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LR, l8^§Sh, 



POPULAR GARDENING 



FOR TOWN AND COUNTRY. 



■VOL- I- 



Garden Notes from Lyndale. 



BY A. H. E. 



October 2. Few plants of a large collec- 

 tion afford greater satisfaction than Begonia 

 Weltoniensis. Several late-starled ones, standing 

 in a shady border are yet covered with clouds 

 of rosy bloom. For many weeks they have 

 been very attractive. 



This Begonia is easy to manage, and assumes 

 a fine form without either stakes or tying up. 



A few days later I will lift the plants, set the 

 roots firmly into pots of earth, water and then 

 gradually drj' off. During the winter the pots 

 are laid on their sides in a temperature of about 

 50 degrees, and are not watered. In the spring 

 I start them up at intervals for a succession. 



*** 

 The Matrimony Vine, Lyfhdm barbarum,zom- 

 mon and almost weedy thing that it is, displays 

 such richness in its fruit now, to say nothing of 

 bloom earlier, that for my part I really don't 

 care to be without it. But every plant in its 

 place. I confine this vine to a pile of boulders 

 on the hill side, letting it clamber about and 

 tangle up as it chooses. Here the clusters of 

 orange-scarlet berries show most attractively; I 

 can think of nothing in this line to equal them 

 in beauty, from now on. 



October jih. About the only insects to trou- 

 ble out-door Geraniums here are caterpillars of 

 several species. While they are voracious feeders 

 on the leaves, their numbers are not so great, 

 but that with looking out for them daily, they 

 are kept from spoiling much. 



These large hairy worms when at it feed as if 

 they meant to have the plant. I kill everyone 

 met, thus destroying a present cause of trouble, 

 and cutting off future increase, for next year 

 will find the moth of every one that escapes 

 this year, laying many eggs apiece, a thing 

 equivalent to much future trouble. 



» * 

 * 



Coming in possession of a strip of land a 

 year ago that was burdened with several patches 

 of Burdocks. I took in hand to eradicate them. 

 And I succeeded, but it was a job. This 



by arming myself with a butcher knife and de- 

 capitating every plant just below the surface, 

 as it first appeared in sight. They gave up first. 



* 



.•\lthough I am rather fond of a dressy gar- 

 den, that part of Lyndale devoted to a Wild Gar- 

 den certainly yields much satisfaction. 



For one thing this piece of rurality costs but 

 little care, it being chiefly in the direction of 

 eradicating weeds and such plants as would soon 

 become weeds if allowed to. What enhances 

 the value of the spot is the happy freedom with 

 which all the plants are growing. 



There is no time, from the dawn of spring 

 until freezing weather in autumn, but that some 

 object may, in a walk through the Wild Garden, 

 be met to please the eye, and the other senses. 



*** 

 October Sl/i. I mentioned the Matrimony 

 Vine as being attractive with fruit now. Fur- 

 ther along in the W'ild Garden, are some clumps 

 of Sweet Brier and Dog Roses, which also dis- 

 play a showy crop of fruit. 



Much as I prize the improved Roses of the 

 borders, these wild sorts would be greatly 

 missed were they to be taken away. The plants 

 have always had very much their own way. 

 They are now eight feet high and with droop- 

 ing branches that one can walk undsr. 



No one would care to come very close to 

 these thorny chaps one might think, and yet 

 when they were in bloom a shady nook in the 

 Sweet Briers afforded a very inviting sitting 

 place. Here at that time I found much to 

 admire in the delicate beauty and contrasts of 

 these two species of Roses, loaded down with 

 their hundreds of pretty single blooms. 

 * ^ * 



October loth. In planting my Dutch Bulbs 

 to-day, I repeated a plan for successive crop- 

 ping of flowers in the spring, on two small beds 

 that in the past has usually pleased me greatly. 

 These beds are only two feet across and lie 

 conspicuously on each side of the front walk 

 near to the steps. I set out Crocuses, Hyacinths 

 and Parrot Tulips all in the same beds. 



My way of planting wasas follows: First, I dug 

 up the soil well, mixing in some manure during 

 the process, and after shaping up the top tramp- 

 ed it rather firmly. Then I dug out each bed 

 exactly five inches below the surface. On this 

 bottom fifteen bulbs each of Single Hyacinths 

 and Parrot Tulips were set, and covered with a 

 layer of two inches of soil. This new surface 

 was for the Crocuses, and on it I placed six dozen 

 imported bulbs, dividing the spaces between 

 them uniformly. 



Early next Spring there will be sheets of 

 Crocus flowers over these beds. These will 

 soon be followed by Hyacinth, and later yet will 

 come along the Parrots. 



After the Tulips are done, the same beds are 

 planted with summer flowers, thus securing to 

 me an almost perpetual period of bloom from 

 March until October. 



* .„ * 



* 



October iSlh. I notice a growing interest in 

 the planting of Bulbs in grass plats, which I 

 like to see. 



For this purpose it is hard to conceive 



of anything that does better or is finer than 



the old-fashioned Von Sihon Daffodils. They 



grow compactly and strong, and when seated 



on the grass are exceedingly handsome as the 



flowers are swayed too and fro by the Spring 



breezes. A strong point in their favcr is, that 



the plants grow in close clumps, thus allowing 



the grass from the ver)' earliest mowing in the 



Spring to be kept closely cut right up to them, 



maintaining a neat appearance. 



* * 

 « 



Crocuses succeed well in the grass but better 

 in the cultivated border. The objection to 

 them in the lawn is, that the grass must be left 

 uncut until the bulbs have made their growth 

 for the season, thus tending to a general ap- 

 pearance of untidiness. 



In the Wild Garden where tidiness is at 

 a discount, these as well as Snowdrops and 

 others of similar needs, are exactly in place 

 growing in the grass. Here of all places an 

 abundance of Crocuses should be found. 



