Planning and Planting a Water 'Garden 



THE cultivation of aquatic plants is a 

 delightful and interesting diversion 

 from ordinary ornamental garden- 

 ing. It is quite a novelty to many people 

 whose experience vi^ith aquatics has been 

 confined mainly to gazing over some 

 marshy expanse filled with bulrushes or 

 cat-tails, the banks fringed with arrow- 

 head, wild rice and duckweed, or to 

 gathering pond lilies (Nymphoea odora- 

 ta), or perhaps .they have seen ponds 

 filled with lilies at some public institute, 

 without even dreaming of growing any 

 themselves. 



START WITH A TUB 



The cultivation of this class of plants 

 is simple and inexpensive. Beginners 



J. McPherson Ross, Toronto 



umbos may be procured from neighbor- 

 ing ponds or bays, also roots of the cat- 

 tail (Typha patijolia), marsh marigold 

 {Caltha palustris), Indian rice (Zizania 

 aquatica), umbrella plant (Cyperus), 

 and water hyacinth. The beginner 

 should not start with too many kinds. 



When danger of frost appears let the 

 water dry down to the soil and take 

 the tub and set away in a cool, dark 

 place, cold enough not to freeze, and 

 the plants will keep well through the 

 winter. 



A friend of mine succeeds admirably 

 with a tub of aquatic plants which he 

 sinks into the ground in a corner of his 

 garden where there is no danger of any- 



A Water Garden that Wat Made and Planted Tliree Years Ago 



At " Altadorc," Woodstock. Ontario— A. H. Ewing, Chief Gardener. 



can start in a modest way by taking a 

 discarded tub ; a barrel sawn in halves 

 would answer though not so convenient 

 to handle as a tub. Half fill this recep- 

 tacle with rich garden soil and imbed 

 your root of water lily of whatever vari- 

 ety that you may procure. Fill the bal- 

 ance of the tub carefully with rain water 

 and set it upon some bricks or stones. 

 An appropriate place for it would be on a 

 corner of a rockery. Some duckweed 

 will keep the water fresh or a few min- 

 nows taken from a nearby creek. Be 

 careful to fill in more water as it evap- 

 orates, and your labors will be rewarded 

 by the flowers of the lily ; that is,, the 

 Nymphoea odorata. These flowers open 

 and bloom for three successive mornings 

 when they sink below the surface to ripen 

 their seeds. The plant is quite a free 

 bloomer and remains in flower from 

 June to September. 



Roots of this species and of the nel- 



one stepping into it inadvertently. Here 

 he has a semi-circular piece of rockery in 

 which he grows quite a variety of flowers 

 and about four feet from the bottom mar- 

 gin of his rockery, he grows his lilies. 



USE OF CONCRETE BASIN 



For those who have not convenient 

 ponds and wish to grow more lilies in 

 variety than the limits of a tub will af- 

 ford them, it will be necessary to have a 

 basin scooped out deep enough for the 

 water and soil. This basin must be con- 

 creted to retain the water and should be 

 arranged so as to drain off the water in 

 winter. 



STARTING THE SEEDS 



The tender lilies (of whatever species) 

 can be started in pots and small tubs in 

 the greenhouse and placed in the pond 

 when summer weather is assured or, if 

 seeds are procured, they may be started 

 in shallow pans of water or rolled in balls 

 of clay and dropped in the pond or a 



103 



sluggish stream. This method applies 

 to the nymphaeas of all sorts and nelum- 

 bos. 



The seeds of some of the nelumbos are 

 very hard and need to be carefully filed 

 or bored before planting. The nelumbos 

 are valuable and desirable plants and 

 suitable for tub culture. The new kinds 

 are usually expensive. The hardy 

 nymphaeas are to be purchased quite 

 cheaply and in a great variety of beauti- 

 ful colors. There is quite a variety of 

 other plants suitable for cultivation in 

 large ponds or fountains also in aquari- 

 ums. They may be purchased from seeds- 

 men. 



Annuals in the Hotbed 



W. H. C. Nicboltoo, St. Catharinet, Oat. 



To grow asters, stocks and other an- 

 nuals, by starting them in a hotbed, I 

 first get shallow trays three inches deep 

 which I fill level with rich, screened 

 soil. I place the trays in the stove oven 

 and heat the soil hot, so that the soil 

 cannot be held in the hand, then let it 

 cool off before planting the seed. Heat- 

 ing the soil kills all grubs and weed 

 seeds. I sow the seed on top of the soil, 

 thinly, then shake a thin coat of soil 

 over them and press down firmly. I 

 moisten the soil before I sow the seed. 

 As soon as four leaves appear, I trans- 

 plant into other trays, three inches apart. 

 When about three inches high, I trans- 

 plant again into strawberry boxes, four 

 in a box. As soon as all danger of 

 frost is over, I set them out in the bed 

 where they are to stay. In this way I 

 have sturdy plants and I never have one 

 to miss. I follow this method only for 

 early stocks and asters. 



I do not agree with Mr. Norman of 

 Elmira, Ont., (see March issue of The 

 Canadian Horticulturist) in regard to 

 watering asters unless his soil is different 

 to mine. My soil being a light sandy 

 soil and asters being shallow-rooted 

 plants, I have to soak them every other 

 day, or they will wilt down. After my 

 asters are planted, I go through them 

 both ways two or three times a week and 

 keep down the weeds and also keep a 

 dust mulch around them all the time. (I 

 have a Buco hand cultivator, which is 

 the best garden tool that I ever handled). 

 When I cannot get through them any 

 more with the cultivator, the plants shade 

 the soil sufl^iciently to keep the soil moist 

 and cool so that they do not need so 

 much water. I quite agree with Mr. 

 Norman in regard to saving your own 

 seed, which I always try to do unless I 

 wish a change of seed. 



Be sure and attend to the ventilation of 

 the hotbed. 



