The Garden Magazine 
VoL. IV—No. 5 
PUBLISHED MONTHLY 
Some Plants and Flowers for 
Christmas Cheer 
OME-GROWN flowers for Christmas 
gifts! How much more expressive 
than what you merely buy in the stores. 
Living plants, or even cut flowers of your 
own rearing, carry with them a touch of 
personality and evidence of forethought 
that makes them doubly welcome. 
The easiest of all things to do is to force 
the ‘lesser’? bulbs—Roman hyacinths, cro- 
cus, snowdrops, etc. These do not require any 
better conditions than may usually be found 
in the window garden, and you have all the 
pleasure and satisfaction of having seen the 
plants grow to the flowering stage before 
giving them away. 
Roman hyacinths that were potted in Oc- 
tober, and have been making roots while 
buried, can be forced into bloom in four 
weeks from the time they are brought indoors. 
If you have a small greenhouse where a 
temperature of 60° and bottom heat can be 
had the bulbs can be forced for Christmas 
bloom in three weeks. 
By all means try some crocuses in the 
window garden this year. They can be had 
for the holidays, for they need only two weeks 
forcing. Put about a dozen bulbs in a 6-inch 
pan; this is far better than using a pot. 
The polyanthus narcissus (VV. Tazetta) can 
also be had in bloom for Christmas by start- 
ing it about November rsth. 
But the easiest bulb to handle is the Chinese 
sacred lily, which will do just as well in 
water as it will in soil. It will flower in six 
week’s time. 
Red is the Christmas color, above all else. 
Even among flowers, red varieties will prove 
far more popular than white or yellow— 
they seem to be more expressive of the pre- 
vailing sentiment of the season. White 
flowers fit in better for Easter. Red is cheery 
and warm. But it requires no little skill to 
have even red Duc van Thol tulips by De- 
cember 25th. Allow five weeks after the 
potted and rooted bulbs are brought into heat 
DECEMBER, 1906 
before they will flower. 
temperature of 55° at night, after the first 
week. Up to that time they may be kept a 
little cooler. The stems of these early tulips 
are very short, so when picking the flowers, 
instead of cutting the stem at the bulb, 
it is better to spilt open the bulb, to retain 
the full length of the stem. 
After December 20th tulips will force 
more easily and can be had in flower in four 
to five weeks. 
The earliest planted freesias (those potted 
in August) will flower for Christmas if they 
are kept warm (about 55° or more), after 
November 15th. 
AZALEAS FOR THE HOLIDAYS 
If you bought Indian azaleas in September 
or October, as advised in the September 
Gardener’s Reminder, you can have some 
plants in flower around Christmas and New 
Year’s. All varieties are not equally easy to 
force for that time. The best of all is 
Deutsche Perle (white). Simon Mardner 
(deep pink), is more desirable because of its 
color, but most amateurs find it difficult to 
flower at this early date. Helen Thielman, 
rosy carmine, is easier to handle, but less 
attractive in color. Another easy one to 
force is Verveeneana, the popular white and 
pink variety, but its erect habit renders it 
less decorative than the others. No other 
varieties are so easily handled for Christmas 
bloom. 
The plants will flower in six weeks, if kept 
in a night temperature of 55°. Failures in 
forcing in the window garden, aside from poor 
ventilation, usually occur through the night 
temperature falling too low. 
EASILY RAISED DELICACIES 
Would you enjoy a dish of asparagus or 
rhubarb, before the outdoor crops are ready ? 
Dig up the roots in December, and put them 
in boxes, where they may be stored away in 
the cellar or other cool, dark place. These 
roots can be forced in December and January 
in cold-frames (using manure to give the 
necessary heat), under the greenhouse 
benches, or in a heated cellar, where they can 
be kept moist. It is considered better to 
let the roots get one good frost before forcing 
is begun. Select strong roots, preferably 
three or four years old. 
Unless the frames are ventilated from time 
to time, mildew will surely attack the grow- 
ing plants. Whenever the air is above freez- 
ing temperature, uncover the lights, and ven- 
tilate by fixing the sash open with a block. 
Raise it six inches on a very warm day. A 
piece of wood 2x4x6 in. is a handy adjunct 
to a frame. 
Have some hay piled in a convenient place 
ORE DOLLAR A YEAR 
TEN CENTS A COPY 
Keep the bulbs ina * ready for throwing over the frames during 
extra cold weather. At other times the mats 
and shutters will be sufficient. 
Make shutters for the frames at once. 
The right size for convenient handling is 
3x6 ft. These are to be put over the mats, 
which they protect. The snow can be shov- 
eled off the shutters much more easily than 
from the mats. 
SOW VEGETABLES FOR SUCCESSION 
In the hotbed you can sow lettuce, radish, 
and spinach for succession. Seed sown Dec- 
cember rst will give mature crops as follows: 
Head lettuce, March; radish, January; 
spinach, February. 
Sow cauliflower in the hotbed for trans- 
planting into coldframes later. These will 
mature in early summer. 
OUTDOOR WORK THIS WINTER 
Just as soon as the ground freezes—but 
not before—mulch all bulb beds. 
Prune the fruit trees and grape vines. It 
is better to prune during the late fall, before 
hard frosts arrive, or in early spring. Pruning 
can, however, be done at any time during the 
winter, when the weather is congenial enough 
for one to be out-of-doors. 
Examine the fruit trees for winter nests 
of insects. If you see two or three leaves 
rolled up together, beeak them open. If 
they contain a lot of little caterpillars about 
one-quarter of an inch long, they are probably 
the grubs of the brown-tail moth. Burn all 
the nests that you can find. 
The easiest way to get ahead of tent cater- 
pillars, is to cut down all the wild cherry 
trees on the place and burn them. Also look 
at the other trees for the little knobs on the 
twigs, as illustrated in the November 
GARDEN MaAGaAZINE,: page 178. Cut off 
and burn them. 
The bag worm spends the winter in cocoons 
which are suspended from the twigs of the 
arborvite, or other coniferous trees. Gather 
all you find, as well as any other cocoons, 
and burn them. 
Spray for San Joséscale witha lime-sulphur 
wash. A very convenient formula is given 
in December, 1905, GARDEN MAGAZINE, 
page 240. 
Spray roses with whale-oil soap for scurfy 
scale. Use one pound of the soap to a gallon 
of water. 
Many choice little herbaceous plants of the 
rockery which are rather tender may be safe- 
ly wintered over by covering with a pane of 
glass to keep off the rain. 
Clean up all the tools and cover the iron 
work with grease to keep them from rusting. 
A mixture of white lead and lard is best; 
vaseline is good. 
