GARDENING. 



Sept. 13, 



The zinnias are one of the showiest an- 

 nuals we have in the garden, and they 

 will continue to be so till cut by frost. 

 The marigolds, both French and African 

 are still good. The China asters are past 

 their best. The hardy perennial asters 

 are in fine form and come in very handy 

 for cut flowers. The miniature sunflower 

 is one of the best of the genus. It comes 

 into flower early in the summer and lasts 

 till frost cuts it. 



Begonia Vernon, both red, pink and 

 white is flowering nicely. Some of our 

 plants are giving us flowers as large as 

 some of the tuberous begonias. We are 

 to grow a great many of them next year. 

 Rudbeckia speciosa is still in good flower; 

 it has been in bloom mostly all summer 

 and is quite showy. The dahlias are now 

 at their best; they have grown very rank, 

 caused by having so much rain. The 

 annual gaillardias are in fine flower; they 

 bloomed well all summer. The perennial 

 phloxes are now giving a good second 

 crop of flowers. The plants have got too 

 large and we have marked all of the best 

 ones and will divide them up next spring. 

 Phloxes should be divided up and re- 

 planted about every three or four years. 

 A stock of them is easily got up in this 

 way. 



Sedum spectabile is a fine perennial; it 

 comes into bloom so late in the season. 

 Although sweet alyssum rotted out badly 

 with the late heavy rains it started to 

 grow again and is now in one mass of 

 flower. Hollyhocks planted last spring 

 are in flower, but we are much troubled 

 with that leaf disease, and when the 

 leaves are all marked up so it detracts 

 from the beauty of the plants. Zinnia 

 Haageana is still in flower, although its 

 blooms are smaller than those of the 

 other zinnias they are more lasting. 



The annual chrysanthemums are get- 

 ting a little ragged, still there is quite a 

 lot of flower on them. The calendulas 

 are much the same; they are past their 

 best, but they will give us fine flower till 

 cut by sharp frost. Petunias are in fine 

 flower and very showy. Venidium calen- 

 dulaceum is in fine flower and quite 

 showy. 



Salvia splendens is at its best and what 

 a showy plant it is! 



Campanula pyramidalis is also fine. 

 The wet season rotted a good many of 

 them, but we have got a good stock of 

 them from seed and will give them a more 

 exposed place next year. Clematis panic- 

 ulata is in fine flower. We have it grown 

 over the thatched roof of the little cot- 

 tage, and it does very well there, although 

 it gets a little winter killed on the roof. 



Pyrethrum uliginosum is still in good 

 bloom and helps us out greatly. Tuber- 

 oses are beginning to open their flowers; 

 they are not liked by many on account of 

 their strong smell, but we like them and 

 I grow a few of them every year. Pent- 

 stemons from seed sown this spring are 

 in good flower and showy. They some- 

 times prove hardy, but it is well to put 

 in cuttings of the best of them in the fall 

 and winter them in a cold frame. Heli- 

 anthus Maximiliani is beginning to flower 

 and will keep on till frost. A number of 

 other sunflowers are also in flower and 

 help to make the garden gay. The 

 scabiosas are in fine bloom and make nice 

 cut flowers; they bloomed all summer 

 long. Viola cornuta, both blue and white 

 is still in full flower; it bloomed all sum- 

 mer, too. Dwarf nasturtiums are in one 

 mass of bloom and they are fine for cut- 

 ting. 



H. P. roses are giving quite a lot of 

 flower; they did not bloom much in the 



hot part of summer, but they are now 

 making up for it. The H. P. roses that 

 are giving a few flowers are Mrs. John 

 Laing, Magna Charta, and Captain 

 Christy. David Fkaser. 



Mahwah, N.J. 



MY GARDEN. 



To nothing does Franklin's proverb 

 apply more sharply than gardening: 

 "Experience keeps a dear school, but 

 fools will learn at no other." Instead of 

 buying wisdom with the experience of 

 others I bought it with my own, for ex- 

 perience will make even the obstinate 

 wise. I was ten years learning what I 

 might have learned in two for very much 

 less money. I have therefore respect for 

 the judgment of every grower in trade or 

 for pleasure, and the respect increases in 

 proportion to his skill and experience. I 

 learned that a hardy perennial garden was 

 more interesting and instructive and cost 

 immeasurably less than an annual garden, 

 and that hardy perennial gardening 

 mildly tempered by annual gardening 

 was the wise thing for an amateur of 

 moderate means. 



COW MANURE ENRICHETH THE SOIL. 



My soil was a fine sand and I made it 

 heavy and rich by the addition of cow 

 manure, and to prevent it drying out I 

 covered every bed with several inches of 

 cow manure spread in the fall, and I 

 prefer fresh to well rotted manure when 

 put on just before winter, as the winter 

 snows and frosts prevent it injuring even 

 such capricious shrubs as rhododendrons. 



DAFFODILS. 



I planted the edge of beds and all the 

 front openings between herbaceous and 

 shrub plants with daffodils, Von Sion, 

 Emperor, Horsfieldii and, to my mind the 

 most striking, Golden Spur. These adapt 

 themselves splendidly to the situation 

 among other plants and increase, Von 

 Sion the most, Horsfieldii the least. This 

 gives me alineof gold through my garden 

 and is the sunrise of the growing year. 

 The poet's narcissus and crocus in varietj' 

 I plant by the thousand in the grass, but 

 the mowing of the lawn cuts them down 

 before the bulbs are sufficiently ripened 

 and weakens them, and in spite of every- 

 thing they die out, but they are now so 

 cheap they should berenewid. A planta- 

 tion of narcissus in variety should be in 

 every garden, for they are beautitul and 

 such early risers after the long night of 

 the winter. 



AZALEAS. 



Among the plants that stand highest in 

 my estimation are the azaleas, the native 

 as well as the Ghent and mollis hybrids. 

 The earliest flowering of the natives is 

 also one of the most beautiful. Vaseyi; a 

 deep moist soil will force its growth, and 

 while I find it doing splendidly under the 

 trees it grows luxuriantly in the open 

 ground. Its large pink flowers cover it 

 before the foliage appears. Nudiflora and 

 arborescens are interesting, but calen- 

 dulacea, the "flame flower," is the hand- 

 somest of all the native azaleas, while 

 viscosal like for its honey odorand its tall 

 growth. I find all these varieties will 

 bear anything but drouth, and with a 

 l.beral dressing of manure and a damp 

 soil some of my plants have made three 

 feet of growth this season. But these 

 native varieties, beautiful as thev cer- 

 tainly are, must give way to the aristo- 

 cratic hybrids, which, to my mind, are 

 equal to the Chinese in abundance of 

 flowers, superior in variety and extent of 

 color and of course more valuable to the 

 amateurs because of their absolute hardi. 



ness. Sometimes a severe winter has 

 killed the buds on wood that ripened 

 late, but I have never lost a p'ant by 

 frost. I prefer the mollis species because 

 of its large flower. Theirgrowth is more 

 regular and shapely than the Ghent. I 

 have never detected perfume in the mollis, 

 though I believe f^w of the Clients are 

 without it. I am considered an azalea 

 crank, for I have Anthony Waterer's 

 entire collection, and of all kinds have 

 about four hundred plants in my little 

 garden, and from the pace of the increase 

 now in a few 3 - earsthey will over-run me. 

 I nip out the seed pods; cut out weak 

 growth and prune for shape, in fact give 

 them the same careastherhododendrons. 



Among the azaleas as well as among 

 other shrubs I have planted lilies by the 

 thousands. In fact I have strung my 

 garden on a chain of lilies from the coral 

 lily tenuifolium, flowering May, to the 

 beautiful speciosum flowering September 

 and October. Why is it that all the lilies 

 without color iauratum excepted) thrive 

 so with us while the white and fragrant, 

 including auratum, deteriorate? As I 

 like abundance of flower I planted lilies 

 too thickly among the azaleas and the 

 lilies killed a number of small plants. I 

 shall clear my azalea beds of all but atira- 

 tuni and longiflorum. I obscved in Mr. 

 Hunnewell's garden the superbum was 

 largely planted among rhododendrons, a 

 most suitable situation because of it« tnll 

 growth. I had one plant ten leet this its 

 second year. My observation is that all 

 the colored lilies, by that I mean su- 

 perbum, Canadense, elegans, Martagon, 

 Wallace!, tigrinum, Pomponium, mona- 

 delphum, pardalinum, grow stronger, 

 taller and more floriferous each year. 

 Wallacei distances everything in my 

 garden for "multiplying and replenishing 

 the earth." I planted fifty bulbs last year 

 and there were certainly 300 plants in 

 flower four weeks ago. 



KALMIAS. 



Of the glory of the rhododendron I have 

 already written. Fol owing the rhodo- 

 dendron, and certainly the handsomest 

 of native shrubs, was a plantation of 200 

 Kalmia latitolia. These were seedlings 

 from Waterer's Nurseries and I planted 

 them in soil from the woods, largely leaf 

 mould, and then put several inches of old 

 manure on the top. Although more than 

 a month "on the road" they flowered 

 finely, man}' plan s being one great white 

 bouquet, and all have made from three to 

 twelve inches of wood. I had planted 

 100 plants bought from a native nursery, 

 which instead of being seedlings were 

 transplanted from the woods. In spite 

 of the greatest care I lost almost half of 

 them, and have not above five specimens. 

 It is astonishing how rarely^ you see the 

 kalmia in gardens. When established it 

 is much hardier and more easily managed 

 than the rhododendron. It is entirely 

 free from any pest whatever, while the 

 saw-fly has been singularly active this 

 year with my rhododendrons. The 

 kalmia flower is to my mind the daintiest 

 of the whole floral kingdom. The foliage 

 is rich and it is less likely to drop it 

 than the rhododendron. All it demands 

 after being properly planted is water. 



|AI'AN OR KCEMPFER'S IRIS. 



The most enchanting bed in my garden 

 this year was a hundred plants in nearly 

 the same variety of the Japanese iris. 

 They were imported for me from Japan, 

 as I was determined to get as nearly 

 complete a collection as possible, anil 

 they are growing in Japanese mud. I 



