October, 1915. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



237 



Autumn Treatment of Flower Borders 



B. C. Tillett, Hamilton, Ont. 



DURING the early autumn months 

 there is much work of a season- 

 ahle character to be done among 

 herbaceous border plants. A number 

 of herbaceous plants are of a long-suf- 

 fering nature, and submit to division 

 and replanting at almost any time with 

 impunity. In the autumn, however, 

 when flowering has ceased, there is a 

 general desire for tidying up, and at 

 such times much useful work may be 

 done. 



The cutting down of all plants may 

 be proceeded with at once, taking care 

 that in so doing labels are not dis- 

 turbed or even lost altogether. We 

 gi-ow these and other garden flowers 

 chiefly for ornament, or for their use- 

 fulness in a cut state. 



With the cutting down of the plants 

 completed, it must be decided whether 

 forking, digging, or manuring is neces- 

 sary. Needless to say, the first and 

 last of these will benefit both the bor- 

 der and the plants it contains. The 

 addition of manure by its bulk alone 

 lifts, lightens and aire the soil, and in 

 so doing performs important work 

 quite apart from its enriching effects. 

 The best manure to employ is that of 

 a short, well-decayed nature. At such 

 times, too, a free addition of lime may, 

 with decided gain, be given to all soils 

 of a heavy or water-holding nature. 



Not a few of the best border plants 

 are of so robust a nature that they 

 quickly . form mats of gro\vth, which 

 if left undisturbed will prove their own 



undoing in the near future. The dig- 

 ging up, dividing and replanting of 

 these is, therefore, of importance at 

 this time. The white perennial mar- 

 guerites (chrysanthemum maximum 

 and its varieties), the michaelmas 

 daisy, rudbeckias, the sunflowers 

 (helianthus), and the achilleas will 

 usually benefit by being divided and 

 replanted every year. The varieties 

 of the two groups fir.st named quickly 

 exhaust the soil, and manure- should 

 be added freely. 



One of the greatest aids to success 

 in the case of soil-robbing subjects is 

 to give a complete change of position. 

 The one need be but a yard or two re- 

 moved from the old position, there to 

 find all the advantages which a change 

 of soil brings in its train. The idea is 

 simple in the extreme, and yet its im- 

 portance infinite, despite which it is 

 rarely done. A much more frequent 

 way is to lift a plant, and having dug 

 and manured the ground, replant it in 

 its old position. By these means a 

 partial change of soil only is secured, 

 while in that suggested above it is 

 complete and entire. 



In the case of the more robust grow- 

 ing, mat-forming subjects a consider- 

 able amount of plant material will 

 have to be discarded. With not a few 

 amateure this goes very much against 

 the grain, yet it has got to be done if 

 good results are to be obtained. The 

 replanting of big clumps of things — 

 pyrethrvims and michaelmas daisy, for 



Thla bed of cannas, nine feet in diameter, was grown on the lawn of Oscar Boden, Meaford, 

 Ont. A description o' the arrangement of the bed is given on this page. 



example, is a fallacy; the youthful 

 plant is capable of much better work, 

 and is commended to all. When re- 

 planting such as the white Marguerites, 

 or Michaelmas daisies, only the strong- 

 est, outermost portions of the clumps — 

 those that have developed with light 

 and air all around — should be retained. 

 The superiority of these compared 

 with the innermost shoots of a plant 

 will be obvious at a glance. Single 

 growths, if well rooted, are the best, 

 and of these, six or a dozen arranged 

 a few inches apart will not only form 

 a goodly group, but provide a display 

 of the finest flowers in due season. 



Plants slow to establish themselves, 

 such as paeonies, Japanese anemonies, 

 day lilies, and others, dislike too fre- 

 quent disturbance of their roots. Such 

 as these should have the soil carefully 

 forked about them and a dressing of 

 mannre given. Larkspur (delphinium) 

 may be left for three years without 

 disturbance, and so may the herbace- 

 ous phloxes. 



A Striking Bed of Cannas 



Oscar Boden, Meaford, Ont. 



As the centre of my bed of oannas, 

 which is nine feet in diameter, I use a 

 castor oil plant. Next to it are planted 

 two circles of red and dark cannas. 

 Outside these are two circles of cannas 

 of yellow and light shades. For a bor- 

 der I use green and white leaved ger- 

 aniums and a coleus. This arrange- 

 ment has given me the most attractive) 

 bed®. 



I have ha'd the cannas for years. Ta 

 the fall, after the frost I cut off the 

 stems and dig up the roots with as 

 much earth as will stay with them. 

 They are placed in the cellar in a large 

 packing ease and the spaces in between 

 are filled with earth. A little water is 

 sprinkled on them during the winter 

 to keep them moist. About the first of 

 April I take them up, break them apart 

 and plant the good single roots in wood- 

 en boxes. These boxes are kept under a 

 bench in my little conservatory. By 

 the end of May, when they are ready to 

 plant out, they are from one to two 

 feet high. 



The Blight of Phlox 



What can be done for blight on the perennial 

 phlox' The leaves begin to turn yellow and 

 dry up near the ground. This gradually ex- 

 tends up the stem.— Miss H., Peterboro, Ont. 



The cause of the trouble is probably 

 lack of nourishment at the roots, as 

 Perennial phlox are gross feeders and 

 require a lot of moisture to help them 

 during the growing season. In the 

 fall or early spring take out soil to a 

 depth of eighteen inches and replace 

 it with good rotten sod-soil. A good 

 mulching of rotten manure is also of 

 great benefit to all kinds of herbaceous 

 plants in the spring, as it helps to con- 

 serve the moisture and keep the roots 

 cool.—O. C. 



