90 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



April, 1910 



Failure in Asters 



I HAVE always had a good many 

 asters in my flower garden. I buy the 

 best seed of named varieties that 

 I can get and raise my own plants in a 

 hotbed, and my plants are always 

 straight and stocky when I set them out 

 in early June — far better than any I see 

 exposed for sale. As I transplant the 

 seedlings into shallow boxes in the hot- 

 bed, setting them about two and a half 

 inches apart in the boxes, the plants re- 

 ceive little or no check to their growth 

 on being transferred to the garden, a lit- 

 tle black earth two and a half inches 

 square going with each plant. 



The soil of my garden is sandy but 

 dark from cultivation ; the subsoil is yel- 

 low sand ; it is a very open soil. In dig- 

 ging the spade is sent down as far as 

 possible, at least fifteen inches ; a fair 

 quantity of rotted manure is dug in, sup- 

 plemented by a little bone-dust raked in 

 the bed ; and water is liberally though 

 not superabundantly given. Weeds, if 

 they show themselves, pay for their 

 rashness, and the Dutch hoe is in ready 

 use to check all baking of the surface. 



Now, in all justice, should not my 

 asters be good? And yet for the past 

 three or four years my finest varie- 

 ties — Victoria, Mignon, Hohenzollern, 

 Comet — have all drooped and died ; if 

 any of them reached the blooming stage 

 the flowers were inferior or only half 

 formed. The Victoria, our finest and 

 most delicately soft aster, suffered most. 

 I do not think I had a bloom these last 

 two years. The Mary Semple, however, 

 a tall branching aster, has always been 

 most vigorous, giving abundance of 

 bloom every season. 



I wrote to the authorities at the On- 

 tario Agricultural College, Guelph, tell- 

 ing my trouble. They thought it might 

 be blue aphis at the roots, placed there 



G. A. Chase, Toronto 



the stalk, turning black. The roots 

 looked fairly good. It has occurred to 

 me that as the varieties I mention do 

 not grow tall and have a spreading 

 thick growth of leaves, low down on the 



ed carmine, pretty, unique, like a cactus 

 dahlia ; Anna, pure white, star-like 

 flower, recurve petals, makes a beautiful 

 pot plant, one of the best. 



Japanese : Early Snow, white ; Pa- 

 cific Supreme, pale pink. 



Anemone Japanese : Beatrice Asmus, 

 pure white, a gem, one of the best ; 



The Kind of Work That i> Being Advocated by the Horticnltiinl Societies of Ontario 



Part of the lawn of Mr. Ralph C. Wade. Toronto. The Toronto Horticultural Society is 

 preaching the gospel of improved home surroundings, and its elforts are bearing fruit in all 

 parts of the city. 



Stalk, some fungus on the stalk may be 

 nourished by the shade and continuous 

 dampness caused by this low thick 

 growth, and that this may be the origin 

 of all the trouble. I shall try some 

 fungicide next summer. 



New and Little-known Plants 



Lists of new, little-known perennials 

 and annuals recommended by the nov- 



Nancy Perkins, bright amber, shaded 

 magenta, very attractive. 



MISCELLANEOUS 



The following notes were supplied by 

 Mr. Roderick Cameron, Toronto: 



Argyreia speciosa: A strong, fast 

 growing vine producing large, pink col- 

 ored flowers. Belongs to the order 

 Convolvulaceae, corolla campanulate. 

 Leaves large, heart-shaped, very silky, 

 silvery on the under side. 



Loasa lateritia (Chili Nettle) : Nettle 



elty committee of the Ontario Horticul 

 by ants", and advised using carbon bi-sul- ^iral Assodation were published ^in The family. All the species of Loasa are re- 

 phide around the plant. But this was of "' """ 



no avail ; plants kept on drooping and 

 dying. Nor when I dug up several of 

 the sickly plants could I find any aphis. 

 A year ago last fall I took all the soil 

 out of my beds, a foot or more deep, 

 and replaced it by other soil, on which 

 asters had never been planted. Last 

 summer the asters, excepting Mary Sem- 

 ple, all died as usual. I have some 

 plants in the spring to friends who had 

 a clay loam in their gardens. I thought 

 changed soil might prove a reemdy ; but, 

 in one case, the delicate varieties died 

 early as with me, and in the other, they 

 did better and gave fair bloom. 



I should be very glad if any of the 

 readers of The Canadian Horticultur- 

 ist could suggest the cause of the trou- 

 ble in my asters and name remedy. In 

 examining my sickly plants I found that 

 . every one was diseased at the base of 



Canadian Horticulturist for January 

 and March respectively. Other plants 

 recommended by this committee are as 

 follows : 



NEW OANNA 



King Humbert. — One of the most 

 striking of recent introductions. Broad, 

 massive foliage of a rich, dark, coppery 

 bronze, very large trusses of showy or- 

 chid-like flowers of brilliant orange scar- 

 let, with darker markings. Very effect- 

 ive. Height five feet. 



NEW GLADIOLI 



America, Afterglow, Dawn, Evolu- 

 tion, Victory. 



NEW CHBTSANTHEMtTMS FOE AMATETJE8 



Pompons : Snowdrop, pure white ; 

 .Ailena, silver pink, very free and effect- 

 ive. 



Single : Lady Lu, large, pure white, 

 single four-inch flower, very effective ; 

 Miss A. Holden, bright straw color tint- 



markable for the singular structure of 

 their flowers, and the stinging character 

 of their leaves. This one is not hurtful, 

 although it makes a person handling it 

 very uncomfortable. Native of Chili. 

 Half hardy perennial. A variety of the 

 above, Canarinoides, is a highly dan- 

 gerous plant to the touch. 



Rehmannia angidata : This is one of 

 the best flowering half-hardy plants 

 grown. When in bloom it resembles a 

 very large pink foxglove. If grown in 

 pots in a cool house and rested during 

 the dead of winter it will flower about 

 Easter. A great novelty. 



Yucca glauca (Syn. F. angustifolia). 

 .'\s hardy as Y. filamentosa and rare in 

 this country. They flower in Toronto. 

 The plants form a short trunk. The 

 flower-spike is not so tall as Y. filamen- 

 tosa, and the flowers are of a greenish 

 white color. 



