56 



IRISH GARDENING 



Hints to Novices* 



By May Cuosbie. 



April is tlie luontli to show the first results o! 

 autuniii planning and i)lanting ; with Daffodils. 

 Wallflowers. Forget-nie-Nots and early single 

 Tulips the garden ought to be very gay. A very 

 neglected spring-flowering bulb is the '' Heavenly 

 Blue " Muscari or Grape Hyacinth. Easily 

 grown, cheap to buy, and most beautiful, some 

 ought to be in every garden. Its lovely colour is 

 enhanced by the 

 delicious scent, 

 and blue flowers 

 are none too plen- 

 tiful now. The 

 blooms last for 

 weeks in water, 

 and as a cut 

 flower its colour 

 is appreciated. 



Most amateurs 

 never think of 

 raising their her- 

 baceous plants 

 from seed, and 

 yet plantb bought 

 from a nursery 

 never give as 

 much pleasure as 

 those one raises 

 oneself either 

 from seed or by 

 cuttings. 



Most border 

 perennials can be 

 quite easily raised 

 from seed by the 

 veriest novice, 

 and the great ma- 

 jority will flower 

 the second year 

 after sowing — 

 that is, sown this 

 spring they will 

 bloom in 1915. 

 .Some varieties do 

 not come cjuite 

 trvie from seed : 

 for instance, seed- 

 lings of the new 

 pink oriental Pop- 

 ]>ies will have a 

 certain pei'centage 



of the old scarlet tyi)e among them ; a note to 

 this effect will usually be found in the seed 

 catalogue, and it is as well for the novice to 

 avoid such varieties. Get the seeds in as soon as 

 possible so as to have good strong plants in the 

 autunui. They can either be sown in boxes or 

 the open ground ; boxes are to be ])referred, for 

 one reason slugs and such pests, can be more easily 

 guarded against. If boxes are to be used, 

 prepare a nice bit of soil — old potting stuff mixed 

 with leaf-mould and sand will do admiraljjy. 

 Provide drainage first by making holes in the 

 bottom of boxes (if they are not already there), 

 place a layer of cinders or broken crocks in the 

 bottom and over that some moss to ]irevent the 

 soil working down and clogging the drainage holes. 

 Fill u]i with pre]>ared soil, scatter seed thinlv. 



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cover lightly, water in. and stand box in a shady 

 place. 



If seed is to be sown outside, choose a shady 

 ))lace, a border facing east or north-east ; make 

 the soil as line as possible, and when seedlings 

 appear slugs must be guarded against. Thin 

 seedlings and they can be transi)lanted in the 

 autunm straight to their flowering quarters. 

 Anchusas, Delphiniums, Lychnis in variety, 

 Heucheras, Pentstemons, Pyretlunims, Kud- 

 beckias ai'e only a few i)opular ])erennials any 

 beginner may raise from seed satisfactorily and 

 cheai)ly too. To make a couple of clumi)s of 



any of these would 

 take at least six 

 l)lan ts c o sting 

 about 2s., whereas 

 with a little trou- 

 ble dozens of 

 plants could be 

 raised from a 3d. 

 packet ; and the 

 increased interest 

 they would have 

 would make up 

 for the loss of one 

 season's bloom. 

 Tree Lupins, both 

 yellow and white, 

 come very freely 

 from seed, and as 

 they have a habit 

 of dying oft" after 

 live or six years 

 it is necessary to 

 have some young 

 plants to take the 

 place of any that 

 go. Sow thinly 

 outside, and pinch 

 the seedling when 

 a few inches high 

 { o make it branch : 

 lift with a ball 

 of soil direct 

 from seed bed 

 to ]iermaneni 

 place, disturb 

 roots as little as 

 possible, because 

 in common with 

 ^h<i l)rooms they 

 dislike being 

 moved. Both 

 for garden 



decoration and 

 invaluable. The 

 asily grown 



[Mackev 



for cutting, tree Lupins are 

 herbaceous Lu])ins can be just as 

 from seed. 



Carnations are interesting things to raise, a 

 ])acket of seed from a reliable source will give line 

 strong plants in a wonderful variety of colour — 

 selfs, i)icotees and stripes in every shade. But in 

 every batch there will be a certain ])ercentage of 

 singles, and it is a good thing to remember when 

 pricking off to reject the strongest coarse-looking 

 seedlings, as they are usually the single. Sow in 

 Aiirii. prick off when about one inch high again 

 into boxes, and ])lant in flowering quarters in 

 Se])tember or October. 



No hardy bulbous i)lant is worth an amateur's 

 time to raise, as most of them take several years 

 to grow from seed before they flower. 



