12 THE DAHLIA. 



While in the Dahlia can be found not only every color except blue, and every intermediate 

 shade and tint, from the softest to the richest, but the most beautiful combinations of colors and 

 marvelous Mendings of shades and tints, yet it is this ease of culture, combined with its varied 

 habits and adaptability to conditions, that makes the plant most valuable and popular. The 

 varieties, both double and single, grow from twelve inches to fifteen feet high. Between 

 these two extremes are the dwarf, the semi-dwarf and the standard or tall varieties. The 

 gardener can thus select varieties of any height or habit desired for any special purpose, such 

 as bedding, massing or banking, for boarders of any height, or for specimen plants for the lawn. 

 As a cut flower, whether for b juquets, decorations, or exhibition purposes, the Dahlia is unsur- 

 passed, owing to the great diversity of form and the brilHant lustre of the colors. In size they 

 vary, from the smallest of the Pompon, growing but one-half inch across, to the largest of the 

 Show and Cactus varieties. Specimen blooms of the largest of these latter varieties have been 

 grown seven to nine inches in diameter on stems three feet long. Such is the history and a few 

 of the main characteristics of a plant that has been grown and improved for little more than a 

 century, and is to-day, wherever the finer varieties are known, the most popular summer and 

 autumn blooming plant in cultivation. 



Possibly no other plant shows the skill of the florist to such a marked degree, and taking 

 the wonderful improvements of the last few years as a criterion, we may well ask how far the 

 specialist can carry his skill. Unlike many other plants, its vigor seems to keep apace with its 

 other improvements, and, as we consider these things, we must admit that the possibihties of the 

 Dahlia in the future are almost limitless. If you admire beautiful flowers and want them in 

 profusion from June until frost, plant Dahlias and you will be delighted. No matter how many 

 other plants may fail to thrive, or whether the season is wet or dry, you can grow them success- 

 fully if you but heed their simple requirements. 



Bedding. — Gardeners are now beginning to realize the great possibilities of the Dahlia as a 

 bedding plant. For this purpose they must be of strong, sturdy, branching growth, and profuse 

 bloomers, while the flowers must be of good substance, rich and brilliant colors, and be able to 

 withstand the hot summer sun without fading. The height of the plant will depend on the kind 

 of bedding; tall and semi-dwarf varieties for large beds, and dwarf sorts for small beds or for 

 low bedding purposes. Some very attractive beds have been grown by planting tall varieties 

 in the center, around which were planted rows of proportionately dwarfer varieties. These rows 

 may be of dwarfer varieties of the same color, or may be of dififerent colors as desired, there 

 being no limit to the possible arrangements or combinations, owing to the jiumerous good 

 varieties at command. 



Specimen Plants. — This is one of the most pleasing and valuable forms in which the Dahlia 

 is grown, and, perhaps, the most popular. Any of the free blooming varieties will produce fine 

 specimen plants, if large roots are planted, but one shoot allowed to grow, and that pinched off 

 and forced to branch at the surface of the ground; though on small grounds the dwarf or 

 bedding varieties are generally grown. By selecting different varieties they may be grown to 

 all sizes, and well-grown specimens of some of the newer varieties is an entrancingly lovely 

 sight and one long to be rememhered. 



Borders and Hedges. — Along open and exposed walks and driveways Dahlias are some- 

 times planted with excellent results. They may all be of one color, or of different colored 

 varieties of same height and habit, according to the taste of the grower. Another useful purpose 

 is to grow them in hedge form around the garden, or anywhere a hedge is desired, and it is 

 impossible to imagine anything lovelier. Just think of a garden enclosed on every side bv a 

 hedge four feet high, two and a half feet wide and completely enveloped with beautiful flowers 

 of the loveliest shades, from the softest to the richest ! Nor is this picture overdrawn. It is 

 impossible to convey with the pen the great beauty of the scene just described, and it is the 

 wish of the writer that every reader of this httle v>'ork could have beheld this scene, just as the 

 writer did one beautiful September morning about three years ago. 



