236 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



December, 1907 



Who ever saw crimson clover used as a bedding plant before this ? 



How much better than in the middle of & lawn ? (See below) 



with us in producing quality sweet peas, 

 pansies and asters, for their summers are too 

 hot and dry. Down there, sweet peas bloom 

 once and then the red spider catches them. 

 With us they bloom freely until frost and we 

 get four or five flowers on a stem regularly, 

 where they get only two or three. 



Wherever the summer is cool and moist 

 people ought to try the favorite English 

 flowers that dry up in ordinary American 

 summers — the primroses (bless their hearts!) 

 including the auricula and polyanthus; also 

 English daisies and pansies, which are com- 

 monly seen only as spring bedding plants. 



I do not claim that the accompanying 

 picture shows a high-bred aster. On the 

 contrary, it is a reversion from White Fleece. 



A Flower Outdoors in January 



L. H. M., New Jersey 



PROBABLY the most reliable hardy win- 

 ter flower, next to the Christmas rose, 

 is the imperial crocus, which will bloom 

 in January in the North, provided the season 



is open, the soil well drained and the bulbs 

 planted in a sheltered corner with a southern 

 exposure. It ought to bloom a full month 

 or two before the common crocuses. 



The genus Crocus contains many winter 

 blooming species which are desirable for 

 the South, but the only one that is at all 

 reliable for the North is Crocus Imperati. 

 (See page 235.) 



It is indeed an imperial flower; it has a very 

 gorgeous and peculiar coloring, lilac inside, 

 buff outside and richly veined with purple. 



This species is the only winter blooming cro- 

 cus that can be readily secured in quantity. It 

 costs about fifty cents a dozen or $30 a thou- 

 sand. The bulbs must be planted in the fall. 



Crimson Clover as a Bedding Plant 



L. J. Doogue, Massachusetts 



SOME of the most attractive show beds 

 in the Boston Public Garden last 

 summer were planted with crimson clover. 

 The result was a surprise and delight to the 

 thousands who saw them. 



An easy way to prevent soil washing on hillsides. Excellent for stony sections South 



The seed was sown in the greenhouses in> 

 flats and the plants afterward pricked off 

 into small pots. When the plants had 

 grown to a suitable size they were planted out. 



The flowers were produced in great pro- 

 fusion as can be seen by reference to the 

 picture, and were of a surprising size. . 



Pansies were planted for edging the bed. 

 It is worth while to try crimson clover in 

 the centre of a bed and border it with the 

 white clover. Or use the common red clover 

 and border with the white. 



The Right and Wrong Way of 

 Using Cannas 



W. E. Pendleton, Pennsylvania 



MOST beginners make the mistake of 

 putting cannas in the middle of a 

 lawn. No flower bed should ever be placed 

 in such a position because any interruption 

 to the lawn makes the greensward seem 

 smaller than it really is. The way to give 

 depth to your place and to give it that restful- 

 ness which city people need the most is to 

 have an open central lawn and mass your 

 planting at the sides. 



The proper place for flower beds is near 

 the house, because the beds are generally 

 formal and because the plants in them are 

 generally of a temporary nature and foreign 

 to our landscape. 



In other words canna beds and all other 

 flower beds ought to have a background. If 

 you don't believe it, contrast the two pictures- 

 at the top of this page. 



Saving Soil on Hillsides 



B. M., Virginia 



HERE is an enterprising fruit grower wlu> 

 solves two problems at once — saving 

 his soil from washing away and fertilizing 

 his trees at the least cost. He gets a cracking 

 price for his apples, too, for they are Albe- 

 marle Pippins. 



Everywhere in the South the first problem, 

 is to keep the soil from washing away, be- 

 cause the rains are more frequent and violent 

 than in the North and hilly land is commoner. 

 Hence the system of terracing, or plowing 



