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Title: Gardening for Little Girls
Author: Foster, Olive Hyde
Language: English
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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS
PRACTICAL ARTS FOR LITTLE GIRLS
A Series Uniform with this Volume
_Each book, illustrated, 75 cents net_
COOKERY FOR LITTLE GIRLS
SEWING FOR LITTLE GIRLS
WORK AND PLAY FOR LITTLE GIRLS
HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS
GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS
[Illustration: PUZZLE PICTURE,--FIND THE LITTLE GIRL]
GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS
BY
OLIVE HYDE FOSTER
AUTHOR OF
"COOKERY FOR LITTLE GIRLS"
"SEWING FOR LITTLE GIRLS"
"HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS"
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
DUFFIELD & COMPANY
1917
Copyright, 1916 by
HOUSE AND GARDEN
Copyright, 1916, by
HOUSEWIVES MAGAZINE
Copyright, 1917, by
ST. NICHOLAS
The Century Co.
Copyright, 1917, by
COUNTRYSIDE MAGAZINE
The Independent Co.
Copyright, 1917, by
OLIVE HYDE FOSTER
_DEDICATED TO
Junior and Allan,
Two of the dearest children that ever showed
love for the soil._
Preface
Children take naturally to gardening, and few occupations count so much
for their development,--mental, moral and physical.
Where children's garden clubs and community gardens have been tried, the
little folks have shown an aptitude surprising to their elders, and
under exactly the same natural, climatic conditions, the children have
often obtained astonishingly greater results. Moreover, in the poor
districts many a family table, previously unattractive and lacking in
nourishment, has been made attractive as well as nutritious, with their
fresh green vegetables and flowers.
Ideas of industry and thrift, too, are at the same time inculcated
without words, and habits formed that affect their character for life. A
well-known New York City Public School superintendent once said to me
that she had a flower bed every year in the children's gardens, where a
troublesome boy could always be controlled by giving to him the honor of
its care and keeping.
The love of nature, whether inborn or acquired, is one of the greatest
sources of pleasure, and any scientific knowledge connected with it of
inestimable satisfaction. Carlyle's lament was, "Would that some one had
taught me in childhood the names of the stars and the grasses."
It is with the hope of helping both mothers and children that this
little book has been most lovingly prepared.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I FIRST STEPS TOWARD A GARDEN 1
II PLANNING AND PLANTING THE FLOWER BEDS 9
III FLOWERS THAT MUST BE RENEWED EVERY YEAR (ANNUALS) 19
IV FLOWERS THAT LIVE THROUGH TWO YEARS 30
V FLOWERS THAT COME UP EVERY YEAR BY THEMSELVES (PERENNIALS) 37
VI FLOWERS THAT SPRING FROM A STOREHOUSE (BULBS AND TUBERS) 48
VII THAT QUEEN--THE ROSE 58
VIII VINES, TENDER AND HARDY 71
IX SHRUBS WE LOVE TO SEE 78
X VEGETABLE GROWING FOR THE HOME TABLE 82
XI YOUR GARDEN'S FRIENDS AND FOES 94
XII A MORNING-GLORY PLAYHOUSE 102
XIII THE WORK OF A CHILDREN'S GARDEN CLUB 107
XIV THE CARE OF HOUSE PLANTS 115
XV GIFTS THAT WILL PLEASE A FLOWER LOVER 130
XVI THE GENTLEWOMAN'S ART--ARRANGING FLOWERS 137
ILLUSTRATIONS
PUZZLE PICTURE,--FIND THE LITTLE GIRL, _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
FIRST WORK IN THE SPRING 14
KIM AND COLUMBINE 40
TAKING CARE OF TABLE FERNS 56
CLEANING UP AROUND THE SHRUBS 78
ALL READY TO HOE 90
AN OUTGROWN PLAYHOUSE 112
SPRING BEAUTIES 126
LINE DRAWINGS IN TEXT
PAGE
PLAN FOR A SMALL BACK YARD 12
AN ARTISTIC ARRANGEMENT OF A NARROW CITY LOT 14
FLOWERS THAT WILL BLOOM FROM EARLY SUMMER UNTIL FROST 16
BLOSSOMS IN JAPANESE ARRANGEMENT 138
NOTE
As the desire is to give the widest possible range of information about
the plants and flowers mentioned herein, and space forbids going into
details in each case, the writer has endeavored to mention all the
colors, extremes of height, and entire season of bloom of each kind. But
the grower must find out the particular variety obtained, and NOT expect
a shrubby clematis to climb, or a fall rose to blossom in the spring!
GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS
A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!
Rose plot,
Fringed pool,
Fern'd grot--
The veriest school
Of peace; and yet the fool
Contends that God is not--
Not God! in gardens! when the eve is cool?
Nay but I have a sign:
'Tis very sure God walks in mine.
--_Thomas Edward Brown._
GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS
CHAPTER I
First Steps Toward a Garden
And because the breath of flowers is far sweeter in
the air (where it comes and goes, like the warbling of
music) than in the hand, therefore nothing is more fit
for that delight than to know what be the flowers and
plants that do best perfume the air.
--_Bacon._
IF you want a flower garden, you can begin work as early as March. Does
that sound strange,--with cold winds and occasional snow? Ah, but the
plans should all be laid then, and many things started in the house.
Four steps must be taken before starting actual work:
_First._--Find out what space you can have for your garden.
_Second._--Consider the soil, situation, surroundings.
_Third._--Make a list of seeds, bulbs, etc., desired.
_Fourth._--Decide on planting with view to height and color.
As to the first step, find out positively where you can have your
garden. It makes considerable difference whether you can have the whole
back yard, a plot along the walk, a round bed in the center of the lawn
(only worse than none at all!), or a window-box. You can not very well
decide on a single plant until this is settled.
As to the second step, learn all you can about the soil, situation,
surroundings. Is your ground rich or poor? If light and sandy, you can
grow such flowers as nasturtiums and mignonette. By adding fertilizer
you can have poppies, roses, and dahlias. If the ground is heavy and
stiff with clay, you can still have your roses and dahlias if you will
add both manure and sand. So find out what kind of earth you are going
to work with. Quite poor soil will grow sweet alyssum, California
poppies, coreopsis and geraniums, while rich soil is needed for asters,
larkspur, zinnias and marigolds. And think about your location (a dry
spot being necessary for portulaca, and a cool, moist place for
lily-of-the-valley), as well as bear in mind whether your garden is
sheltered and warm or exposed to the chilly winds. Any desert can be
made to blossom as the rose,--if you only know how.
As to the third step, make the list of the seeds, bulbs, etc., that you
would like, with the idea of having some flowers in bloom the whole
summer long. If you are lucky enough to have a kind friend or neighbor
give you of her store, they will probably be good and come up as they
should. If you have to buy, though, be sure to go to a first-class,
reliable dealer, for you don't want to waste your time and money on old
things that won't grow.
Then last of all, decide on your planting from this list with a view to
height and color, so that you will arrange to the best advantage,--the
nasturtiums which climb, for instance, going to the back of the bed
against wall or trellis, while the dwarf variety should be at the front.
BIG WORDS FOR COMMON THINGS
To select your flowers intelligently, though, you must know something
about their nature, habits, and tendencies, and certain words always
found in seed catalogues and garden books may be puzzling to a beginner.
a. _Annuals_, for example, are the plants that live
but a year or a single season.
b. _Biennials_, however, continue for two years before
they perish, making roots and leaves the first year
and usually flowering the second.
c. _Perennials_ are the kind that continue for more
than two years.
d. _Deciduous_ refers to the shrubs and trees that
lose their leaves in the fall.
e. _Evergreens_ are those that keep their verdure the
whole year round.
f. _Herbaceous_ plants may be annual, biennial or
perennial, but they have a stem that does not become
woody, and that dies down after flowering.
g. _Hybrids_ are plants produced by "crossing," or
mixing two distinct varieties.
PLANT NEEDS
All plant life, you must understand, requires five things,--WARMTH,
LIGHT, AIR, WATER and FOOD. But plants differ as much as people, and
some need more of one thing than they do of another. Some grow best in
sunlight, others in the shade; some in sand, others in rich soil. You
will have to find out what each kind requires. The food properties
needed in the soil have some big names, too,--_nitrogen_, _potash_, and
_phosphoric acid_, all of which are found in farm manures. If you can
not conveniently get these, however, florists and seed-men can supply
you with other fertilizers more easily handled.
THE SEED NURSERY
If you are just getting ready to start your garden, the annuals,--the
plants that flower from seed the first season though they do not come up
again,--will probably interest you most as they give the quickest
returns. Many kinds can be started in the house in March, and for this
purpose any kind of a shallow box will answer. Bore holes in the bottom
and put in a layer of broken pottery or stones, to permit drainage, so
the roots will not rot. Fill three or four inches deep with good soil,
after pulverizing and taking out all sticks and stones.
RULES FOR INDOOR PLANTING
Mark grooves in seed boxes (or "flats") with a stick,
in parallel lines.
Plant seeds only about their own depth.
Scatter thinly to avoid crowding.
Press soil down firmly after seeds have been covered.
Keep the earth moist by means of a fine spray, or
sprinkle with a whisk broom. The ordinary sprinkler
lets out the water with such force as to wash the
seeds clear out of the ground.
The very finest seeds should be _sprinkled_
lightly--and thinly--over the pulverized soil and then
pressed into the earth with a small board.
The different seeds should be sown in separate rows,
and the names plainly marked on the edge of the box,
so you will not become confused, or forget what you
are growing.
Cover the boxes with glass or a newspaper for the
first week, to keep the earth moist and warm until the
seeds sprout.
FAMILIAR ANNUALS
Even as early as March you can start in the boxes in this way any of the
following annuals, which will bloom at the time mentioned or even
earlier:--
Ageratum, blue, good for edging; blooms for three months during
summer.
Asters, white, pink, red, purple; early in the fall.
Alyssum, sweet, white; from May to November.
Amethyst, blue, violet, white; flowers all summer.
Balsam, white, red, yellow; from July to middle of September.
Chrysanthemum, tricolor; August to middle of October.
Cosmos, white, pink, crimson; August to November.
Cypress vine, red, and white starry blossoms; June and July.
Godetia, red, white; July to October.
Moonflower (Japanese morning-glory), white, a vine; August to
September.
Pansy, all shades and combinations, of white, yellow, purple;
July on.
Chinese pink, white, rose, maroon; May to August.
Salvia, red; August to frost.
Ten Weeks' Stock, white, pink, purple; June and July.
Zinnia, red, yellow, magenta; July to November.
EASILY GROWN PERENNIALS
Both the perennials and the biennials following should all blossom the
first year if started in the house in March:--
Gaillardia, red, yellow.
Forget-me-not, lovely blue.
Larkspur, blue.
Snapdragon, white, red, purple, yellow, pink.
Sweet William, white, pink, red, maroon, plain, varigated.
Coreopsis, yellow.
Cupid's Dart, blue.
Iceland Poppy, yellow, white, scarlet.
Get as many as you can--and your space will permit,--of all the lovely
old perennials and the bulbs that come up every season with little or no
care. One of the oldest,--now deserted--farmhouses on Long Island, still
carries in its dooryard the impress of some gentle flower-lover long
since passed away, in its annual spring beauty of daffodils and
lilies-of-the-valley. And the few bulbs and pips transplanted from there
to my own garden, have thrived and spread so profusely that I, too, can
pass them on to others.
HARDY FLOWERS ALL SUMMER
With carefully chosen bulbs and perennials alone, it is possible to have
a succession of lovely blooms. In March your heart will be made happy
with snowdrop and crocus; in April with violet, daffodil, narcissus,
hyacinth and tulip; in May and June with spirea, peony, iris,
forget-me-not, columbine, baby's breath, bleeding heart, mountain pink,
candytuft, Chinese pink; in July and August, golden glow, hollyhock,
larkspur, hardy phlox, snap-dragon; September and October, sunflower,
dahlia, gladiolus and aster, with November closing the season with all
kinds of beautiful chrysanthemums. And many of these often come earlier
than expected, or stay later. How easily raised are they by the person
with little time!
CHAPTER II
Planning and Planting the Flower Beds
God the first garden made.--_Cowley._
WHILE the snow is on the ground, you can be deciding on the best place
for your garden, and finding out the kind of flowers and vegetables best
suited to your soil and locality.
Write to your Representative at Washington, requesting the seeds he may
have to give away. Write to two or three prominent seed firms for
catalogues, and look over the garden books at your Public Library. Then
if you do not quickly find yourself suffering from a violent attack of
Garden Fever, you might as well give up, and not attempt to have a
garden, for you will be lacking the real love and enthusiasm that count
for success.
Did you ever realize that gardens differ as much as people? "No two
gardens, no two human faces, were ever quite alike," says one writer,
and you want to make yours expressive of yourself. So before taking
another step, study your grounds, large and small,--for if you can have
only part of a tiny plot, you still have many possibilities of
expressing your own ideas and taste.
The garden is for the personal pleasure of the family, so DON'T put it
out in front, for the careless passerby. Choose a more secluded spot
where, if you wish, you can train a vine to shade your seat when you
want to sit down and enjoy the birds, butterflies and flowers.
EASY RULES FOR ARTISTIC PLANTING
Right here is the place to stop and draw a map of your proposed garden,
and mark off the spaces for your chosen plants. You might draw half a
dozen plans, and then choose the most suitable. Only never forget the
simple rules of a famous landscape gardener:--
1. Plant in masses, not isolated.
2. Avoid straight lines.
3. Preserve open lawn centers.
When you have decided on the location of your garden, coax some one
stronger than yourself to dig up the ground thoroughly, and spade in
some fertilizer,--preferably farmyard manure. Plants live on the tonic
salts they draw out of the soil through their roots, as much as they do
on the carbonic acid gas which they take out of the air through their
leaves. So have the ground nourishing, and also nicely pulverized and
free from sticks and stone, that the little rootlets can easily work
their way through and find their needed nutriment.
Never forget that third rule before mentioned,--"Preserve open lawn
centers." A beautiful lawn is as satisfying to the eye as flowers, so
never spoil one by cutting it up with beds. They can be put along the
sides, used for bordering walks, and nestled close to the house.
PLAN FOR SMALL BACK YARD
One of the loveliest gardens I know is at the back end of a city lot,
not more than thirty feet square, with a plot of velvety grass in the
center. The irregular border surrounding this bit of lawn is a mass of
flowers from earliest spring until black frost,--from March until
December,--and delights the whole neighborhood. The secret lies in the
fact that the owner knows how to plant for succession of bloom. The
ground is laid out this way.
[Illustration: PLAN FOR A SMALL BACK YARD]
If you can have only a single flower bed, however, try to get it in a
sunny, protected spot, preferably facing south, where the cold winds of
early spring and late fall will do the least damage. Make a list of the
flowers that like such conditions,--and most of them do,--and then pick
out those you prefer, writing after each name the time that it blooms.
Be sure to select some of each of the early spring, late spring, summer,
early fall, and late fall, so that you will have flowers to enjoy the
whole season through.
SUCCESSION OF BLOOM
For example, you can choose first from the crocus, snowdrop, scilla, the
hardy candytuft that rivals the snow for whiteness, and the tiny
creeping phlox that will carpet your bed with pink; next, from the
daffodil, narcissus and jonquil groups, with the tulips,--all of which
must be set out in the fall for bloom in April and May: then the iris in
May and June. Sweet alyssum, nasturtiums, corn flowers, Shirley poppies
and cosmos (all annuals), you can count on blooming around New York from
July to black frost; dahlias from August to black frost, and monthly
roses the entire summer,--with a tidal wave in June. (I know, for I have
seen them all, over and over again.)
Many of the annuals can be started indoors, or in a glass-covered box
outside. Then when the early flowering bulbs have faded, you can turn
their green tops under the ground, first to allow the sap to run back
into the bulb (the storehouse for next year), and next to decay and
fertilize the soil. The annual seedlings can then be placed right on
top! You thus avoid bare, ugly spots, and keep your garden lovely.
Dahlias planted out about the first of June will bloom from early fall
until cold weather sets in; and certain roses, like the Mrs. John Laing
and all of the hybrid teas, will flower nearly as late. In fact, in the
famous rose garden of Jackson Park, Chicago, as well as in private
grounds around New York, I have seen roses blooming in December.
You hardly need be afraid of crowding, either, if you will be particular
to keep out the weeds, and occasionally work into the soil some
bone-meal for fertilizer. Water in dry weather. This does not mean top
sprinkling, for that is decidedly injurious. When the ground is dry,
soak it thoroughly.
A CITY GARDEN
[Illustration: AN ARTISTIC ARRANGEMENT OF A NARROW CITY LOT]
[Illustration: FIRST WORK IN THE SPRING]
If you live in a city, you may be interested in a garden I have seen,
which ran along the side and rear end of a long, narrow lot. The tallest
flowers,--dahlias and hollyhocks,--were at the back of the bed, at the
extreme end, and although late in flowering, formed a beautiful green
background for the rest all summer. The first irregular section was
given up to the blues, and--planted with both annual and perennial
larkspur, and cornflowers,--kept the dining-table supplied with blossoms
to match the old blue china until the frost came.
Frost, by the way, you will find of two kinds,--hoar frost, which the
Psalmist so vividly described when he said, "He scattereth the hoarfrost
like ashes," and which injures only the tenderest flowers; and black
frost, which is of intense enough cold to freeze the sap within the
plant cells, so that when the sun's heat melts this frozen sap the
plant--leaf and stalk--wilts down and turns black. Therefore, both in
the early spring and the late fall, you must watch out for Jack,
whichever garb he dons, and give your tender plants some nighty
covering.
A LITTLE BED FOR A LITTLE GIRL
If you can have only one small bed, however, you can get a lot of
pleasure out of it most of the season if you will carefully choose your
plants. Pansies set along the outer edge will blossom until mid-summer
if you keep them picked and watered every day; and verbenas, which have
the same harmonizing shades, you can count on blooming until late in
the fall. They would be attractive in either of the following simple
designs:
[Illustration: FLOWERS THAT WILL BLOOM FROM EARLY SUMMER UNTIL FROST]
Candytuft for a border, with petunias in the center, is another
combination that should blossom from June until frost. Poppies and
cornflowers would also last all summer if you would keep out part of the
seed and sow a couple of times at intervals of several weeks. The
combinations of red and blue is very pretty, too. Sweet alyssum, with
red or pink geraniums, would be lovely all season. For an all yellow
bed, plant California poppies to bloom early in the border, and African
marigolds, or Tom Thumb nasturtiums to bloom in the center from July on
late into the fall. With any of the combinations suggested you could
gather flowers almost any time you pleased, for they are all profuse
bloomers.
WINDOW BOXES
If you are a little city child, and can have only a flower box in a
window or along a porch-rail, cheer up! There is still a chance for you
to have posies all the long hot days. After having your box filled with
good, rich soil on top of a layer of broken crockery or stones,--for
drainage, you know,--you can plant running nasturtiums along the edge
for a hanging vine. Inside of that plant a row of the blue lobelia, or
set in a few pansies already in bloom. Then you would have room for
still another row of taller plants,--say pink and white geraniums, with
a fern or two. Another pretty box could be made by putting Wandering Jew
or "inch plant" along the edge for the drooping vine, then blue ageratum
for your edging, with next a row of lovely pink begonias. As it takes a
number of weeks for any seeds to grow and come to flower, you might
better save your candy pennies and buy a few blooming plants from the
spring pedlar. They will gladden your heart while waiting.
All kinds of green add to these little boxes, and all the white flowers
soften and help to blend the bright colors. China asters, in white,
pink, and lavender, are lovely in a window box, and if started in
shallow trays or old pots early in the spring, can be transplanted
later. Then when your early flowers have seen their best days, you can
remove them, put in your asters, and have beauties all fall.
CHAPTER III
Flowers that Must be Renewed Every Year--(Annuals)
And 'tis my faith that every flower enjoys the air it
breathes.
--_Wordsworth._
IF you want flowers that grow quickly, plant annuals! Some will bloom
within six weeks, so if you can help out meantime with some transplanted
roots and bulbs, you will have flowers from the first of the season.
"Plant thickly," says one writer. "It is easier and more profitable to
grow flowers than weeds."
The following annuals can be sown outdoors late in April, as far North
as New York, in ordinary seasons,--only remember that those marked with
a * do not like to be transplanted:--
Alyssum
Aster
Candytuft
Chrysanthemum (Annual)
Coreopsis (Annual)
Cosmos
Godetia
Larkspur (Annual)
Marigold
Nicotiana
Pansy
Petunia
Phlox Drummondi
Pink, Chinese
Salvia
Stock, Ten Weeks'
Zinnia
* California Poppy
* Cornflower
* Mignonette
* Morning glory
* Nasturtium
* Portulaca
* Sweet Sultan
OUTDOOR PLANTING
Have the soil in your flower bed made fine and light with sand and
fertilizer, and entirely free from sticks and stones. If it should
happen to be already too sandy, add black loam or leaf mold. (Either
father or brother will probably have time to help you get this right.)
Plant your seeds evenly, and rather sparingly if you do not want to pull
up a lot later on account of being crowded. And you can plant either in
lines or scatter in patches in bed or border, as you prefer, only be
sure that the seed is covered about four times its own depth. A few
things, like poppies and portulaca, have such tiny seeds that it is
best to mix them with half a teaspoonful of fine soil, and scatter it
where you wish, afterwards pressing down firmly with a small board.
TRANSPLANTING--ANNUALS
When your plants have developed a few leaves, and are big enough to
handle, prepare to transplant them. This exercise does them good, and
while a few resent it, the rest will grow better and be stronger. Choose
morning or evening for the work, although it can be done at any time on
a cloudy day. (One of my friends loves to do her transplanting in the
rain!) Be sure that the ground is thoroughly damp, even if you have to
sprinkle it well beforehand.
PUDDLING
Lift each seedling with a spoon, so as to keep a ball of the moist earth
around the roots, set it in a hole made where you want your flower to
grow, and then fill up this hole with water before you begin to put in
the rest of the soil. This is called puddling, and will enable you to do
your transplanting with the least possible disturbance to the roots.
Next add all the soil necessary to fill up the hole, and press firmly
around the plant. Then cover with an old can or berry box, or even a
cone of newspaper held in place with stones, until the seedling has had
time to get used to its new surroundings. And remember that this
"puddling," followed by protection from the sun, will enable you to
transplant almost anything you wish, successfully.
SWEET PEAS
Sweet peas require peculiar treatment for an annual. As early as the
ground can be worked,--about the middle of March around New York,--get
some one to dig you a trench (and it is best to have it run north and
south), about fifteen inches deep. Have put in this trench a layer of
well-rotted manure, then a layer of soil, a sprinkling of wood ashes,
and then another layer of soil, filling the trench until it is left only
six or eight inches deep. Soak your seeds over night in warm water to
make them start more quickly, and then plant them two inches apart, in a
double row. Cover with only a few inches of soil until they sprout, and
then gradually fill up the trench as the vines grow. Train them on brush
or chicken wire, and keep them well watered in order to get the best
results.
The latest method I have had recommended for growing sweet peas,--but
which I have not tried,--is to have the soil just as carefully prepared,
but then to rake it smooth, make a straight drill only half an inch
deep, and plant 3 seeds every 6 inches in the row. If all three grow,
pull up the two weakest, leaving only the best plant every 16 inches
apart. This way,--with plenty of water and cultivation, is said to
produce the very finest kind of flowers. You might try a few on the
side.
During the hot weather put grass clippings around the roots to help keep
them moist and protected from the hot sun. Cut the flowers every day in
order to prolong their blooming.
A word about names, though, before we go a step farther. I intended at
first to give you only the common names, despite the protests of a very
good friend,--an English botanist. To clinch her argument one day, she
exclaimed with considerable heat, "Why, what they call 'baby's breath'
here on Long Island might be 'infant's sneeze' up in Connecticut! But if
you tell the children it's real name is GYPSOPHILA, they'll never be
mistaken."
And later, when I found that foxglove (originally Folk's glove, alluding
to the "little folk," or fairies) has been known also--according to
Holland--as Thimbles, Fairy Cap, Fairy Fingers, Fairy Thimbles, Fairy
Bells, Dog's Fingers, Finger Flowers, Lady's Glove, Lady Fingers, Lady's
Thimble, Pop Dock, Flap Dock, Flop Dock, Lion's Mouth, Rabbit's Flower,
Cottages, Throatwort, and Scotch Mercury, I concluded I would better
urge you to remember its Latin name, DIGITALIS, by which the plant is
known the world over.
The botanical terms will easily stick in your mind, too, because they
are unusual. Then people who are familiar with flowers will know exactly
what you are talking about, and you yourself will always have a certain
pride in the scientific knowledge that enables you to call things by
their right name.
You will see, if you study the lists given, what a simple matter it is
to plan for a garden, big or little, and with reasonable care you will
be rewarded with flowers throughout the season. The following list will
give you more explicit information about the ones people like best:--
FLOWERS THAT MUST BE RENEWED EVERY YEAR
A GUIDE TO THE COMMON ANNUALS
NOTE.--The time that they will bloom and the quality of your flowers
will depend on the time you sow your seed, on your soil, your location,
and your care. The dates given apply to the locality around New York,
and will be earlier if you are South, and later if North, of this
section. Both the height and the flowering time of the same plants vary
with the different varieties, so find out the particular kind you get.
The richer the soil, the finer the flowers, as a rule, and therefore
fertilizer of some kind should be applied at least once a season, about
the time the buds are forming.
================+=======+=======+==========+===========+=========+========+========
| | | SOW | SOW | GOOD | |BLOOMING
NAME | COLOR |HEIGHT | INDOORS | OUTDOORS | FOR | PLACE | SEASON
----------------+-------+-------+----------+-----------+---------+--------+--------
Ageratum |Blue | 8 in. | March | May | Edging | Sun |June to
(_Ageratum |White | | | | | |frost
conyzoides_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Alyssum, Sweet |White | 4 to | March | April to | Edging | Sun |June to
| | 8 in. | | Sept. | | |frost
| | | | | | |
Antirrhinum, | | | | | | |
see | | | | | | |
Snapdragon | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Aster, China |White |18 to | March | April, | Bed | Sun |Aug. to
(_Callistephus |Pink |24 in. | | May | | |Sept.
hortensis_) |Violet | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Baby's Breath |White | 1 to | | April | Border | Sun |May
(_Gypsophila_) | | 2 ft. | | | | |(sow
| | | | | | |again)
| | | | | | |
Bachelor's | | | | | | |
Buttons, see | | | | | | |
Cornflower | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Balsam |White | 1 to | March | May | Border | Sun |July to
(_Impatiens |Red | 2 ft. | April | | Bed | |Oct.
balsamina_) |Yellow | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
California |Yellow |12 in. | | April | Edging | Sun |June to
Poppy |White | | | (sow in | | |frost
(_Eschscholtzia|Orange | | |succession)| | |
Californica_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Candytuft | White | 6 to | | April, | Edging | Sun |June to
(_Iberis_) | Pink | 8 in. | | and every | | |frost
| Red | | | two weeks | | |
| | | | after | | |
| | | | | | |
Castor-oil Bean | | 3 to | | April |Tropical | Sun | Until
(_Ricinus_) | | 8 ft. | | | effects | | frost
| | | | | | |
China Aster, | | | | | | |
see Aster | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[A]Coreopsis |Yellow | 1 to | | April | Border | Sun |June to
(_Coreopsis | | 3 ft. | | | Bed | |Oct.
lanceolata_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Cornflower | Blue | 1 to | | April | Border | Sun |June to
(_Centaurea | | 2 ft. | | | Bed | |frost
cyanus_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Cosmos | White | 4 to | March | April | Back of | Sun |July to
| Pink | 8 ft. | | | border | |frost
|Crimson| | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Cypress Vine | Red |10 to | April | May | Screen | Sun |June,
(_Ipom[oe]a | White |20 ft. | | | | |July
quamoclit_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Eschscholtzia, | | | | | | |
see California| | | | | | |
Poppy | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[B]Forget-me-not| Blue | 6 to | | April to | Bed | Half |April to
(_Myosotis_) | | 18 in.| | July | | Shade |fall
| | | | | | |
Floss Flower, | | | | | | |
see Ageratum | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Gilliflower, | | | | | | |
see Ten Weeks'| | | | | | |
Stock | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Godetia |White | 1 to | March | May | Border | Shade |July to
| Red | 2 ft. | | | Bed | or |Oct.
| | | | | | sun |
| | | | | | |
Gypsophila, | | | | | | |
see | | | | | | |
Baby's Breath | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Hyacinth Bean |Purple |10 to | | May | Screen | Sun |July to
(_Dolichos_) | White |20 ft. | | | | |frost
| | | | | | |
Lady's Slipper, | | | | | | |
see Balsam | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Larkspur, Annual|White | 1 to | | April | Border | Sun |July to
(_Delphinium_)| Pink | 3 ft | | | Bed | |frost
| Blue | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Lobelia | Blue | 6 to | March | May | Edging | Sun |June to
(_Lobelia | |12 in. | | | | |Nov.
erinus_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Lupin |Most | 2 ft. |Successive|From May on| Border |Partial |From
(_Lupinus_) | shades| | sowing | | Bed | shade |June on
| | | | | | |
Marigold, |Yellow | 2 ft. | March | May | Border | Sun |
African | | | | | Bed | |Aug. to
(_Tagetes | | | | | | |frost
erecta_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Mignonette |White | 1 ft. | | April | Border | Sun |June to
(_Reseda | Red | | | and July | Bed | |Oct.
odorata_) | Yellow| | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Morning-glory |White | 10 to | | April | Vine | Sun |July to
(_Convolvulus_)| Pink | 20 ft.| | | | |frost
| Purple| | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Myosotis, see | | | | | | |
Forget-me-not | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Nasturtium |Yellows| 1 to | | April |Climber | Sun |July to
(_Tropæolum_) |to reds| 10 ft.| | May | Dwarf | |frost
| | | | | | |
Nicotiana, see | | | | | | |
Tobacco Plant | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[A]Pansy (_Viola|No red | 6 to | Feb. | April | Bed | Half |May to
tricolor_) | | 12 in.| | May | | shade |Oct.
| | | | | | |
Petunia | White | 1 to | |On surface | Border | Sun |June to
(_Petunia | to | 2 ft.| | in May | Bed | |frost
hybrida_) |Magenta| | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Phlox, Annual | White | 1 ft.| March | May | Border | Sun |June to
(_Phlox | Pink | | | | Bed | |frost
Drummondi_) | Red | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[B]Pink, Chinese|White | 1 ft. | Feb. | March | Border | Sun |All
(_Dianthus | Pink | | | April | Bed | |summer
Chinensis_) | Rose | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Poppy, Shirley | White | 1 to | | March, | Bed | Sun |June to
(_Papaver | Pink | 2 ft. | | April | | |Oct.
rhæas_) | Red | | |Later for | | |
| | | |succession | | |
| | | | | | |
Portulaca |No blue| 6 to | | May 1st |Carpeting| In |All
(_Portulaca | | 9 in. | | | | dry, |summer
grandiflora_) | | | | | | sunny |
| | | | | |position|
| | | | | | |
Rose Moss, | | | | | | |
see Portulaca | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Sage, Blue or | | | | | | |
Scarlet, | | | | | | |
see Salvia | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[A]Salvia | White | 3 ft. | March | May | Border | Sun |July to
| Blue | | | | Bed | |frost
|Scarlet| | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Scarlet Runner | Red |12 ft. | | April |Climber | Sun |July to
Bean | | | | | | |frost
| | | | | | |
[A]Snapdragon |No blue| 1 to | March | May | Border | Sun |July to
(_Antirrhinum_)| | 3 ft. | | | Bed | |frost
| | | | | | |
Stock, |White | 1 to | March | May | Border | Sun |July to
Ten Weeks' | Pink | 2 ft. | | | Bed | |frost
(_Matthiola | Purple| | | | | |
incana_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Sunflower |Yellow | 3 to | | April |Back of | Sun |July to
(_Helianthus | |12 ft. | | | bed | |frost
annus_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Sun Plant, | | | | | | |
see Portulaca | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Sweet Pea | All | 3 to | | March | Back of | Sun |July to
(_Lathyrus |Colors | 6 ft. | | | border | |Oct.
odoratus_) | | | | | vines | |
| | | | | | |
[B]Sweet William|White |12 to | | April | Border | Sun |July to
(_Dianthus | |18 in. | | | Bed | |Oct.
barbatus_) | Pink | | | | | |
| Red | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Tobacco Plant |White | 2 to | | May | Border | Sun |July to
(_Nicotiana_) | Pink | 5 ft. | | | | |Oct.
| Red | | | | | |
|Purple | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Verbena |No Blue| 1 ft. | March | May | Border | Sun |June to
| | | | | Bed | |Oct.
| | | | | | |
Zinnia |Yellows| 1 to | March | May | Border | Sun |June to
(_Zinnia |to reds| 2 ft. | | | Bed | |Oct.
elegans_) | | | | | | |
----------------+-------+-------+----------+-----------+---------+--------+--------
FOOTNOTES:
[A] A tender perennial, flowering the first year from seed sown early.
[B] A biennial, flowering the first year from seed sown early.
CHAPTER IV
Flowers that Live Through Two Years
In all places then, and in all seasons,
Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings,
Teaching us by most persuasive reasons,
How akin they are to human things.
--_Longfellow._
BETWEEN the flowers that we have to plant every year,--the annuals,--and
those that after once being started continue to greet us summer after
summer,--the perennials,--comes a little group of old favorites that has
to be planted one summer (and then generally protected from the cold),
in order to bring them to their full beauty the second year. And as few
of them self-sow, it is necessary to plant and carry over every season.
The biennial seeds are best sown in the seed nursery, where they can be
watched and protected. In the late summer the young plants will be big
and strong enough to set out in the border, although you must give them
a light covering of leaves and litter. The seeds started in July and
August, however, better be left protected in the nursery and moved in
the early spring.
The dainty blue forget-me-not, or myosotis, is one of the best loved of
this class. Some varieties are hardy, and often found growing wild. It
generally does best in a damp, partly shaded location. It grows from 6
to 18 inches high, according to the different kinds, which blossom most
of the summer. The seeds of biennials seldom produce flowers the first
summer, but several--and among them the myosotis,--after being grown a
few years in the same spot, come up like perennials, on account of
sowing themselves.
The foxglove is another of the few biennials that are hardy, and it also
likes a cool, shady spot. If the plants come up thickly, transplant part
of them to any well-prepared, rich ground, and keep moist and well
cultivated until the middle of September, when you should move them
again to their permanent home. Foxgloves, like forget-me-nots, sow
themselves, and the little plants coming up this way should be
transplanted and given plenty of room to grow and become strong before
their time to bloom. Do not forget to cover during the winter!
English daisies (which are tender perennials), and pansies (which
generally are grown as annuals), can both be started in the seed nursery
in August, thinned out and protected before cold weather sets in, and
then moved to where you wish them to bloom, in the early spring.
Canterbury bells do best when the seed is sown the middle of April in
ground that is rich, well prepared, moist, and partly shady. The middle
of July move to a temporary place, and set the plants 6 to 8 inches
apart. Then early in October transplant to where you want them to
blossom the next season. But before the frost comes, protect these
tender little plants with some old berry boxes, then straw or leaves
over the top, and in the spring work a small quantity of fertilizer
around the roots. Tie the stalks as they begin to get tall, to stout
stakes, to prevent their being blown over by storms: and if you will
keep cutting off the old flowers so they will not go to seed, you can
coax your plants to bloom an extra month or six weeks. Properly
treated, they will last from July to the middle of September. But to
enjoy these lovely visitors regularly, it is necessary to plant the seed
every year.
Of the border carnations, the Chabaud and Marguerite types are hardy
enough to stand the winter if slightly covered, and will flower
profusely the second year, but they make off-shoots, which bring to
bloom a few weeks after sowing.
Hollyhocks from seed do not blossom until the second year, but they make
off-shoots, which bring flowers every season thereafter. And as they sow
themselves, people often mistake them for perennials. They come both
single and double, and are especially lovely against a wall or a green
background.
The evening primrose, tall and stately, with large yellow flowers, is
easily grown in almost any soil. It thrives in almost any soil, and
blooms the entire summer.
Of the wallflowers, the biennial variety will blossom most of the summer
if grown in a moist, shady place and not allowed to go to seed. These
come in yellows, reddish brown and purplish brown. They need winter
protection.
The horned poppy, though a biennial, will flower the first year if
started indoors in March. It likes an open, sunny spot, and if old
flowers are kept picked off, will bloom all summer.
Sweet William is another old-fashioned garden favorite that is usually
considered a perennial, but which does its best the second year from
seed. As it self-sows, it goes on forever, like Tennyson's brook, once
it gets started. In protecting, however, do not get fertilizer directly
over the crown, or it will cause decay.
Mullein pink, or Rose Campion as it is often called, is another of our
grandmothers' pets, and if started very early, will flower the first
season.
Now all of the biennials I have described are easily grown, and sure to
bring great pleasure. And really it is worth while to curb one's
impatience, and wait, when necessary, until the second season, for the
sake of these lovely hardy beauties.
FLOWERS THAT LIVE THROUGH TWO YEARS
A GUIDE TO THE COMMON BIENNIALS
NOTE.--English Daisies (a perennial), Forget-me-nots, Hollyhocks and
Pansies are often started about the 1st of August. Most of the biennials
need slight protection during the winter. Remember that in nearly every
case seed must be sown every year in order to secure succession of
bloom.
-----------------+-------+----------+---------+--------+--------+-----+--------
| | | SOW | SOW | | |BLOOMING
NAME | COLOR | HEIGHT | INDOORS |OUTDOORS|GOOD FOR|PLACE|SEASON
-----------------+-------+----------+---------+--------+--------+-----+--------
[A]Canterbury |White | 2½ ft. | March | May | Border | Sun |June,
Bells |Pink | | 1st | June | | |July
(_Campanula |Blue | | | | | |
medium_) |Purple | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[A]Carnation, |White |1 to 2 ft.| | May | Border | Sun |August
Border |Pink | | | | | |
(_Dianthus | | | | | | |
caryophyllus_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[D]English Daisy |White |4 to 6 in.| | July | Border | Sun |April,
(_Bellis |Pink | Aug. | | | Bed | |May
perennis_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Evening Primrose |Yellow | 5 ft. | Many | May | Border | Sun |June to
(_OEnothera | | |varieties| June | | |Sept.
biennis_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Forget-me-not |Blue |1 to 2 ft.|Self-sows| May |Border |Half |April to
(_Myosotis_) | | | | June | |shade|Sept.
| | | | | | |
Foxglove |Pinkish|3 to 5 ft.| |April to|Border |Half |June,
(_Digitalis_) |purple | | |June |Clumps |shade|July
|White | | | | |or |
|Yellow | | | | |sun |
| | | | | | |
Hollyhock |White |4 to 8 ft.|Self-sows| May, |Back of |Sun |July,
(_Althæa |Pink | |Also | June or|border | |Aug.
rosea_) |Rose | |makes | Aug. |or | |
|Yellow | |offsets | |clumps | |
|Red | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Horned Poppy |Yellow | 6 in. | |May |Border |Sun |July
(_Glaucium |Orange | | |June | | |to Sept.
luteum_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[C]Mullein Pink |White | 1 to | |May 1st |Border |Sun |June,
(_Lychnis | to | 2½ ft. | | |Rockery | |July
coronaria_) |Crimson| | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Rose Campion, see| | | | | | |
Mullein Pink | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Wallflower |Yellow | 1 to | |May |Border |Sun | May
(_Cheiranthus |to | 2½ ft. | |June |Rockery | or |
cheiri_) |browns | | | | |part |
|and | | | | |shad |
|purples| | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Pansy, more | | | | | | |
easily treated | | | | | | |
as an annual | | | | | | |
-----------------+-------+----------+---------+--------+--------+-----+-------
FOOTNOTES:
[C] Will blossom the first year from seed that is sown as early as
possible.
[D] A perennial often started in August, so it will bloom the next
spring.
CHAPTER V
Flowers that come up Every Year by Themselves (Perennials)
No, the heart that has truly lov'd never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close;
As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look which she turn'd when he rose.
--_Moore._
THAT big word ARISTOCRACY simply means "those who rise above the rest of
the community in any important respect,"--and rightly, indeed, are the
perennials called "the aristocrats of the garden." They are strong and
sturdy (good points in both people and flowers), and can be depended on
to appear about a certain time, make us a nice visit with all their
loveliest clothes, and show their appreciation of our attention and care
by returning every season with increased beauty and grace.
A few of the perennials, such as the peony and the iris, grow so slowly
that generally people haven't the patience to wait for them to flower
from seed, and instead try to get some roots from their more fortunate
friends, or buy from a florist. But I will tell you more about this
class in connection with the bulb and tuber families.
THE SEED BED
While a small number of these beauties will bloom the first year if
started early in the spring, most of them make their début in garden
society the second summer. Before that they have to be watched, or they
might meet with accident. A good way, therefore, is to have a little bed
(preferably a cold frame) for a seed nursery off to one side, in a safe
place, where the baby plants can be cared for, protected from cold, and
tended like the infants they are, until grown up and old enough to enter
the society of bed or border. In such a place the seeds should be
planted in fine, rich soil, preferably from the middle of May to the 1st
of July, and all carefully marked. Sow thinly, and then cover the seed
by sifting over with fine soil from 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep. Sprinkle very
lightly by means of a whisk broom dipped in water, so as not to wash out
the seed, and if you possibly can, cover with a piece of glass. Keep in
the shade at first, and never let dry out. Some of this seed will
germinate in less than a week, while some may take so long that you will
think it is not going to grow at all! But don't give up; and maybe some
day when you have forgotten all about it, you will discover a lot of new
babies in your nursery.
TRANSPLANTING PERENNIALS
As soon as your seedlings are big and strong enough to be handled, they
must be carefully lifted and set in another part of the nursery, not
less than 3 inches apart, protected from the hot sun, and left until
they become strong, sturdy children. Then early in the fall, before the
middle of September, you can take them up very gently, without
disturbing their tiny rootlets, and put them with their friends and
relatives in the garden, wherever you wish them to bloom the following
summer.
Of course you couldn't,--and you wouldn't want to grow everything you
ever saw or heard about! Just think of the fun, however, of picking out
a small number that will be sure to give you flowers, one after another,
from earliest spring until cold weather! Yet the following list,
suggested by one authority, is easy to get and little trouble to care
for:
PERENNIALS FOR A WHOLE SEASON'S BLOOM
Creeping Phlox (_Phlox subulata_); white, rose, lavender; bloom
April and May.
Lily-of-the-Valley (_Convallaria majalis_); white; May, June.
Bleeding Heart (_Dicentra spectabilis_); rose pink; April through
June.
Iris (_Fleur-de-lis_); white, purple, yellow; April to July.
Peony (_Pæonia officinalis_); white, rose to crimson; May, June.
Larkspur (_Delphinium_); blues; June, July, September.
Balloon Flower (_Platycodon_); blue, purple, white; July to October.
Phlox, Hardy (_Phlox paniculata_); no blue nor real yellow; June
through September.
Golden Glow (_Rudbeckia laciniata_); yellow; August.
Blanket Flower (_Gaillardia aristata_); yellow, red; July to
October.
Boltonia (_Boltonia latisquama_); lilac; August to October.
Sunflower (_Helianthus_); yellow; July to October.
[Illustration: KIM AND COLUMBINE]
The fault that I would find with the gentleman's list is that he has
omitted chrysanthemums, which could be substituted for sunflowers to
most people's satisfaction,--and which also would bloom as late as
November. Also I should prefer columbine to his bleeding hearts,--and
the golden-spurred variety will bloom from early May to early August!
Above all, instead of boltonia, I would use the adorable snapdragons,
which, although considered a "tender perennial," will survive cold
weather if well protected.
But then, as I once heard, "A man's garden is like his wife, whom he
never would think of comparing with anybody else's." So you don't have
to follow any one's choice. Just make a list of the flowers that you
like, find out when they bloom, and then choose as few or as many as you
have room for, remembering to plan for something lovely every month of
the blooming season.
One note of warning, however. After you have made your list, consult
some friend that is a successful gardener, and make sure that what you
have chosen will thrive in your particular locality. If you find it does
not, strike it off, and put in something that will.
FLOWERS THAT COME UP EVERY YEAR BY THEMSELVES
A GUIDE TO THE COMMON PERENNIALS
NOTE.--A few of these will blossom the first summer, if started early.
Also, some varieties of the same plant will flower in the spring, others
in the fall. Make sure which kind you get.
------------------+--------+-------+-------+--------+-----------+------+----------
| | | SOW | SOW | | |BLOOMING
NAME | COLOR |HEIGHT |INDOORS|OUTDOORS| GOOD FOR |PLACE | SEASON
------------------+--------+-------+-------+--------+-----------+------+----------
Alyssum (_Alyssum |Rich |1 ft. | | May |Rockery |Half |April,
saxatile_) |yellow | | | June |Edging |shade | May
| | | | |or sun | |
| | | | | | |
Anemone, Japanese |Rose |2 to | | May |Border |Half |Sept.,
(_Anemone |White | 4 ft. | | June |Bed |shade | Oct.
Japonica_) | | | | | |or sun|
| | | | | | |
Aster, Hardy |White |2 to | | May |Anywhere |Shade |Aug. to
(_Aster Novæ- |Pink | 5 ft. | | June | |or sun| Oct.
Angliæ_) |Lavender| | | | | |
|Purple | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Baby's Breath |White |2 to | | May |Rockery | Sun |June,
(_Gypsophila | | 3 ft. | | June |Border | | July
paniculata_) | | | | | | |
Balloon Flower |White |1 to | | May |Border | Sun |July to
(_Platycodon_) |Blue | 3 ft. | | June | | | Oct.
| | | | | | |
Begonia, Hardy |White |1 to | | May |Border | Sun |June to
(_Begonia |Pink | 2 ft. | | June | | | Aug.
Evansiana_) |Rose | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Bellflower |White |1 to | | May |Border | Sun |June,
(_Campanula_) |Blue | 3 ft. | | June | | | July
| | | | | | |
[A]Blanket Flower |Red |3 to | | May |Border | Sun |July to
(_Gaillardia | Yellow |5 ft. | | June |Bed | |Oct.
aristata_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Bleeding Heart |Pink | 2 ft. | | May |Border |Likes |May,
(_Dicentra | | | | June |Bed | half |June
spectabilis_) | | | | | | shade|
| | | | | | |
Boltonia |Lilac |2 to | | May |Border | Sun |Aug. to
(_Boltonia | | 6 ft. | | June |Bed | | Oct.
latisquama_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Candytuft, Hardy |White |6 to | | May |Border | Sun |April,
(_Iberis | | 12 in.| | June |Edging | |May
sempervirens_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Chrystmas Rose |White |12 to | | May |Border |Half |Dec. to
(_Helleborus | | 15 in.| | June | | Shade|March,
niger_) | | | | | | |_outdoors_
| | | | | | |
Chrysanthemum, |No |2 to | | May |Border | Sun |Sept. to
Hardy |blue | 3 ft. | | June | Bed | | Nov.
| | | | | | |
Columbine |All |2 to | | May |Rockery | Sun |May to
(_Aguilegia_) |shades | 4 ft. | | June |Bed | | Aug.
| | | | | | |
Coreopsis |Yellow |1 to | | May |Border | Sun |June to
(_Coreopsis | | 2 ft. | | June |Bed | | Oct.
lanceolata_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Daisy, English |Pink |3 to | | May |Bed | Sun |April to
(_Bellis |White | 6 in. | | June | | | June
perennis_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Delphinium |Blue |2 to |March | May |Border | Sun |June,
(_Delphinium |to | 6 ft. | | June |Bed | |July, Sep.
formosum_, |white | | | | | |Oct. Cut
_D. Belladonna_,| | | | | | |down after
_D. Chinense_) | | | | | | |each
| | | | | | |flowering
| | | | | | |
Flag, see Iris | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[B]Forget-me-not, |Blue |6 to | | May |Border |Shade |May to
Perennial | | 18 in.| | June | |or sun| fall
(_Myosotis | | | | | | |
palustris_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[C]Foxglove |White |3 to | | May |Border | Half |June,
(usually |Purple | 5 ft. | | June |Bed | shade|July
biennial) |Rose | | | | | |
(_Digitalis_) |Yellow | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Fraxinella, | | | | | | |
see Gas Plant | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Gaillardia, see | | | | | | |
Blanket Flower | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Gas Plant |Rose | 2½ ft |Long | May |Border | Sun |June,
(_Dictamnus |White | | lived | June |Bed | |July
albus_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Golden Glow |Yellow | 6 to | | May |Back of | Sun |July to
(_Rudbeckia | | 8 ft. | | June | border | | Sept.
laciniata_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[B]Hollyhock |All | 4 to | | May |Back of | Sun |July,
(_Althæa rosea_)|shades | 6 ft. | | June | border | |August
| | | | | or bed | |
| | | | | | |
Iris |White | 1 to | | May |Border | Sun |May to
|Purple | 3 ft. | | June |Bed | | July
|Yellow | | | |Clump | |
|Maroon | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Larkspur, | | | | | | |
see Delphinium | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Lupin |White | 2 to | | May |Border |Sun or|May,
(_Lupinus_) |Blue | 5 ft. | | June |Bed | half |June
|Pink | | | |Clump | shade|
|Yellow | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Madwort, | | | | | | |
see Alyssum | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[A]Mallow, Musk |White | 1 to | | May |Border |Sun or|July to
(_Malva|Rose | | 2 ft. | | June | | shade| Sept.
moschata_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Michaelmas Daisy, | | | | | | |
see Aster | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Monk's-hood |Blue to |3 to |Slow to| May |_Poisonous_|Sun or|July to
(_Aconitum |white | 5 ft. | start | June | |shade |Sept.
napellus_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Moss Pink, see | | | | | | |
_Phlox subulata_| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Mullein Pink |White |1 to | | May |Border |Sun |June,
(_Lychnis |Red | 3 ft. | | June |Bed | |July
coronaria_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Myosotis, see | | | | | | |
Forget-me-not | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Myrtle, see | | | | | | |
Periwinkle | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Pansy |White |6 to |March | April |Border |Sun or|All
(_Viola |Blue | 8 in. | | May |Bed |half |summer,
tricolor_) |Yellow | | | | |shade |with
|Purple | | | | | |care
| | | | | | |
Peony |White |3 ft. |Slow | May |Border |Sun or|May,
(_Pæonia |Rose | |grower | June |Clumps |half |June
officinalis_) |Crimson | | | | |shade |
| | | | | | |
Periwinkle |Blue |6 to |March | May |Trailing |Shaded|All
(_Vinca minor_) |White | 10 in.| | June | vine |bare |summer
| | | | | |spots |
Phlox, Perennial |No blue |2 to |Slow | May |Border | Sun |Aug.,
(_Phlox | or | 3 ft. | | June | Bed | |Sept.
paniculata_) | yellow | | | | | |
(_Phlox |White |2 in. | | May |Carpeting | Sun |April,
subulata_) |Pink | | | June |Border | |May
|Lavender| | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Pink, Grass |White |1 ft. | | May |Rockery | Sun |May,
(_Dianthus |Vari- | | | June |Border | |June
plumaris_) |colored | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Platycodon, | | | | | | |
see Bellflower | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[A]Poppy, Iceland |White |1 ft. | | April |Border | Sun |June to
(_Papaver |Red | | | May |Bed | | Oct.
nudicaule_ |Yellow | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Poppy, Oriental |Scarlet |3 ft. | | March |Border | Sun |June,
(_Papaver |Orange | | | April |Bed | |July
orientale_) |to pink | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Pyrethrum |White |3 ft. | | May |Border | Sun |June,
(_Chrysanthemum |Rose | | | June |Bed | |July
coccineum_) |Crimson | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[A]Rocket, Sweet |White |2 to | | May |Border | Sun |June to
(_Hesperis_) |to | 3 ft. | | June |Clump | | Aug.
|purple | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Rockmadwort, | | | | | | |
see Alyssum | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Rose Campion, | | | | | | |
see Mullein Pink| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Rudbeckia, | | | | | | |
see Golden Glow | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Sage, see Salvia | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Salvia |White |2 to | | May |Border | Sun |May to
(perennial) |Blue | 4 ft. | | June |Bed | | Sept.
| | | | | | |
[F]Snapdragon |No |1 to |March |May 1st |Border | Sun |June to
(_Antirrhinum_) |blues | 3 ft. | | |Bed | | Oct.
| | | | | | |
Sunflower |Yellow |2 to | | May |Back of | Sun |Sept. to
(_Helianthus_) | | 8 ft. | | June |border | |Nov.
| | | | | | |
[E]Sweet William |White |1 ft. | | May |Border | Sun |June to
(_Dianthus |Pink | | | June |Bed | | Aug.
barbatus_) |Maroon | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Tickseed, see | | | | | | |
Coreopsis | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
[G]Wallflower |Yellows | 1 to | | May |Rock |Part |May
(_Cheiranthus | to | 2½ ft.| | June |garden | shade|
cheiri_) |browns | | | | or | |
| and | | | |border | |
|purples | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Windflower, |White | 1 to | | May |Clump |Part |April
Snowdrop | | 1½ ft.| | June |Border |shade |to
(_Anemone | | | | | |or sun|July
sylvestris_) | | | | | | |
------------------+--------+-------+-------+--------+-----------+------+----------
FOOTNOTES:
[E] Will bloom the first year from seed sown in March.
[F] Perennial in the South, but should be grown annually in the North.
[G] Really a biennial.
CHAPTER VI
Flowers that Spring from a Storehouse (Bulbs and Tubers)
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they
toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you
that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these.
--_Matthew_ vi, 28, 29.
IF you are going to be a really-truly gardener, you will want to know
something about the plants and flowers that you try to grow, so let's
have a few words right here about the difference between the bulb and
tuber families. They can be classed together because they both spring
from what is in fact a storehouse filled one season with food to help
them through the next season's bloom!
Hyacinths and daffodils, for example, come from BULBS, which are built
up, layer on layer, exactly like an onion.
Dahlias and Cannas, however, grow from a TUBER, which is an underground
knob on the stem, quite a little like a sweet potato, and which sends
out the shoots that make new plants.
The crocus and the gladiolus both spring from a CORM, which differs from
the bulb in that it is solid (not in layers), and from the tuber in that
it is not like a potato in shape but oval.
The iris, though, grows from a RHIZOME, a thickened root running along
the ground (often half exposed), which throws up the new plants as it
spreads.
The bulb and tuber families are treated very much alike. Some of each
are left in the ground year after year, like the daffodils and the
lilies, while others, like the cannas and dahlias, have to be dug up,
allowed to dry a little in the open air, and then stored in a cool, dark
place for the winter. The rhizomes do not have to be "lifted," but are
increased generally by root division,--cutting off a piece of the root
soon after flowering, and planting where it will get a good start before
next season's time to bloom.
Some people today would follow Mohammed's advice: "He that hath two
cakes of bread, let him sell one of them--for bread is only food for the
body, but the narcissus is food for the soul;" but few individuals--let
alone a nation--would grow so wildly enthusiastic as once did the Dutch,
as to spend every last possession to buy tulips! But we dearly love all
of these groups, and are using them in increasing numbers every season.
The fascinating work of growing certain kinds indoors during the winter
I tell you about in the chapter on "The Care of House Plants," so here
we will consider the outdoor culture.
The delicate snowdrop is the very earliest of these visitors, and
planted in groups in half-shady places,--like under trees,--where they
will not be disturbed, will thereafter take care of themselves. Then
quickly follow the lovely crocuses, white, yellow, lavender, purple, and
the varigated, which often are planted right where they fall after being
scattered broadcast over the lawn,--though if the head of the house cuts
the grass before the middle of April they should be set in a bed where
they will not be touched.
Hyacinths are beautiful, but personally I do not care much about them in
the garden, as they generally have to be planted in masses to get any
effect, and need, therefore, to be used in large numbers, are more
expensive than the other bulbs, and should be taken out of the ground
soon after blooming and stored in a cool place until fall. However, one
enthusiast that I know plants in rings of 6, and leaves them in the
ground!
The daffodil, jonquil and narcissus are three types of the narcissus
family, the daffodils usually being distinguished by their long
trumpets, while the jonquils and narcissi have the little cup-like
centers, and, moreover, are fragrant. They should be planted in the late
fall, 4 in. below the surface, in soil that has been enriched 8 in.
below the bulb. They increase rapidly, and do not have to be taken up,
or even divided for years. If set in a border where their room is needed
after they bloom, simply turn the tops down under the soil, and sow over
them any low-growing annual, such as candytuft or poppies. My friend of
the tiny "handkerchief" garden described in Chapter II, has--think of
it!--over 1500 of these various spring-flowering bulbs in her border
that are treated this way, and never taken up! Yet a few weeks after
they have bloomed, the space they occupied is filled with new beauties.
Tulips--but as I told you, they once drove a whole country mad! Today we
have probably far more beautiful ones,--and many can be bought in the
fall at planting time, for $1.00 per hundred! Some bloom early, some
late; some are short, some tall; some are cheap, some expensive. They
will grow in partial shade or sun, and can be planted in groups in the
border, or in marginal rows for edging. By carefully choosing from both
the early and late varieties, you can enjoy your tulips for nearly two
months; and by as carefully choosing your colors, have all sorts of
artistic combinations. They should be planted 3 or 4 in. deep if the
soil is heavy, and an inch deeper in soil that is light, and set 6 in.
apart. They will prove a joy to your heart.
Tuberous-rooted begonias supply a much-felt want for lovely flowers in
half-shady or shady places. If the bulbs are started in the house in
sand in February, they will be in full leaf when ready to set out in
May, and will bloom from June until frost. Don't, please don't, plant
them upside down, but be sure that the rounded part rests on the soil.
They require light, rich earth, with plenty of water, given after
sundown.
Cannas only too often are planted in big, showy beds where they break
our rule of "open lawn centers." In fact, they are a little hard to
place, but look well in a corner, in beds along a drive, or outlining a
boundary. The ground should be spaded 2 ft. deep, well fertilized, and
then kept watered. Set plants 2 ft. apart.
The iris is one of the most beautiful and most satisfactory of all the
hardy plants. It grows in almost any soil, and any situation, but does
best in rich ground, with plenty of water. It may be planted either in
early spring or after August. The dwarf varieties, from 6 to 18 in.
high, bloom during March, April and May; the German iris, standing often
3 ft. high, in May; and the marvelous Japanese kinds, sometimes 4 ft.,
with blossoms 8 to 10 in. across, closing the season in July! (In heavy
soil they are not so tall.) When used alone in beds, one prominent
grower suggests that the German iris be combined with hardy asters (set
in between), and the Japanese with gladioli, to keep a succession of
bloom until late fall.
Lilies for the garden are of many varieties, requiring different kinds
of treatment. As a general rule, however, when the soil is heavy, set
your bulb in a nice little nest of sand, and give a blanket of the same
before filling in with the ordinary earth.
Lilies-of-the-valley will grow almost anywhere, but do well in a
half-shady position. They should be planted in masses, and fertilized in
September. When too thick, they can be transplanted in the early spring.
They increase rapidly.
The gladiolus (accent on the i, please,) can get along in almost any
kind of soil,--though it does best in rich,--if only it is planted in
the sunshine. The ground should be well dug up and fertilized
beforehand and around New York the corms set as early as April. Then,
for succession of bloom, plant at least every 10 days up to July 1st.
After they are well started, fertilize with (preferably) sheep manure,
dug in around the roots, every two weeks. Cultivate often, and keep well
watered. Plant gladioli at least 4 in. apart, and 4 in. deep, and tie up
for protection to 4-ft. stakes. Lift your bulbs,--corms, I should have
said,--late in the fall, let them dry in the air a few days, and then
store in a cool, dark place, free from frost.
Narcissi are described with the daffodils.
Peonies are classed with the Perennials, in Chapter III. Their tuberous
roots are best divided and set out in September. They can be left
undisturbed for five or six years.
Tuberoses can now be procured which will bloom from May until frost.
They are easily grown, with no particular care, and take up very little
room. Stake for safety from storms.
The dahlia next,--saved until the last for all the space I could
possibly give it! And so popular is this flower today, that some growers
raise nothing else!! One man offers us over 700 _named_ varieties!!!
Moreover, a great big club, known as The American Dahlia Society, has
been formed by people who are interested in--and wish to help
along--the growing of dahlias.
And it's no wonder that they are popular, for no other flower can be
grown in the garden that will give as many, as large, as vari-colored
and as beautiful flowers as the dahlias. Coming in every shade but true
blue, and ranging from the tiny button pom-pon to the largest prim show
or the formal decorative,--from the unique collarette to the ragged
pæony-flowered, the amateur gardener can hardly believe that they really
all belong to one family!
Of such easy culture, too. Anybody can grow them! Any good, well-drained
garden soil will do, but must have manure spaded in 10 in. deep and the
tubers must be planted in the sun. The poorer the ground, though, the
more fertilizer will you have to use. Heavy soil should be dug up and
mixed with ashes to make it light. Plant the tubers _lengthwise_--not up
and down!--in a drill at least 6 in. deep, and not less than 2½ ft.
apart.
For early flowering, put in your bulbs as soon as all danger of frost is
past, but do not set near trees or shrubs that would take their
nourishment. When they sprout, pull up all shoots but one or two, in
order to produce the finest flowers. Keep the ground well cultivated,
but do not water until after the buds have formed, otherwise you will
have principally stalks and leaves. But once the buds do show, water
frequently in order to enrich the color, and dig in fertilizer around
the roots several times during the flowering season, to produce fine,
big blossoms.
[Illustration: TAKING CARE OF TABLE FERNS]
Tie each plant to a 5-ft. stake, to protect from the wind, but in
driving be careful not to pierce--and ruin--your tuber. Nip off all the
buds that are imperfect or weak, and cut your flowers with their
attendant buds and foliage. They will look better, and no further
disbudding of the plants will be necessary. And the more you cut, the
better your dahlias will bloom!
Soon after frost has killed the leaves, carefully dig up the tubers with
a spading fork. You will be surprised to find often half-a-dozen where
you set but one! Allow them to dry in the air for a day or two, then put
away in a cool, dark cellar, with a bag or paper thrown over them, and
leave for the winter. In the spring when ready to plant again, cut each
tuber so it will have a little bit of the heart of the clump on its end,
as it is close to this that the new shoots start.
Growing dahlias from seed is a most fascinating pastime, for there is no
telling what you may get! The child is rarely, if ever, like its
mother,--and this is the only way that we get the new varieties. YOU
might happen to grow one of the finest yet! The seed is started early
indoors, and very easily grown. Certainly it is worth trying.
CHAPTER VII
That Queen--The Rose
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying,
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
--_Herrick._
EVERY one longs for roses, the most highly prized of all the flowers;
and roses today can be grown almost anywhere.
Rose growers have finally succeeded in budding the tender tea rose on to
the hardy briar and also on to the more recent Manetti stock, and in
crossing the teas with the hybrid perpetuals,--developed from the old
June favorites. The result is ideal roses, that are hardy and bloom all
season, with the desired lovely coloring and fragrance.
Many of the so-called June roses also have been coaxed to bloom all
season, while all those that I draw to your attention are among the
loveliest and most easily grown. With even three or four, well taken
care of, you should be able,--as far north as New York,--to cut a bud
any time you wish from May to November.
These hybrid teas and hybrid perpetuals are the most satisfactory for
growing in this climate. Field-grown stock, in dormant condition, is
brought here from Holland every spring early in March, and good plants
can be bought as low as fifteen or twenty cents apiece. The weather is
usually fit for them to be set out by the 25th of March, and they will
produce more and better roses than the costlier potted plants procurable
later. The American grown roses, however, are really the best, as they
are adapted to our soil and climatic conditions, and produce both more
and better flowers.
Of these potted plants, though, just a word. The Richmond, a deep, rich
red, and the single white Killarney, I have found exceptionally good,
free bloomers; and with little winter covering they should, on account
of a season's rest, be better the second year. The 6-inch or "bench
plants," as they are termed, sell for only 25 cents each. These can be
set out from April on all summer.
As soon as a rose bush comes into your hand, whether from a dealer or a
friend, get it into the ground as quickly as possible. If its permanent
home is not ready, dig a little trench and cover it entirely with the
moist earth for a few days. But never, oh, never! allow the roots to dry
out.
While a few specimen roses may be set out anywhere (as long as they do
not cut up the lawn and so violate the landscape rule, "Preserve open
lawn centers"), a number of rose bushes are usually preferred set
together in a bed, from 3 to 4 ft. wide.
MAKING A ROSE BED
Have your rose bed with a south or east exposure if possible, as many
roses so planted will not "winter kill," and others need but little
protection. Dig a trench about 2½ ft. deep, and put in the bottom a
layer of cow manure, as this will be lasting. Over this put a layer of
good top soil for the plants to rest on, so that they do not directly
touch the fertilizer. Then hold your rose with your left hand while you
straighten out the roots, and sprinkle enough fine soil to hold it in
position while you set the next bush. Be sure that your budding point is
3 inches below the level of the ground,--and Baily says even 4! When all
are in place, fill the trench half full of soil, and then nearly to the
top with water. After this has sunk in, add the rest of your rich top
soil, and pack down hard with your foot, so as to shut out the air from
the roots, leaving the packed earth at least an inch below the
surrounding surface to catch and hold the moisture.
Potted roses, however, should be sunk with as little disturbance to the
roots as possible.
Then over the smoothly raked surface of the bed spread leaves, litter or
grass clippings, to keep the sun from drying out the earth. Some
gardeners for this purpose cover the bed with pansies, English daisies,
and similar low flowers, though many like better to see nicely
cultivated soil.
To have splendid roses, however, you must supply plenty of food and
drink! When the buds start, dig in around the roots every two weeks, two
tablespoonfuls of bonemeal, and wet thoroughly. Manure from the chicken
house is especially good as the chickens are meat eaters, and it is,
therefore, better adapted to the needs of the roses and easily absorbed
by the rootlets. But use carefully--not more than a small trowelful at a
time, and that well mixed with the soil. One of the very best foods is
cheaply made as follows:
ROSE FERTILIZER
10 lbs. sheep manure,
5 lbs. bonemeal,
1 lb. Scotch soot.
Mix well. Give a level trowelful to roots of each
rosebush every two weeks, after buds start, and wet
down thoroughly.
Being hearty feeders, roses need a rich, light soil, and they do best in
an open, sunny spot, away from the roots of trees and shrubs that would
steal their food.
And while they do not thrive in low, damp ground, neither do they stand
being set "high and dry." Too damp beds should be drained with a first
layer of small stones or gravel.
Cultivate your roses every week or ten days, and keep the ground covered
with grass clippings unless it is protected from the sun by the shade of
other plants. Cut off close to the parent stem any wild shoots or
"suckers,"--generally recognizable by their briary stems,--as they will
cause the budded part to die.
FALL PROTECTION
Late in the fall mound up the earth well around the roots of all your
roses, and give them a good covering of coarse manure or leaves. The
more tender kinds can be laid over and protected with litter or boughs.
SPRING PRUNING
Then early in the spring, before the first of April, cut back the hardy
roses, keeping only the strong canes, which, however, should be
shortened to about 10 inches. The middle of April prune the more tender
varieties. But remove from both all shoots growing in toward the center,
and cut all weak plants back to the third or fourth eye, to promote
stronger growth and larger flowers. Climbing roses need only the weak
branches and tips removed.
Date new climbing canes with wired wooden tags each spring, and cut out
all over three years old. This renews the stock, restrains ambitious
climbing, and produces better flowers.
SPRAYING
About this time a spraying first of Bordeaux mixture to prevent disease,
and a little later a spraying of whale-oil soapsuds as warning to the
great army of bugs, slugs, etc., will give your roses a good start
toward a successful season of bloom.
Watch for that robber, the rose bug! Talk about salt on a bird's tail!
The surest way to end His Majesty is to take a stick and knock him into
a cup of kerosene. Slow process? Yes, but sure. The leaf-roller, too, is
most effectively disposed of by physical force,--pressure of thumb and
forefinger. Clear, cold water, twice a day through a hose, comes with
force enough to wash off many of the rose's foes; but if they get a
start, fall back on strong soapsuds, pulverized tobacco, or some other
popular remedy.
The Garden Club of Philadelphia is said to recommend the following:
EFFECTIVE SPRAY FOR ROSE BUGS
3 pts. sweet milk.
3 pts. kerosene.
1 qt. water.
Shake well in a jug, then put one-half pint of the fluid to one gallon
of water. Stir well and both spray the bushes thoroughly and wet the
ground around the roots. Repeat every ten days from May 1st to June
15th, by which time the pests seem to get discouraged and give up the
fight!
And the reward for all this care and attention? "A devoted cottager,"
says Neltje Blanchan, "may easily have more beautiful roses than the
indifferent millionaire."
The following lists comprise a few of the best of the different classes
mentioned. I wish you success in your choice.
ROSES
A FEW OF THE BEST OF EACH KIND
=Teas.= (Tenderest of roses, needing winter protection.
Noted for delicate shades and fragrance.)
Maman Cochet, free bloomer, hardiest of the teas; rose-pink.
Marie Van Houtte, also a free bloomer and quite hardy; canary
yellow.
Souvenir de Catherine Guillot, a rose of excellence;
copper-carmine.
White Maman Cochet, a strong grower, like the pink; white.
=Hybrid Teas.= (Best for the garden, as they combine the best
qualities of the teas and the hybrid perpetuals,--color, hardiness,
and steady bloom.)
Caroline Testout, one of the most popular, slightly fragrant;
rose pink.
Etoile de France, continuous bloomer and fragrant; crimson.
Gruss an Teplitz, the best dark rose, and fragrant; velvety
crimson.
Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, blooms of lovely shape, on long
stems; pearly white.
Killarney, very popular and one of the best of its color; lovely
pink.
Killarney, a "sport," same as the pink; white.
La France, especially good form, fragrant; bluish-pink.
Mrs. Aaron Ward, a vigorous plant, of compact growth, very
popular; pinkish-yellow.
Richmond, a steady bloomer all summer, with a beautiful bud;
rich deep red.
=Hybrid Perpetuals.= (Commonly known as June roses, and hardy.
The following will bloom most of the summer.)
Anna de Diesbach (_Gloire de Paris_), splendid in the garden and
fragrant; rich carmine.
American Beauty, successful in most localities; rose-carmine.
Frau Karl Druschki, very large and fragrant; snowy white.
General Jacqueminot, a favorite that does well everywhere;
crimson.
Louis van Houtte, very desirable and fragrant; deep red.
Mrs. John Laing, late blooming and hardy, fragrant; lovely pink.
Mrs. R. G. Sharman-Crawford, a splendid bloomer; rose-pink.
Ulrich Brunner, large, fragrant, with well-formed flowers;
cherry red.
=Moss.= (Loved for the beautiful fragrant buds with their mossy
covering.)
Blanche Moreau, flowers in clusters; white.
Countess de Murinais, one of the best; white.
Crested Moss, finely crested; rose pink.
Henry Martin, very vigorous; crimson.
Luxembourg, exceptionally good; crimson.
=Climbing and Rambler.= (Used over walls, fences, pillars,
arbors and trellises.)
Baby ramblers, 18 in. to 24 in. high, are good for hedges, beds,
or carpeting, and can be bought in white, pink, salmon pink, red
and yellow.
Climbing American Beauty, well worth growing; rose-pink.
Dorothy Perkins, a profuse bloomer and rapid grower; shell-pink.
Crimson Rambler, first of the ramblers, but disliked by many
gardeners today; crimson.
Dr. Van Fleet, one of the best, resisting mildew and insects,--a
gem; flesh-pink.
Excelsa, an improvement on the formerly popular crimson rambler;
crimson.
Hiawatha, most brilliant of all, between 40 and 50 roses to the
spray; carmine.
Tausendschoen, roses 3 in. across, graceful in form, and 10 or
15 to the truss; pink.
White Dorothy, like satisfactory Dorothy Perkins, except for
color; white.
Yellow Rambler, new variety called "Aviator Bleriot," the first
hardy yellow; yellow.
=Briar, Austrian and Hybrids.= (Loved by our grandmothers, and
some known here in this country as far back as 1596. They must
not be crowded.)
Austrian Copper, beautiful single reddish-copper and one of the
oldest; copper.
Austrian Yellow, lovely single flowers (introduced late in
1500); deep yellow.
English Sweet Briar, or Eglantine, loved for its fragrance, also
single; pink.
Anne of Gerstein, very graceful; dark crimson.
Brenda, very dainty; peach.
Refulgence, fragrant foliage,--deepens in color on developing;
scarlet to crimson.
AMERICAN GROWN ROSES
The American grown rose, however, I find is considered by many people to
be by far the best. While its slender brown stems are not as attractive
to the ignorant gardener as the thick, green of the imported, it is much
more adapted to our soil and climatic conditions. It is cheaper, too,
and splendid varieties, in 2½-in. and 3-in. pots, can be bought as low
as $5.00 or $6.00 a hundred from expert growers, by the person willing
to start a rose garden and then wait a year for really fine results.
In lots of fifteen, however, many of these fine varieties of
one-year-old plants can be bought for $1.00, with the growers' guarantee
that "they will bloom the first and each succeeding year, from early
spring until severe frost." The plants are small, of course, but who
could ask for more at that price!
The (probably) best informed man in the Eastern United States recommends
the following list of Teas and Hybrid Teas,--and it has been adopted by
a number of firms as suggestions for planting. Don't go looking for
these plants at the 5- and 10-cent stores, for they never carry such
specialties. They are cheap, though, and well known throughout this
section, but they should be procured from people WHO MAKE A BUSINESS OF
GROWING ROSES!
A SPECIALIST'S LIST OF TEAS AND HYBRID TEAS
White
Grossherzogin Alexandra
Kaiserin Augusta Victoria
Marie Guillot
White Bougere
Yellow
Blumenschmidt
Etoile de Lyon
Lady Hillingdon
Sunburst
Light Pink
Col. R. S. Williamson
Helen Good
Mrs. Foley Hobbs
Souvenir du President Carnot
Wm. R. Smith
Yvonne Vacherot
Dark Pink
Aurora
F. R. Patger
Jonkheer J. L. Mock
Lady Alice Stanley
Maman Cochet
Mme. Jules Grolez
Mrs. George Shawyer
Radiance
Red
Crimson Queen
Etoile de France
Mme. Eugene Marlitt
General McArthur
Helen Gould
Laurent Carle
Rhea Reid
CHAPTER VIII
Vines, Tender and Hardy
They shall sit every man under his vine and under his
figtree.
--_Micah_ iv, 4.
EVERYBODY likes a pretty vine, and there is sure to be some place where
you will want to plant at least one. Where? Why, at one corner of the
porch where you like to play; round the pillar at the front door, where
you read, or by the window where you sit to sew; in the backyard to
cover the clothespoles, hide the chicken fence, or screen some old, ugly
building.
The common annual vines you probably know pretty well,--the climbing
nasturtium, morning glory, moonflower, cypress vine, scarlet runner,
hyacinth bean, wild cucumber, gourds and hops. They are treated very
much alike, grow with little care if they only have something to climb
on, and spread rapidly.
The hardy vines are not so easily disposed of. For instance, the
clematis (with accent on the _clem_,) numbers throughout the world about
one hundred and fifty species,--generally climbers,--in white, blue,
purple, red and yellow, and ranges from the 2-ft. shrubby kind to the
25-ft. vine. While our common mountain clematis (Montana grandiflora)
flowers as early as April, the Jackmani in mid-summer, and the
Paniculata often as late as September, the Henryi is seen even in
November. And while some can be grown from seed, the rest have to be
propagated by cutting or grafting.
WARNING
Right here let me again urge you to make sure of the particular kind of
flower, plant or vine that you get, so that you will know how to treat
it, and not count on flowers in June from a variety that blossoms in
September, or expect purple posies from the white sort. The gentleman
printing this book will not let me take space enough to go into details
about every thing I mention (he says paper is too dear!) so the only
way out of the difficulty is for me to make the lists include all the
colors, all the heights, all the months of bloom, and then impress on
YOU the necessity of ascertaining the particular kind you want to grow.
BOOKS THAT WILL HELP
As the people you would ask might make a mistake about these things, get
in the habit of looking them up for yourself. Go to the Public Library
and just see the fascinating books that have been written about plants
and flowers,--many for children and in the form of stories. For real
facts, though, given in few words and easily found from a complete index
in the back, ask for "The American Flower Garden," by Neltje Blanchan,
or "The Garden Month by Month," by Mabel Cabot Sedgwick. This latter
gives a little description of all the _hardy_ plants and flowers, and is
filled with beautiful pictures. And some of the big seed dealers and
nurserymen get out fine catalogues that are really garden books in
themselves, chock full of information accompanied by colored
illustrations, which can be had for the asking!
VINES THAT MUST BE RENEWED EVERY YEAR
THE ANNUAL CLIMBERS
===============================================================================
NAME | COLOR |HEIGHT| SOW | SOW | GOOD FOR |PLACE|BLOOMING
| | |INDOORS|OUTDOORS| | | SEASON
-----------------+--------+------+-------+--------+-------------+-----+--------
Balloon Vine |White |10 to | |May 1st | Rapid | Sun |
(_Cardiospermum|Seeds in|15 ft.| |6 in. | growing | |
halicacabum_) |tiny | | |apart | | |
|balloons| | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Balsam Apple |Has |10 ft.| |May | Trellis or | Sun |
(_Momordica_) |curious | | |6 in. | rock-work | |
|fruit | | |apart | | |
| | | | | | |
Cardinal Climber |Cardinal|15 to | March |May | Rapid | Sun |June
(new) (_Ipomoea| |20 ft.| | | growing | |
quamoclit | | | | | | |
hybrid_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Cypress Vine | Red |10 to | March |May | Dense mass | Sun |June
(_Ipomoea | White |20 ft.| April | | | |
quamoclit_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Fire Bean, | | | | | | |
see Scarlet | | | | | | |
Runner | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Gourds, | Odd |15 to | |May |Over arbor or| Sun |
Ornamental | shapes |30 ft.| | |summer-house | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Hop, Japanese | Green |20 to | |May |Rapid growing| Sun |
(annual) | |30 ft.| | | Arbors and | |
(_Humulus_) | | | | | screens | |
| | | | | | |
Hyacinth Bean | Purple |10 to | |May | Arbors and | Sun |July
(_Dolichos_) | White |20 ft.| | | trellises | |
| | | | | | |
Moon Flower | White |15 to |Feb. or|May | Rapid | Sun |July
(_Ipomoea | |30 ft.|March | | growing | |to frost
bona-nox_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Morning Glory | White |10 to | |May | Rapid | Sun |July,
(_Ipomoea | Pink |20 ft.| | | growing | |Aug.
purpurea_) | Purple | | | | | |
| Blue | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Nasturtium, Tall | Yellows|6 to | |May | Screens and | Sun |July
(_Tropæolum | to reds|12 ft.| | | trellises | |to Oct.
majus_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Scarlet Runner |Scarlet |10 to | |April | Screens | Sun |July
(_Phaseolus | |12 ft.| |May | | |to frost
multiflorus_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Sweet Pea |All |3 to | |March | Train on | Sun |July
(_Lathyrus | colors |6 ft. | | | brush o | |to Sept.
odoratus_) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Wild Cucumber | White |12 to | |May 1st | Screens or | Sun |July,
(_Echinocystis_)| |15 ft.| | | coverings | |Aug.
-----------------+--------+------+-------+--------+-------------+-----+--------
VINES THAT LIVE ON FROM YEAR TO YEAR
THE HARDY CLIMBERS
NOTE.--Different varieties of same kind will bloom at different times.
==================+=========+=======+========+========+============+==========
| | | START | | | BLOOMING
NAME | COLOR |HEIGHT |OUTDOORS|GOOD FOR| PLACE | SEASON
------------------+---------+-------+--------+--------+------------+----------
Akabia | Violet- | | |Light | | May, June
(_Akabia | brown | | | screen | |
quinata_) | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Bittersweet | Yellow |20 ft. |In the |Sun or | |Bright
(_Celastrus | | | fall |shade | |seeds
scandens_) | | | | | |for winter
| | | | | |
Cinnamon Vine | White |15 to |Plant |Rapid | Sun |July, Aug.
(_Dioscorea_) | |30 ft. |roots in|growth | |
| | |early | | |
| | |spring | | |
| | | | | |
Clematis | White |5 to |Start in|Rapid |Stands part |Different
(numerous | Red |25 ft. |early |growth | shade |kinds at
varieties) | Purple | |spring | | |different
| | | | | |times.
| | | | | |June
| | | | | |to frost
| | | | | |
Creeping Spindle |Evergreen|Varies |Procure |Wall | |
(_Euonymus | trailer |in |roots |covering| |
radicans_) | |height | |like Ivy| |
| | | | | |
Dutchman's Pipe |Brownish-|Grows | May |Dense | Anywhere |
(_Aristolochia_)| yellow |to 30 | |shade | |
| | ft. | | | |
| | | | | |
Honeysuckle, | Yellow- |15 ft. |Procure |Trellis | |June to
Japanese | white | | plants |Fence | |Aug.
(_Lonicera | | | |Walls | |
Halliana_) | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Hop, Perennial | Green |15 to |Procure |Trellis | Sun |
(_Humulus | |20 ft. | roots | | |
lupulus_) | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Ivy, Boston or | |Spreads|Procure |Covers | Sun or |
Japan | |rapidly|plants |walls | shade |
(_Ampelopsis or | | | |or trees| |
Veitchii_) | | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
Ivy, English |Evergreen| |Procure |Wall |Shade-loving|
(_Hedera | | |plants |covering| |
helix_) | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Kudzu Vine, |Rosy- |10 ft. |Early |Thick | Sun |August
Japanese |purple |First |spring |screen | |
(_Pueraria | |year | | | |
Thunbergiana_) | |from | | | |
| |seed | | | |
| | | | | |
Matrimony Vine |Purplish |Shrubby|Procure |Ornament| Sun |Late
(_Lycium | | | roots |and use | |summer
barbaum_) | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Pea, Everlasting | Red |6 to 8 |Plant |Trellis | Sun |August
(_Lathyrus | White | ft. |tuber or|or rough| |
latifolius_) | | |seed |places | |
------------------+---------+-------+--------+--------+------------+---------
CHAPTER IX
Shrubs We Love to See
"Every yard should be a picture. The observer should
catch the entire effect and purpose, without analyzing
its parts."
--_Bailey._
OF course you want to know something about shrubs. For what? Possibly
just to make a tiny hedge around your garden, or a taller one to shut
out the view of some neighbor's untidy backyard. More likely for a
lovely specimen plant for your own grounds. In that case, don't, oh,
don't! set it out in the middle of the lawn! And two or three thus
dotted around (in "spotty planting," so called) are the acme of bad
taste, and violate the fundamental principles of landscape gardening.
[Illustration: CLEANING UP AROUND THE SHRUBS]
Our grandmothers all loved the tall syringa, honeysuckle, snowball,
strawberry shrub, weigela, rose of Sharon and lilac, while they
hedged both their yards and gardens with box, privet and evergreens.
Today we use a good deal of the Japanese barberry, while Uncle Sam's
recent free distribution has widely introduced that pretty little annual
bush-like plant--the kochia, or summer cypress, good for low hedges.
But there is that publisher cutting off my space again! So I can just
add a word about the lovely new summer lilac or buddleia. A tiny plant
of this, costing only 25 cents, grows into a nice four-foot bush the
first summer, and blooms until late in the season.
Most of these shrubs can be easily grown from cuttings, however, so just
ask your friends to remember you when they do their pruning.
SHRUBS
================+==========+===========+===============+================
NAME | COLOR | HEIGHT | GROWN FROM |BLOOMING SEASON
----------------+----------+-----------+---------------+----------------
Althea, see | | | |
Rose of Sharon| | | |
| | | |
Azalea |No blues |1 to 6 ft. | |Spring, early
| | | |summer
| | | |
Barberry, Japan | Red | 4 ft. | Seed |Red berries all
(_Berberis | berries | | |winter
Thunbergii_) | | | |
| | | |
Boxwood | Green |4 to 20 ft.| |
(_Buxus | | | |
sempervirens_)| | | |
| | | |
Bridal Wreath, | | | |
see Spirea | | | |
(_Thunbergii_)| | | |
| | | |
Buddleia | Lavender |3 to 6 ft. | Cuttings |July to frost
| | | |
Currant, | Yellow | 4 ft. | |May
Flowering | | | |
(_Ribes | | | |
aureum_) | | | |
| | | |
Deutzia | White, |3 to 12 ft.| Cuttings |May, June
| Pink | | |
| | | |
Forsythia |Yellow |6 to 10 ft.|Cuttings or |Earliest spring
| | |seed |
| | | |
Golden Bell, | | | |
see Forsythia | | | |
| | | |
Honeysuckle |White, |6 to 12 ft.|Cuttings or | March to June
(numerous |Yellow | |seed |
varieties) |Pink, Red | | |
(_Lonicera_) | | | |
| | | |
Hydrangea | White |8 to 12 ft.| Cuttings |July to November
(_Paniculata | | generally | |
grandiflora_) | | | |
| | | |
Japanese Quince | Scarlet | 8 ft. | | May
(_Cydonia | | | |
japonica_) | | | |
| | | |
Kochia (small | | 3 ft. | Seed |Bush reddens in
annual bush) | | | |fall
| | | |
Lilac (_Syringa |Lavender, | 5 to | |May, June
vulgaris_) | White | 20 ft. | |
| | | |
Mock Orange | White | 10 ft. | |May, June
(_Philadelphus| | | |
coronarius_) | | | |
| | | |
Privet | Green | 15 ft. | Cuttings |
(_Ligustrum | | unless | |
ovalifolium_) | |sheared | |
| | | |
Rose of Sharon | White, | Up to | |August to
(_Hibiscus | Pink to | 18 ft. | |October
Syriacus_) | Purple | | |
| | | |
Snowball, | White | 8 to | Cuttings |May, June
Japanese | | 10 ft. | |
(_Viburnum | | | |
tomentosum_) | | | |
| | | |
Spirea | White | 2 to | |May
(_Thunbergii_)| | 4 ft. | |
| | | |
Spirea (numerous| White, | 4 to | |Different months
other |Pink, Rose| 6 ft. | |from May to
varieties) | | | |September
| | | |
Strawberry Shrub|Chocolate-| 6 to | By division |May
| colored | 10 ft. | |
Syringa, | | | |
see Mock | | | |
Orange | | | |
| | | |
Viburnum, | | | |
see Snowball | | | |
| | | |
Weigela |White, | 6 ft. | |June
(_Diervilla |Pink, Red | | |
florida_) | | | |
----------------+----------+-----------+---------------+----------------
CHAPTER X
Vegetable Growing for the Home Table
The life of the husbandman,--a life fed by the bounty
of earth, and sweetened by the airs of heaven.
--_Jerrold._
IT is predicted that this year,--1917,--will be the greatest year for
gardening that the country ever has known!
The high cost of living first stimulated interest. Then after war was
declared, the slogan, "Food as important as men or munitions," stirred
young and old. Garden clubs sprang up everywhere, and in free lectures
people were instructed how to prepare, plant and cultivate whatever
ground they could get, from small backyards to vacant lots.
In our neighborhood last year a man with a plot of ground less than half
the size of a tennis court, grew $50.00 worth of vegetables,--enough to
supply his whole family! He got his planting down to a science,
however,--what he called "intensive gardening," so that every foot of
the soil was kept busy the whole summer. He fertilized but once, too, at
the beginning of the season, when he had a quantity of manure thoroughly
worked in. Then between slow growing crops, planted in rows as closely
as possible, he planted the quick-growing things, which would be out of
the way before their space was needed.
Incidentally he worked out a chart (which he afterwards put on the
market), ruled one way for the months, and the other for the number of
feet, with name cards for the vegetables that could be fitted in so as
to visualize--and make a record of the entire garden the entire season.
Such a plan means a great saving of both time and space.
Garden soil must be warm, light and rich. It must be well spaded to
begin with, well fertilized, well raked over, and kept well cultivated.
Vegetables require plenty of moisture, and during dry weather especially
must be thoroughly watered. As I have said before, simply wetting the
surface of the ground is almost useless, and often, by causing the
ground then to cake over the top as it dries, worse than none at all, if
the soil were cultivated instead. Pests must be watched for on all the
crops, and treated according to the special needs of each variety when
whale-oil, soapsuds, tobacco dust or insect powder seem ineffective.
Then with weeding, and reasonable care, you can safely expect to keep
your table supplied with that greatest of all luxuries,--your own green
vegetables, fresh from the soil.
VEGETABLE GUIDE
_Beans. Bush_
Plant from early May on, every two weeks, for succession of crops. Drop
beans 3 in. apart, in 2-in. deep drills, allowing 2 ft. between rows.
Hoe often, drawing the earth up towards the roots. Be sure that the
ground is warm and dry before planting, however, or the beans will rot.
_Beans. Pole_
Set stakes 5 to 8 feet high, in rows 3 ft. apart each way; or plant in
drills to grow on a trellis. Put four or five beans around each stake,
and when well started, thin out the poorest, leaving but three at each
pole. A cheap trellis is made by stretching two wires (one near the
ground and the other six feet above), and connecting them with stout
twine for the vines to run on.
_Beans. Lima_
As these are more tender, they should be planted a couple of weeks later
than other beans. They need especially good, rich soil, with plenty of
humus or the fine soft earth that is full of decayed vegetable matter.
Allow each plant 6 in. in the row, and make rows 2 ft. apart. Give a
good dose of fertilizer about the time they start, and keep well
cultivated. Beans are among the easiest of all vegetables to grow, and
as they can be dried for winter use, are especially valuable.
_Beets._
Any well-tilled, good garden soil will produce nice beets. Make drills
or rows 18 in. apart, and plant the seed about 1 in. deep if earth is
light and sandy, but only half an inch if heavy and sticky, as early as
the ground can be put in condition. Cultivate often, and thin out the
plants to about 3 in. apart. Sow at intervals of two or three weeks for
successive crops up to the middle of July. An extra early lot can be had
by starting seed in the house in boxes in February or March, and then
setting the young plants out at time of first outdoor planting.
_Cabbage._
For early crop, start seed indoors in February or March and transplant,
when four leaves appear, to another seed box until you can plant in open
ground in May. For later crop sow seeds in rows in open ground during
April and May, and transplant during July and August, to 20 in. apart,
in rows 3 ft. apart. Cultivate often, to keep moisture in the soil.
Prepare to fight pests, early and late. After the seventy or more
remedies suggested by one authority, for maggots alone, the amateur
might feel like abandoning cabbage, but at the price this moment of
$160.00 a ton, wholesale, in New York City, a person with even a
handkerchief bed feels like attempting this luxury.
_Carrots._
Hardy and easily grown, they can be sown in rows that are 12 in. apart,
and thinned out to 3 in. apart in the row. They can be started as early
as April, and sown for succession up to the middle of July. Cultivate
often.
_Cauliflower._
Treat like cabbage, except that you must start as early as possible, to
get ahead of the hot weather, and give the plants plenty of water. When
the heads are well-formed and firm, bring the outside leaves up and tie
together, to shut out the sun and keep the heads white and tender. And
don't forget,--plenty of water!
_Celery._
Seed for an early crop can be started in February, in a shallow box in a
sunny window, then transplanted to another box, pinching off the tall
leaves. In May or June dig a shallow trench in good rich soil, and set
plants, 6 in. apart at bottom. Fill up the trench as the plants grow, to
within a few inches of the tip leaves, in order to bleach out white. Set
up boards against the rows to exclude light, or cover in the easiest
way. For winter keeping, take up plants with roots and place on damp
soil in boxes in a cool, dark cellar.
_Chicory Witloof--or French Endive._
Often seventy-five cents a pound in the market, but easily grown by the
amateur. Seed is sold under name of Witloof chicory, and should be sown
in open ground, during May or June, in rows a foot apart. Allow to grow
until November, cultivating and keeping moist. Then dig up roots,--long,
thick tubers,--trim down tops to within 1½ in., and cut off bottom of
root so that whole plant will be less than a foot long. Place upright
in separate pots or a long box in a cool cellar, fill up to within a
couple of inches from tops of roots, and cover each top with an inverted
pot or box, to exclude the light. Make thoroughly damp and never allow
to dry out. In about four weeks the new tops can be cut for the table,
and by covering and keeping wet, often three or four successive crops
can be secured. A friend of mine keeps two families supplied most of the
winter, at little cost or trouble. A delicious salad.
_Corn. Sweet_
Plant early and then every two weeks for succession, in good rich soil,
dropping the seed 10 in. apart in rows 3 ft. apart (for hand
cultivation). Start early in May, and hoe often. Golden Bantam,
Evergreen and Country Gentleman are especial favorites.
_Cucumbers._
Plant as soon as weather is settled, and warm, (early in May around New
York,) in hills at least 4 ft. each way. Give good rich soil, and keep
moist. Leave only two or three plants to a hill, and do not allow
cucumbers to ripen on vines. Plant for succession. The Japanese climbing
variety runs up a pole or trellis, is free from blight, and produces
especially fine, big cucumbers.
_Endive._ See Chicory
_Lettuce._
Can be started in boxes indoors, in March. Make sowing in the open
ground from April to November, if you protect the first and last. Put in
nice, rich soil, in warm spot, and transplant when big enough to handle,
into rows, setting 5 in. apart. Don't forget to weed!
_Melons._
Muskmelons are most easily grown, but both the weather and the ground
must be warm. Give them a light, rich soil,--which, if you haven't, you
must make by mixing the heavy soil with old manure. Make hills 6 ft.
apart, putting a few shovelfuls of fertilizer in each, and planting
about a dozen seeds to a hill. After well started, and when most of the
pests have had their fill and disappeared, thin out so as to leave only
four or five of the strongest vines to each hill. Spray repeatedly with
some good mixture.
_Watermelons._
These take up so much room that not many people try to grow them. The
culture, however, is about the same as for muskmelons, only make hills 8
to 10 ft. apart.
[Illustration: ALL READY TO HOE]
_Onions._
Plant seed in fine, rich, well-prepared soil, as early as possible, in
shallow drills, 12 in. apart. Firm down with the back of your spade, and
when well started, thin out to 3 in. apart in the rows. Hoe often
without covering the bulbs, and water freely.
_Parsley._
This requires a rich, mellow soil. Sow early in April, in rows 1 ft.
apart, after soaking the seed a few hours in warm water to make it come
up more quickly. Plant seed ½ in. deep, and thin out the little plants
to 5 in. apart in the drills.
_Parsnips._
Sow as early as you can in well-prepared ground, ½ in. deep, in rows 1
ft. apart. When well started, thin out to 6 in. apart in the row.
Parsnips are improved by being left in the ground over winter, for
spring use.
_Peas._
The early smooth varieties are the first seeds to put into the garden,
though the wrinkled are a better quality. Dig furrows 2 in. deep in
earliest spring, but when weather is warm, 4 in. deep; and 3 ft. apart.
Select the kind of peas desired, scatter in the rows, and cover with a
hoe. They need good soil, plenty of cultivation, and the tall sorts
should be given brush for support. Sow several times for succession.
Early crop may be hurried by first soaking the seed.
_Potatoes._
Selling as they are today (February, 1917), for 10 cents a pound, one is
strongly tempted to turn the flower garden into a potato patch! The
early varieties need especially rich soil. Drop a couple of pieces about
every foot, in 3 to 4 in. deep drills that are 3 ft. apart. Cultivate
often, and fight the vast army of potato bugs with Paris green, or
Bordeaux mixture.
_Radishes._
A light, rich, sandy soil will grow the early kinds in from four to six
weeks. Sow in drills a foot apart (scatteringly, so as not to require
thinning,) every two weeks, keep free from weeds, and water in dry
weather. Start outdoors in early April.
_Spinach._
Sow in early spring in drills made 3/4 in. deep, and 1 ft. apart, as
early as the ground can be worked. Thereafter, every two weeks for
succession. Good rich soil is necessary.
_Squash._
Be sure of rich, warm soil. Plant in well-fertilized hills, like melons
or cucumbers, at least 4 or 5 ft. apart. Sow eight to ten seeds to a
hill, and after the insects have had their feast, keep only three or
four of the vines that are strongest. To repress the ardor of the squash
vine borer, scatter a handful of tobacco dust around each plant.
_Tomatoes._
Most easily started by getting the young plants grown under glass, and
setting out in the open ground in May. Put 4 ft. apart, in rich, mellow
soil, and water freely. Seed can be started, however, in the house, in
March, then the seedlings transplanted into old berry-boxes or
flowerpots, and allowed to grow slowly until about May 15th (around New
York), when they can be set in the open ground. Plants are attractive
when tied to stakes or a trellis, and produce earlier, better and
higher grade tomatoes, without the musty taste of those that are allowed
to sprawl over the ground.
_Turnips._
Sow early in the open ground, in drills 15 in. apart, and thin out to 6
in. apart in the row. Up to June, sow every two weeks for succession.
CHAPTER XI
Your Garden's Friends and Foes
A cow is a very good animal in the field; but we turn
her out of a garden.
--_Johnson._
YOUR garden's friends and foes,--have you ever thought about them as
such? You go to a lot of trouble to raise fine flowers and vegetables,
and then, if you are not on the lookout, before you know it something
has happened! Your rose leaves are discovered full of holes, and your
potato vines almost destroyed; your tomato plants are being eaten up by
the big, ugly "tomato worm," while your choicest flowers are dying from
the inroads of green or brown insects so tiny that at first you do not
notice them; and strong plants of all kinds are found cut off close to
the ground. What further proof do you need that your beloved garden has
its enemies?
Here indeed "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." If you would be
free and escape such ravages, you can not wait until your foes are
full-fledged and hard at work, because usually considerable damage has
then been done. Instead, you should learn at the time you begin
gardening all about the many difficulties you have to contend with,
including the various things that prey upon your plants.
When you plant seed, for instance, and it fails to come up, you are apt
to blame either the dealer or the weather man. Just as likely as not,
though, some insect had attacked the seed before it was planted, or else
the grubs got busy and enjoyed a full meal. These pests, with their
various relations, are the most difficult of all to control, but
poisoned bait (freshly cut clover that has been sprayed with Paris
green,) scattered on the ground where cut worms come out at night to
feed, will destroy many of them. When your plants have begun to grow,
however, and you find them being nipped off close to the ground, dig
close to the stem and you will probably bring to light a cut worm curled
up in his favorite position, and you can end him then and there from
doing further damage. The wire worm, on the contrary, works entirely
below the surface, and when you spade up a long, slender, jointed,
brownish, wriggling worm, quite hard, you will know that he is one of
the kind to be immediately destroyed.
These grubs and worms are the different kind of caterpillars,--the
children,--of several varieties of moths that fly by night, the shining
brown beetle that bumps against the ceiling on a summer evening, and the
funny "snap-bug." Crawling or flying, young or old, parent or child,
they generally do their worst after dark. Equal parts of soot and lime,
well mixed, scattered in a four-inch ring around each stem on the top of
the soil, will keep away the things that crawl, while white hellebore (a
poison that must not get on little fingers,) dusted on the plants will
keep off most of the things that fly. Rose bugs, however, seem to come
in a class by themselves! Apparently, they don't mind any of the
well-known deterrents and about the only way to really get rid of them
is to "go bugging," which means knocking them off into a cup of kerosene
or a box where they can be killed.
Caterpillars, naked or hairy, eat vegetation, and are consequently most
unwelcome visitors. The sowbug or pill-bug, while disagreeable to look
at, is not quite so injurious as often thought, but the mite called the
red spider can do a lot of damage. Most of the beetles seriously injure
the vegetables. The saw-flies with their offspring, and certain kinds
of ants (especially the "soldier ants") are as troublesome as the
caterpillars, while the next family group, the grasshoppers, locusts,
katydids and crickets are all great feeders,--the grasshoppers and
locusts often becoming an actual plague and destroying whole crops. To
get rid of the caterpillars and beetles various means are employed, such
as spraying with Paris green, Bordeaux mixture, kerosene emulsion, or
even strong suds made with whale-oil soap; and Paris green is also
applied dry. A pretty good poison is bran-and-arsenic mixture, but the
different liquids and powders make a story by themselves, and require
great care in using; so you better consult some successful
gardener-friend about the best one (and the way to use it,) for your
particular foe.
Of the sucking insects,--those that draw out the juice or sap of the
plant,--the aphides or "plant lice" do inestimable damage to all kinds
of plants and flowers, while the chinch bug and garden tree-hopper seem
to prefer to attack vegetables. The most familiar aphides are green, and
they have tiny, soft, pear-shaped bodies, with long legs and "feelers."
They usually live on the under side of the leaves and along the stems,
and one good way to get rid of them is to spray with kerosene emulsion
or tobacco water, or else sprinkle with clear water and then dust with
tobacco dust.
Not all of the live things that you find about your plants and flowers
are injurious, however, and you must learn to recognize those which are
beneficial. The ladybug, although a beetle, lives on aphides, and so is
your helper in destroying them. Several beetles, like the fiery ground
beetle, subsist on cutworms, and the soldier bug dines on the
destructive offspring of beetles and moths. The daddy-long-legs and the
spider are also friends to your garden, together with many wasps.
As for the bees, many, many plants are dependent on them for
fertilization, as the insects in their search for honey go clear down
into the flowers and carry with them the necessary pollen from one
blossom to another. Two stories I have heard illustrate this point. In
Australia many years ago people tried to introduce clover, but they
could not make it grow until some one thought of importing the bees
also. The native insects did not have a proboscis long enough to reach
to the bottom of the flower, so that the pollen had never been properly
placed. Then, not very long ago, a farmer living near a railroad had his
crop of tomatoes ruined because the railroad used soft coal, the soot of
which--settling on the tomato blossoms--kept away the bees so that the
flowers were not fertilized! He sued the company and recovered damages.
So you see the bee is really necessary for the success of your garden.
Toads eat many of your small enemies, and should be encouraged by
providing an upturned box or some cool, shady place in your garden where
they can rest during the day,--for much of this "dog-eat-dog" business,
sometimes termed "the law of the jungle," goes on at night.
Birds, however, wage open warfare, in broad daylight, and wherever the
soil has been cultivated, in the fields or among the plants and flowers,
the feathered tribe seek the very things you want destroyed. A
well-known nurseryman, when the English sparrow was first introduced in
this country, noticed many of the birds among his choice roses, and to
satisfy himself that they were not injuring the plants, killed one of
the fattest. An investigation of his little stomach showed it to be
chock-full of rose slugs and aphides,--the rose's worst enemies!
The robins, of the thrush family, live almost entirely on worms and
insects, and the bluebirds, orioles, tanagers and starlings, with the
various songsters, should all be given a most cordial invitation to pay
you a long visit. And this invitation? A place to live, if only a box
nailed up on a tree, with an opening small enough to keep out intruders.
A bird house more attractive in your own eyes is easily made by any boy
or girl handy with a knife or a jig-saw, and really artistic houses,
suited to particular birds, are described in various books and
magazines, made from pieces of bark, sections of limb, or fir cones. A
little study of the kind of nest each bird makes for itself may enable
you to select your guests. The swallow, the cat-bird, the blackbird, the
finch,--all should be welcomed: and suet tied on the branches, bread
crumbs scattered around your door, grain sprinkled where you especially
want them to come, will encourage the winter birds to pay you a daily
visit.
A bird bath is sure to prove an irresistible attraction. I have seen my
back yard full of starlings and sparrows, pushing and crowding each
other to get into a little pool where the snow has melted around a
clothes-pole! A shallow pan, with an inch or two of water, will often
draw so many birds that it has to be filled again and again during the
day. Birds suffer, too, in winter from thirst, and greatly appreciate a
drinking place. A bird fountain, with its running water, is a delight
for the rich; but a pretty enamelled tray, white or gray, and round,
square or oval, can be bought in a department store for less than a
dollar, and it can be sunk in the top of a vine-covered rockery or
securely placed on a mossy stump, where it will bring both joy and birds
to the smallest gardener.
So cheer up. Though your foes, as described, seem a formidable army,
remember all the friends that will rally to your aid, and with
reasonable watchfulness and care, you and your garden will come out
victorious.
CHAPTER XII
A Morning Glory Playhouse
Small service is true service while it lasts.
Of humblest friends, bright creature! scorn not one;
The daisy, by the shadow that it casts,
Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun.
--_Wordsworth._
YOU children love a playhouse, don't you? Yet it isn't always easy to
get one. A morning glory bower, however, is a perfect delight, and very
easy to make. Persuade some big brother to drive a few long stakes in
the ground so as to mark out either a square or a circle, as you prefer.
Then ask him to fasten some heavy cord from the bottom of one stake to
the top of the next nearest, and then across the top, leaving only a
place at one side for an entrance. Soak your morning glory seeds over
night, so that they will germinate more quickly, and then plant them
along the line of the circle or square marked on the ground. As soon as
they begin to grow, train the vines on the cords, and if necessary tie
in a few more strings near the bottom, to help the baby climbers get
started.
The morning glory grows very rapidly, and is justly popular because of
its lovely blossoms which come in the most beautiful shades. And as the
flowers always turn away from the sun, you will find them soon
completely lining the inside of your playhouse.
The most common kind (Convolvulus major,) grows from 15 to 20 ft., and
will do well in almost any location. It costs only five cents per
packet, and will flower all summer. Who could ask more! The rarer kinds
are known as the Japanese Morning Glory, which grows from 30 to 50 ft.,
and has blossoms measuring from 3 to 4 inches across. These range from
snowy white to darkest purple through the pinks, both plain and with all
kinds of variations. They grow and spread very fast, and love a sunny
location.
If you prefer, you can use the trunk of some tree for the center pole of
your playhouse. (Possibly some of you at the opera may have seen
Siegmund draw the magic sword from the big tree-trunk in the center of
his sweetheart's home.) Well, you could attach cords from pegs driven
in a circle around the base, to the tree at any height desired, and
here plant either the scarlet runner or the hyacinth bean.
Still another way is to plant two poles 8 or 10 ft. apart, and have a
stick nailed across the top, like the ridge pole of a tent. Drive pegs
into the ground along each side, in parallel lines 6 or 8 ft. apart, and
tie heavy cords from the pegs on one side to the pegs on the
other,--carried, of course, over the ridgepole. Plant your seeds close
to the pegs, and in a few weeks your vines will form a flower tent. For
this purpose, you might use the climbing nasturtiums or the wild
cucumber vine. Or, if you can save up the fifteen cents necessary, buy
the new cardinal climber, which has clusters of five to seven blossoms
each, of a beautiful cardinal red, from July until late fall. The vine
grows rapidly, and often more than 20 ft. long, so that when it reaches
the ridge-pole, you can let it run over the other side, and make a good
thick roof. The seeds are very hard, however, and so should either be
soaked over night, or slightly nicked with a file.
If you get a firm, strong framework for your playhouse, you might like
to plant a hardy vine that would live through the winter and be ready
for use early next summer without further trouble. In that case, you
could use the Dutchman's pipe, which is a fast growing climber having
peculiar yellow-brown flowers the shape of a pipe. Though these seeds
are only ten cents per packet, the young plants are sold by the
nurserymen for fifty cents apiece: so if you grow them yourself you can
figure out what a valuable little house you will have!
The everlasting pea is a sprawling, quick grower, having many flowers in
a cluster, and blooming in August. It thrives in even the most common
soil, and gets better every year. It comes in white, pink and red, and a
package of the mixed colors can be bought for five cents.
Other things besides vines are good for flower playhouses. Hollyhocks,
planted in a square or a circle, will soon be high enough to screen you
from the curious butcher-boy or the neighbor's maid. While most kinds
are biennials, and so do not bloom until the second summer, you can
either coax a few plants from some grown-up friend that has a lot
already established, or you can buy seed of the new annual variety,
which, if sown in May, will flower in July!
Sunflowers, too, are to be found in several varieties, ranging from 6 to
8 ft. in height, which you could use for a sort of a stockade, a là
Robinson Crusoe. Those having the small blossoms are nice for cutting,
while the old-fashioned kind furnishes good feed for the chickens,--in
which case your plants would be well worth growing for the seed.
It will never do, however, for you simply to get your flower playhouse
started, and then leave it to take care of itself! You must watch the
baby plants as soon as they peep out of the ground, help the vines to
grow in the right direction and water thoroughly whenever there is a dry
spell. Cultivate around the roots every few days, as this breaking up of
the hard crust which forms on top will prevent the moisture from
escaping through the air channels in the soil, and keep the roots moist.
Several times during the season dig in a trowelful of bonemeal around
each plant, and then give a good wetting.
While the hardy vines, after once getting started, bloom every year
without much more attention, the annuals have one advantage,--you can
have a different kind every time. In other words, you would then be able
to give your house a fresh coat of paint,--I should say, flowers--every
summer.
CHAPTER XIII
The Work of a Children's Garden Club
I am ever being taught new lessons in my garden:
patience and industry by my friends the birds,
humility by the great trees that will long outlive me,
and vigilance by the little flowers that need my
constant care.
--_Rosaline Neish._
DID you ever see the boy or girl that did not want to get up a club? I
never did; and the reason is that people, young and old, like to both
work and play together. Now a garden club is really worth while, and
although I might simply TELL you how to proceed after getting your
friends to meet and agree on the purpose, you probably will get a much
clearer idea if I relate what a certain group of little folks actually
did accomplish.
Fifteen boys and girls living in old Greenwich Village,--today one of
the poor, crowded sections of New York City, where even the streets are
darkened by a tall, unsightly elevated railroad,--were invited to form
a club that would be taken once a week out on Long Island to garden. A
vacant lot, one hundred by one hundred and ten feet, in Flushing, about
twelve miles away, had been offered for their use, and some of the older
people saw that the ground was first properly ploughed up, for, of
course, the children couldn't be expected to do that kind of hard work.
But they could, and they eagerly did see that the soil was then properly
prepared by breaking up the clods, removing all the sticks and stones,
and getting the earth raked beautifully smooth. Several Flushing ladies
agreed to help, making out lists of the flowers and vegetables most
easily grown there, getting the seeds free by asking for them from their
Congressman at Washington, and then showing the children how to plant.
First a five-foot border was measured off clear around the lot, for a
flower bed, and each child had its own section. After finding out what
each one wanted to grow, one bed was planted to show how the work should
be done,--the depth to put in the seeds, the distance the rows should be
apart, the way to cover, besides the placing of the tallest flowers at
the back or outer edge, and the lowest or edging plants along the foot
path.
This 18-in. path ran clear around the lot, leaving a large plot in the
center. This plot was then marked off by string or wire to divide it
into the vegetable gardens, with little walks between. The vegetable
beds measured about 6 by 9 ft., but as 6 ft. proved wide for small arms
to reach over and cultivate, this year the beds are to be made 5 by 10
ft. At first, too, each child grew its own few stalks of corn on its own
bed, but it was difficult to manage, so now all the corn will be grown
in one patch, where it can be more easily hoed.
The radishes and lettuce, of course, grew most quickly, and within five
or six weeks were ready for the table. On that memorable first day, from
the fifteen beds, over one thousand radishes alone were picked, and that
original planting continued to produce for nearly a month. Successive
plantings brought on plenty for the rest of the season. The lettuce,
too, grew abundantly, while the cucumbers were especially fine. String
beans were ready very early, and three plantings during the season
produced sometimes two to three quarts a week for each child. Tomatoes
grew in such profusion that once during the hot weather when they
ripened faster than usual, a neighboring hospital was given two bushels!
And flowers! The children actually could not carry them away. They took
home all they wanted, and made up the rest into thousands of little
bunches which the city Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild gladly called for
and distributed to the New York City hospitals, jails and missions.
Freshly cut, they would last a week, until the children's next visit to
their gardens. With hollyhocks, dahlias, cannas and cosmos at the back
of the border, and in front stocks, poppies, sweet alyssum, Japanese
pinks, nicotiana, and the loveliest blue cornflowers imaginable, they
offered a choice variety.
How the children loved the work! One poor little lame boy took some of
his morning glory seed back to the slums and planted--where? In a box on
the window ledge of a dark court that never saw a ray of sunshine. (The
woman in the tenement below objected to having it on the fire escape in
front and he had no other place.) And there it actually bloomed, dwarfed
like its little owner, fragile beyond words, with a delicate flower no
bigger than a dime, but answering the call of love.
The gardens thrived in spite of the only once-a-week care. A pipe line,
with a faucet, ran to the center of the lot, and plenty of watering cans
were provided for the weekly use, but during any extra hot weather a
friendly neighbor would turn on her hose in between times to save the
crops. And a children's outgrown playhouse, donated for the purpose,
served as a convenient place to keep the garden tools.
The garden work created general interest in all nature study, and the
children would go on trips to gather all kinds of grasses, wild flowers,
and swamp treasures. These were dried, then classified, and later
presented to the Public Library for the use of teachers and students of
botany. And the little lame boy mentioned made a really beautiful
collection of butterflies.
If the club you organize wants a community garden, almost any owner of a
vacant lot will give you its use,--especially if you offer in return to
give him some fresh flowers and vegetables. If you prefer, however, you
can have your gardens on your own grounds. Then a committee of your
elders could be invited to give you suggestions as to the flowers and
vegetables best adapted to your location and soil, and also to act as
judges at your show. For, of course, when everything is at its best you
will want to have an exhibition. Perhaps some father or mother will
offer a prize,--a book on gardening, a vase or a plant for winter
blooming.
[Illustration: AN OUTGROWN PLAYHOUSE HELD THE TOOLS USED BY THE CHILDREN
IN THESE GARDENS]
Remember that both the Department of Agriculture at Washington, and your
State College of Agriculture are anxious to help this kind of work. The
former gives you all the seeds you need, free of charge. Write to some
well-known seed houses for catalogues, and you will get particulars
about all the different varieties. Go to your Public Libraries, and you
will find the most fascinating books, many written especially for
children, telling you just what to do. "When Mother Lets Us Garden," by
Frances Duncan, is one of the best and simplest, while "Little Gardens
for Boys and Girls," by Higgins, "Mary's Garden and How It Grew," by
Duncan, "Children's Library of Work and Play Gardening," by Shaw, and
"The School Garden Book," by Weed-Emerson, are all intensely
interesting.
If you find yourself so successful in your work that you have more
flowers and vegetables than you can use, remember that there are always
plenty of poor people in your own town who would gladly accept your
gifts, and any church organization would tell you how to reach them. If,
however, you are trying to earn some money for yourself, you can always
find regular customers glad to buy things fresh from the garden.
For a meeting place during the summer, why not plan a flower club-house?
Perhaps some of the dear old grandmothers will give you a few
hollyhock roots, which you can plant in a circle big enough to hold
your little club. Leave an opening in the ring just big enough to enter
through, and before the season is very far along, the hollyhocks will be
tall enough to screen you from the passerby. The hollyhocks sow
themselves, and come up every year, and hybridized by the bees, show
different colors every season. Better still, go to the woods for a lot
of brush, stick it in the ground to form a square room, and cover with a
brush roof. Over this you can train wild honeysuckle, which you can find
in lengths of ten and twelve feet. Or you can buy a package or two of
the Varigated Japanese Hop, which will grow ten feet in a month or six
weeks,--and sowing itself, come up and cover your house every year.
A garden club proves a source of pleasure through the winter, too. You
can go on with the care and cultivation of house plants, and the growing
of all kinds of bulbs. You can meet regularly at the different homes,
and have the members prepare and read little papers such as "How to Grow
Roman Hyacinths in Water," "The Best Flowers for a Window-Box," "Raising
Plants from Cuttings," "Starting Seeds Indoors," "How to Make a Table
Water-Garden," etc.
In case you wish to know exactly how to organize and conduct a club,
just like big folks do,--get from your Public Library a book called
"Boys' Clubs," by C. S. Bernheimer and J. M. Cohen. This has also a
chapter on girls' clubs, and it tells you all about club management, so
that you can have a lot of fun at your meetings, besides learning a
great many important things in a way that you will never forget.
CHAPTER XIV
The Care of House Plants
Who loves a garden loves a greenhouse too.
--_Cowper._
"IF you are one of those people who love flowers and can make them
grow," said a Fifth Avenue florist to me recently, "you can do almost
anything you please with them, and they will thrive." "So, then," I
laughed, "you think love has a great deal to do with the matter?" And he
replied, "I most certainly do!" Therefore, if you love to see "the green
things growing," enough to give them the least bit of intelligent care,
you can reasonably hope to raise all you have room for.
The main points to bear in mind are light, heat and moisture. Flowering
plants need sunlight at least part of the day, and generally do best in
a south window. Most of the decorative or foliage plants, on the other
hand, will keep looking well with only a reasonable amount of light, as
when near a north or east window, if they have the proper amount of heat
and moisture. But don't, please, set any plant back in the room, away
from the light, and expect it to succeed very long,--for it never will!
Select, then, growing things suited to your living quarters, and learn
their needs.
The heat of many living-rooms is too great,--and too dry,--for some
plants to do their best in, and they should be kept near the windows,
although out of draughts. They usually will stand as much cold at night
as they are likely to get in an ordinary house, so it is best not to
overheat them during the day, but instead, keep them in a cool part of
the room. Moreover, they thrive better if, when suitably placed, they
are allowed to remain undisturbed.
The atmosphere should be kept moist by means of water kept on stove,
register or radiator, but water to the roots should be applied to most
plants only when the soil is dry. This during the winter generally means
two or three times a week. With few exceptions, plants should not be
watered while still showing dampness.
"I often wonder," said another florist, "that women with gardens do not
try to save some of their flowering plants that might easily be moved
into the house. Perhaps they think it isn't worth while." If they can
afford to buy all they want to, that may be the reason, but the real
flower lover will delight in coaxing some favorite to go on blooming
indoors. Heliotropes cut back, petunias and salvias, by being carefully
lifted with a ball of earth so as not to disturb the roots, and then
kept in the shade for a couple of days, ought to continue to bloom for
some time. Begonias I have moved this way without affecting them for a
single day. A small canna, thus potted, will last a long time and help
out among the more expensive foliage plants. Geraniums, however, are the
old stand-by of window gardeners. If "slipped" during the summer, by
cutting off a tender shoot just below a joint, and putting it in a pot
of light, rather sandy soil, and kept moist, it should bloom during the
winter. It does best in sunshine.
The kind of soil best adapted to houseplants generally, is given by one
authority as two parts loam, one part leaf mould, one part sharp sand.
The variation of different growers simply proves what I have seen
contended, that it is the proper temperature and moisture that really
count.
The city girl, with little space to spare, will find the begonias, in
their many varieties, most satisfactory. They respond quickly to house
treatment, and a small plant from the florist's will grow so rapidly as
to soon need repotting. These favorites are of a large family, and some
will stand considerable shade. A large, lovely specimen now about three
years old, in my own home has developed from a little thing costing
fifteen cents. Get cultural directions for the kind you buy, as they
differ. A couple of stalks broken from an old plant early in the season,
and stuck in a small pot, if kept thoroughly damp, will soon root, and
blossom in a very little while.
Fuchsias are another old favorite easily grown from cuttings, and
thriving well in a window. Primroses are easily grown from seed, and
when started in February or March, should begin blooming in November and
under careful treatment, last through the winter. The crab cactus or
"Christmas cactus," as I have heard it called, is one of the most easily
grown houseplants, and sends out bright red flowers at the ends of the
joints, making an attractive plant for the holidays.
Of the ferns, I have found several varieties exceptionally satisfactory.
A little Boston, costing only twenty-five cents when bought for a small
table decoration four or five years ago, and changed from one pot to
another as growth demanded, today is five feet in diameter,--and the
despair of the family on account of the room it requires. It has always
stood near either an east or a west window during the winter, in a
furnace-heated, gas-lighted house, and been moved to a north porch
during the summer. This type needs considerable moisture, and does best
when watered every day. I have even seen it growing in a large basket
placed in a pan of water. The leaves of this group must be kept clean,
and I wash mine occasionally with a small cloth and warm water, using a
little soap and then rinsing, if I discover any trace of scale,--that
little hard-shelled, brown pest often found on both stems and leaves.
Both of the asparagus ferns,--the plumosus and the Sprengeri, I have
grown from tiny pots until they became positively unwieldy, by giving
about the same kind of treatment. None of these should be allowed to dry
out, as they then turn brown and wither. The asparagus plumosus can be
either pinched back to keep as a pot plant, or encouraged to grow as a
vine. The asparagus Sprengeri is especially valuable for boxes and
baskets, on account of its long, drooping sprays, and if allowed to
develop naturally during the summer, should be well covered with its
lovely berries at Christmas time.
The holly fern is especially beautiful, while also quite hardy and--to
its advantage--not so common as the varieties already mentioned. Several
small specimens found planted at the base of a Christmas poinsettia were
afterwards set out in small pots, and grew with surprising rapidity.
They stood the dry heat of a steam-heated house, and kept a lovely
glossy green when other plants were seriously affected.
Fern dishes are frequently filled with the spider ferns, though often
combined with the others mentioned. On a certain occasion, when a
neglected fern dish had to be discarded, I discovered in the center a
tiny plant still growing that looked so hardy I decided to repot it. It
grew and, to my surprise, soon developed into an attractive little
kentia palm, now three or four years old and eighteen inches high. I
think that one reason the ordinary fern dish does not last long is that
it is kept on table or sideboard all the time, too far away from the
light. Often, too, it is not properly watered. If every morning after
breakfast it were sprinkled in the sink, and then set near a window,
though not in the sun, it would soon be getting too big for its
quarters, and need dividing. It is well to remember that the container
is shallow and holds very little earth, hence its roots are in danger of
drying out.
All these ferns mentioned I have seen grown repeatedly, under varying
conditions, in a furnace-heated house as well as a steam-heated
apartment; and with a reasonable amount of light, and water enough to
keep them thoroughly moist, I have had them green and beautiful the year
around.
Palms and the popular foliage plants can be grown satisfactorily with
little or no sunlight. The kentia palm before mentioned is one of the
very hardiest, and will thrive where few others will grow. Both the
cocoanut and date varieties can be easily grown from seed,--an
interesting experiment. None of them require any particular treatment. A
place by a north or east window will suit them perfectly; they will
stand a temperature of forty-five degrees at night; but they do require
plenty of water, and cleanliness of leaf. Water them as the earth
becomes dry, but do not leave standing in half-filled jardinieres, (as
people often do,) as much soaking spoils the soil. A good plan for
plants of this class is to set them in a pail of warm water and leave
for a few hours or over night, about once a week, and then when they
become dry in between times, pour water enough around the roots to wet
thoroughly.
The rubber plant grows quickly compared with the palm, and requires very
little attention. It does best in good soil, and thrives on being set
in a half shady place outdoors during the summer. One that I have
watched for four years has stood during the winter near a west window,
only a few feet from a steam radiator. It would get quite dry at times,
but never seemed to be affected at all. When a plant gets too tall for a
room, and looks ungainly, make a slanting cut in the stem at the height
desired, slip in a small wedge, and wrap the place with wet sphagnum
moss, which must be then kept wet for several weeks. When you find a lot
of new roots coming through this wrapping, cut off just below the mass
and plant the whole ball in a pot with good soil. Keep in a shady place
for a few days, and in a short time you will have two nice, well-shaped
plants instead of the single straggly one.
A group of three long, slender-leaved plants are the next of those
easily grown for their foliage. The hardiest is the aspidistra, with its
drooping dark green leaves, each coming directly from the root stalk,
and it will stand almost any kind of treatment. From one plant costing a
dollar and a half five years ago, I now have two that are larger than
the original and have given away enough for five more. It has an
interesting flower, too,--a wine-colored, yellow-centered, star-shaped
blossom that pushes up through the earth just enough to open, and which
often is hidden by the mud of excessive watering.
The pandanus produces long, narrow leaves from one center stem, and can
be bought in plain green, green and white or green and yellow. It needs
good drainage, but takes a rich soil and plenty of water. It stands
exceedingly well the dust, dryness and shade of an ordinary living-room,
so is a valuable addition to any collection of houseplants. It is easily
multiplied by using the suckers as cuttings.
The dracænas are quite similar to the pandanus, only they are usually
marked with a beautiful red. They are equally suitable for living
quarters, and will thrive under the same conditions. The umbrella plant
requires an unusual amount of water, and will grow nicely in a water
garden. Its tall, graceful umbrellas make it an especially attractive
plant. The Norfolk Island pine is another popular houseplant that asks
only to be kept cool and moist. Beautifully symmetrical, it fits
especially well in certain places, and will respond gratefully to even a
reasonable amount of attention. For a small plant, the saxifraga I like
very much, with its beautifully marked leaves and the runners which make
it so effective for a bracket or basket.
The "inch plant," or "Wandering Jew," as some people call it, in both
the green and the variegated, looks and does well in wall pockets or
when grown on a window sill in a fine, thin glass. Smilax is also
recommended for the window garden, and will grow in quite shady places,
though it needs to be trained up. All the ferns and green plants
mentioned are likely to prove more satisfactory than the flowering ones
to the amateur doomed to live in sunless rooms,--which, however, can be
made most attractive with what is suitable.
SIMPLE INDOOR NOVELTIES
The prettiest kind of a little hanging basket is made by cutting off the
top of a big carrot, carefully scraping out the inside, running a cord
through holes made near the rim, and keeping it full of water. It will
soon resemble a mass of ferns.
A lovely little water garden for the dining-room table is made by
slicing a 3/4-in. thick piece from the top of a beet and a carrot, and
laying them in a shallow dish or bowl, with half an inch of water,--to
not quite cover the slices. Set in the light for a few days and you will
have soon a beautiful mass of feathery green and sword-like dark red
foliage that will last for months.
Grape fruit pips will sprout in a bit of soil very quickly, and make a
mass of attractive green often where ferns have failed to grow.
WINTER BLOOMING BULBS
Of all the bulbs for winter blooming, the Chinese lily is one of the
most satisfactory, as it flowers in a few weeks, and is grown in a
shallow bowl in water, with pebbles to hold it in position. It is best
to set it in a dark place for a week or two until the roots start, when
it can be brought to a light window.
The paper white narcissus and the Roman hyacinth can also be grown in
water, or placed in soil if preferred. They will blossom in about eight
weeks. The other "Dutch" bulbs will take longer, although the hyacinths
are easily grown in water by setting each bulb in a hyacinth glass or an
open-mouth pickle bottle, with water enough to just touch the bottom of
the bulb, and then putting away in a cold, dark place (like a cellar),
until the roots nearly touch the bottom of the glass. A few pieces of
charcoal help to keep the water sweet. Bring gradually to a light
window, and when flower buds are well started, put in the sun. By
bringing out this way in the order of their best development, flowers
can be had for a long season. The hyacinth bulbs can be bought from
five cents to twenty-five cents apiece, according to their fine
breeding.
[Illustration: SPRING BEAUTIES,--TULIPS, DAFFODILS, CROCUSES, PUSSY
WILLOWS AND FORSYTHIA,--BLOOMING INDOORS AGAINST A SNOWY BACKGROUND]
Tulips, daffodils and hyacinths when grown in good soil in the shallow
"pans," should be set deeply enough to be just covered, quite closely
together if wanted in a group, thoroughly watered, and then put in a
cold, dark place (frost free, however). Keep moist for from two to four
mos.--when you can begin bringing them into the warm living-room as
desired, and place in the sunlight after buds form. With this method is
secured a succession of bloom from January until the spring flowers come
out-of-doors.
The freesia and the oxalis are of the "Cape" group of bulbs, and when
started in the fall should blossom in four or five months. Plant in
good, rich soil (half a dozen to a 5-in. pot), set away in a cool but
light place, and leave until some leaf growth has started. Then bring
into a light, warm room as desired for different periods of bloom. The
amaryllis is another foreign bulb that comes into market in the late
fall. Pot it in rich soil, rather sandy, do not cover the top of the
bulb, and keep rather dry until it gets a good start. When buds are
noticed, put the plant where it will get the sunlight, and water
regularly.
SPRING BEAUTIES
As I look up from my work, my eyes rest on the different spring bulbs
blooming this 28th day of February, in my south window, against their
snowy background,--purple crocus, both red and white tulips, and that
loveliest of daffodils, the white-tipped Queen Victoria. They were
potted last October, covered up in an ash-lined trench outdoors until
after the holidays, then carried into a cold but light attic for a week,
before finally being brought into a warm room. The daffodils cost but
three cents apiece, yet each fills an ordinary pot, and produces three
lovely blossoms, four inches across.
A new fibre is now on the market at a very low price that can be used
exactly like earth, only it does not sour, and consequently can be put
in any fine bowl or jar, as it does not need drainage. Once thoroughly
wet, it has only to be kept moist and the plants do as well as in soil.
I, personally, prefer to plant in soil.
The family living in an apartment with no cold place to start the bulbs
that take so long, could easily fix a box or egg-crate under the coldest
window and darken it with a small rug, hiding there for a few weeks the
Roman hyacinths and narcissi.
BOOKS FOR THE INDOOR GARDENER
However successful you are with your window gardening, you are sure to
enjoy knowing what other people have learned and written on the subject,
and a number of simple, interesting books are available. Your librarian
will be glad to point out the best she has to offer, and there are
several you may want to own. "Manual of Gardening," by L. H. Bailey,
formerly Dean of the Agricultural College at Cornell University, is one
of the most comprehensive, covering every phase of gardening, summer and
winter, indoors and out; "The Flower Garden," by Ida D. Bennett, devotes
considerable space to house plants, window gardens, hot beds, etc.;
"Green House and Window Plants," by Chas. Collins, is a little book by
an English authority, and goes quite fully into soils, methods of
propagating, management of green houses, and also the growing of house
plants; "Practical Horticulture," by our own Peter Henderson, while
especially valuable to the large commercial grower, contains much
interesting information for the amateur; "House Plants and How to Grow
Them," by P. T. Barnes, however, is one of the simplest and best, and
sure to suit the busy school-girl, in a hurry to find out the proper
way to make her particular pet plant do its very best.
And just as surely as she would not attempt to make a new kind of cake
without a reliable recipe, just so surely ought she not to expect to
grow flowers successfully without finding out first how it should be
done. Flowers, like friends, have to be cultivated, and consideration of
their needs produces similar delightful results.
CHAPTER XV
Gifts that will Please a Flower Lover
You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will,
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still.
--_Moore._
CHRISTMAS giving to the flower lover is a matter of delight, for if you
stop to think you will know what the recipient will be sure to
appreciate. Cut flowers always afford joy, from an inexpensive bunch of
carnations to the choicest American Beauties. The Christmas blooming
plants, however, last much longer, and the rich scarlet berries of the
ardesia will survive the holiday season by several months. Poinsettia
has been steadily increasing in popularity, and can be surrounded by
ferns that will live on indefinitely. All the decorative foliage plants
are sure to be welcomed, for with care they will last for years, and
improve in size and beauty.
The growing fad for winter-blooming bulbs affords another opportunity
for pleasing. If you did not start in time to grow to flower yourself,
give your friend one of the new flat lily bowls, procurable from fifty
cents up, and with it a collection of bulbs for succession of bloom.
These may be started in any kind of dishes with pebbles and water, set
in a cool, dark place until the roots start, and then brought out to the
light as desired. With narcissi at three cents each, Chinese lilies at
ten cents, and fine hyacinths up to twenty cents, for named varieties, a
dollar's worth will keep her in flowers for the rest of the winter.
Pretty little stem holders, made in pottery leaves, mushrooms, frogs,
etc., cost only from forty cents to fifty cents, and will be nice to use
in the bowl afterward, for holding any kind of cut flowers. We are
adopting more and more the Japanese method of displaying a few choice
specimens artistically, and assuredly this way they do show up to better
advantage. Many new vases are displayed for the purpose. A charming
Japanese yellow glaze, ten in. high, with a brown wicker cover, I saw
for only a dollar and a quarter, while the graceful Japanese yellow
plum blossom shown with it at thirty-five cents a spray, was a delight
to the eye. A slender ground glass vase in a plated cut silver holder
was only twenty-five cents, while the Sheffield plate bud vase was but
fifty cents. These could be duplicated in cut glass and sterling silver
at almost any price one wished to pay.
Venetian glass is quite fashionable, and can be had in all colors--red,
blue, green, yellow and black, and while expensive, has been imitated in
domestic ware at reasonable prices. Some of the new pottery bowls come
in unusual shapes, in white, gray, green, blue, and many are small
enough for a single bulb. A lover of the narcissus myself, I am
delighted with the idea of bringing out my paper whites one at a time,
so as to keep a lovely gray-green piece in use all winter. One of my
friends, on the other hand, is growing hers in groups of half-a-dozen,
the warm brown of the bulbs harmonizing most artistically with her
delicately colored stones in a brown wicker-covered Japanese glazed
dish.
This brown Japanese wicker, by the way, is most decorative, and can be
found in various kinds of baskets, metal-lined, for cut flowers or
plants of that grow in water,--some as low as ten cents apiece. A
tall-handled basket of this kind is now standing on my buffet,
beautiful with the varigated trailing sprays of the Wandering Jew. One
could not ask for a more satisfying arrangement.
Enamelled tinware, hand-painted, is new, too, and comes in many pottery
shapes, though strange to say, often at higher prices. Hand-painted
china butterflies, bees and birds, at from twenty-five cents to fifty
cents, are among this year's novelties, and look very realistic when
applied invisibly with a bit of putty to the edge of bowl or vase. Some
of the birds are painted on wood, life-sized, and mounted on long
sticks, to be stuck in among growing plants or on the tiny trellises
used for indoor climbers.
Many novelties in growing things can be found at the florist's--from the
cheapest up to all you feel like paying. A dainty new silver fern, big
enough for a small table, comes in a thumb pot at only ten cents.
Haworthia is cheap, too, and has the advantage of being uncommon. More
and more do we see of the dwarf Japanese plants, many quite inexpensive.
The Japanese cut leaf maple, for example, can be bought for seventy-five
cents. All are hardy, and suitable for small table decorations.
The new "air plant," or "Wonder of the Orient" (really an autumn
crocus), surprises every one not acquainted with it, as it flowers
during the late fall and early winter, without either soil or water, as
soon as put in the sunlight for a few days. Better still, when through
blooming, it will live through the year if put in soil, and store up
enough energy to repeat the performance when taken out next season.
Costing a dollar each when first introduced here, it can now be bought
as low as ten cents a bulb.
Japanese fern balls, black and unpromising as they look when purchased,
respond to plenty of light, heat and water by sending out the daintiest
kind of feathery ferns in a few weeks, and will last for several years.
They cost only thirty-five cents, too. Quaint, square pottery jars,
suspended in pairs by a cord over a little wheel, like buckets on a well
rope, make unusual hanging baskets and can be filled with your favorite
vines and flowers.
Garden tools are always acceptable as the old ones wear out or get lost,
and you can choose from the three-prong pot claw at a nickel up to the
fully equipped basket at several dollars. Handwoven cutting baskets,
mounted on sharp sticks for sticking in the ground when you are cutting
your posies, cost two dollars and a half, but will last for years. Small
hand-painted, long-spouted watering cans, for window sprinkling, cost
less than a dollar and look pretty when not in use. And for the person
with only a window garden, the self-watering, metal-lined window boxes,
that preclude dripping on the floor, will be a boon indeed.
Goldfish are pretty sure to please, for your flower lover is also the
nature lover. Even the tiniest bowl is attractive, and one I saw
recently had been in the house over two winters. The globe, however,
does not meet our modern ideas for the reason that the curved glass
reduces the area of water exposed to the air, so is bad for the fish.
The new all-glass aquariums can be bought in either the square or
cylindrical shapes, from a dollar and a quarter up, according to size
and quality, while the golden inmates can be found from five cents, for
the child's pet up to the fancier's Japanese prize-winner at one
thousand dollars. Your aquarium will require no change of water, either,
if properly balanced. Put in for the fishes' needs such oxygen-producing
plants as milfoil, (Millefolium,) fish grass, (Cabomba,) common arrow
head, (Sagittaria natans,) and mud plant, plantain, (Heteranthera
Reniformis,) the first and third being especially good together. These
in turn will thrive on the carbonic acid gas the fish exhale, so that
one supports the other. A snail or two (the Japanese red, at twenty-five
cents, preferred for looks,) and a newt will act as scavengers, and keep
the water clear as crystal. For food, put in a small quantity of meat
once a week, as the commercial "fish food" eventually causes
tuberculosis.
Birds, too, are generally popular with flower lovers. Canaries probably
are the stand-bys, though in the cities the uncommon little beauties
often are preferred. Polly, however, holds her own, and with many people
is the favorite.
Books,--always a safe and inexpensive gift,--are obtainable for the
flower lover, in the most fascinating editions. They cover all phases of
the subject, indoors and out, from the window garden to the vast estate,
the amateur to the professional grower. And no true gardener could sit
down by a blazing log on a blizzardy night, with Helena Rutherford Ely's
"The Practical Flower Garden," or L. B. Holland's "The Garden Blue
Book," filled with wonderful photographs and colored plates, without
quickly becoming lost to the storm outside, and conscious only of
sun-kissed lawns with blossoms nodding in the breeze. Heaven? Your
friend will already be in imagination's Paradise, with an increasing
sense of gratitude over your thoughtful selection.
CHAPTER XVI
The Gentlewoman's Art--Arranging Flowers
In Eastern lands they talk in flowers,
And they tell in a garland their loves and cares;
Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowers,
On its leaves a mystic language bears.
--_Percival._
THE above is almost literally true! You may be surprised to know that
the arranging of flowers has not only long been considered an art, but
that for centuries it has been closely connected with the whole life of
a nation.
Away back in 1400, a certain ruler of Japan became so interested in this
fascinating subject that he resigned his throne in order to study that
and the other fine arts! One of his friends,--a great painter,--worked
out the scientific rules which are still generally accepted, and the
study became the pastime of cultured people. Moreover, Japan's greatest
military men have always practised the art, claiming that it calmed
their minds so that they could make clearer decisions on going into
battle!
[Illustration: BLOSSOMS IN JAPANESE ARRANGEMENT]
Briefly put, the Japanese ideas are as follows: First, to use very few
flowers (preferably three, five, or seven, with their foliage), and but
one kind together. Then to arrange these so that the three main blossoms
form a triangle,--the highest point of which they usually call Heaven,
the middle point Man, and the lowest point Earth. If five or seven
flowers are used, the others are the unimportant ones, and used as
"attributes," placed near the important points. And as many of their
favorite flowers, like the iris and the chrysanthemum, have quite
straight stems, people have to learn how to bend them without breaking.
Each flower is studied, selected for its place in this triangle, and
then, oh! so very delicately, shaped to the desired line.
And then as so few flowers would be apt to slip around, they skilfully
hold them in place by means of slender sticks, cut the exact size, split
at one end, and then sprung into place across the vase or bowl.
If the stems curve to one side, it is called the male style, if to the
other, the female style; the arrangement must look not like cut flowers,
but like the living plant, and suggest the growth by the use of buds,
open flowers and withered leaves. Good and evil luck are connected with
the placing, as well as with the colors and the numbers chosen,--even
numbers and red being ill-omened. Certain arrangements also suggest the
seasons, one style, for instance, representing spring and another
autumn. While we today are not interested in Japanese symbolism, we,
many of us, are quite interested in Japanese methods on account of their
artistic effects.
Many books have been written by the Japanese on their favorite
subject,--some as far back as the Thirteenth Century! Of course you
never could read them even if you could find them here; but a Western
woman spent a long time over there, studying under the guidance of their
priests, and recently wrote a book ("Japanese Flower Arrangement," by
Mary Averill,) which explains everything and is full of illustrations,
so that you can see for yourself the results of following the Japanese
way.
Her most interesting message for you may be one method they have of
making their flowers last. During moderate weather it can be done in
this country by simply holding the stems of the flowers in a gas or
candle flame until black and charred, and then putting the flowers in
very cold water for seven or eight hours.
Another book, with a lot of beautiful pictures showing us how to arrange
flowers to please better, perhaps, our American taste, is "The Flower
Beautiful," by Clarence Moores Weed. It illustrates most of our own
familiar flowers, in all kinds of artistic holders, and is sure to give
us new ideas about arranging them so as to enable us to bring out their
full loveliness. Both of these books should be found in any good Public
Library, and in looking them over, you will have a treat.
A prominent New York florist, in showing our Garden Club his methods of
arranging flowers, advised (for one thing) filling a low bowl with
broken twigs or branches, to hold the stems and keep the flowers in
position without crowding. Breaking up a few ferns to illustrate; he
dropped them in a cut glass dish, and then stuck in a dozen stalks of
pale pink primroses. The result was an inexpensive table decoration as
beautiful as any costly display of roses. Personally, I did not approve
of his ferns, as they would very quickly decay in the water: but as a
child I had learned from my grandmother his better idea of half-filling
the dish with clean sand. It holds the stems exactly as placed, and can
be entirely hidden by the foliage.
Roses, the gentleman also told us, draw up water above the surface only
one-half the length of the stem in the water, and consequently should
not extend more than that height above the water,--else the "forcing
power" (as it is called) will not carry it far enough to sustain the
flowers at the end of the stems. (This may account for my own success in
keeping roses often for a week, for I usually take them out of the
water, lay them in a wet box or paper, and place them flat in the
ice-box over night so the water in the stems can flow to the extreme
end.) He also said they should never be crowded together, but rather be
separated as the primroses were. Both the leaves and the thorns under
water should be removed, as the leaves quickly foul the water, and the
breaking off of the thorns opens new channels for nourishment to reach
the flowers.
The flat Japanese bowls so popular the past few years, are not only
artistic, but good for the flowers, which in them are not crowded, and
so can get their needed oxygen. They can be held in place by the
transparent glass holders if one objects (as the florist did,) to the
perforated frogs, turtles, mushrooms, etc., now to be bought wherever
vases and other flower holders are sold. Any one who has tried to
arrange even half a dozen blooms in this simple way will never go back
to the crude, old-fashioned mixed bouquet! On the tables of the fine
restaurants in New York City one most often sees only a simple, clear
glass vase, with perhaps only two or three flowers; but they can be
enjoyed for their full beauty.
The secret of the whole subject is _simplicity_!--and you never know
what you can do until you try. At our last Garden Show I had expected to
make a well-studied arrangement of wild flowers for that class of table
decorations, but did not have the time. At the last moment I took an odd
little glass basket, filled it with damp sand, and stuck it full of
cornflowers, (what you might call ragged robins or bachelor buttons, and
which I grow to go with my blue china,) so that the holder was nearly
hidden. On seeing it in place, on the show table, I frankly confess I
was quite ashamed of my effort, it looked so very modest: and you can
imagine my great surprise when I discovered later that it was decorated
with a coveted ribbon!
There is one way, however, in which the mixed bouquet can be put
together so as to look its best, and our florist-guest demonstrated it.
On coming to the close of his remarks he began picking up the flowers he
had been using in his various arrangements with his right hand and
placing in his left,--paying no attention whatever to what he took, nor
even looking at what he was already holding. Rose, daisy, jonquil,
primrose, everything, just as he chanced to find it at hand, went
together. _But_,--and here was the secret of the successful result--he
grasped them all at the extreme lower end of their stems, whether long
or short, so that the bouquet on being completed had that beautiful
irregular outline as well as the mixed color that Mother Nature herself
offers us in the garden! So if you ever have to put a quantity of mixed
flowers together, remember to do it this way.
And now a last word about flower growing. Don't you know that old adage,
ending "try, try again?" When you think of the great Burbank, growing
thousands upon thousands of a single kind of plant or flower in order
to develop one to perfection, you can have patience in spite of pests
and weather. I hope you will have quantities of the loveliest blossoms,
and for the happiest occasions of life.
May you realize all your fondest expectations.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
This text prefers "varigated" (three times) to "variegated" (once). This
was retained.
Preface, "nutritous" changed to "nutritious" (well as nutritious)
Table of Contents, "Flower-beds" changed to "Flower Beds" to match usage
in text (the Flower Beds)
Page 19, smallcaps added to first word of chapter to match rest of text.
Page 35, in the "Good for" column for "Hollyhock" the word "or" was
repeated. The original read
Back of
border or
or clumps
Page 40, "Paeonia" changed to "Pæonia" (Pæonia officinalis)
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