POPULAR GARDENING 



FOR TOWN AND COUNTRY. 



"ACCUSE NOT NATURE, NHE HATH IHINE IIEK PART; DO THOU HUT 7'///,VK."-Milton. 



Vol. 1. 



X)EGB3VIBEia, 1885. 



No. 3. 



An Easily-grown Orchid. 



Oni' of lla- best Orchids for i;rowcrs, who 

 lack both experieuce iind facilities for liaml- 

 lin.i;' a collection of these plants, is Lycaste 

 Skiiincri. It is what is known as a cool 

 winter-flowering Orcliid; it has even been 

 calleil the coolest of cool sorts. Tlie plant will 

 bear a great deal of knocking about, not that 

 it thrives so well by .such treatment, but we 

 mention this as showing, that 

 it has a chance of succeeding, 

 with h.'indling that woidd kill 

 most other kinds, outriglitly. 



( )nce fairly under way, and 

 this Orchid is one of the 

 easiest things to grow. After 

 lieing well and jiroperly potted 

 it only needs close attention to 

 two point.s, namely: that it be 

 kel)t always cool and always 

 moist. When the large leaves 

 begin to unfold, it i.s astoni.sli- 

 ing how mucli water it will 

 take. The temperature suited 

 to the f'ineraria would suit 

 this phmt well. If there is 

 any time when it needs more 

 heat than at others, it is when 

 it is making its first growth, 

 and then a warm green-liouse 

 will answer. 



As for potting material, this 

 should consist of lumps of 

 fil)erv peat, chopped up 

 Sphagnum and cliarcoal. In 

 potting, the operation should 

 be tinished by having some 

 Si)hagnuin and charcoal at the 

 top. But it may be added, 

 that if in this some bits of old 

 perfectly dry cow-manure be 

 in.serted, it will be a great 

 source of strength. Without 

 this, the plant should receive 

 an occasional treat to guano 

 water, when growing. 



If Lj'caste Skinneri is not 

 the very handsomest of tlie 

 Ij)'castes. it is one of the cheapest to Iiuy, as 

 well as the easiest to manage. We notice 

 them offered in .some of the florists catalogues 

 at from one to two dollars each. 



Some one may wish to know whether this 

 desirable orcliid. would stand any cliance in 

 the window garden. Any experienced 

 grower of window plants ought to succeed 

 with it readily here. It is an orchid tliat 

 svicceeds admirably in a dwelling, if brovight 

 in just as blooming commences. 



flowered with us for the first time this season. 

 It is a hardy perennial sjiecies, of handsome 

 growth, with large flowers, for this section. 

 In general, it is not excelled in beauty by any 

 of the vai'ious bandsome pei'ennial suiitiowei's. 

 But coming in flower about a mouth later than 

 the others, and when flowers begin tcj I'un very 

 scarce, it proves to be, perliaps the most valu- 

 able of all the species. 



Notes from Lyndale. 



BY A. H. E. 



Dcrrinhi'r .5. To plan for having the gai'den 

 gay with bloom in Spring and Summer is easy 

 enough ; not so to provide for Octotier and No- 

 vemljer flowei'S liere. I wa.s nuich pleased 

 lately with the addition made to the fall 

 bloomers in our garden, by the not conunon 

 Sunflower Hflhiiitliiis Maj-imiliaii, which 



AN EASILY-GROWN ORCHID.— LYCASTE SKINNERI. 



I take pleasure in i-eporting on the new Pur- 

 ple-leaved Plum Pntniis Pisscirdi, in my 

 grounds. It ceilainly stands at the head of 

 purple-leaved shrubs and trees in more respects 

 than one. It is a free grower, while no othei- 

 purple-leaved sort with which I am acciviainted, 

 can begin to equal it for richness and perma- 

 nency of the peeidiai- color. The PuriJlc-leaved 

 Barl)erry is a mild looking shnrb side of it. 

 Unlike the Pui-jjle-leaved varieties of Filbert, 

 Peach,Beeeh and Maple,— which, although rich- 

 ly colored in the sprnig, lose much of this by 

 fading, later on,— this new Plum increases in the 

 richness of its purple color as the season ad- 

 vances. This sort needs to be classed as one of 

 the most ])romising new shrubs or small trees, 

 that has been introduced for a long time. It Ls 

 said to be a free bloomer, bearing rosy flowere. 

 * * * 



JJi'ri'uibyr VZ. In my la.st entry, I spoke* of a 

 pronusing new shrub in jjai-ticular, let me now 

 say a few words for my slu'ubs in general. The 

 Shrubbery Walk at Lyndale is one of the fea- 



tures of the place. It is a winding walk, some 

 four huniln'd feet in length, skirti'd on each 

 side by irregidar-sha|)ed clumiis of shrubs, 

 on lawn that stretches away on eai'h side. 



Here are chmips of early-flowering sbi'ubs: 

 clumps of late-flowei'in^ shrubs, and elumps of 

 intermediate sorts. Here are masses of varie- 

 gated leaved, cut-leaved, common-leaveil and 

 evergreen shrubs. Some gi'oups are made up 

 ofilwarf ami formal-looking sorts, such as the 

 . dwarfer kmds of Mock Orange, 

 Deutzia, Hypericums, (..V)rchorus 

 etc\, others are composed of tall 

 or straggling growers, includ- 

 ing Smoke Trees and Altheas, 

 fully twelve feet high eai'li. 



There is hardly a <Iay in the 

 year but I can fin<I some attrac- 

 tions along the Shrubbery 

 Walk, while in the height of the 

 blooming season, this part of 

 the gi-ounds is a perfe<'t little 

 Paradise; so beautiful in foliage, 

 flowers and general sweetne.ss. 

 * u. * 

 Who can tell why the hardy 

 shrubs are not more i>lanted t 

 Every home with a quarter 

 of an acre or upwards of lawn 

 and garden, ought to have its 

 Shrulibery Walk or some 

 clumps of shrubs. The gotxl 

 qualities of shrubs for orna- 

 menting grounds, can be 

 summed up in a very tew words. 

 They cost but little money to 

 begin with, they transplant and 

 start into gi'owth easily; they 

 develop into beauty almost in 

 one season; they possess the 

 quality of permanency; they 

 require hai'dly any cai'e. What 

 other ornamental growths, can 

 excel them in as many ))ar- 

 ^-»A, \ ticulars as these named ; 



^^ Deveiiihei- 18. Last night we 



hauled out the straw mats to 



protect the lower end of the 



cool gi'eenhouse from a peneti'a- 



tiug ''Norea-ster" that had 



spnmg up before dark. The 



almost inunediate result of this 



course, was a rise of .5 or (J in 



the temiierature, a point we aimed to gain, for 



the Christnuis bulbs in this part of the house, 



to hurrv them along into bloom. 



* * * 



I sometimes question whethei- the value of 

 outside i)rott'ction to gla.ss is well undei-stood. 

 In times of storm, or in cold damp weather, 

 when the fires burn poorly and si"emt<i give out 

 no heat, the straw units on the outside have a 

 wonderful ell'e<t. Then wheie ordinarily a 

 saving of fuel is a special object, inst4»id of 

 firing hard towards sundown let the fires be 

 checkefl, and mats Iw applied by twice going 

 over the job to avoid a t<)o sudden rise of the 

 tcmi)erature, anil the house may be brou;?ht 

 through the night in jiood sha|)e with a de- 

 cided saving of fuel. The .same piineiple holds 

 good in protecting pits, fi-anies or any glass. 



* ... * 

 * 



DcremhiT 23. It seems to me it is not gener- 

 ally known what a u.seful jjlant the conunon 

 Periwinkle or \'iiirii, (sometimes wrongly calleil 

 myrtle) is for ornumenting grounds, by cover- 



