106 CALIFORNIA GARDEN FLOWERS 



On a small scale a lath or cloth shade may protect them without too 

 great outlay. It is interesting to try many other things with an August 

 start on irrigated land, and a beginner will often be surprised and de- 

 lighted over his achievements if he dares to defy the warning of the 

 wiseacres who tell him he must wait for the fall rains. 



Even for the rainfall garden there is much which can be begun in 

 August. Of course, actual work in the open must be deferred until the 

 soil is deeply moistened by the rain, but a corner of the garden, 

 partially shaded from the sun, can be moistened from the well or house 

 pipes and made into a seed bed, in which hosts of things can be grown 

 closely together to be ready for transplanting to the open when the 

 rain comes and one can get a start in this way which will compare well 

 with the advantage of winter growth of seedlings for spring trans- 

 planting. Let the beginner remember that California has two spring- 

 time changes: one from cold to warmth and the other from drought 

 to moisture, with continuation of the same warmth, and he can get a 

 better idea of the capabilities of the California garden and work better 

 to realize them. 



August has also very important relations to the autumn bloom of 

 shrubs and herbaceous plants which flower through a long period. 

 The chrysanthemums must, of course, be encouraged with water and 

 other liquid refreshments which are to their tastes. Dis-budding of the 

 selected shoots must not be neglected and to guard against both 

 sunburn and dust prepare to stretch a cloth canopy over the plants 

 which are grown for single blooms. 



Open the trenches along the rows of rose bushes which were put to 

 sleep last month and thoroughly soak the ground, replacing the earth 

 and hoeing the surface well as the water disappears. This moisture, with 

 the ample heat, will soon awaken the roses and they will stretch out 

 long arms of new growth to bathe in the sunshine which is more and 

 more delicious as its July fervor lessens. Generous August treatment 

 is the price of gorgeous Thanksgiving roses. 



One more August opportunity looks beyond the fall bloom. 

 Biennials and perennials which bloom the second year in wintry 

 climates count a year in California as good as two years elsewhere, provid- 

 ing they are started so that they can grow in the latter half of one year 

 and bloom in the first half of the next. The list is too long to even 

 name the plants which thus declare their joy in coming to California. 



In addition to these common hardy perennials, August is the month 

 to start plants of many favorites of the greenhouse, to be shifted, as 

 they advance, into pots for winter house-bloom, or possibly to be 

 grown in the open air in certain protected places and thus convince the 

 visitor as he looks upon them beneath the palms, araucarias, cycads, 

 lantanas, etc., that the California garden is really a conservatory out 

 of doors. 



