WHAT TO PLANT 



the depth of at least a foot. The tubers are set out two to three feet 

 apart and four to six inches deep, but covered at first with only one 

 to two inches of soil. Each plant should be allowed to send up but a 

 single stalk, and when this is well above ground the earth should be 

 spread over it gradually, keeping the ground level. The soil should 

 be kept loose and must be frequently and thoroughly stirred up with 

 a stick. Water once a week, not oftener, and loosen the earth about 

 the plant next day. Plant dahlias in late May or June. After the 

 flowers begin to bloom then the ground should not be disturbed more 

 than an inch in depth. At this time a mulch of fine, decomposed 

 stable manure will prove beneficial. Dahlias require open sun. 



Cannas. Like the dahlia, the canna has recently been greatly 

 improved, and was in much sorer need of improvement. Now there 

 are many better sorts than the old-fashioned canna, whose small 

 flower of an unpleasing red and -whose bronze- tinted foliage and tropical 

 appearance almost invariably struck a jarring note in its usual northern 

 environment. The best of the new cannas are the Crozy varieties. 

 These grow from three to four feet in height, and bloom, if set out 

 early in June, during the late summer and until frost. For cannas 

 the soil should be light, rich, and deep. An occasional watering with 

 liquid manure will be a benefit. 



If you will take time and the calendar by the forelock cannas 

 and dahlias can be started in flower-pots in the house or in frames 

 for early blooming; I prefer to have them blossom in the late summer 

 and autumn, when there in not such a profusion of flowers as in July 

 and early August, so I always plant them in the open ground in June. 



A Plant That Every Gardener Ought to Know: Ismene, a charm- 

 ing though almost unknown plant, should be a joy to any amateur 

 gardener. It has the pleasing habit of blooming from two to three 

 weeks after the bulb is put in the ground; the flowers are lily-like, 

 large, and white, the foliage not unlike that of the iris, the plant about 

 two to two and a half feet in height. Bulbs may be set out in late 

 May and June, in holes from four to five inches deep. Ismene requires 

 no peculiar treatment, only plenty of sunshine and ordinarily good 

 soil. 



A Good Foliage Plant. One of the best foliage plants is Caladium 

 esculentum. Its immense leaves measure two feet and a half wide 

 and from three to four feet long. The plant is especially effective 

 for a position near a pool or fountain. Plant late May and early 

 June. Caladiums require only common garden soil, may be planted 

 in the sun or in half-shade, but should have plenty of water. 



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