cold ones. Don’t forget that plants need room to develop, and set them far enough apart to make this possible. Don’t forget to water the window-boxes every day, and to keep the sand in the sand-box wet all the time. Don’t forget to go over the Pansies and Sweet-peas every day, and remove all withered flowers. Don’t let them suffer for want of water at any period of their bloom. Don’t try to raise more plants than you hav
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