November 12. 1910 



HORTICULTURE 



661 



Hardy Fall Asters 



(See Cover Page.) 



Hardy fall asters, strange to say, are up to the present 

 little thought of in their native country. The common 

 conception appears to be that as nature has strewn them 

 wild all over the land there is no use to bother with them 

 in the garden. I fear quite a number of us are unaware 

 of even the very existence of garden types. In Europe 

 it is different. Great Britain's leading herbaceous plant 

 growers, for a score of years, have been at work to culti- 

 vate and improve hardy fall asters systematically and in 

 Germany and France noted firms are busy on the same 

 lines. The annual displays of choice garden varieties 

 in the city parks of Frankfurt-on-the-Main and Hanover 

 have become famous. These mass effects of cultivated 

 and improved varieties of the Novse-Anglife and Novaj- 

 Belgi order, in front of their tree and shrubbery planta- 

 tions, are calculated to give brightness and color-gaiety 

 to the autumn aspect of promenades and boulevards, and, 

 indeed, there is no better flowering plant material for 

 such a purpose. At the eve of a period of vegetation 

 asters are about the last outdoor flowers. Tossed about 

 by occasional north and northwest gales and beaten by 

 chilly rainstorms, under the beneficent influence of a 

 few hours of sunshine they are ever ready to convey to 

 the human eye a laughing farewell of the departing floral 

 season. At this time all nature is aglow with the 

 bright and brilliant colors of our autumn foliage. The 

 soft pale blue, lavender, mauve and purple shades of the 

 fall asters are Xature's harmonious mellow accords intro- 

 duced into her grandest color symphony. It is for us 

 to follow the given example, that is, in this case, to ac- 

 centuate the vital parts of Nature's color scheme within 

 the limits of our parks and gardens. Hitherto the gar- 

 den types of fall asters, instead of being made a charac- 

 teristic feature of the autumn aspect of every American 

 garden, have been to a great extent neglected. There is 

 no doubt as to their appropriateness and their effective- 

 ness and a mere glance over the lists of our leading hardy 

 plant firms shows that there is a well assorted collection, 

 including many of the most improved shades and varie- 

 ties at hand. Among those which have proven to be of 

 merit I mention the new clear pink variety, Aster jSToveb 

 Angliae Lil Fardel. As seen on our picture, it is of tall 

 robust growth, very large, and free-flowering and its 

 waves of color, when planted for mass effect, never fail 

 to attract attention. In my opinion it is one of the best 

 in pink so far introduced. 



Northeast Harbor, Maine. 



-^cMyoyul SScM^e/ 



Seasonable Notes on Forcing 

 Vegetables and Fruit 



CUCUMBERS 



Plants from seed sown early in September will now be 

 fruiting well and should be given light top dressings as 

 Foon as surface roots appear. Use a compost of two 

 parts loam, one of leaf soil, one of spent mushroom bed 

 and sprinkle a little manure over the heap before mix- 

 ing. Keep the young growths tied in and stop at fourth 

 leaf. Fumigate on the very first appearance of fly and 

 syringe wlienever possible to keep down spider. Close 

 down early enough to run the temperature up to 90 

 degrees to 95 degrees. 



VINES IN POTS 



Young canes which have been left outside to ripen up 

 tlieir wood should have protection as soon as severe 



weather sets in. Five degrees of frost is enough to sub- 

 ject them to. They can be stored away in any dry shed 

 or cellar. 



STEAWBEHKIES 



strawberries which have been growing in the open 

 should also be packed away in cold frames. Should they 

 get frozen through any time by continuous frosts, a large 

 percentage of pots will be broken. Any frames which 

 can be spared should be filled to within 18 inches of the 

 sash with ashes and the pots placed in, packing all in- 

 tervening spaces with good dry leaves and making the 

 whole as one solid bed. This leaves a space of one foot 

 from the sash. Do not coddle in anyway and only use 

 sash or covering in severe weather. The first batch in- 

 tended for starting December 1st may be given all the 

 weather, to secure as complete a rest as possible, care 

 being taken to avoid pot breakage should a hard spell 

 set in. 



TOMATOES 



Early sown tomatoes will now be ripening their first 

 and second trusses of fruit. Top dress if necessary or 

 feed with manure water. Use care in watering as either 

 extreme is disastrous. Later batches should be en- 

 couraged to grow by moving the surface soil at regular 

 intervals. Keep the leaders tied and remove side 

 growths before they attain any size. Maintain a night 

 temperature of 55 to 60 degrees. 



THE VINE BORDER 



If not already done, a good supply of loam should be 

 got togetlier and stacked in an available place, for top 

 dressing and renovating borders in vineries and peach 

 houses. Protect any outside vine border with a good 

 mulching of straw litter. 



*^fe^-v^ 



o 



^«^>-v., 



Duke's Park, SomervUle, N. J. 



Mr. Penson's next notes will be on- Root Prnnlng Peach 

 Trees; Cleaning Early Vinery and Peach House; Foicing Rhu- 

 barb and Sea&ale. 



A Few Good Plants for Apart- 

 ments 



Every gardener who has to supply foliage or flowering 

 plants for the decoration of apartments in the winter 

 season when artificial warmth is used, knows the difBcul- 

 ties he has to contend with; more especially in the 

 case of foliage plants. 



Podocarpus macrophylla (longifolia) is a plant from 

 Japan, highly recommended in addition to the ordinary 

 well-known subjects for such a purpose by a writer in 

 "Die Gartenwelt." New seeds grow freely, and the 

 plants, though of slow growth, make good decorative ob- 

 jects at nearly all stages. Another greenhouse plant of 

 great ability to withstand unfavorable conditions is the 

 Australian Griselinia littoralis. This plant forms a 

 close compact bush, covered with light green, thick leaves 

 down to the pot. It is proof against dry air and insects. 

 The plant is of slow growth, but always close, and clothed 

 with foliage. It may be struck from cuttings taken in 

 the summer. Eaphiolepis ovata, from Japan, may like- 

 wise be recommended for indoor decoration. 



