30 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



February, 1910 



■ ^^r\^(- 



Corner of Back Lawn of Mr. Hewitt'i Residence, Showing a row of Prize Sweet Pea* 



are few that can surpass Mr. Hewitt's 

 in point of excellence, from a floral point 

 of view." The photographs were taken 

 early in the season. 



Hanging baskets, verandah boxes and 

 window boxes are striking features of 

 the front view. Around the verandah 

 may be seen red geraniums and coleus 

 planted alternately, with silver-leaved 

 geraniums in front for a border. At the 

 corners of the steps are cannas. 



The side lawn is bordered with sweet 

 peas on the fences, in front of which are 

 mixed annuals, such as scabiosa, stocks, 

 antirrhinums, petunias, mignonette, zin- 

 nias, phlox, verbenas, together with 

 roses, geraniums, coleus and other plants 

 and for a border, more silver-leaved 

 geraniums. 



The back lawn is surrounded with 

 about the same material with a few more 

 annuals added. It contains also beds of 

 asters, including Sutton's Giant, White 

 Ray, Ostrich Plume and Comet. Sweet 

 peas are on every fence. Tender roses 

 are grown in a glass frame. 



SWEET PEAS 



Sweet peas are a hobby and a specialty 

 with Mr. Hewitt. The rows of sweet 

 peas on his grounds have a total length 

 of about 300 feet and were eight to ten 

 feet high. On the south side of the front 

 lawn, at the time the scenes published 

 herewith were photographed, Eckford's 

 best peas were growing. These were 

 mixed by Mr. Hewitt himself, to make 

 the choicest collection. On the west 

 side of the front lawn was a complete 

 row of Eckford's beautiful red, King 

 Edward VH. All of them were covered 

 with splendid bloom among which many 



four, five and six-bloom sprays were to 

 be found. The stems were unusually 

 long, some of them measuring eighteen 

 inches. 



In the garden at the rear, sweet peas 

 were grown in variety, among which 

 stood out prominently Eckford's Apple 

 Blossom, Bolton's Pink, Black Knight, 

 Phenonenali, Brilliant Blue and King 

 Edward Spencer, and, in fact all the 

 Spencer types were to be seen, arranged 

 so as to give a most beautiful effect. 



At the Canadian National Exhibition 

 last season, Mr. Hewitt won first prize 

 in sweet peas in both sections called for 

 by the prize list. When commenting on 

 these entries, the Toronto Star said : 

 "These dainty little blossoms are notor- 

 iously difficult to raise so that the splen- 

 did blossoms displayed are of a special 

 interest. From the purest white to a 

 deep rich purple, and a lovely shade of 

 blue, nearly every variety is there in 

 large beautiful bunches. The fortunate 

 prize winner, Mr. J. k. Hewitt of Guelph, 

 earned the distinction fairly." With 

 sweet peas Mr. Hewitt has won also 

 many prizes at the Guelph Central Fair. 

 The achievements of Mr. Hewitt are 

 the result of constant attention to the 

 details of plant management, and to his 

 great enthusiasm for the work and his 

 love for plants and flowers. In later 

 issues of The Canadian Horticulturist 

 it is expected that Mr. Hewitt will tell 

 how he grows sweet peas and other 

 flowers so successfully. 



Protection of Roses 



Editor, The Canadian Horticultur- 

 ist : I read with pleasure the article on 

 the protection of roses in winter by 

 "Amateur" in the November issue, and 

 am glad it is not such a big order to 

 keep roses through these winters. I 

 have been out here nearly five years and 

 I came from close to the famous nurser- 

 ies of Pauls & Sons, rose growers, Well- 

 ham Cross, Herts, England. There are 

 acres of them growing there and when I 

 came out here I looked in vain for the 

 "queen of flowers." I saw a few but 

 only during a part of the year ; the 

 other part, being the winter, they were 

 tied up in bags, or in other words, put 

 to sleep for six months. I thought that 

 it must be a terrible trial to grow roses 

 and people told me that if they did not 

 do that the winter would kill them. 



I pictured to myself the number of 

 times in England that the head garden- 

 er had sent me to train roses up the 

 walls as high as the bedroom windows. 

 I could see the Glorys and creamy white 

 of the Marechal Neil and the apricot 

 color of William Allan Richardson, and 

 the times I have had in searching the 

 hedge-rows for the wild dog rose, briar 

 and the Manetti stock to bud on in the 

 following August and then to come back 

 in thought to Canada when the winters 

 killed the lovely rose was a shock. But 

 since I have read "Amateur's" remarks 

 I feel refreshed, and I would like to ask 

 "Amateur" when is the best time of 

 year to prune them. ("Amateur" has 

 promised an article on this subject. — 

 Editor.) 



We always used to prune them in 

 March at home and we cut the bush 

 roses back to the third eye or bud from 

 the base of each shoot, and weaker ones 

 harder still but here I have seen them 

 just taking the tips off each shoot. I 

 think this is a waste of good stuff, as it 

 leaves the bushes so straggly. I should 

 think that if that were persisted in for 

 a few years, one would have to use a 

 stepladder to pick the bloom. I believe in 

 cutting them down as it keeps the bush 

 in good shape and the blooms are near 

 the base of supply, i. e., the roots. If 

 "Amateur" would give a list of really 

 good roses I would be thankful to him, 

 as I am thinking of getting some. — "A 

 Lover of the Queen of Flowers" (An 

 Englishman), Guelph. 



Most annual flowers are easily grown. 

 Try some new kinds this year. 



Cedar and spruce hedges are trimmed 

 early in April or May before growth com- 

 mences. 



The American mountain ash, better 

 known to some as the rowan tree, is 

 hardy in Saskatchewan. 



Sweet alyssum is easily grown in- 

 doors and may be used effectively for 

 the edges of window boxes and hang- 

 ing baskets. 



