THE CANADIAN HORTICULTUR.IST 



59 



be lifted. The balls of earth are now 

 bound together with roots, and may be 

 handled much rnore quickly than if 

 the plants were grown in pots from the 



|™...„ 



J— I should have a garden, for the bene- 

 ficent influence on the taste and char- 

 acter, as well as for the pleasure which 

 it confers. The pursuit of gardening 

 in connection with the ordinary business 

 of life is to be highly commended. The 

 amateur must of necessity avoid the 

 many exotics requiring a degree of care 

 and protection from adverse influences 

 which only those who have conserva- 

 tories can bestow; but there are in 

 Ontario a very large number of hardy 

 Aarieties, both beautiful and fragrant, 



beginning. There is no wilting, and 

 the^plants do better. They make more 

 fibrous roots, giving them a better hold 

 of the soil. This method will" save 



Formal Gardening 



A. H.. Goodman, Cayug'a, Ont. 



for the development of individual tastes, 

 and wonderful scope for the artistic 

 colorist in formal gardening; yet the 

 steps of progress are circumscribed by 

 certain primary rules rigidly laid down 

 by nature. These rules must be obeyed. 

 They are drainage, good soil suitable to 

 ■the plant, sunlight, freedom to develop 

 unchoked by plant life or roots of trees, 

 and water. If these are ever borne in 

 mind the grower may revel in a pleasure 

 numbered among the greatest given to 

 man. 



In the shapes, sizes and proportions, 



growers of such plants many disap- 

 pointments, not onlv in the growing of 

 annual seedlings, but all other seed- 

 lings as well. 



ing grounds must all be taken into con- 

 sideration. Use the three colors or 

 shades of the three colors in each bed. 

 Cut 1 shows a charming result obtained 

 from a centre of castor oil bean, sur- 

 rounded by dark red geraniums and 

 climbing blue ageratum, with a border of 

 alyssum. The ageratum climbs over the 

 other plants to the castor oil plant, 

 making the general effect superb. A 

 large oval bed raised in the centre may 

 contain castor oil beans, two circles of 

 cannas, one of helianthus, one of eleph- 

 ants' ears, one of climbing ageratum, one 



A Charming Flower Bed with Castor Oil Bean in the Centre 



A Circular Bed of Cannas and Coleus 



which the owners of the smallest gar- 

 dens can cultivate easily and success- 

 fully. Formal gardening is a wide sub- 

 ject, but, as commonly practised in 

 Ontario, usually means, from a floral 

 standpoint, those beds that are planted 

 by the flower-lover to ensure a continu- 

 of bloom or color from spring until 

 5st. It does not always comprise set 

 eces, but is apart and distinct from 

 |ose specimens grown in the garden 



cut flowers. 

 [Now is the time to plan the summer 

 irdens of 1906. There is ample room 



TH U freesia is one of the most charm- 

 ing and most graceful of the winter 

 flowering bulbs. . It has a delightful 

 and penetrating odor, and one flower 

 will scent a whole room. Unlike most 

 other bulbs which bloom in the winter 

 the freesia does not require to be 



and in the blending of color, there is 

 no limitation. The amateur's beginning 

 should be simple, but he should be in 

 earnest and thorough. From the public 

 gardens of the city he can personally 

 obtain ideas for reproduction. One 

 thing more he must learn, that is, after 

 the garden is made and planted it must 

 be cared for, weeded, edged, etc. Once 

 safely started, he will, in a few years, 

 be coaxing others along the path he so 

 feebly walked in the beginning. 



Circular, oval,' ribbon, star or oblong 

 are all effective, thousjh the surround- 



TKe Freesia 



\V. T. Macovin, Otta 



Ont. 



well rooted before forcing. The most 

 satisfactory results are obtained by 

 leaving the bulbs in the cellar for a few 

 days, only until roots begin to push out, 

 and then bring the pots up and force 

 them. They may even be forced with 

 satisfaction by bringing the pots or 



of red achyranthes, one of bronze bedding 

 geraniums, and a border of silver-leaf 

 geraniums, Madam vSaleroi. 



A good ribbon bed may be made with 

 a centre of four rows of scarlet geran- 

 iums; on both sides have three rows 

 of dark red coleus; on both sides again 

 plant two rows of silver-leaf geraniums; 

 extend as far as required and border 

 with red alternantheras. A circular 

 garden of cannas with different colored 

 coleus gives a handsome general effect 

 along with the foliage of the shrubbery 

 and trees as shown in the second cut. 



boxes into a warm room as soon as the 

 bulbs are planted. 



The soil should not be kept very wet 

 until they are growing thriftily, as the 

 bulbs might rot. Many a beginner has 

 thrown out a pot of freesias in disap- 

 pointment at no flower-buds showing, 



