Bulbs and Perennials for November Planting—py Harold Clark, 
New 
York 
HOW TO HAVE HOME-GROWN CYCLAMEN THIS CHRISTMAS--AMARYLLIS AND THE BLUE AFRICAN LILY WITHOUT A 
GREENHOUSE—CHRISTMAS ROSES FROM A COLDFRAME AND SOME OF THE 
oe lovely gladiolus, pictured on page 
189, is a variety of Gladiolus Colvillet, 
an early-blooming species which every one 
who has a cool greenhouse should try. The 
florists get a high price for it in February 
and March. For Easter bloom the bulbs 
need not be started until December. 
You can have cyclamen like this in your home 
window if you buy the bulbs in November. Better 
ones from seeds in seventeen months 
The secret of success in forcing gladioli is 
to grow them cool. A night temperature of 
45° to 50° is plenty warm enough. Plant 
them in boxes six inches deep, setting the 
bulbs about three inches apart each way. 
For potting soil use three parts of rotted sod, 
one part of well decayed manure and one- 
half part of sand. Make one-inch holes in 
the bottom of the boxes every six inches and 
put some broken pots, coal clinkers, or 
gravel in the bottom for drainage. Try The 
Bride, Ne Plus Ultra, Shakespeare, and 
May. With these you are almost sure to 
have success. Other varieties are more or 
less likely to “go blind,” i. e. the buds fail to 
expand. 
CYCLAMEN FOR CHRISTMAS BLOOM 
I should never care to grow cyclamen 
from bulbs, because you get more and better 
flowers from seed. However, it takes fif- 
teen to eighteen months from seed to flower 
and you ought to have a greenhouse. But 
if you buy bulbs now you can grow them at 
home with a good chance of getting flowers 
this Christmas. During November the seed 
and bulb merchants offer bulbs of cyclamen. 
The common cyclamen is C. latifolium 
(C. Persicum of the catalogues), but if I had 
to grow cyclamen from the hard, dry bulbs 
one buys from the seedsmen in November, 
I would rather grow the ivy-leaved cyclamen, 
C. Neapolitanum, because it will give more 
flowers, and though these may be smaller 
than the best florists’ cyclamen grown from 
seed, they are quite as large as any home- 
grown cyclamen from bulbs. The ivy- 
leaved cyclamen is marked hardy in some 
catalogues. It is in Europe, but no cyclamen 
is hardy here. A good cyclamen should 
have six to twelve flowers. 
Cyclamen bulbs are three or four inches 
in diameter and shaped like a flat turnip. 
Put them in 5- or 6-inch pots, according to 
the size of the bulb. Give them a good rich 
soil like that described for the gladiolus, plus 
The best feathery white flowers for winter bloom, 
Astilbe Japonica, wrongly called “‘Spirea’’ by florists 
leaf mold. A night temperature of 50° or 
60° will suit them best. 
LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY 
One of the most beautiful bulbs is the 
lily-of-the-valley and it is also one of the 
hardest things to force. It takes from three 
to four weeks to bring them into flower, and 
your success will be measured by your ability 
to get good leaves with the flowers. This is 
next to impossible with pips that have been 
imported this fall and are forced for January 
bloom, but it is possible to secure leaves on 
pips forced later. 
To have genuine success one must have 
a “hot box” in which to start them. The 
most desirable place I know is under a propa- 
gating bench, the bottom of which is boxed 
in to provide bottom heat for the cuttings 
188 
BEST 
“COOL GREENHOUSE” FLOWERS 
in the sand. Put some small pieces of boards 
on the heating pipes and set the pots or boxes 
on the boards. 
The new pips arrive in the country from 
abroad late in October or early in November. 
As soon as they are received pack them in a 
box in damp sand and store them in a deep 
coldframe, pit, or cellar, where they can be 
easily gotten at. Some people insist that 
they should be frozen before forcing, but, in 
my experience, this is unnecessary. All that 
is needed is a place cool enough to keep 
them from growing. 
When forcing small quantities I use 5-inch 
pots; for large quantities flats five inches 
deep. Trim the ends of the roots. The 
easiest way is to lay the bundle of pips on 
the bench and a single stroke of a sharp 
knife will do the work. Place the pips in 
the pots or flats 4 or # in. apart and pack 
sand firmly among them. They should be 
just covered. Now put them in your ‘‘hot 
box,” the temperature of which should be 
about go°. 
There must be plenty of moisture in the 
atmosphere, so that the pots will not dry out 
quickly. Watch the pots closely and water 
frequently. One drying will spoil all chances 
of success as I know from bitter experience. 
In about ten days or two weeks the leaves 
a 
The best large red flower of winter—amaryllis. 
Trumpets five inches long and wide 
