22 



GARDENING. 



Od. /, 



would fill a small room, but not a sign of 

 a bud yet, and we will have heavy frost 

 soon. I planted the seed in a hotbed in 

 April and transplanted the seedlings into 

 the garden as soon as the weather was 

 warm enough. The plants have grown 

 like weeds all summer, but I am not go- 

 ing to get any flowers. Should they have 

 been pinched back to make them blossom? 

 Ans. As your cosmos plants are so big 

 and growing in the garden, better let 

 them alone, to lift and pot them now 

 would be to lose them. About no signs 

 of flower buds, to all outward appear- 

 ance that might have been so when you 

 wrote, but look at them now, and we be- 

 lieve you will find every tip of every 

 branch crowded with buds. Pinching 

 would have been proper to shorten the 

 stature of your plants, but of little avail 

 in making bloom early. Next year raise 

 your plants from seed sown in May or 

 June, and grow them in pots all summer 

 plunging the pots in the ground, repot 

 into larger pots as required, giving very 

 rich soil and keeping the plants far 

 enough apart so that they don't touch 

 each other; and as regards pinching, keep 

 them pinched back low down from the 

 beginning. This will give you stocky 

 plants that you can bring indoors at 

 pleasure when frosty weather comes. 



3. Crinums.— I have two large bulbs 

 of crinums which I planted out in a 

 flower bed in June, but they have not 

 bloomed. What shall I do with the bulbs 

 during the winter? 



Ans. Cut back their leaves to one- 

 third or one-fourth their length, then dig 

 up the bulbs, and store them past dry as 

 you would a gladiolus or dahlia, being 

 particular never to let frost near them, 

 also to guard against a drying heat, and 

 plant them out again next May. 



4. Amaryllis Belladonna —Will this 

 live out of doors over winter in this 

 climate where we often have zero 

 weather, if well protected? 



Ans. In deep, sandy, thoroughly 

 drained land and a well sheltered, warm 

 spot, it might, but it certainly is not a 

 hardy plant in any part of Wisconsin. 



MONSTER AURATUM LILY BULBS. 

 I bought a dozen "monster" auratum 

 lily bulbs last fall and we have greatly 

 enjoyed them this summer. They came 

 into bloom at different times and the 

 blossoms were very varied as to spots 

 and stripes. All except one bulb produced 

 two stalks and some had three, and one 

 stalk upheld fitty-six buds, but these we 

 did not entirely enjoy, for a high wind 

 broke manv of them off, so when another 

 flat stalk holding thirty-five buds com- 

 menced to open, we cut it and brought it 

 into the house, putting it in water, and 

 every bud came to perfection. There was 

 but one drawback to that bouquet, it did 

 seem neglectful of so much beauty to have 

 lilies facing the portiere that made their 

 back ground, and they would not look 

 as well in any other part of the room. 

 These lilies were planted among some low 

 shrubbery and north of some large trees, 

 so partly shaded from hot sunshine. 

 Crownpoint, Ind. F. N. B. 



A GOLDEN GLORY COREOPSIS. 



Some of the seed catalogues (I take so 

 many I can't say which one) sent out as 

 as a novelty the past spring a new core- 

 opsis, lauding it highly, as is usual with 

 novelties, and I got a packet of seeds and 

 have it growing. It's a weedy looking 

 plant growing symmetrical and rather 

 open, and until it blossoms promises 

 nothing. In fact until its time comes you 

 feel like pulling it up and calling it worth- 



less. But suddenly and without suspi- 

 cion it begins to show up and now in the 

 middle of September it's a blaze of golden 

 glory. The individual flowers are cupped 

 somewhat and in color as near like the 

 early mallow of our swamps as anything, 

 and in abundance unlike anything I have 

 knowledge of. It is a rival of Helenium 

 autumnale superbum and more of an 

 attractive plant to my mind. Fortu- 

 nately I have a good lot of it and as 

 individual specimens or in a hedge or 

 clumps it is a fine thing. For park plant- 

 ing it strikes me it would be a great suc- 

 cess. [Then please remember that Schenley 

 Park is new and bare, and some masses 

 of that golden coreopsis ought to brighten 

 it up considerably; can't you spare us 

 some seed?— Ed.] Some of my plants are 

 six feet high and nearly as broad on the 

 ground. I seldom get as satisfactory a 

 noveltv and this one pavs for several 

 failures. F. P. A. 



Tunkhannock, Pa. 



OUR GARDEN TO-DAY. 



Our garden to-day (Sept. 28), is still in 

 good condition and flowers are plentiful, 

 something which is not often the case at 

 this season of the year. We have had 

 some very cold nights, likewise white 

 frost on the21st and 23d, but not enough 

 to do any damage in the garden. Plants 

 have made a great growth this summer. 

 The dahlias are six to seven feet high and 

 are flowering splendidly. Thecactus dah- 

 lias, of which we spoke lightly last fall, 

 are very much improved this year, and I 

 regard them as far better for cut flowers 

 than the old double ones, their blossoms 

 are not so stiff. The single dahlias are in 

 good flower too, but they are always a 

 little ragged. 



The Japanes anemones are still in good 

 flower. What a fine thing they are ! The 

 white one especially, but in fact all of 

 them are good and easy to grow. We 

 find that they like a half shady place to 

 grow in, we have them in such a place, 

 also in the open and they do better in the 

 partial shade. 



What beautiful flowers the fall peren- 

 nial asters are. Every garden has some 

 half shady place in it where the usual run 

 of plants won't grow, but in such a place 

 asters delight, and at this season of the 

 year when flowers generally are a little 

 scarce these asters come as a godsend. 



Golden rods, like the asters, are good 

 and some of the nicer kinds are well worth 

 a place in or around the garden some- 

 where, although in most parts they are 

 quite common in the fields. They come 

 in very handy for filling big vases. 



Another good plant for the fall months 

 is the miniature sunflower, it blooms till 

 frost and a light frost won't even hurt its 

 flowers. The same can be said of the 

 zinnias, French and African marigolds, 

 calendulas, Zinnia Haageana, coreopsis, 

 cornflowers, scabios, dwarf and tall nas- 

 turtiums, Begonia semperflorens and Ver- 

 non, ageratum, cosmos and Salvia splen- 

 dens, all of these are good fall annuals, 

 and should be grown in quantity to keep 

 the garden bright and pretty as long as 

 possible, but to have them in the fall 

 months a second sowing is needed say 

 about the 15th of May to take the place 

 of the Canterbury bells, forget-me-nots, 

 foxgloves and other early spring flowers; 

 in this way the garden may be kept full of 

 blossoms all summer long. 



Another good perennial for the late fall 

 is Pyrethrum uliginosum, the giant ox- 

 eye daisy; it lasts in bloom quite a while, 

 and is good as a cut flower, it also is eas- 

 ily raised from seed and blooms the first 

 year if sown early, say in March. 



The only lilies we have in flower now 

 are the speciosum album, roseum and 

 rubrum. They have done well with us 

 this year but are now past their best. 

 Another good and easily grown bulbous 

 plant is montbretia. We treat it much 

 the same as we do gladiolus and it does 

 fine from year to year. It is a little ten- 

 der here although often classed as hardy. 

 The different kinds show best when 

 planted in groups, setting the bulbs close 

 together. 



Clematis paniculata is still in fine 

 flower. C. Flammula is much like it, but 

 blooms earlier; one should get them both, 

 and in this way have their flowers from 

 early summer till frost — Flammula from 

 the latter part of June till August, and 

 paniculata for the rest of the summer. 

 Another good vine is the white climbing 

 solanum (Solanum jasminoides grandi- 

 florum), it is rapid growing and has pure 

 white flowers that are fine for cutting. 

 It is not hard}- but cuttings of it can be 

 put in now and they will make nice plants 

 for planting out-of-doors next spring. 



Heliotropes are still in fine flower. Cut- 

 tings of these should also be put in now; 

 they root very easy at this season of the 

 year. Helianthus Maximiliani is also in 

 flower; it is a tall sunflower, growing 

 about 8 feet high, and a rather rough 

 plant if allowed to grow at will, but if 

 kept staked up it is quite conspicuous. 



The spring sown delphiniums are giving 

 us quite a lot of flower. When a good 

 strain of these plants is got I think it is 

 one of the showiest of all perennials, and 

 a stock of them is easily gotten up from 

 seed. 



Now is a good time to lift and divide 

 such perennials as have gotten too large, 

 for instance, phloxes, funkias, 13'chnis, day 

 lilies, iris, achilleas, campanulas, del- 

 phiniums, dicentras, gaillardias, in fact 

 nearly all perennial plants can be safely 

 lifted at this season of the year and torn 

 apart, saving as many roots as possible. 

 If a whole bed is to be taken up lift all the 

 plants first, then give the bed a good coat 

 of manure and dig it and reset them. 

 There are always a great many plants 

 left over at such work, but don't throw 

 them away, have a little reserve garden 

 somewhere and in it put all your left-over 

 stuff; it is a nice place to go to when you 

 are in want of a few plants. Put each 

 variety by itself and label everything and 

 this will keep them straight. This reserve 

 patch is not meant for a show garden but 

 as a place to go to and dig up a plant 

 when needed. It is also a good place to 

 go to for cut flowers and it saves the ones 

 in the garden. We have such a reserve 

 garden here and find it a place of much 

 use and interest as part of everything on 

 the place goes into it. It is also a good 

 place in which to try all the newer things 

 before planting them in the garden proper, 

 the habit of them is seen and we know 

 just in what spot of the garden it is best 

 to put them. David Fraser. 



Mountain Side Farm, Mahwah, N.J. 



VINES AGAINST A BOARD FBNGE. 



Owing to the reflected heat of the sun, 

 I have been unable to successfully grow 

 flowering plants in a prepared bed along- 

 side of a close board fence. Next year I 

 have thought of tacking galvanized wire 

 netting two or three inches from the fence 

 over the entire surface, and over this train 

 annual flowering vines that grow four or 

 five feet. My theory is, that while the flow- 

 ering vines of themselves will be attract- 

 ive, the covering on the fence will check 

 the heat reflection and render the growth 

 of plants in a bed alongside more success- 



