SEPTEMBER 



IRISH GARDENING. 



141 



The Month's Work. 



Flower Garden and Pleasure Grounds. 



By E. Knowldin, F.R.H.S. 



BRIEF LIFE.— In the early part of the month no 

 relaxation of effort will obtain to keep all on the 

 formal gfarden decently and in order, but with 

 the 20th not a few regard a good, nipping frost, which 

 sometimes occurs about that date, as an unqualified 

 blessing to give the whole thing its quietus for the 

 season in order that the whole may be cleared off with- 

 out compunction, and the planting for spring effect go 

 on forthwith. Otherwise the whole thing is apt to 

 drag wearily on with ever-increasing damping and 

 decay as an eloquent reminder as far as summer bed- 

 ders are concerned. " Brief life is here our portion." 

 Still, whenever the clearing off occurs —and under any 

 conditions did we ever find it of any service to spare it 

 by the end of the month, although often seen dragging 

 its weary, derelict way far into October — the clearing 

 off should be done systematically, as advised for spring, 

 otherwise the muddler, in less than a month, will be 

 hunting the debris in looking ahead. 



What to Savk. — The bedding calceolaria is one of 

 the most amenable of subjects for the purpose, provided 

 its simple wants are catered for, and a frame should be 

 in readiness under a north wall or hedge, for promptly 

 putting in a batch of cuttings as soon as lifted, where, 

 with but a light covering during severe spells, they will 

 need no attention till early spring. The taller growing 

 amplexicaulis, nevertheless, is not so easily satisfied, 

 and it is as well to pot or box up sufficient stock for spring 

 propagation. So with the summer flowering salvias of 

 the Splendcns type, of which Fireball is the finest variety, 

 and has this season captivated all in the People's 

 Gardens, Phoenix Park, by its dazzling, scarlet florifer- 

 ousness. Lobelia Waverly Blue may be similarly 

 treated with the same object, and where stock is short 

 the bedding geranium will not be forgotten. Another 

 good bedding plant for similar treatment is the small- 

 leaved Gnaphalium microphylla. As for standard 

 fuchsias, heliotropes, and cannas, they can as lifted 

 be stacked under the roof of an open shed with a good 

 complement of dry leaves around the roots for future 

 attention as demanded, although the cannas, like the 

 dahlias, will be comfortable enough the winter through, 

 and so little trouble do the cannas give, and such fine 

 summer ornaments are they, with their handsome 

 foliage and brilliant flowers, that one wonders they are 

 not more availed of. 



Bri,BS a-Begging. — We are inclined to agree with 

 an enthusiast who has been looking through the bulb 

 lists now to hand that bulbs are going a-begging so 

 low are the prici-s of the showier and better adapted 

 bulbous subjects for the spring flower garden, and now 

 is the time to order, for first come best served. True, 

 some whose soul lovelh a bargain may wait till the fag 

 end for the clearings at an even cheaper rate or hie them 

 to the auction dumpings to save pence and loose pounds 

 in quality, but cui bono? Respecting bulbs for bedding 

 our thoughts practically begin and end with the tulips, 

 from the early Due Von Thol family to the latest May- 



flowerers, which, according to the season, carry us 

 from March to June. Bedding hyacinths, if we dare 

 say it, we are not in love with, but fortunately for 

 vendors others are not of that opinion, and when 

 referring to those gorgeous samples of King of the 

 Blues, seen each season in the People's Gardens, we 

 cannot gainsay that opinion, though weakly holding our 

 own. Of course it may be said where do the daffodils 

 come in ? But of these anon, for " dirt cheap " though 

 they be we v\ant to keep them free and unfettered from 

 formality. 



On the Grass. — There are a thousand places await- 

 ing beautifying with a few daffodils, on the grass or off 

 it. In sunny nooks and in shady ones — that is, under 

 deciduous trees, where possibly but little else will 

 grow and bare spots abound, for it is in such a place 

 as the latter that we see during the season the most 

 robust growths of the old Telemonius plenus (not our 

 favourite by the way), where they have been for fifty 

 years at least. There may be daffodils which refuse to 

 grow in grass, but we do not know of such, or, when 

 once introduced, will not go on forever. And then 

 there are so many nooks and corners of the pleasure 

 grounds which in spring seem to us crying for the 

 nodding flower, and if one can have them distinct — viz., 

 in this nook a brave planting of Barrii conspicuous, 

 round that bend a bold patclj of Sir Watkin, and so on, 

 and so on, each turn revealing some fresh delight, 

 whilst further afield, perhaps in a pasture, a whole 

 sweep can be seen, and our ideal is realised. Would 

 the gay tulip was but half as well behaved, but grass is 

 its bugbear, and practically fresh tilled soil its need. 

 The Dutch crocus, however, is a delightful thing any- 

 where and everywhere, and in mixed colours on the 

 greensward, simply ravishing just at the time when most 

 needed for a bit of colour, like good wine, gladdens the 

 heart at that season, and the pale snowdrop is as cold as 

 it is chaste. All the above should be sown carelessly 

 by hand where wanted on the lines advanced, and 

 simply dibbled in exactly where they fall — in hard spots 

 a prod with an iron bar does the job— filling up the 

 holes with a little light compost after and firming with 

 the foot. 



Planning. — If Pope had any particular thought when 

 telling us man never is, but always to be, blessed, the al- 

 lusion, surely, must have been to gardening and its vot- 

 aries, and we may take it there is neither season nor 

 garden in which mental notes are not taken for further 

 advance towards the ever-receding ideal. This begins in 

 the flower under the dual bedding system, and in some 

 places we fear ends there. We would call attention at 

 this opportune time, ere the foliage is off, for noting what 

 may be done later to increase the beaut}- and interest 

 of the pleasure grounds, and that on as bold a scale as 

 the position permits. For instance, taking an imagi- 

 nary view from the windows to a background or fore- 

 ground of sombre foliaged trees, deciduous or otherwise, 

 what a welcome addition to such would be a bold mass 

 of the golden elder or, on the still larger scale, planting 

 say of half-a-dozen copper beech in contrastive harmony 

 with the common form ! True, we do see these things 

 employed, but rather in a manner barely suggestive of 

 their inherent capabilities, for somehow the dot system, 

 " like sick men's dreams, varies all shapes and mixes all 

 extremes." Dotting seems to have run like a blight 



