THE MINNESOTA 



HORTICULTURIST. 



VOL. 33. SEPTEMBER, 1905. No. 9 



THE FLOWER GARDEN AND LAWN IN SEPTEMBER 

 AND OCTOBER. 



MRS. N. S. SAWYER, EXCELSIOR. 



One continually hears the remark, "There are so few autumn 

 flowers." While strictly speaking this is true, I think we may 

 not complain. A garden properly managed may have as great a 

 luxuriance of foliage and wealth of bloom and fragrance through 

 September and well into October as in midsummer. If most of these 

 plants begin blossoming in June or July and are not essentially 

 autumn flowers, what matters ? 



One's autumn garden may contain masses of perennial phlox 

 in a wide range of colors : white, all the shades of pink, salmon 

 pink, rose, delicate lavender, brightest scarlet and deepest red, 

 with none of the "malignant magentas" nor hideous purples of the 

 olden time. Its season of bloom may be prolonged until killing 

 frosts by repeated shearings in early summer, by removing flowers 

 as soon as faded or by planting in a slightly shaded position, the 

 latest blossoms often being the best. 



One may also have the incomparable Japanese anemones. Whirl- 

 wind and Queen Charlotte, with their clouds of lovely white and 

 pink blossoms, seeming in their daintiness and apparent delicacy 

 to belong to spring rather than to autumn. 



Perhaps the most striking flowers to be found in our' gardens 

 at this time are salvias, tritomas, gaillardias ; the brilliant cardinal 

 flower, "the reddest red among our autumn perennials ;" and 

 dahlias, now in perfection, in infinite variety and coloring, shading 

 from the most delicate pinks and lavenders to the richest reds and 

 deepest maroons. 



The yellows, that we thought to use so sparingly, are here in 

 too great abundance : golden glow, two or three varieties of helian- 

 thus, helenium, marigolds, calendulas and, best of all, coreopsis 

 lanceolata. 



