Gardening for Amateurs 



autumn or early spring. Such excellent 

 sorts can, however, be readily raised from 

 seeds that most growers favour this method 

 of increase. 



The Hollyhock simply 

 revels in deep, well- 

 cultivated soil. Dig the 

 ground 15 to 18 inches 

 deep, and add manure 

 liberally should the soil 

 be poor. Heavy soils 

 are considerably im- 

 proved by adding leaf- 

 mould, wood ashes, old 

 mortar rubble, or road 

 scrapings. Mulching 

 with manure in June is 

 beneficial to plants 

 growing in sandy soil. 

 Staking the growths is 

 very desirable, otherwise 

 the tall, vigorous stems 

 soon blow over during 

 wind and rain. Liberal 

 watering once a week 

 during long periods of 

 drought will be well 

 repaid by a continua- 

 tion of flowers. The 

 height to which the 

 Hollyhock stems grow 

 depends largely on the 

 cultivation ; it varies 

 from about 8 to 12 feet. 



Some Fine Varieties. 

 The would-be grower 

 of Hollyhocks has a 

 wide choice of colours 

 in both single and 

 double varieties. A 

 large percentage of 

 seedlings from a good 

 strain may be relied 

 upon to come true to 

 colour. Both double- 

 flowered Hollyhocks 

 and those with >iiVL r l:- 

 flowers have numerous 

 admirers. Seeds of the 

 following colours may 

 be purchased separately 

 yellow, pink. rose. >almon. scarlet enm-on. 

 apricot, purplish-violet, carmine, and black- 



The Double Hollyhock. 



white, cream, 



brown ; or a packet of mixed seeds of either 

 double or single varieties may be expected 

 to produce most if not all these colours. In 

 addition to the above 

 colours the following 

 named sorts may be 

 mentioned ; they are 

 very fine. Palling Belle, 

 delicate pink, double ; 

 Prince of Orange, most 

 effective and novel shade 

 of colour, orange-yellow ; 

 Rose Queen, double 

 rose-pink ; White Queen, 

 a very good double 

 white ; Sulphurea or 

 Althaea ficifolia, a beau- 

 tiful single variety with 

 primrose-yellow flowers. 

 The parent of the 

 garden Hollyhock is 

 Althaea rosea, a Chinese 

 plant, which is said to 

 have been first intro- 

 duced into this country 

 about 1573. 



Iris or Flag. Who 

 among us can fail to 

 appreciate the lovely 

 colours and delicate 

 markings of Iris flowers, 

 that have been aptly 

 described as " the poor 

 man's Orchid " ? Irises 

 may be divided into 

 two arge groups, e.g. 

 those with creeping 

 stems, and others hav- 

 ing bulbous roots. The 

 former only rank as 

 hardy herbaceous peren- 

 nials, and are by far 

 the larger group; the 

 I. nil... ii- varieties or 

 Xiphion Irises will be 

 found dcM-ril>ed in a 

 later chapter dealing 

 with bulbs. The rhizo- 

 inatous Irises, in other 

 \v<>rds those with creep- 

 ing stems, are very numerous, varying 

 greatly in growth, and in height from 

 a feu inches to 5 feet or more. The 



