34 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



February, 1909 



A Garden Effect in Toronto 



T. McVittic, Toronto 



THE illustration on this page shows 

 a part of the pleasure ground in 

 front of Sir H. M. Pellatt's con- 

 servatories, Toronto. The border to the 

 right is planted with a mixed collection 

 of annuals having for a background can- 

 nas and Nicotiana sylvestris. The an- 

 nuals used are stocks, Semple's tall- 

 branching asters, zinnias, verbenas, an- 

 tirrhinums, petunias, French and African 

 marigolds, and so forth, and bordered 

 with tagetes. 



The annuals are sown about the begin- 

 ning of March, in flats in the green- 

 houses. When large enough, they are 

 pricked out on old hotbeds which have 

 first been covered with a couple inches of 

 rich light soil. After being watered, the 

 sashes are placed over them and kept 



grown from cuttings or seeds, but best 

 results will be obtained from seeds sown 

 about the beginning of February, in flats 

 or pans filled with a mixture of leaf 

 mould and sand and covered lightly with 

 the latter and afterwards placed in a 

 warm greenhouse or hotbed. As soon as 

 they are out of the seed leaf, they should 

 be transplanted into shallow flats in a 

 light mixture of loam leaf mould and 

 sand. When large enough pot them into 

 small pots. If properly looked after they 

 will make nice bedding plants by the 

 middle of May. 



About Lilies 



Editor, The Canadian Horticulturist : 

 — As you wish correspondence from your 

 readers "re. experience in the growth and 



Some Flower Bedi and Borden on Grounds of Sir Henry M. Pellatt, Toronto, last Summer 



closed and shaded from the sun until the 

 seedlings get well established, gradually 

 hardening them off by raising the sashes 

 during the day and after a time removing 

 the sashes altogether. 



The flower beds to the left are two 

 five-pointed stars, one at each end, plant- 

 ed with verbenas. The centre bed is a 

 maltese cross planted with geranium, 

 Mad. Barney, on a ground work of alys- 

 sum. 



In the distance can be seen beds of 

 begonias of the semperflorens variety ; 

 viz., Erfordi, Vernon and Graceless. 

 These are fine bedding varieties and con- 

 tinue a mass of bloom from June until 

 killed by the frost. They are easily 



care of lilies, I desire to say that, having 

 had considerable experience in their 

 growth, the auratums may be successfully 

 grown. My bulbs are planted about 15 

 inches deep in a partially shaded position 

 and well drained soil. Last season, I had 

 bloom 1 1 inches across from bulbs that 

 had been blooming for a number of years. 

 They had not been covered the previous 

 winter, although I would recommend a 

 light covering, say, of leaves but placed 

 so that ice would not be formed upon the 

 surface. I have grown Liliutn auratum 

 macranthum and L. a. vittatum, would 

 perhaps prefer the former as a little 

 stronger grower. 



My experience with the speciosums is 



that they may be grown in Ontario. I 

 have had 25 flowers from a single bulb. 

 Fresh manure should not be used. The 

 soil should be very rich with well-rotted 

 manure and if sandy loam so much the 

 better. 



Liliiim candidum has given me great 

 satisfaction. Can you fancy anything 

 more beautiful than, say, 100 flowers all 

 open at once, shedding a fragrance that 

 cannot be described but which can be 

 known only as a matter of experience. 

 This lily should be planted in August, as 

 in September and October they com- 

 mence both a root and leaf growth. If 

 bulbs are planted or disturbed in spring 

 or late fall it will militate against their 

 bloom for the following season. 



It is true, Mr. Editor, as you remark, 

 that the lily is amongst the noblest of 

 garden plants. When we consider the 

 great variety of those that are perfectly 

 hardy, there appears to be no excuse for 

 not having them in abundance. — A. Bar- 

 ber, Bowmanville, Ont. 



Hints to Amateurs 



W. J. Stevenson, Oshawa, Ont. 



A fault of amateur gardeners is impa- 

 tience. Efficiency, beauty and pleasure 

 are often sacrificed for instantaneous re- 

 sults. One who buys a house standing 

 in an arid waste of bricks and mortar, 

 water holes, and so forth, naturally 

 wishes to see it transformed at once. 



It is this sudden polishing up of a new 

 garden, that ends in its ruin. It needs 

 both time and thought to carry out the 

 work properly. The attractiveness of a 

 garden lies in its prospective growth of 

 charms, the place being made to develop 

 a constantly recurring succession of fea- 

 tures. Economical gardening is remark- 

 able for its simplicity. Some gardens 

 look as well on an expenditure of a small 

 sum per annum as others on which a 

 much larger amount has been squander- 

 ed. In one case, the strictest economy 

 has been practised ; in the other, there 

 may be no end of rarities mixed so indis- 

 criminately as to represent sublime con- 

 fusion ; and curiously enough in some 

 gardens, where expense seems of little 

 object, there is a great absence of order. 



Age of Bushes 



What constitutes a one-year-old and a 

 two-year-old gooseberry bush from cuttings.' 

 If I plant cuttings this spring and take 

 them up the following spring, are they one 

 year old or two years old? Some persons 

 contend that the cuttings are one year old 

 before they are set out. — D. B., Norfolk 

 Co., Ont. 



In nursery practice, the age of the 

 bushes is calculated from the time that 

 the cuttings are planted. Bushes from 

 cuttings planted this spring will be one 

 year old the following spring. 



Readers are asked to tell their ex- 

 periences with freesias in the window 

 gardens. 



