Best Half-hardy Tub Plants 



* 



Roderick Cameron, Assistant Superintendent of Parks, Toronto 



THE topic, "Tub or Half-hardy 

 Plants, their Usefulness and the 

 Care of Them during the Winter," 

 is a large, varied and very difficult one. 

 The plants that could be made to do duty 

 in this respect are legion, but T intend 

 to draw attention only to a few that I 

 consider the best or most useful that. I 

 have had to do with. The varieties of 

 plants best suited for such purpose are 

 as follows : 



Buxus or tree box, which can 

 be got in about a dozen varieties, 

 green, golden and silver-leaved, large 

 and small-leaved, standard and pyramid- 

 al forms. The Euonymus Japonicus as 

 evergreen bushes can be got in many 

 varieties, green, golden and silver- 

 leaved, beautifully marked and of first 

 quality. 



The Acuba Japonica, like the euony- 

 mus, can also be got in several varie- 

 ties and beautiful markings, and there 

 is no plant- grown that will stand soot, 

 gases and dust better. The acubas 

 are the plants that are so much used in 

 vases and so forth, in smoky cities 

 in the old world where little else will 

 grow but them .and the ivy. While on 

 the ivy, let me say that if the different 

 varieties were trained in pyramidal form 

 on wire frames, especially the variegat- 

 ed forms, there are few plants that can 

 surpass them in beauty. 



The Laurus nobilis is probably used 

 for this purpose in America more than 

 any other plant, and these' sweet bays 

 can be procured in standard and pyra- 

 midal forms ; their dark green, prim 

 form claim for them a place for all dec- 

 orations in church, cemetery or hall. 



The Neritim Oleander can be used to 

 good effect in the angles of buildings, 

 along with them may be planted the 

 ElcBagnus punf^ens ; they can be got in. 

 different varieties of varigeation, green, 

 silver and gold. 



Large plants of Caryopteris Masta- 

 canthus can be used to good advantage 

 in corners along the paths ; this plant 

 and the chaste shrub Vitex Agnus- 

 castus are two of the latest to bloom 

 and both are much admired for their 

 fragrance. 



Here and there among such plants, 

 but separate from them on the lawn, may 

 be placed Hydrangea hortensis in sev- 

 eral varieties to give some bloom to the 

 whole setting. Catalpa bignonioides var. 

 nana (C. Bungei) is quite hardy, and, 

 when good heads are formed, they look 

 quite conspicuous when grafted as stan- 

 dards. Ulmus parvifoUa is also hardy 

 and will make excellent standard round- 



•Extracts from a paper read at the last eon- 

 vention of the Ontario Horticultural Aesocia- 

 tion. 



headed plants. Yucca gloriosa and 



Y. aloifolia should be used in such 

 planting and would tend to give a more 

 tropical effect. Abelia floribunda and 

 A . grandiflora make excellent tub 

 plants and bloom all summer if kept in 

 cold storage all winter. Thuyopsis 

 dolobrata and its variegated form should 

 also be employed in such planting since 

 they are evergreens of choicest quality. 



USB OP WIRE BASKETS 



I have been mentioning the above as 

 tub plants, but tubs at their best look 

 out of place, are expensive, and require 

 constant care and watering. In place 

 of tubs, I use baskets made of half inch 

 mesh chicken netting. They can be 

 made by any handy man. Line the same 

 with moss or thin tough sods. Place 

 the plants and fill up tightly with soil. 

 Water well by dipping. They are then 

 ready to be planted where wanted, as 

 if planting a tree with a ball of soil at- 

 tached to it. It will be seen that by adopt- 

 ing this method the plants can be lifted 

 in the fall without disturbing the roots. 

 The plants will require no care with 

 water from the time that they are plant- 

 ed until they are taken up again in fall. 



STORAGE FOB WINTEE 



For storage for the winter, I build a 

 cold storage pit — a hole dug in the 

 ground twenty-five feet by fifty and ten 

 feet deep. Against this soil, there 

 was a wall built of concrete all around 

 except a space for a door to let in or 

 out the plants. This wall was built up 

 to the surface of the ground and joists 

 were thrown across every two feet. On 

 top of this was built a green house roof 

 — bars fastened to a ridge pole ; the bars 

 were made to hold glass on both sides 

 with air space between. At the ends 

 of the house was left a space for a small 

 door to act for an' entrance to the loft 

 above, to give air and let out excess of 

 moisture. In the bottom of this cellar 

 was placed from two to three feet of 

 good loamy soil, and' a month before 

 planting the soil was saturated with 

 water, or rather a month before the dan- 

 ger of severe frost. 



When it became dangerous to leave 

 the plants out any longer, they were col- 

 lected and planted in the soil in the 

 aforesaid cellar, baskets and all, Hhe 

 same as they were outdoors. In this po- 

 sition again, the plants get no water 

 until they go out next spring, the mois- 

 ture in the soil being sufficient. The 

 joists overhead in this cellar are used 

 to run rolls of tar paper along when 

 the temperature reaches zero outdoors. 

 When fifteen degrees below zero out- 

 side, I had seventeen degrees of frost 

 in the cellar. Here lies the secret to 



success : While the plants and soil is 

 frozen keep them dark ; as soon as the 

 frost is gone give them the light again. 

 I have taken such plants out in zero 

 weather in an open wagon to decorate 

 without any apparent harm to them. 



THE BEST PLANTS 



The following is a full list of the 

 plants that may be used for a change- 

 able garden, and will do well in such 

 a cellar as I have just described : 



Yucca gloriosa. Y. aloifolia, (variegat- 

 ed), Nerium Oleander, Abelia floribun- 

 da, A. grandiflora, Thuyopsis dolobrata. 

 T. dolobranta var. variegata. Hydrangea 

 hortensis, H. h. var. Thos. Hogg, H. h. 

 var. variegata, Elceagnus pungens var. mac- 

 ulata, E. p. var. variegata, E. macrophyl 

 la, Caryopteris Mastacanthus, Vitex Ag- 

 nus-castus, Buxus sempervirens, B. s. 

 var. pendola, B. s. aurea, B. s. aureo- 

 marginata. B. s. argenteo-marginata, B. 

 microphylla, Euonymus Japonicus, E. J. 

 aureus, E. ]. aureo-variegatus, E. }. mac- 

 rophyllus, E. J. medio- pictus, E. ]. albo- 

 marginatus, and E. J. argentiuo-variega- 

 tus. 



An Uncommon Cactus 



J. H. Callander, Peterboro, Ont. 



Mamillaria nivea cristata is one of 

 the rarest forms of the cactus family, 

 seldom seen in cultivation, and highly 

 prized by those fortunate enough to 

 possess one. It is extremely odd in its 

 style of growth, constantly becoming 

 more twisted and contorted as it 

 increases in. size. In its original 

 form it is a simple, round specimen of 

 the pin-cushion shape, the change in 

 character being due to the coxcomb- 

 like growth taking place, after which 

 it never reverts to the parent form. 



It needs greenhouse or conservatory 

 treatment, sometimes being grown 

 under glass domes, and thriving in the 

 limited air space thus provided. When 



Mamillaria Nivea Cristata 

 well established it is of easy growth, 

 and may be watered with impunity, but 

 needs careful handling while being root- 

 ed. Its most successful treatment, how- 

 ever, is by grafting, when results are 

 rapid and satisfactory. 



