i8o 



IRISH GARDENING 



OECEMBER 



A Method 



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Winter Garticning 



ACORRESPO.NDliNT \vntc>-. asking it wi- .an 

 offer a siij,'gestion as lo llu- Irealmeut ol 

 ordinary lierbaceous bordirs so as lo secure a 

 pleasing display of plants during the winter months. 

 He refers to the desolate appearance of the beds after 

 the usual -'tidying up" process of late autumn is 

 completed and is exercised in his mind how to proceed 

 in order to carry Oi\ a fairly attractive scheme ol 

 planting that will bridge over the months leading to the 

 display of bulbous plants in the spnng. On reading 

 our correspondent's letter we remembered the readmg 

 of a very suggestive paper on ihis subject by the 

 secretary of the English Royal llorlicultural Society 

 (the Rev. W. Wilks) before the members of his society 

 in the January of 1890. and immediately looked up 

 the "Journal." We take the liberty of repro- 

 ducing extracts from this paper in the belief thai 

 they will prove interesting to a large number of our 

 readers : — 



"The problem is how. at a small outlay o( money, 

 time, and labour— and this is a most important item- 

 to make these borders as pretty and interesting in 

 winter as they have been in summer. The answer to 

 the problem can be stated in four words. Evergreen 

 plants in pots. It is easily spoken, but it takes a longish 

 time lo work out satisfactorily. Of course, with 

 unlimited funds at your command, it is easy enough lo 

 order so many dozen shrubs, set three or four skilled 

 men to prepare the best possible compost, and, hey 

 presto ! the thing is done. But I am not intending to 

 address people with ample funds, but that great mass 

 of middle-class folk whose balance at the bankers is, 

 like my own, constantly nearing the edge, and as to 

 which a very little more expenditure upon the garden 

 would soon bring a little note from Coutts's. most 

 courteously expressed, ' drawing your kind attention 

 to the fact' — the horrid fact of 'overdrawn.' For 

 such people, I say, it takes a longish time to get up 

 a good stock of evergreens in pots. 



" Someone will say. But why in pots at all ? Because 

 the pot system is far more economical in the long run 

 and gives much belter results. If evergreen shrubs are 

 moved from the nursery to the garden, and from the 

 garden to the nursery — two movings every year — you 

 must expect every now and again to lose some of the 

 plants — at least that is my own experience ; whereas 

 with the pot system I have never known but one lo die. 

 Again, evergreen shrubs of any size, moved thus twice 

 a year, in a very short time put on a poor, thin, 

 draggletailed appearance and get leggy, and always 

 remind me of those poor, thin, bent-kneed beggars you 

 see slouching along the streets with torn trouser-ends 

 and ragged coal-tails with bits of the lining hanging 

 down, and their hats brushed three-quarters the wrong 

 way, and out at elbows ; whereas with the pot system 

 your plants are feathered down lo the very ground, 

 full, robust, and hearty, reminding you of chubby, 

 rosy-faced country urchins, stiff and sturdy, amply fed 

 and amply clothed, and merry from toes to nose. 

 Thereiore I say if you want really good plants, plants 

 to be proud of, plants to love, and cannot afford lo buy 



a Iresli slock ivcry llirce or fouryiMis. tryllie pot plan, 

 which i will now endeavovM" lo unfold. 



" Ami liic tirst question, of coursi. is Wlien h> brs^lii. 

 Huy such i^lants as you must bu}- in .March or in 

 .September. These, loo, 1 find the best monllis lor 

 making cuttings of evergreens ; the March ones musl 

 1)0 put in a dampish place, the September ones in .1 

 iiall shall} spol. Almost all evergreens will grow from 

 cuttings with a little care and persuasion ; but if not, 

 lluMi- is nothing more interesting than growing them 

 from seed. In two to three years' time they will he 

 pretty little dots, just suited for front places in your 

 borders, and you may grow them thus gradually on for. 

 I fully believe, twenty or thirty years before they will 

 have outgrown your powers of management. 



" Next, What plants to get or raise. It would almost 

 be easier lo say what not to gel, but 1 will give you a 

 list of what I have found most suitable. But first let me 

 sa)', do not begin with too big plants ; be content to 

 wait for them to grow big. I have plants now in pots- 

 Laurels 5 feet high and five feet through, Aucubas 4 

 feet by 5 feel, Lawsonianas 6 and 7 feel high, and so 

 on ; but they have all been gradually grown on. If you 

 begin with too big plants, they almost invariably lose 

 their lower branches and get leggy— I don't know why 

 they do so, but they do — whereas if you begin with 

 little fellows, a foot or 18 inches high, you can keep 

 them for, I am confident, twenty, thirty, or, I shouldn't 

 wonder, for even fifty years in pots, and feathered 

 down to the very ground. It wants just a little 

 management and care, but 1 am sure it can be done. 



" Well, the most useful plant I know of for the purpose 

 is Lawson's Cyprus. It is a charming plant, so various 

 that almost every seedling raised is unlike its brethren. 

 Go into any good nursery in mid-.\ugust and ask for the 

 Lawsoniana quarter, and you will see rows upon rows 

 of dainty little fellows, 8 inches or a foot high or so. 

 some close-growing, some spreading, some tapering, 

 some few with a golden gleam upon the green, some a 

 dull dead-coloured green, some with a shining brownish 

 almost metallic lustre, and some — the loveliest of all — 

 with a pale blue}- white glaucous hue upon the foliage, 

 and with bright red stems. Oh, how I revel in such 

 quarters of plant children ! The only drawback is, I 

 always want to carr}- oft' far more than my nursery — 

 garden I mean — could possibly contain. Well, you may 

 have your pick of all these little ones at about 56-. or so 

 a dozen, according to their size and age. Do not pick 

 out all the prettiest. No, you want some of the duller 

 ones as contrasts to the bright ; some of the plain 

 green to set off the glaucous and the golden ones. 

 Indeed, in all your choosing bear in mind that variet}- 

 of foliage, form, and habit is what you really want, and 

 not all of the most rare, or even all of the most 

 beautiful. 



" Well, get two or three dozen of these varying bab}- 

 Lawson Cypresses, and you will have made a thoroughly 

 good beginning for making your borders beautiful in 

 winter. Then you will want other common things (but 

 all small to begin with), most of which you can raise 

 yourself; common Laurel — the broad-leafed variety is 

 the best for contrast — common Portugals. common 

 Yews, a few— just one or two — common and variegated 

 Box. Box is not by any means a favourite with me ; it 



