i886. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



123 



soil show an inclination to bake or crvist 

 over it may, in a measure, be prevented by 

 a covering of old tine top or leaf mould 

 which also contains llie moisture. In any 

 case this covering is valuable provided it is 

 not too coarse, a matter wliich may be con- 

 trolled b}' the help of a garden sieve. At- 

 tention in regard to supplying sufficient 

 water to the bed is necessary until tlie seed- 

 lings are well through, as the top soil is 

 liable soon to dry out. 



Many kinds of perennial seeds are slow 

 to germinate, and the plan of soaking them 

 in lukewarm water for 24 hours may be 

 adopted with advantage in most cases. 



This class of plants is not as a rule suited 

 for lawn decoration in the tidy bedding 

 system, as tliej' do not keep in bloom suffi- 

 ciently long, yet to many they are the most 

 interesting class of Howers grown. Many 

 of our native plants may occupy a prominent 

 position witli this class, besides everj' desira- 

 ble variety the seedsman has to offer. 



In planning the hardy border .some taste 

 in arranging should lie exercised. A nice 

 arrangement is to plant each kind in agroup, 

 mixing the colors and placing some small 

 growing ones between groups of taller plants. 

 Hollyhocks and other similar tall plants 

 should be used as screens, or else planted at 

 the back of the bed, gradually coming down 

 to the small edging plants in front. Some 

 prefer mixing them up, all sizes and kinds to- 

 gether, giving them more of a natural style. 



Those Designing (?) Florists. 



Our Sunflower Reporter on his vacation 

 gets alarmed and writes an earnest letter on 

 his own account. which we print as received: 



Home OJfire " Popithtr Gardcninfj : " 



Informatiou reaches me that a lai-ge body of 

 Professional Florists will soon move towards 

 Philadelphia ostensibly to hold a convention. 

 It is said that they will number into the hun- 

 di'eds, and many will reach the city under 

 cover of night. I do not like the looks of 

 things and desire that the people of the land 

 he informed about these men, their ways and 

 intentions. 



First it should be known that a more design- 

 ing class of men than these florists nowhere 

 exists. I doubt if even the planners of Chicago 

 dynamite bombs can compare with them. They 

 plan, they scheme, they work, and tai' into the 

 night often, that they may relieve the purses of 

 the people in the day. They love darkness 

 rather than the light for carrj'ing out their 

 deepest laid, as well as their worst designs (bad 

 Carnations run in), that such work shall not be 

 so manifest. 



But a chief trait is that to a man they seek to 

 impose their night^wrought floriferous designs, 

 upon the estimable ladies of the land. The 

 wives and daughters of America are their 

 most-prized victims ; they even delight to entice 

 innocent children, by ofiFering "Jack"' buds 

 " at half-price — seventy-five cents each.'" 



What I think is most to be feared from their 

 visit to the city of Independence Hall, is some 

 special designs on that lady dear to every 

 patroitic heart. Miss ii. O. Libert}'. To the un- 

 suspecting perhaps this will seem a far-fetched 

 fear, but I know whereof I write in saying that 

 they would enjoy nothing better than this. 

 Let one but learn how these same men have 

 imposed to distraction upon our good old 

 Mother Nature, to show whether or not such 

 fears are ungrounded. 



By their arts and devices they have so worked 

 upon this estimable dame that she now is in 

 the wretched condition of believing that black 

 is white, winter is summer and summer is 

 winter. The good lady started out managing 

 her affaii's, as the writer grows his favorite 1 



Sunflower, namely, that in winter plants 

 ! should rest and in summer thej' should flower 

 and seed. But these designers met her in her 

 gai-den and asked to manage things for a while 

 in their way. When she, not thinking of their 

 designs, consented, they t<_)ok of her plants, 

 and actually fm-rrd them before her eyes to 

 reverse their habits, causing them to rest all 

 through the growing summer and then to bear 

 their lai'gest crops in the cold, cold midwinter. 

 Why the precious dame became just that 

 muddled as to yield to then- ever}- beck, and 

 now a long-suffering public must take of their 

 forced products, at a hundred times the price of 

 fine Sunflowers, or else have none. 



All this being history, is not the alarm of 

 knowing ones warranted ! To be suie, we 

 know not the fullness of their designs (probably 

 containing more paper than Sphagnum) at the 

 coming meeting, but it bodes no good to our 

 American goddess. Think of the consequences 

 should they succeed in imposing on this worthy 

 lady, as they before this have done on Dame 

 Nature and others. 



What shall be done? Let all patriotic citizens 

 at once arise in their might, and in the inter- 

 vening short time before the meeting, let them 

 raze from the earth (about two feet high I 

 would suggest, so that the free air can circulate 

 beneath) evei-y glittering hot-house of this 

 crowd. Thus may they become, in a measure 

 rescuers to dear Mother Natiu-e, and at the 

 same time inflict such a severe reproof against 

 further similar machinations as to avert dis- 

 aster at Philadelphia. But no time must be 

 lost, for even now these fellows are plotting to 

 insure their glass houses against all damages 

 from (hail) stones and the like. This brought 

 about and Mr. Professional Florist would for- 

 ever be secure against the attack suggested. 

 For, dwelling as he does in a glass house, he 

 could then boldly enlarge on his high insolence, 

 and even enlarge on some of his present big 

 flat designs, and in defence throw stones as he 

 chose, for outsiders could not with any decent 

 effect throw them back — his houses being safely 

 insured against such loss. 



My humble suggestion is that in the next 

 issue of P. Ct. our free citizens should be urged 

 to quickly come to the rescue, as suggested. 

 I mention in passing that I saw on the way here 

 two fine specimens, one eleven feet two inches 

 to the top flower, and the other lacking an 

 inch of eleven feet. I engaged some of the seed. 

 Sunflower Reporter. 



Gravel Plain, Mans., July '20, 188<i. 



Notes from Lyndale. 



BY A. H. E. 



Much as I admire the beauty and sparkle of 

 the carpet flower beds and the massed beds here, 

 still when I seek the highest enjoyment for the 

 longest period in my garden I am dj-awn to 

 the more naturally arranged mixed borders. 

 The fonner are bright and rich in appearance 

 — both desirable qualities,— but there is in them 

 from day to day but little changing interest. 

 Once seen they ai-e, for me, about as well as 

 seen for always. These beds, however, excite 

 the greatest enthusiasm in the minds of my 

 visitors. 



* * * 



Still I never can go as f ai- as some strong ad- 

 vocates of hardy plant culture do, and say that 

 the masses of Geraniums, Coleus and tlie like, 

 or the skillfully wrought cai-j^et l>eds, have no 

 place in the ti'ue garden. All of the floial cre- 

 ation is man's and the fullness thereof, and I 

 have little patience with any system of gainlen- 

 ing that would crowd out one class of plants to 

 the advantage of others. The trouble is that in 

 some places there has been a tendency to overdo 

 the fancy bedtUng, and in coming to a halt in 

 one extreme course there has been, human na- 

 ture like, quite as strong an mclination to gooff 

 into another extreme. Let us keep to the mid- 

 dle of the garden walk, taking in the beauties 

 and the gains of both lines of adornment at the 



sides, instead of taking to the one side or the 

 other and making faces across the way. 



*** 

 With my borders of hardy and other plants, 

 shrubs, etc., the first sight may be compara- 

 tively disappointing, but there is something 

 varied and always changing abf)Ut them to fas- 

 cinate the lover of plant life. From March un- 

 til November every day reveals some new 

 I flowei-s or other forms of beauty. Drawn to 

 I these beds daily by the expectation of meeting 

 ; something not .seen liefore I am never disap- 

 pointed. Growing flowers as I do for the pleas- 

 ure the}- afford, my mixed borders, even though 

 in a measure they may be untidy, as compai-ed 

 with the formal geometric heils, give me the 

 largest measui-e of .satisfaction. In them Na- 

 ture has her own way largely, and Nature sel- 

 dom fails to satisfy the mind. 



* 



* * 



One thing that, to my mind, has had its 

 weight in giving a distaste foi- carpet bedding 

 and massing has been the bad woik that has 

 been too much done in this line. Seemingly a 

 great deal of that kind of reasoning on the part 

 of planters has prevailed that would say, "a 

 Geranium of good leaf and rich flowers is a 

 thing of perfect beauty, therefore a thousand 

 Geraniums should be just a thousand times 

 more beautiful," and out into the beds have 

 gone the Geraniums by the hundred and the 

 thousand. And these great masses of a single 

 kind, while imparting a certain measure of a 

 certain color, really prove to be little more 

 than a great senseless, garish mass of color, 

 affording very poor service in the line of true 

 adornment. This is a mistake, and one bad 

 enough that if adhered to would kill any sys- 

 tem of adoinment in time. 



* * * 



In this kind of work to have it in good taste 

 I endeavor in my gardening, fii-st of all, to ob- 

 serve this rule governing the bringing in of 

 color : All high colors, such as scarlet, crimson 

 and yellow, are to be used much more sparingly 

 than colors of a quiet or neutral character. 

 The reason for this is that the former over- 

 weigh the others as it were, thus destroying 

 what may be termed a good balance, a thing I 

 always aim to secure in my garden. 



I incline strongly to the idea that in geomet- 

 rical beds there should be such a distribution 

 of kinds and colors as wiU not give one a 

 marked predominance over othei-s. This prin- 

 ciple then calls for a larger surface of the duller 

 tints than of the bright colors. One of my 

 latest conclusions in this matter is that if any 

 tint is too predominate those of a light gi'ay, 

 whitish green or dull chocolate are the ones. 

 These are colors of which, like that of grass, 

 one never tires ; the same cannot be said of 

 strong crimson, scarlet or maroon. 



** * 



But shall there be no solid masses of Gerani- 

 ums and the like ! some one may ask me. My 

 answer is my own practice — I always have of 

 such. But my beds of the.se are so moderate 

 in size and so seated, eithei- on ample lawns oi' 

 in the vicinity of striking objects, as trees or 

 buildings, that they amount to but a little more 

 than mere touches of theii' color on the scene, 

 being subordinate to some other features of 

 adornment of tamer eflTect. 



From my window where I write I see across 

 the lawn an oval eight feet in length, the out- 

 side a double row of Alternanthera, next to 

 this one line of dwarf Ageratuui, and the re- 

 mainder Scarlet Geraniums, with a backing 

 somewhat beyond of shrubs and In-hind these 

 trees. The effect is very fine, and to my notion 

 much tetter than if twice or ten times the 

 mimber of Geraniums were usefl. My rule in 

 such work is moderation, and then the results 

 are seldom in danger of offending the eye. 



* 

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Refeience was made in a recent numljer of 

 your paper to the Red-flowering Horse-chest- 

 nut. Tlie remarks were altogether too mild 



