May, 1913 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



129 



Spring Gardening Suggestions 



R. S. Rose, 



IN laying out your garden this spring, 

 do not look only at the vegetable side, 

 but take into consideration the flower 

 side as well. We all know that vege- 

 tables are a necessity, as the times go, 

 but surely one can spare space at the 

 border for some flowers, as every woman 

 in the house has a knowledge of and 

 loves plants as well as the added beauty 

 that the flowers give to the rooms. No 

 woman, if she can get them, would will- 

 ingly be without them. So why not let 

 her have them? When she sees them 

 coming up, she will look after them, 

 knowing what they will be to her and 

 also to you during their time of bloom. 

 So again I say, in laying out your gar- 

 den this spring include some flower seeds 

 in your order to your seedsman. To 

 those who have not included these seeds 

 in their order, I will try to give an idea 

 of what I think would be advisable for 

 them to get, with also plans of how this 

 can be done and yet not take up too 

 much space from their vegetable garden. 



For a back yard garden of say thirty- 

 five by fifty feet, make a three and one- 

 half foot bed up both sides, and also at 

 the end of your lot. On one side have a 

 perennial border of Phlox as a back- 

 ground of all colors. In front of these 

 can be put four o 'clocks and stocks al- 

 ternately with a front border of sweet 

 alyssum. 



On the other side have a background 

 of golden glow, sunflowers, and holly- 

 hocks, salvia and asters in front with 

 a front border of pansies . At the end of 

 the garden use sweet peas as a back- 

 ground, with a border of dwarf nastur- 

 tiums. Vegetables can be grown in the 

 centre part of the garden. 



Another plan could be adopted, such 

 as a yellow background of golden glow 

 and golden treasure, with asters in front 

 at the back of the garden. 



Along the whole side of the garden a 

 bed four by five feet wide, with a back- 

 ' ground of sweet peas and morning 

 flories . Dwarf nasturtiums or balsams 

 ban be grown at the foot of these, as 

 Ihey protect the roots of the vines from 

 the hot sun and also help to keep in the 

 noisture. In front a pick and come 

 again bed can be planted with such 

 Sowers as stocks, zinnias, sweet suttons, 

 Bphlox drummondii, gaillardia, wallflow- 

 ers, centaurea, gypsophila scabiosa, 

 pansies, and sweet william. These are 

 all good annuals and bloom in profusion, 

 giving beautiful flowers for picking. As 

 a border mignonette, candytuft, and 

 sweet alyssum go well together, and will 

 also stand picking, or pansies and phlox 

 drummondi could be planted alternately. 

 A wild flower garden in the corner makes 

 a splendid show, and one gets some good 



Peterboro, Out. 



perennials as well as annuals in the 

 packages. All gardens should have a 

 wild flower corner, where everything 

 can be allowed to grow in massed pro- 

 fusion. The balance of the lot can be 

 used as a vegetable patch or made into 

 a lawn to suit one's self. 



Then again one can have a perennial 

 flower bed at the very end of your lot, 

 which will not interfere with the vege- 

 tables. The plants that are mentioned 

 hereafter are all good strong growers, 

 and give abundance of flowers through- 

 out the season. The beauty of a peren- 

 nial garden is not only in its bloom, but 

 that it practically grows by itself, and 

 whene one who has not the time to spend 

 in the early spring season sowing seeds 

 and so forth, the perenninal flower bed 

 will be found a perfect blessing. It 

 requires attention in the spring by dig- 

 ging in the top covering of manure 

 which is put on in the fall as a protection 

 against frost. In the summer all that is 

 required is to keep the earth loose and 

 free from weeds. The small attention 

 that is necessary will doubly repay you 

 by the splendid showing the flowers will 

 make during the whole season from 

 spring to late frost. The bed shown 

 should be from say thirty-five to forty 

 feet long and by about five feet wide. 

 The plants should be planted two feet 

 apart each way. They should not be 

 crowded, but given plenty of room to 

 spread. You need not, of course, follow 

 the plan just as I have given it, as I am 

 only trying to show the beauty of a 

 perennial bed and what can be done with 

 it. The balance of the lot can be plant- 



ed with vegetables or left in lawn as 

 one pleases. With this kind of a bed, 

 flowers can be picked for the table or 

 given away to one's friends, as it does 

 the plants good to keep them well picked 

 and not allow the blossoms to go to seed. 

 There are lots of other kinds of plants 

 that can be used if one goes over any 

 of the good plant catalogues that all of 

 the seedsmen who advertise in The Can- 

 adian Horticulturist will be only too glad 

 to send if you drop them a post card. 

 The outlay for a perennial garden is 

 heavier than for annuals, but it is there, 

 and there to stay. And they need not 

 be got all at once, but added to spring 

 by spring as the fancy takes you. 



PLANTS FOE SHADY PLACES 



If you have a shady nook in the gar- 

 den the following plants would do well 

 there: A background of Columbine 

 (Aquilegia), with Monswood (Aconitum), 

 Bleeding Heart (Dielytra or Dicentra), 

 Foxglove (Digitali) in front. Jacob's 

 Ladder (Polemonium), Solomon's Seal 

 (Polygonatum), False Solomon's Seal 

 (Smilacina), Carolina or Indian Pink 

 (Spigelia), Saxifraga Alpina, Primulas 

 (Primrose), partial shade. Lilies of the 

 Valley, Violets, Myosotis (Forget-me- 

 nots), pansies, also do well in half shade. 



There are many pleasing methods of 

 training or growing roses. One is to 

 take a long vigorous shoot of the prev- 

 ius season's growth, say of some perpet< 

 ual rose, such as General Jacqueminot, 

 bending it over and fastening the point 

 of the shoot to the ground. This will 

 cause every eye to break, and give you a 

 short spur of growth, each surmounted 

 with its brilliant blossom ; an entire bor- 

 der treated in this way will give a perfect 

 blaze of bloorh. 



elLuxuriant Growth in the Garden of Mr. Geo. Vicker«,.Barrie,. Ont. 



