214 



GARDENING. 



April /, 



balsams, French and African marigolds, 

 nasturtiums, scarlet salvia, single dahlias 

 (treated as annual), zinnias, moonflower, 

 and the like. They should not be sown 

 till danger of frost is past, say between 

 the middle of April and first of May in 

 south New Jersey. All annual plants that 

 are injured by the first frost in the fall 

 should he treated as tender and sown 

 late. Aside from poppies and mignonette 

 annuals either hardy or tender are easily 

 transplanted. 



The erythrina will grow and bloom well 

 out of doors in summer and \v nter first- 

 rate in a cellar. In fall we cut it in a little, 

 die it np, and at once put it into the 

 cellar, setting it on a damp floor or in a 

 box of earth. It gets no water. In spring 

 lift it out, shelter it for a few weeks to 

 harden it, then jilant it out where you 

 want it to bloom. 



VINES FOR VBRflNDfl flZflLEflS. 

 Z. B., Tower Hill, 111 , asks some .|.ics- 

 tions: 



1. A neat vine for west-facing veranda, 

 soil sandy, dry and hot? Would Ipomcea 

 pandurata do? 



Ans. Nothing will do well there. But 

 if you have that sand dug out to a depth 

 of 2 feet and width of 3 feet and removed 

 and replaced with good soil then you'll 

 get something to grow there. Akebia 

 quinata is a free growing neat vine. And 

 if j'ou'd give it a good soaking of water 

 two or three times during summer Hall's 

 honeysuckle would thrive there. Ipomcea 

 pant/urafaisahardy perennial herbaceous 

 vine dying down to the ground in winter 

 In good ground it behaves well. I'nless 

 you replace your sand with good soil 

 don't plant this ipomcea in it. 



2. Treatment of Anemone Japonica 

 Whirlwind? 



Ans. Plant it in the garden in fairly 

 good soil and a sheltered place. Leave it 

 in the ground over winter mulching it 

 with litter or leaves. 



3. vA hardy azalea and how to treat it? 

 Ans Order it by color— Hame, pink, 



j'cllow, etc., rather than by name, for 

 there is confusion in the nomenclature. 

 Plant it in fairly good ground, in a shel- 

 tered but not overhead shaded place, 

 mulch with a thick layi r of half rotted 

 leaves in summer as a protection against 

 excessive heat and drouth. If your soil is 

 a limestone one azaleas won't thrive in it. 



4-. How to treat a tender azalea after 

 it has done blooming? 



Ans. Pick the old flowers and seed pods 

 off. Water it moderately; never make the 

 soil sodden or let it get very dry. Don t 

 repot unless quite necessary. ' Keep it 

 from frost is all the warmth it needs, at 

 the same time a little extra warmth and 

 syringing after the flowers are past en- 

 courages a good growth of young wood. 

 They need very little if any pruning, and 

 no rest. .About the first of .Vlay set thtm 

 out of doors plunged in a bed of coal 

 ashes, in a sheltered place not exposed to 

 warm sunshine and leave them thereover 

 summer, but never let them get dust dry, 

 else you'll injure their blooming next 



fllBISCUS-ERyiHRlNfl. 



W. C. 1-:.. Chicago, asks: "Will Hibiscus 

 rosa sinensis and h'rytliriiia cristagalli 

 bloom well in a warm sheltered situation 

 out doors in summer? If so give summer 

 tre.-itment and how to carry them over 

 winter in frost proof cellar." 



The t.ibicusisatendershrub, and grows 

 and blooms beautifully either jjlanted out 

 in a warm sheltered spot in summer or 

 grown in a pot or tub and stood outside 

 or plunged as you would a sweet bay, 

 oleander, or orange. C.ivc it jilcntv of 

 water wh mi outdoors and hose it occas- 

 ionally. It may winter fairly well in a 

 cellar, but under protest. For safety's 

 sake it should have been grown and well 

 rooted in a pot or tub, and before putting 

 it into the cellar head it in a little. It 

 must get water .-dl winter as it needs it 



DWARF FLflNTS FOR NORTH BORDER. 



H. A. B., St. Louis, writes; "My house 

 faces the north and the sun never reaches 

 there. A narrow border runs alongside 

 of the house, and I w ish to fill it with 

 hardy flowering ))lants, say something 

 two to three feet high at back and some- 

 thing eighteen inches high in front. What 

 should I plant? I don't want to make 

 the border wide " 



This is another case where local condi- 

 tions must govern the action, our answer 

 is no more than suggestive. To get a 

 prolonged supply of flowers from a sunless 

 border means that a variety of plants 

 must be used, and this means disorder. 

 Next the house Hall's honeysuckle might 

 be ted up to a 3-foot high netting or 

 lattice and kept cut in to tnat height. A 

 clump of wood ferns interplanted with 

 trilliums, anemones, and hardy cyprije- 

 diums might occupy the corners in low 

 rockery fashion. Crocuses, snowdrops, 

 narcissi, dwarf lilies (£enu//o//om for in- 

 stance) and the like may be scattered 

 among the largerplants. Have Japanese 

 anemones for late summer and autumn, 

 and a bunch of the white day lily. Col- 

 umbines, fire pinks, cardinal flower, sum- 

 mer phlox (divaricata), foxgloves, Hy- 

 pericum Moserianum. and many other 

 hardy plants should find a pleasant home 

 in the border. Ifyoumean shrubs, a row 

 o{ Spirsea Bumalda at back and a border 

 of evergreen candytuft in front, with bul- 

 bous plants between them might do. 

 Kalmia, rhododendron, or andromeda, 

 might behave well there; but then, again, 

 they might fail utterly, it depends en- 

 tirely on the local conditions. 



BflLSflMS-STOCKS-VINES. 



G. C. T., Kamloops, B. C, complains 

 (1) that he cannot get good camellia- 

 flowered balsams, also (2| that the 

 10 weeks sold as "sulphur" colored and 

 "blue" colored have never borne either 

 sulphur or blue floA'ers in his garden. 

 And he asks (3) where he can get reliable 

 seed. 



4. Will Manettia bicolor, Clematis 

 coccinea. C. crispa and C. Flammula 

 thrive in a shady situation in good soil, 

 or must they have a sunny position? 



1. We have not found any improve- 

 ment in balsatns in twenty years. The 

 first flowers are apt to be more single 

 than the later ones, and those of early 

 than late summer. Try again. And when 

 you succeed in i^ettinga good strain, savg 

 your own seed. 



2. There are sulphur-yellowish stocks, 

 but the "blue" ones'are purple. 



3. The great mass of 10-week stock 

 seed is raised in Germany, most of our 

 seedsmen buying their supply then-. 



4-. Manettia raised from green cuttings 

 will bloom a little in a shady place but 

 l)lantB raised from root cuttings, very 

 little. Clematis coccinea won't flower 

 much in shade, crispa should open a few, 

 but Flammula should get out into the 

 light. All of them like sunshine. 



a sedutn {S. Sieboldii?) very decidedly 

 marked with a broad band of creamy 

 whit", a spot in the centre being bright 

 green; and asks about its value, and how 

 to propagate it. There is a good varie- 

 gated form of thissedumalreadycommon 

 in cultivation, but not so fine as the leaf 

 sent to us. It has not much money- value 

 however. At the same time if the varie- 

 gation is fixed, and the plant a gooil 

 grower, and a big stock can be gotten uj) 

 and disposed of to a live florist to intro- 

 duce as a "novelty" it would be worth 

 something. But don't try to retail it 

 your-elf It is propagated by division. 

 At this time of year every chip will root 

 and grow. 



"To.NGUE Lily."— H F. L., Conn , got 

 it from a friend in Fiji, and sends us a 

 leaf for identification. 'It is tuberous 

 rooted, evergreen; and has leaves like a 

 funkia but larger than thoseof any funkia 

 I ever saw." By the venation we can sec 

 that it is a Liliaceous plant, but cannot 

 identify it by a leaf alone. Funkia Sic 

 ioW/; has pretty big leaves; are those of 

 the " Tongue lily" bigger than they? 



The Greenhouse. 



QUESTIONS ABOUT GREBNflOUSE FLflNTS. 



C. E. S., Chicago, asks: 1. Amaryllis 

 aulica— How to make it bloom? 



2. TropiEolum tricolorum — Treatment 

 after it is through blooming? 



3. Arum sanctum increased rapidly by 

 offsets but does not bloom. How can I 

 make it flowtr? 



4. Hydrangea Otaksa — Treatment 

 after blooming? 



1. Let it get root-bound in the pots. 

 In late fall lay the pots on their sides in a 

 cool greenhouse, keeping them dry till 

 they show signs of renewed growth in 

 late winter or spring, then set them on a 

 shelf, but not in sunshine, and give theih 

 a little water. Don't hurry them. Let 

 them come along leisurely, they will now 

 begin to grow and a little later should 

 bl )Om. Don't repot them until after they 

 bloom, and unless they are much pot- 

 bound not then. The more root room 

 they have the fewer flowers they bear. 

 In summer plunge them out of doors 

 under a thin shade, water them as re- 

 quired and house them before frost comes. 

 Get the plants into vigorous well rooted 

 condition and they'll outgrow that dis- 

 ease. If any of the bulbs are loose in the 

 pot, take it up and examine it where the 

 roots emerge from it, probably you may 

 find lots of mites there eating into the 

 root sockets. If so the bulbs should be 

 washed clean. 



2. As long as it keeps fresh and green 

 give it water and keep it growing; but 

 when the leaves get yellow give less water 

 and then dr\- it off, laying the pots out 

 of doors in the shade as you would a calla 

 or freesia, Next September turn it out of 

 its pot, and repot the tubers into fresh 

 soil. Stand the pots upright, still keep- 

 ing them in the slight shade, and give no 

 water artificially till afterthe young vines 

 appear. The longer you can delay their 

 starting the better; if till January or Feb- 

 ruary it would be well. 



.3. Keep it in good growing condition 

 as long as possible; when it shows signs 

 of resting lessen the water and in a little 

 while keep the plant drv. Let it rest a 

 while. Then pick off all the offsets, they 

 exhaust the old root at the exjiensc of the 



