of Rural Art and Taste. 



269 



Flower Garden for September. 



rilHIS should be the gayest month in the 

 JL year in this department, and the weather 

 being dry and the nights cool in the early 

 part of the season, in fact it has been very 

 dry through July in many parts, although 

 heavy storms and floods have prevailed in 

 other parts of States ; so that generally plants 

 have not made so much growth as usual at 

 the beginning of the season, and late planted 

 ones have made no growth at all in many 

 cases, but after the showers which have been 

 very general during July, we judge there 

 has been rapid progress and expect this 

 month to be extra gay, as the beds and 

 borders should be well filled without the 

 plants being overgrown. The advantage of 

 a good water supply both for turf and plants 

 is this year very evident where it has been 

 judiciously used. 



Zou<tle Geraniums have been unusually 

 fine with us this year, but they were planted 

 early and the varieties selected, and only 

 those planted in quantity which had given a 

 fair amount of satisfaction in former seasons, 

 excepting a few colors we could not well dis- 

 pense with, and the new varieties on trial. 

 We intend to give a selection for the end of 

 the season, after a little more discarding. 

 This is a good time for putting in a batch of 

 cuttings ; they will root freely either in open 

 ground or on a bench of an open greenhouse, 

 or in a well ventilated frame, and when rooted 

 can either be potted in smuU pots or placed 

 thick in boxes to be potted in the spring. 



Verbenas — Although our plants have 

 grown and flowered well, the weather has 

 been too dry for a very vigorous growth ; many 

 plants we have seen which were planted late, 

 at the end of July, were little larger than 

 when planted out. It is now time to cut 

 down the stock plants and stir the soil round 

 the roots ; if very dry, give a good soaking of 

 water and then top dress with good soil and 

 rotten manure ; this will induce fresh roots 



and a good crop of clean, healthy young 

 shoots, which make the best cuttings when 

 about one inch in length, and can be pinched 

 ofl" with the finger and thumb and put in 

 without further ceremony. A cool, shady, 

 well ventilated house or frame is the best 

 place for these cuttings, to be kept thoroughly 

 moist and shaded from bright sunshine. 

 They will be rooted in about a week, and can 

 then be j^otted in small pots or packed into 

 shallow boxes, to be kept as cool as possible 

 through the winter, and will give abundance 

 of cuttings in the spring. 



Gladiolus — If these plants have not re- 

 ceived plenty of water, the flower stems have 

 not been so fine as usual, but we expect those 

 which flower this month will be unusually fine 

 if the weather is not too hot. In shady 

 positions where staking is necessary, it must 

 not be neglected, for a sudden storm, just, as 

 the flowers are about to open, will break the 

 stems down. 



Cnituds have not grown so fast as usual 

 during the early part of the season, but are 

 now making rapid progress. The dry weather 

 did not prevent these plants flowering, for 

 some of the varieties were in flower when not 

 more than a foot high in June. 



Celoffiti Huttonii, although not worth 

 growing as a greenhouse plant, is a grand 

 border plant ; its bushy, compact growth and 

 bronzy crimson foliage is very telling, and it 

 is not like its close relative the Amaranthus 

 salicifolius, disposed to die ofi" just as its 

 beauty commences to develop. The above 

 plant can be either propagated from seeds or 

 cuttings, which root freely. 



Double Floivering Zinnias have been 

 much recommended as a border plant, the 

 flowers are certainly very double and some of 

 the colors are very handsome, although the 

 yellows are too much like double marygolds, 

 but there is not flower enough for the mass of 

 foliage, neither is the flower high enough 

 above the plant to make any show besides 

 leaves. In our dry sandy soil it has this 

 fault, and we saw some large beds planted 

 round the Treasury building at Washington, 

 which were evidently watered each day, and 



