J ily igi I 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULT UEIST 



163 



A Profusion of Bloom, Another Lovely Effect in Mr. Whyte'» Garden 



German Iris are favorites with Mr. WJiyte. Some of these as they grow in his garden are 

 here shown with Crimson Paeonies in the foreground. 



words, he uses permanent material wher- 

 ever possible. 



The only annuals Mr. Whyte uses 

 largely for garden effect are sweet peas 

 and Shirley poppies. The only tender 

 plants he uses largely are dahlias and 

 cannas. For April effect he has to de- 

 pend chiefly on small bulbs. To keep 

 his bulb beds from looking shabby he 

 grows California poppies, nasturtiums, 

 and annual phlox, sowing the seed right 

 on the permanent bulb beds. September 

 is still not quite full enough, and so he 

 grows some asters. The whole plan is 

 simple, sensible, and economical. 



THE FRUIT GKOWN 



Nine varieties of apples are grown 

 that sometimes produce twenty barrels 



one occasion, however, some neighbors 

 picked for a wedding 4,200 sweet peas 

 in one day. 



OTHER PEODUOTS 



The garden has supplied a family of 

 nine the year round with all the fruit de- 

 sired, including thirty-five varieties of 

 English gooseberries, twenty-five varie- 

 ties of grapes, and two hundred and 

 ninety-nine quarts of preserves. It pro- 

 duces a fair quantity of fresh vegetables 

 in season. The garden is so productive 

 that three wagon loads of plants are 

 given away each year to start new gar- 

 dens. The soil is so mellow that the 

 gardener never touches his foot to the 

 spading fork, but simply sets it in and 

 turns the earth over. 



FLORAL FEATURES 



A good idea of the main floral features 

 of the garden may be obtained from the 

 following table : 



of apples. The varieties ripen in about 

 the following order: Yellow Transpar- 

 ent (A^igust), Peach, Whitney, Duchess 

 of Oldenburgh, Wealthy, Fameuse, 

 Scarlet Pippin, Mackintosh Red, and 

 Wolf River. The last two keep till Jan- 

 uary, but winter apples are not sufficient- 

 ly hardy, e.g.. Spy, Greening, and 

 Spitzenburg. Six kinds of plums yield 

 about three barrels a year. 



Mr. Whyte grows twenty-five varie- 

 ties of grapes — and prefers training them 

 on arbors rather than trellises. He has 

 three arbors, which are pleasant places 

 in which to rest or read. On one of 

 them are seven varieties of grapes. Mr. 

 Whyte thinks that small gardens should 

 have few trees and many vines. Grapes 

 take up less room, give more convenient 

 shade, and are highly ornamental. 



Gooseberries are Mr. Whyte's speci- 

 alty. He grows the European varieties, 

 which are about as large as plums and 

 are eaten out of hand when ripe. He 

 has never failed to get first prize for his 

 collection of varieties, which is the larg- 

 est in Canada — thirty-five varieties and 

 twenty-five unnamed seedlings. They 

 are grown on a heavy, clay soil. He 

 gives them a little shad^ by putting them 

 near the fence, and supplies plenty of 

 moisture so that the roots are alway.s 

 cool and moist. Five to eight quarts is 

 a fair crop, but sometimes a bush will 

 yield eleven quarts. A bush lasts ten or 

 twelve years. Mr. Whyte then layers 

 it and starts anew. The fruits are one 

 and a quarter to one and three-quarter 

 inches in length. None are tart when 

 ripe. The plants are bought in Europe. 

 The most _ wonderful fruit in Mr. 

 Whyte's garden is* the Herbert rasp- 

 berry — the one he produced and for 

 which he got five hundred dollars. This 

 is believed to be the finest flavored, big- 



MONTH 



April 



May 



June 



July 



Alirpixt 

 and 



CHIEF FLOWERS AND NUMBER OP 

 VARIETIES 



SnoH<irops, crocuses, scilla. 

 Tulii)s (100). Narcissus (70). 

 Peonies (150), Rosas (20). Ger- 

 ^ man iris (20). 

 /Swp«t pea (60). Jap. iris (30). 

 (^ Oriental poppies (20). Other 



poppies (12). Spirea (15). 



"I Glaflioli (5,000 plants). Dah- 



f lias (40). Phlox (50 to 70). 



Spptrmbfr' A.sters(12). Cannas (15 1x3 20)! 



Mr. Whyte cares more for variety than 

 for show ,and values continuity of gar- 

 den effect more than cut flowers. He 

 wants plenty of flowers every day for five 

 months, and, therefore, has given a great 

 deal of thought to continuity of bloom. 

 To fill the gaps in the foregoing plan he 

 uses about forty kinds of lilies and one 

 hundred perennials with .scattering per- 

 iods of bloom, including twenty kinds of 

 yellow and orange day lilies. In other 



One of the Rich Effect* in Mr. Whyte'* Garden 



The flowers shown are White Poppy— Snowdrifts- in the foreground with sweet peaB, grown on 



wire cylinders, behind. 



