130 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



all summer. I have had it frozen to the ground after being in bloom, 

 and in a few weeks from that time it was again loaded with; blossoms. 

 Divide roots every three years. 



Columbine, 12x18, blooms in later April and lasts for fifty days. 

 When gone the foliage is fine. Plant seed and plants will bloom the fol- 

 lowing year and increase for a few years. I have at least fifty different 

 colors and they are all very beautiful. This is a very choice flower. 



Clematis Panicuiata is a choice vine, white and fragrant flower bloom- 

 ing late in autumn. It is the only clematis vine that I have obtained sat- 

 isfactory results with, as the others die shortly. 



Cosmos, 30 X 30, is a choice autumn bloomer, fine for cut flowers. It 

 is important to get the dwarf early flowering varieties, as the giant flow- 

 ered kind are too slow to get ahead of our early frosts. Start seed early 

 in the house, and plant out in May. They need good supports, being very 

 brittle. My dwarf varieties grow about four feet high and are greatly 

 prized, both for flower and foliage. For cosmos and dahlias I use a sup- 

 port of my own designing. I get heavy woven wire field fencing about 

 three feet high, and cut into thirty-foot lengths. Bend each length into 

 four pear-shaped sections something like a double figure eight, with the 

 centers drawn together and fastened, and the two ends of the thirty-foot 

 length joined together. In each of the four sections I put a plant, and 

 with cosmos four or eight plants may be placed outside and tied to the 

 wire frame. These wire frames are stiff enough to hold up the plants, 

 and can be given a new location each year, as they simply rest on the 

 surface of the ground. 



Dahlias, 30x30, I grow from tubers only. Plant a tuber with a good 

 long neck, four inches deep in May, and when up a few inches cut off all 

 but four branches and then let it alone, except to provide good support, 

 as it is very brittle and easily broken by the wind. Blooms from mid- 

 July until frost, and is fine for cut fiowers. One tuber in the spring will 

 make several by fall. After hard frost, cut off the top, and carefully dig 

 the whole bunch of tubers, leaving the dirt on, and store in a dry cellar 

 with preferred temperature between forty and fifty-five degrees. They 

 must not freeze. Leaving the dii't on all winter is a big help and keeps 

 them from withering. In spring, remove the dirt and cut tubers apart 

 with care, remembering that none will grow without an eye, and that the 

 eyes are in the neck only. Use the supports suggested for Cosmos, but 

 use only four plants for one clump. 



Delphinium, 18x30, will bloom some the first season if seeds are 

 started in boxes in March but the second and following years the bloom 

 will be much greater. Seed planted in summer as soon as ripe will make 

 good plants for the following year. Old plants bloom in June, and by 

 cutting down the stalk as soon as it is done flowering, new blossoms will 

 come, and in this way I have prolonged the season until October. The 

 roots may also be divided. The flowers are various shades of blue in 

 color. Choice for both garden and as cut flowers. 



Day Lily, 24 x 24, is a choice, beautiful white and very fragrant flower, 



