April, igii 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



91 



The Cultivation of the Canna 



Frank Wise, Pcterboro 



|i 



^H •"■"'HE cultivation of the canna is much 

 ^H I easier than most people imagine. 

 ^H •*■ In the first place you procure your 

 ^V tubers from your seedsman, or bet- 

 ^B ter still, the plants from your flor- 

 ^H ist. If the former, take a box 

 ^^P and place in the bottom some 

 rough soil such as decayed leaves 

 and sod about two inches deep. Over 

 this put a covering of coarse sand, on 

 which place your tubers two or three 

 inches apart, and cover with a mixture 

 of sand and rough soil to the depth of 

 two inches. watering 



Water thoroughly with warm water 

 and place in a warm place in the house 

 if you have not a hotbed or greenhouse. 

 Do not water again until thoroughly 

 dry, as this is where a great many fail- 

 ures occur through the tuber rotting 

 instead of starting into growth, which- 

 should be in the course of a week or 

 ten days. When the plants are three or 

 four inches high, and are making the 

 first leaf, they will have formed ,a good 

 root, and can be potted in four or five 

 inch pots in two-thirds good loam and 

 one-third rotten manure, and if pos- 

 sible placed in a gentle bottom heat and 

 watered with warm water, as cold wat- 

 er gives a chill which is detrimental to 

 rapid growth. 



If thorough watering is given it will 

 be a week or ten days before more is 

 needed, then water as before. Water 

 should be carefully applied, as too much 

 moisture in the hotbed will cause too 

 rapid fermentation and the heat is soon 

 lost. PIjANTING out 



Do not plant out into your beds un- 

 til the first week in June, when you 

 must enrich your soil by digging in 

 three or four inches of good rotten man- 

 ure. I plant my cannas two feet apart 

 and leave a little bay or hollow around 

 the plant, which I fill up with water ; 

 then I leave them for a few days to 

 themselves. By this time they have be- 

 come established. 



I then take a good fertilizer and place 

 in the bay that was left for the water 

 and hoe around the plant, and place the 

 sprinkler beside the bed and give a 

 thorough watering. This I seldom do 

 more than once a week, as I find you 

 ^ get better results from your flowers, 

 which, if watered too often, become 

 soft and are more easily damaged by 

 the wind and heavy rains. It will help 

 the growth of your plants if you hoe 

 among them once a week. By follow- 

 ing the above cultural directions you 

 cannot fail to have good success. 



After the sea.son is over and the first 

 frost has spoiled the plants, cut them 

 off two or three inches from the ground, 

 dig them up with all the earth that will 

 hang to them, and place them in a 



warm, dry corner of your cellar. Water 

 them once or twice during the winter, 



taking care that they do not dry out 

 too much. On about the first week in 

 March or earlier you can cut up the 

 clumps, taking the strongest eyes, and 

 start again. 



A Bed of Cannas in Little Lake Cemetery 



This beautiful bed of cannas was designed by Mr. Prauli Wise, Superintendent of the Little 

 Lake Cemetery, Peterboro. The bed is thirty feet in diameter and composed of three varie- 

 ties— Alphonse Bouvier. Beaute Portviene, and Queen Charlotte— and bordered with a snowy 

 growing red-follaged Achoranthus. 



Window Boxes in Early Spring 



R.L. Canniig, Eartlcoart, Oot. 



We are all pleased in summer time to 

 see our window boxes look well and 

 pretty with their long trailers and deep 

 green leaves. Why not let us try and 

 have some beauty in spring so as to 

 help nature as she is bursting into bud 

 and leaf after her long winter's sleep? 

 When we have done with our boxes for 

 the winter and they are taken down, 

 why hot plant them with bulbs? 



Either take away the old soil or top- 

 dress them ; a bulb will not require very 

 rich soil, as the bulb is rich in food it- 

 self. Plant a row of tulips at the back, 

 hyacinths in the centre and crocus in 

 front. Those who like narcissus daffodils, 

 or any other bulb, can have their 

 choice, for their names and varieties 

 are legion. 



The boxes can be brought out in 

 March from their winter quarters. They 

 can be top-dressed with moss or cocoa- 

 nut fibre or even coal ashes, which will 

 keep them cool and retentive of moist- 

 ure. Where means and space will per- 

 mit, a succession of blooms can be sup- 

 plied by having pot plants take the place 

 of those which were planted in the box- 



es. A cold frame and a little attention 

 is about all that is needed. 



When the bulbs are over, they can be 

 taken out and the pot plants placed in 

 their stead, thus ensuring a steady sup- 

 ply right through to the summer bed- 

 ding. As the nights get warmer, a fine 

 supply can be maintained and at a small 

 cost. Primulas, cinerarias, spireas, and 

 deutzias can be placed in the boxes by 

 being placed in the pots as suggested. 



Spring Care of Flower Beds 



The protection should be taken off 

 flower beds about the , first or second 

 week in April or after the weather has 

 begun to get warm. Remove only a 

 part of the covering at a time, the wet 

 heavy part underneath first, replacing 

 the drier, lighter part back over the 

 bulbs for a week or so until the wea- 

 ther has become quite settled and warm. 



This partial removal of covering at 

 first is desirable, so as not to expose 

 the top growth of bulbs to frost or hot 

 sun, the last named being quite as in- 

 jurious to top growth of bulbs in spring 

 as frost. Choose dull, showery wea- 

 ther if possible for removal of winter 

 covering from all plants. — Wm. Hunt, 



