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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



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I A Lesson on Winter Protection for Hardy Plants | 



I Being One of a Series of Lessons of a Home Study Course on Gardening Appearing Regularly in The Gardeners' Chronicle | 



I Under the Direction of ARTHUR SMITH | 



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THE above caption may possibly be considered paradoxical as 

 the question can rightly be asked, How can a plant be 

 considered hardy if it needs Winter protection? 



Plants growing wild are always naturally protected during the 

 Winter, in other words. Nature always mulches, and we can 

 learn another lesson in this connection from Nature inasmuch as 

 she mulches her plants all the year round. 



If we go to any part of Nature's garden we shall find all the 

 debris of the season's growth in the form of the flower-stalks of 

 herbs, their leaves, and those of shrubs and trees, etc., remaining 

 year after year. This debris holds snow for a longer period than 

 does bare ground ; its decay year after year continually adds a 

 covering of light, porous material over the crowns and roots of 

 the plants which not only affords food, but through which air and 

 moisture readily penetrates, and which also prevents moisture 

 evaporating from below and retards the entrance of frost from 

 above. In an artificial garden neatness must of course be in 

 existence, but in this connection it is possible to exemplify the 

 proverb that "Excess of virtue becomes a vice." The viciousness 

 of the craze for ultratidiness is more conspicuous with some kinds 

 of hardy plants than with others, and many kinds have to struggle 

 for existence and are sometimes killed outright because of the 

 entirely unnatural conditions surrounding them; to these plants 

 we shall make special reference later. But this much may now 

 be said that when you allow the vigor and health of a plant to 

 become impaired on account of neatness, you certainly pay much 

 too high a price. 



As in the majority of cases we may not be able to carry out 

 Nature's method entirely of allowing the annual debris to remain 

 year after year, we have to use artificial means for Winter 

 protection. 



There is another feature in connection with safeguarding plants, 

 especially evergreens, from severe and prolonged frost, which has 

 to be thought of in some seasons, namely, to see that the soil 

 around their roots is moist before the ground freezes ; this obviously 

 has to be taken into consideration actively before such things as 

 mulching. 



Probably few can remember a year in which this point is of 

 greater importance than the present one in which the total rainfall 

 has been much below tlie average, and when, as at the time of 

 writing, the soil and the subsoil are practically dried out. Under 

 the present soil conditions a prolonged jieriod of wet weather will 

 be necessary, even if every drop penetrates the soil, to wet the 

 ground to the depth of many plants' roots. If evergreen trees and 

 shrubs are allowed to go into Winter under the prevailing soil 

 conditions there will undoubtedly be some very serious losses in 

 districts where frost penetrates the soil to any depth. Under 

 these conditions protection can be afforded by thoroughly soaking 

 the soil to the depth of the lowest roots, anything short of this 

 will be of little use. Even in the rare cases where the soil around 

 plants is in a proper condition, a considerable amount of rain will 

 be required to saturate the soil more than a few inches, whereas 

 the roots of many things are a couple of feet below the surface. 

 It is therefore safer to disregard rain altogether the present 

 season. 



While the evaporation of moisture from deciduous plants after 

 the leaf has fallen is small compared with that from evergreens, 

 there is no doubt a certain amount of moisture lost through the 

 tentacles of their bark, and it would be beneficial to thoroughly 

 water deciduous trees and shrubs, especially those which have 

 been planted during the current year. It must be borne in mind 

 that evaporation from plants in Winter is greater during severe 

 frost than under warmer conditions, and evergreens especially re- 

 quire this resulting loss to be made good, as plants of this char- 

 acter are never strictly dormant ; as a matter of fact in no living 

 plant, deciduous or otherwise, are life's processes entirely sus- 

 pended. If the soil and subsoil are allowed to remain in their 

 present absolutely dry condition, there is nowhere from whence this 

 loss of moisture can be made good. 



Loosening the soil around plants facilitates the entrance of 

 water and also does much to prevent subsequent evaporation of 

 moisture from the ground. Hard ground is at all seasons the 

 greatest hindrarice to a plant's health and soil should be loosened 

 if possible as wide as the branches extend. When the soil is loose 

 water can penetrate, but when the surface is hard the bulk of 



water applied, whether by rain or artificially, will flow away 

 before it can be absorbed. With the subsoil in the present dry 

 condition making holes two feet deep with a crow-bar will greatly 

 assist the water penetrating ; these holes should be at more 

 frequent intervals in a heavy soil than in a sandy one. 



In applying water merely holding a hose in one's hand and 

 watering the surface for a minute or so at a place is really waste 

 of time. A sprinkler should be used and be kept going at one 

 spot for twenty-four hours. In adopting this method in connec- 

 tion with clumps of Rhododendrons, for instance, which are too 

 wide for the water from a sprinkler to reach the entire clump, 

 a tripod with a flat board on the top sufficiently high to be 

 above the tops of the plant can easily be rigged up, the sprinkler 

 wired to it and placed in the middle of the clump ; this may be 

 readily moved from place to place as required. 



After being sure that the soil around the roots is thoroughly wet, 

 mulching is then in order, although the actual placing of mulch 

 in position is better left until there has been sufficient frost to 

 encrust the surface of the ground. Mulching to any depth before 

 really cold weather induces mice and other rodents to take up 

 their quarters in it and they sometimes damage the bark of plants. 



We have said that Nature mulches, and the material which 

 gives the natural mulching remains to decay and cause such soil 

 conditions in woods and other natural plantings as to practically 

 secure a mulch all the year round. While it is not perhaps prac- 

 ticable to adhere to Nature's methods in every case, with Rhodo- 

 dendrons and allied subjects complete success can only be obtained 

 by strictly following Nature's ways regarding them. Only a few 

 weeks ago a woman who is enthusiastically remodeling an old 

 garden which has been neglected for many years, said that it was 

 not worth while to use Rhododendrons as all she had seen in the 

 gardens of her friends and elsewhere were in a bad and unsightly 

 condition. It was explained that this state of things was not the 

 fault of the Rhododendrons, but was brought about by neglect and 

 bad treatment. Properly planted and cared for these plants and 

 others requiring similar conditions will flourish in full sun as 

 well as in positions more or less shady. But the fact is that it is 

 rare to find these subjects planted or treated properly owing some- 

 times to the ignorance of the quack gardener employed and some- 

 times to the ignorance of the employer who refuses to permit a 

 gardener who knows how to do things in the correct way. 



Those who know all about the natural conditions under which 

 members of the Ericacea family, to which RJiododendrons belong, 

 live and thrive have no reason to wonder at the results of the 

 absolutely unnatural methods meted out to them in many gardens. 

 We see the ground between them continually raked and not a leaf 

 allowed to remain on the ground at any time of the year ; however 

 dry the weather they are never watered and the soil around them 

 becomes hard and close, exactly the opposite to the soil conditions 

 under Nature's treatment. It is no matter for surprise that after 

 a few years of unnatural treatment they gradually die out and 

 at least have all the time a sickly, ugly appearance. If in addi- 

 tion the initial planting was wrong then they become sick and die, 

 all the sooner. 



After Rhododendrons have been platited under as nearly as 

 possible their natural soil conditions ancl watered sufficiently to 

 thoroughly saturate their balls, they should be mulched with six 

 inches of leaves. These leaves should never be removed. At the 

 beginning of every succeeding Winter another six inches of leaves 

 should be applied, first being sure that the roots are moist. This 

 process will gradually accumulate a continually increasing layer 

 of loaf-mold on the surface into which the roots of the plants will 

 spread, keeping them cool and moist all the time, and the plants 

 will also thrive on account of the food supplied by the decayed 

 leaves. 



All evergreens, trees, and shrubs are greatly benefited by a 

 Winter mulch, either of manure, a mixture of manure and leaves, 

 or of the latter only. This mulching not only prevents the frost 

 from going so deeply into the soil : prevents the too early starting 

 of growth in the Spring to be sometimes cut back by winterly 

 weather in Alarch, but afi^ords food as well. 



For the hardy perennial border a mixture of stable manure and 

 leaves is suitable, and in using this mixture for all purposes it 

 is well to mix them to.gether in a heap first and let them stand 

 (Coiitimicd on page "5j?) 



