66 



• • GARDENING. 



Nov. is^ 



evergreens at the top of the bank. The 

 evergreens on the windward side are 

 Austrian and Scotch pines, but the Aus- 

 trian is much the better one for this pur- 

 pose, in fact it is the best of all evergreens 

 for such work. Scattered in front of the 

 white spruces and where they are well 

 sheltered are a few specimens of other 

 trees such as the European bird cherry, 

 the European drooping linden (Tilia 

 petiolaris), cockspur thorns, etc. 



This question might suggest itself to 

 many: By clearing away that group of 

 hickories and spruces couldn't a broader 

 view of the Sound be had^ True, but the 

 peep through that notch is a beautiful 

 and distinct view; to the left of the group 

 and not shown in the picture is a broad 

 straight-across view of the water with 

 the country beyond for miles in sight, and" 

 there are other views in other directions. 

 The planting adds to the comfortable 

 appearance and hominess of the island, 

 for too bare a front has an impoverished, 

 naked efiect. Besides, at that corner, 

 which is the northeast, we need the pro- 

 tection afforded by these trees to save the 

 younger ones further back from the shove. 

 And a good feature of the planting of 

 that notch is that one can sit on the piazza 

 of the mansion house and look across the 

 water over the heads of the trees and 

 without the view being impeded in the 

 least. And as the dwarfness of the trees 

 is natural there is no perpetual care rc- 

 quirefl in trimming them down to the 

 proper height. 



The Flower Garden. 



THE FLOWER OflRDEN. 



Get everything tidied up before the win- 

 ter sets in. Simply because the frost has 

 come and killed the tender plants, and the 

 hardy perennials to the ground is no rea- 

 son why we should leave our gardens 

 littered up with dead plants, and other 

 rubbish. A clean, trim, tidy garden 

 always looks well, besides it is a public 

 endorsement of the owner. 



Borders of Hardy Pl.wts say filled 

 with pffionies, larkspur, phloxes, bell 

 flowers, sunflowers, German irises, bee 

 balm, coreopsis, meadow sweet, and the 

 like, should be put in order now for win- 

 ter. We cut over the dead tops of all the 

 plants and clear them away, securely 

 label everything that needs it, pull out 

 any bad weeds and give a general level off 

 to the surface of the bed with a hoe or 

 rake; then we spread a lot of well broken 

 up manure over it all for two purposes, to 

 fertilize the land, and to shade and pro- 

 tect the plants, and theircrowns in partic- 

 ular, from the winter's severity or change- 

 ableness. 



An Excellent Protection.— The old 

 dead stems of pjeonias, phloxes, sunflow- 

 ers and other hardy plants if left uncut 

 and dishevelled in the borders collect and 

 hold the tree leaves that are drifting 

 about in fall, and the snow in winttr.and 

 undoubtedly form one of the best and 

 most natural winter protections the 

 plants in the ground can have, but they 

 are untidy, unsighth', uncalled for, and 

 quite unnecessary, the clearing away of 

 all surface stems and rubbish, and mulch- 

 ing with short manure answer every pur- 

 pose. 



Clematis. — W here these are run up on 

 trellises or intertwined among other vines 

 it may be well to let them alone; but 

 where they are tied up to single stakes, 

 shorten in straggling antl dishevelled 

 shoots, then unfasten the i)Iant and let it 



drop to the ground, now gather it 

 together around the base of the stake 

 and cover it over with a few shovelfuls of 

 loam. The vines winter wellin this way. 

 While this is good for the early blooming 

 varieties, saving the old wood isn't of 

 much avail in the case of the late sorts 

 that bloom on the current years wood. 

 And although Flammula and paniculata 

 may have a good deal of sound wood 

 w hen spring comes it is a question if it is 

 better to try to save the old shoots than 

 to cut them down to the ground in fall. 

 Strong plants grow rampantly and are 

 as sure to bloom from the young shoots 

 springing directly from the ground as 

 from those produced on the preserved old 

 wood. Pitcheri, crispa and coccinea should 

 be cut down in the fall as you would a 

 common herbaceous perennial, and an 

 armful of leaves or a forktul of litter 

 placed over the roots. Herbaceous non- 

 climbing species as Davidiana, tuhulosa, 

 and integrifolia, should be cut over, and 

 even C. stans, which is inclined to being 

 shrubby, we find does well when cut back 

 to the ground in winter and well mulched. 



Clematis Paniculata from Seed.— 

 We had some young plants in a bed last 

 year; they were left fiat on the ground, 

 and bloomed and ripened seed there. Hav- 

 ing lifted and transplanted them last 

 spring, the bed was forked and planted 

 afresh with some small trees. We saw no 

 further traces of the clematis till after the 

 rains came in September when seedlings 

 of the clematis began coming up thick all 

 over the bed. If you have saved any 

 clematis seed sow it now and it niaj' 

 come up next spring or not till the fall. 

 Don't sowitinth greenhouseor window, 

 but out of doors, spread a few evergreen 

 branches over it to keep the sun and wind 

 away from it, but don't save it from the 

 frost. 



Hollyhocks, Sweet Williams, Can- 

 terbury Bells and Foxgloves cannot 

 be depended upon as unprotected hardy 

 plants in open places, but in the shelterof 

 ranker plants and bushes they seem to 

 winter well enough. Our main crop of 

 Canterburj' bells are wintered in a cold 

 frame whence they are planted out into 

 the garden in early spring, but all the 

 others named above are grouped together 

 in beds out of doors and mulched with 

 dry oak leaves, and a few branches, some 

 sedge, or a little dirt is thrown over them 

 to keep them from blowing about. The 

 hollyhocks that have lived over well in 

 the borders should have a small armful of 

 dry leaves placed around each and a little 

 litter over them to hold them in place. 



Barely Hardy Plants.— There are a 

 good many of these, for instance acan- 

 thus, miit flower, and Larpent's plum- 

 bago, that die down to the ground, they 

 should get an extra forkful or two of rank 

 litter mulching laid over them, not only 

 immediately over their crowns but around 

 them. 



MoNTBKETL^s live Out of doors here in 

 favorable spots, but as there is risk 

 attending them, we lift some of each 

 variety and set them in unbroken clunqjs 

 into a cold frame over winter where tlicy 

 survive nicely. 



Summer Hyacinths (//. candicans) in 

 some spots in the garden winters as well 

 as if it were a poet's narcissus, in others 

 it dies out in winter. A good mulching 

 ov r them is a safeguard, and wherethere 

 is the least doubt rbout them, lift the 

 bulbs and keep them dry and cool— but 

 never so cool as to let frost reach them — 

 till spring when they should be planted 

 out again. 



St^uces — We use stakes for dahlias, 

 hollyhocks, tall larkspur, and many other 



even smaller plants during the summer. 

 Get all such stakes gathered together and 

 assorted according to their length, cut off 

 the old tie-strings that may be still fas- 

 tened to them, and tie them securely into 

 bundles which should be stored in some 

 shed to keep them dry and preserve their 

 lasting qualities. 



Plant Some Bulbs.— If you have any 

 bulbs not yet set out get them planted at 

 once. Those planted so late as this don't 

 start to grow so early in spring as do 

 those set out a month ago. hence you can 

 mulch them well with safetj-. Although 

 many of our common bulbs are perfectly 

 hardy freezing does them no good. In 

 planting early we like to plant a 'ittle 

 deeper than is usual and not mrlch at all 

 or at least only lightly in winter; but in 

 planting late because of the more eiur- 

 va ed condition of the bulbs we v\ouldn't 

 plant quite so deep, but protect the bulbs 

 with a good thick mulching of li ter or 

 short manure, removing the same before 

 the plants come through the ground in 

 spring. In mixed borders lots of bulbs 

 can be planted now and without interfer- 

 ing with the summer plants. Observe 

 that bulbs, such as narcissi, irises, fritil- 

 larias, and the like make their growth 

 and bloom while the ground is moi-t with 

 the winter and spring rains and before the 

 summer's drouth occurs, therefore they 

 can be set out among small shrubs and 

 near other permanent plants where late 

 growers would starve. 



Empty Flower Beds —All beds from 

 which geraniums, coleus. heliotrojK- and 

 other tendt-r summer plants have been 

 removed should be cleaned up, manured 

 and forked if to be left cmptj' over win- 

 ter. If the ground is r ch already don't give 

 it much manure, for overfatted soil causes 

 plants to run more to foliage than to 

 blossoms, and a very rank growth isn't 

 desirable even in colt uses. For cannas, 

 castor beans, banana, and other rank 

 growing ornamental foliage plants 

 though give lots of manure. 



Labels and Labelling PLANTs.-Much 

 of the pleasure in gardening is in know- 

 ing the plants we have in the garden, so 

 far as genera and species are concerned 

 we might trust to memory and our note 

 book to keep us right, for instance we 

 know the genera. Delphinium. Pyrethrum, 

 and Coreopsis at sight without the aid 

 of a label, and in the way of species we 

 might remember Salvia Pitcberi, Tricyr- 

 tis hirta, and Heliantbus orgyalis: but 

 when it comes to varieties as in the case 

 of pyrethrums, phloxes, and pjeonies, we 

 must have labels to keep us right. For 

 hardy perennials, bulbs, and the like the 

 proper labels to use are such as we stick 

 into the ground, and are generally made 

 of wood. The labels should be neat but 

 strong, sound and long enough to allow 

 of them being pushed into the ground so 

 deep that frost cannot heave them out of 

 it in winter; the name should be written 

 neativ, legibly and firmly, beginning at the 

 top and writing down rather than at the 

 at the bottom and writing down rather 

 than at the bottom and writing up. 

 Don't make the labels as conspicuous in 

 your garden as are the tombstones in a 

 graveyard; big labels and big lettering are 

 useless. We take a clear, straight grained 

 pine board %-inch thick, and saw it off 

 into 14- or 15-inch lengths; then with a 

 small hatchet split these up into thin 

 pieces which with a knife and plane we 

 readily convert into nice labels. Any 

 pieces o( waste pine boards will answer 

 as well. It isn't a ease of durability so 

 much as of retaining the lettering that we 

 look to. Cypress, red cedar or resinous 

 woods as yellow pine may last longer 



