126 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



June, 1909 



MY roof garden is planted in boxes 

 of various sizes, ranging from one 

 foot deep and wide by about eight 

 feet long for the tops of the walls and 

 from three feet deep and wide to eight 

 feet square and one and a half deep, 

 placed to the best advantage according 

 to the topography of the roof. 



The fern boxes are constructed with 

 net wire semi-circle fronts, moss being 

 placed in the netting before the boxes are 

 filled with earth, the green moss effect 

 showing in front adding much to the 

 beauty of the receptacles. 



Wire netting about four feet high runs 

 completely around the tops of the walls, 

 attached to uprights from the boxes, 

 making an enclosure about eighty feet 

 long by twenty-two feet wide. 



Slat wooden walks are laid on the 

 gravel roof, a verandah erected at a 

 suitable location, and the boxes inter- 

 spersed here and there, makes the whole 

 when in bloom an ideal picture, wanting 

 only green grass to compete with a lawn 

 garden. 



More attention has to be paid to water- 

 ing a roof garden than for an ordinary 

 garden, as the roof is situated just where, 

 part of the day, the sun has full play; 

 consequently, the boxes will quickly dry 

 unless daily watering is adhered to. 



Summer cypress plays an important part 

 in the arrangement and grouping, while 

 castor oil plants add much to the charm- 

 ing effect. Scarlet runners, hyacinth 

 beans, sweet peas, and climbing nastur- 

 tium planted in the outer boxes form an 

 enclosure or floral fence to the garden, 

 while begonia, white alyssum, blue lo- 

 belia, geraniums and other plants, are 

 distributed in boxes variously placed. On 

 one side is a high stone wall of an ad- 

 joining building ; this, by attaching wire 



A Roof Garden 



C. D. Blachford, Hamilton 



netting about eight feet high, has been 

 utilized to form a wall of green by-plant- 



ing a quick growing climbing vine and 

 when in bloom it is beautiful. 



Water Lilies 



A. H. Ewing, Woodstock, Ontario 



AS far as I have gone into aquatics, 

 no hardy nymphaea seems to be 

 so satisfactory as Nymphcea odor- 

 ata, "VV. B. Shaw," herewith illustrat- 

 ed. It is the most free flowering of any 

 of them, its leaves spread over a large 

 area, it increases and multiplies to an 

 almost alarming extent, is the first to 

 get into flower and is with the last when 

 the frost comes, blossoming the whole 

 season through. The color of the flow- 

 ers is a beautiful clean, rose pink with 

 yellow stamens. Dreer describes it in his 

 catalogue as "one of the best hardy 

 water lilies under cultivation," a de- 

 scription which I can truthfully endorse. 

 From a tuber with one lead, obtained 



Njrmpliaea odorata, " W. B. Shaw" 



Grown In lily pond, "Altadore," Woodstock, Ont. 



three years ago, I had a stock of at least 

 seventy-five heads this spring, the large 

 majority of which I was reluctantly ob- 

 liged to throw on the dump for want of 

 room or customers to give them away 

 to. This sort is, however, essentially a 

 pond lily; it is altogether too rampant 

 for tub cultivation. 



N. tuberosa rosea is another very pret- 

 ty pink variety, and not quite so strong 

 growing or so floriferous as the forego- 

 ing. N. tuberosa Richardsonii and 

 "Wm. Doogue" are the best whites with 

 me ; the latter is described in Dreer's 

 catalogue as "of a pleasing shell pink 

 color," but it comes white here. N. 

 Marliacea chromatella is certainly the 

 best yellow, is a free and continuous 

 bloomer and a vigorous grower, although 

 it does not mdke a very large spread. 

 For a distinct crimson, "James Brydon" 

 "takes the cake"; it is a free bloomer 

 and would be just as desirable in a tub 

 as in the pond. 



There are many other varieties but 

 the capacity of one's space and pocket is 

 limited. The pond under my care has a 

 capacity of twenty-four nymphaeas, and 

 there are twelve varieties. 



It is very pleasant to note the increas- 

 ing interest that is being taken in aquat- 

 ics. As their cultivation is very simple, 

 and their preservation through the win- 

 ter very easy, it may be safely predicted 

 that many present frog ponds will soon 

 be "things of beauty and a joy for- 



