iS 



GARDENING. 



Oct. /, 



Exocborda grandiHora, Spirxa Van 

 Houttei, variegated elder, Prunus triloba, 

 lowering almond, American snowballs, 

 lilacs, purple fringe — this is covered with 

 its quaint purple flowers every sumrner— 

 and Hydrangea grandiHora never winter 

 kill with us, and most of them bloom 

 freely. Hydrangea never winter kills, 

 even the tips, and never fails to give abund- 

 ance of bloom. I have two large clumps 

 that I trim everj' spring closely. Now 

 they are five feet high and covered with 

 lovely heads of cream white blooms. On 

 one there were this season over a hundred 

 ])erfect bunches of blossoms. Coming so 

 late when flowers are not so plentiful I do 

 not see whv they are not morecommonly 

 cultivated. Push a stout slip in the 

 ground and if enough moisture is given 

 it, it will root as easily as a currant. 



Japan quince, rose "weigelia and caly- 

 canthus winter kill. But I am trying 

 your method of covering with boxes filled 

 with leaves and hope to have better suc- 

 cess after this. 



The barberries and yellow flowering 

 currant, and Tartarian honeysuckle are 

 as hardy as oaks. 



We have not a great variety of vines, 

 that I have succeeded in growing, they 

 include wistaria. Jackman's clematis, 

 honeysuckle, Prairie Queen and one mul- 

 tiflora rose. We can grow the old Belgian 

 honeysuckle by laying it down and cover- 

 ing it thickly in "winter. Its fragrant 

 fiowers^ay for all trouble. Anotheryear 

 1 shall try Clematis paniculata. We gen- 

 erally have in the second week in Septem- 

 ber a frost that injures flo wees. Pieonias 

 are very hardy and free bloomers. Do 

 piEonias mix? [They do not. But the her- 

 baceous varieties behave very strangel3' 

 both as regards theircolors and doubling 

 (see Ed. note, page 362, July 15). The 

 Chinese or late flowering herbaceous sorts 

 are the most inconstant. Why, we have 

 had seedlings bloom well for a year or 

 two giving single or semi-double flowers, 

 and the third season have full double 

 blossoms.— Ei).] I have the loveliest sin- 

 gle red pjEonia. The first year it bloomed 

 it was perfect. Its great mass of long 

 yellow stamens and glowing red petals 

 made it a gorgeous flower. The next year 

 it was nearly double, the long stamens 

 nearly covered and the color an ugly red. 



Several years ago I tried garden ane- 

 mones but they winter killed. Had I 

 covered them as you advised I would 

 have saved them perhaps. I am trying 

 two clumps of Vick's whirlwind anemone 

 received this spring. Am waiting anx- 

 iously to see how they bloom and endure 

 our winters. Mrs. M. G. B.\ker. 



I'inew ood, Iowa. 



This very jjretty j^iece of water seems 

 well adapted to thecultivationof ai|uatic 

 ])lants; as the common water lilies grow 

 so well it shows that the soil is in good 

 condition for all other hardy varieties, 

 and no special preparation is necessary. 

 Lists of the best varieties with instruc- 

 tions about planting have been given 

 in recent numbers of Gardening. (See 

 pages 295, 393 and 405.) The tender 

 varieties of Nympbxas would also do 

 well in this pond. The best of thtm are 

 .V. Zanzibarensis and its varieties azurca 

 and rosea, scutifolia, dentata, gracilis, 

 stellata and Devonensis. These would do 

 fairly well [)lanted in the soil of the pond 

 in water not moie than a foot or fifteen 

 inches deep, but they would do better 

 planted in boxes three or four feet square 

 and a foot deep, filled with a compost 

 made of c(|ual parts of old thoroughly 

 decayed barn manure and garden soil. 

 They should be sunk deep enough to 



cover the crowns of the plants with 

 twelve to eighteen inches of water, and 

 not more than eight or ten feet of each 

 other if there is plenty of room. The 

 hardy nymph^as should be planted in 

 irregular patches near the margin of the 

 pond in the bayou and nooks or wherever 

 it seems most appropriate, leaving plenty 

 of open water in the middle and in places 

 on the margin for boating. Plant some 

 Nelumbiutnsm the space between the little 

 island and the main land. The hardiest 

 and best variety is the deep pink N. spe- 

 ciosum roseum. The pure white variety 

 album grandiHorum and the yellow 

 native American species luteum are also 

 good. A few roots of these will soon 

 spread over considerable space and all the 

 care they need will be to keep them 

 within bounds by removing the runners 

 after they have spread as much as desired. 



Build a rustic bridge from the main 

 land to the little island, remove the tree 

 on this and build a small round or octag- 

 onal rustic summer house on it, to be 

 covered with Ipomoea setosa, I. grandi- 

 Hora or some other rapid growing vines. 

 Grade down the banks of the island 

 enough to make a gentle slopeto theedge 

 of the water and plant some caladiums, 

 cannas and Egyptian paper plants 

 {Papyrus antiquorum ) . The latter is one 

 of the finest plants I know of for a water 

 garden and flourishes equally well in 

 shallow water and on dry ground. Plant 

 some of the tender Nymphieas on the 

 water side of the island, and around the 

 edge of the pond in appropriate places in 

 the shallow water plant Papyrus, the 

 variegated sweet flag (Acorus Japonica 

 variegatus), Scirpus zebrina, Sagittaria 

 Japonica ft. pi., Pontederia cordata, Lim- 

 nantbemum /nrf/cum the water poppy, the 

 common water hyacinth and the blue 

 species, E. azurea. No more suitable 

 place can be found for the cultivation of 

 the magnificent Japanese and other irises 

 than the margin of a water garden. On 

 the lawn in suitable places around the 

 pond plant beds of semi-tropical and 

 other ornamental plants sxich as musas, 

 canna, caladiums, castor beans, Arundo 

 donax, Eulalia gracillima univittata, E. 

 Japonica variegata and E. Jap. zebrina, 

 Erianthus Ravenwe, etc. 



The plant referred to as such a nuisance 

 is probably the European Limnanthe- 

 mum nympha:oides and ought never to 

 be planted in a pond,, as it is impossible 

 to get rid ol it when once established. I 

 have had no trouble with musk rats my- 

 self, but they are very partial to the root 

 oi Nympliseas and nelumbiums and a few 

 of them will do a great amount of mis- 

 chief in the course of a winter. The only 

 way I know of to get rid of them is to 

 trap or shoot them, and if there are no 

 other ponds or streams in the vicinity it 

 ought not to be a difficult matter to ex- 

 terminate them. Perhaps a bounty 

 ofl'ered to the boys of the neighborhood 

 for every rat killed might help matters a 

 good deal. L. W. Goodelt,. 



Pansy Park, Mass. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



FLflNTlNO EVERGREEN TREES AND SHRUBS 

 IN FALL. 



Now is a capital time to plant evergreen 

 coniferous trees, also rhododendrons, 

 kalmias, andromedas, amocna azaleas, 

 tree box, hardy heaths, and other plants 

 of the kind that keep good balls of earth 

 with lots of fibres to their roots. They 

 should be well soaked before they are jni't 

 into the holes, and before finishing filling 



in the dirt about them give a reasonably 

 good watering. Do not water on the sur- 

 face of the ground as it crusts the earth, 

 and prevents a free penetration of rain 

 and air. Don't plant coniferous trees as 

 pines, firs, spruces, or arbor vitaes more 

 than one or two inches deeper than they 

 were before; of course the size of the plant 

 has a good deal to do with this, big trees 

 can bear a little more depth than small 

 ones. 



Don't overwater conifers. Thousands 

 of young plants are killed eveiy year by 

 constant watering, it rots the roots and 

 death ensues. Rhododendrons, azaleas, 

 and the like can stand more water than 

 conifers, and it is very important in their 

 case to have the ball of roots thoroughly 

 soaked before being planted. For the 

 winter mulch about the plants with 

 leaves or long manure, we generally use 

 salt meadow hay, but do not apply it till 

 the ground is frozen about the plants. 

 The great advantage of planting now is 

 that the hot weather is practically past, 

 the nights are long and cool, there is a 

 dew to recuperate the plants from the 

 fatigue of the day, and the ground is 

 wann enough to induce good root action. 

 The result is that next spring the plants 

 are apt to start off into growth more as 

 if they had been established than recently 

 planted specimens. J. R. Trumpy. 



Kissena, L. I., September 10. 



PRUNING LILACS. 



Please state the better time and man- 

 ner of pruning lilacs? I planted some 

 choice young bushes a year ago, but 

 neither in my horticultural books or pa- 

 pers do I find directions for pnining, and 

 I have the impression that it must be 

 done with care. J. J. D. 



Dutchess Co., N. Y. 



The first thing to do is to make the 

 lilac into a shapely shrub, and this may 

 have to be done at a considerable sacri- 

 fice of good wood, even flowering wood, 

 but no matter, begin aright. This may 

 be done any time between October and 

 the end of April. In pruning, cut out the 

 old gnarled wood, and retain the clean 

 barked, healthy shoots, but cut anything, 

 big or little, back hard enough to give 

 the plant a shapely foundation. Now,at- 

 tendtotheyoungwood. About the end of 

 May, when the young shoots are pretty 

 well developed, and before the terminal 

 eye plumps up solid, cut the longer ones 

 back halfway if need be to preserve the 

 equilibrium of the bush, they will branch 

 again; and remove root sprouts and stem 

 sap shoots. Don't do any late summer 

 pruning; whatever is done should be done 

 early enough to give the young shoots 

 an opportunity to ripen up thoroughly 

 in summer. Pruning, however, may not 

 induce early blooming, for common as 

 the lilacs are, we have few shrubs more 

 exasperating as regards their starting to 

 bloom. 



TRANSPLANTING DECIDUOUS TREES AND 

 SHRUBS. 



From the end of September and early in 

 October, most fibrous rooted trees and 

 shrubs can be transplanted with excellent 

 success. In the line of trees I may men- 

 tion maples in general, horse chestnuts in 

 variety, catalpas, and poplars; and in the 

 way of shrubs clethras, euonymus, deut- 

 zia, mock orange or syringa, forsythia, 

 hibiscus, hydrangea, hypericum, spirzeas, 

 weigelia. Buttrees and shrubs thathave 

 long or naked roots or are growing late 

 should be planted after the first black 

 frost. In the way of trees I mav mention 



