miSH GARDENING 



139 



Are we to have Flowers or not ? 



That is the question niauy will soon be asking 

 as the time for planting Inilbs and. many other 

 things approaches. The private individual 

 knowing his own resources and the increased cost 

 of living, will decide for hinaself, but experience 

 does not lead us to believe that there will be an 

 entire cessation of flower gardening even now. 

 Urgent appeals have been made to all to invest 

 in War Loan Stock, so that there may be no lack 

 of material to carry on the war to a successful 

 conclusion. It is urged, and rightly so, that 

 nothing should be withheld from oiu' gallant 

 soldiers and sailors that will enable theni to cope 

 successfully with the enemy ; on the other hand, 

 it may" be urged that thousands of these brave 

 fellows must 

 come home 

 sick and 

 wounded, and 

 the great 

 majority of 

 them spend 

 their days of 

 convalescence 

 in gardens or 

 grounds, 

 public or pri 

 vate. It be- 

 hoves us then 

 to make these 

 garden s 

 bright and 

 b e a VI t i f u 1 , 

 and it is 

 remarkable 

 that practi- 

 cally all these 

 men display 

 the keenest 

 love of flow- 

 ers. How 

 often maybe 

 a grovip of 

 some homely 

 flower, a 

 bright patch 

 of colour or 

 a sweet 

 scent, " brings back to m 

 soothes the shattered n 

 an aching wound. l*ii 

 generoiisly opened to sol 

 merry garden ])a]ty duii 

 been compc 

 bright surrou 



At :\i< 



CORNI 



It I'sh 



iiory days of long ago," 

 vcs and helps to heal 

 tc giounds have been 

 its ai)d sailors, many a 

 ; the last two years has 

 ) on crutches who amid the 

 lings of a garden forgot for a time 



their pain and suffering and won their way back 

 to health and strength. Nor is that all, soldiers 

 who were probably gardeners in civilian life have 

 been observed spending hours examining the 

 plants in a public rock garden and carefully 

 entering nances in a notebook, a sure sign that 

 gardening, in spite of the war, continued to 

 occupy a large share of their thoughts. In how 

 many* gardens, too, are there plants growing 

 wliich have been raised from seeds sent home by 

 some brave fellow who in some cases, alas ! will 

 not return himself, and so we trust that public 

 bodies especially will not carry to excess the 

 reduction of flower beds and the general discon- 

 tinuance of ornamental gardening. We gardeners 

 ourselves are somewhat to blame for rendering it 



possible to reduce the ornamental side ; if, instead 

 of " bedding out " so many tender exotics 

 requiring much labour to produce and many 

 expensive houses to protect them in winter, we 

 had developed features niore permanent, svich as 

 the herbaceous border capable of as fine an effect 

 as any border of tender plants ; the water garden, 

 with its infinite charm in bright summer weather : 

 the rock garden than which nothing can be more 

 beautiful when planted for effect and. without 

 necessarily including rare and " miffy " subjects : 

 the vast number of beautiful shrvibs which, well 

 planted and carefully selected, give beauty the 

 year round, and the endless possibilities of 

 gardening in grass by means of bulbs and many 

 other plants, then there would have been little 

 chance of reduction, and with care and manage- 

 ment such 

 p e r m a n e n t 

 features 

 could at least 

 liave been 

 kept going 

 even w ith a 

 reduced staff". 

 Therefore, 

 while we do 

 not deny the 

 first import- 

 ance of pro- 

 ducing all the 

 f o o d s t u ft" s 

 possible, v, e 

 submit that 

 there is much 

 ground which 

 w o u 1 d re- 

 quire a vast 

 amount of la- 

 bour to make 

 it fit to grow 

 f r u it an d 

 vege t able s, 

 yet could be 

 very well 

 made beauti- 

 ful with bulbs 

 and o t h e r 

 per ma rent 

 plants. 



The great mu'sery and seed firms which before 

 tlie war had grown up in re.sponse to the national 

 call for flowers, and more flowers, should not be 

 neglected now, many of their employees have 

 gone to the war, but m.any were over age, and it 

 will be no economy to make theni dependent 

 on the rates. B. 



Nicotiania sylvestris. 



This is the hand.some.sl of the T.)l)accos, growing 

 fi feet high in good seasons. The basal leaves 

 are very large, those on the .steni rather smaller. 

 The flowers produced at the top of the stem are 

 long-tvibed, somewhat pendulous and pure white. 

 Uere it seems to bo a biennial, but seeds itself 

 about in a narrow border in front of the glasR- 

 liouses. If it could be induced to establish 

 itself in a sunny shrubbery it woidd look very 

 well among the shrubs in autumn. 



Glasnevin. 



s Kors.\ 



^r. Co. Wickliiw. 



