'42 



THE CANADIAN HORTICtJLTURIST 



June, igi^f 



to two feet apart, if planted in rows 

 Place a stake to each plant when set out, 

 it sometimes means saving the plant 

 from being broken off later for want of 

 tying, something that often happens *o 

 the growth of dahlias. A fairly rich, 

 light, loamy soil suits dahlias best. 



1 h c Gardener's Lodge, Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Chrysanthemum Maximum in foreground 



still, short, rotted manure over which 

 are put lawn clippings. A mulch of this 

 kind eighteen inches on each side of the 

 row of sweet peas and two or three 

 inches in depth will also prevent the sur- 

 face soil from being tramped hard. 

 While the mulch should come near the 

 stems it should not actually come in 

 close contact with them. 



KEEP SWEET PEAS CUT 



A thorough watering twice, or even 

 once, a week is better than watering 

 every day. It is scarcely necessary to 

 say that no pods should be allowed to 

 form if continuity of bloom is to be ob- 

 tained. The peas should be cut every 

 day or at most every other day. A 

 difficulty most gardeners experience is to 

 get the sweet peas kept cut as they 

 should be. A short row kept well cut is 

 much more satisfactory than a long row 

 neglected. One row twenty to twenty- 

 five feet long will more than keep a 

 household supplied with flowers and 

 even ten feet would give an abundance 

 of bloom, and from this length it is not 

 too great an effort for anyone to keep the 

 peas cut, even in the hottest weather. 

 Peas should not be pulled from the vines ; 

 they should be cut off with as much of 

 the stem as possible. 



Growing Dahlias 



J. McP. Roti, Twoito, Oat. 



The culture of dahlias is so simple, 

 anyone may soon have a stock of 

 dahlias by starting with a few tubers. 

 Of course, like everything else, they re- 

 spond readily to good care and liberal 

 cultivation, by using plenty of manure, 

 bone meal, nitrate of soda, and water. 



As a rule, dahlias do better when the 

 hot sun in the afterroon is shaded from 

 them. The flowers last a long time if 



cut in the early morning or after sun- 

 down, placing the stalks in water and 

 keeping them in a cool place. 



Varieties that have been cultivated a 

 great many years gradually deteriorate, 

 becoming more or less single. All plants 

 do this more or less, and this deteriora- 

 tion may account for the blighting of 

 the young flower buds. This necessi- 

 tates new varieties possessing vigorous 

 habits of growth. To counteract this 

 decay florists have to resort constantly 

 to raising new sorts from seed. This 

 restores the plant to its natural type. 



A good guide for planting out vcy 

 tender plants is to test the temperature 

 of the soil. Unless the temperature of 

 the soil is at least as high as 50 degrees 

 it is better to keep them out of ihe 

 ground a little longer. If the ground 

 strikes cold to the hand when planting 

 it is best to go slow with setting out very 

 tender plants of any kind. It is better to 

 let them harden well in cold frames 

 where they can be protected, than to chill 

 or freeze them in the border. Even 

 should there be no actual frost, continu- 

 ous chilly wet weather will often give 

 them a set back they do not recover from 

 until quite the end of the season. 



DAHLIAS 



Dormant roots of dahlias, or roots 

 barely started, can be planted out cf 

 doors about the end of May. Roots that 

 have been started indoors or in a hot 

 bed should be hardened off gradually to 

 outdoor conditions, the same as recom- 

 mended for bedding out plants. The 

 roots of these started early should not 

 be planted out until about the first or 

 second week in June after all danger ot 

 frost is over. The foliage of the dahlia 

 is very easily touched by frost. Dahlia 

 roots should be set about eighteen inches 



The June Care oJ Flowers 



Wd. Hont, O.A.C., Gaelph, Oat. 



Chrysanthemum plants that have been 

 grown indoors from cuttings or slips, or 

 from divisions of old roots, in March or 

 April, may be planted out in the gar- 

 den, or potted into large pots, in rich 

 soil in June. If potted treat them as 

 you would geraniums in pots. These 

 plants like plenty of water at the roots. 



Stand old plants of Calla or Arum Lily 

 out of doors in the shade in June. Do 

 not dry them too much at the roots in 

 the summer. 



To have good geranium plants that 

 will flower all winter, they must be pre- 

 pared in the summer. The best plan is 

 to secure some strong young plants of 

 good varieties in June, in four or five 

 inch pots. Re-pot the plants into six or 

 seven inch pots. Pinch out the tips or 

 terminal points of each shoot or branch 

 so as to take oft' a very small piece of 

 the stem as well as the topmost leaf or 

 two. Keep the tip of each shoot pinched 

 out as soon as it is six or eight inches 

 in length until about the middle of 

 August. Keep all bloom buds and blos- 

 soms picked off, stem and all, as soon 

 as they appear until September, when 

 the plants should be allowed to grow and 

 flower. 



After the plants have been re-potted in 

 June, plunge or sink tlie pots to the rim 

 out in the open ground in the garden. 

 Put an inch or so of coal ashes under- 

 neath the pots when sinking them into 

 the ground. This will keep out earth 

 worms. Pot the plants in good rich 

 potting soil and put in the bottom of 

 each pot nearly an inch of broken flower 

 pots, coal cinders, or gravel for drain- 

 age when re-potting them. Give them 

 plenty of water during the summer. 



Impatiens, or BIoom-for-Ever, will 

 grow out of doors from June until the 

 end of August. Plant them out about 

 the end of June in light, rich soil in the 

 open. Spray the foliage frequently to 

 keep down red spider and other insect 

 pests. 



Old plants of begonias should be stood 

 out of doors in partial shade during the 

 summer. 



Valotta and Amaryllis may also be 

 stood out in partial shade from June un- 

 til the end of August. If they require 

 re-potting it should be done about the 

 end of July. Do not re-pot them too 

 often. A top dressing or mulching with 

 good rich soil is often better than re- 

 potting these plants. 



