Pink Daisy for Next Summer's Bloom 



SHERMAN R. DUFFY 



Quite Easy to Manage If Its Few Wants are Considered — Why Plants May Fail to Grow — A Long Season of Bloom and Pretty 



Foliage for Cutting at Any Time 





THERE is a subtle attraction about a 

 "daisy" from the "wee modest crim- 

 son tipped flower," Bellis perennis — 

 better known as the Double or Eng- 

 lish Daisy — to the glistening white giants of the 

 race of garden Daisies so appropriately named 

 Shasta, their whiteness being likened to the 

 snows on the peak of the lofty mountain of their 

 California home. There are Daisies of all 

 degrees of humility and of all grades of splendor 

 — in fact Daisies abound, a Daisy being almost 

 any member of the composite family with ray 

 florets, with the exception of the Sunflower. 



And of all the vast tribe of Daisies which 

 grace the garden and the home none is more 

 beautiful than the "Pink Daisy," "Summer 

 Chrysanthemum," or "Perennial Cosmos," the 

 last being the worst misnomer of all those 

 applied to the Pyrethrum which has no generally 

 accepted common name. Pyrethrum is an ugly 

 term, yet our Pyrethrum according to the well 

 known idiosyncrasies of botanical nomen- 

 clature isn't a Pyrethrum at all. It's a Chrysan- 

 themum. 



In the beginning it was Pyrethrum roseum, a 

 native of the orient and earned a utilitarian al- 

 though unbeautiful reputation as the material 

 from which insect powder was made. This 

 powder is also known as buhach powder and 

 1 have heard this beautiful garden flower dese- 

 crated by the name of buhach. I call it the 

 Pink Daisy, which is descriptive, if nothing else, 

 for the type and the majority of the genus are of 

 varying shades of pink and rose. It was origi- 

 nally known as Pyrethrum roseum, as already 

 mentioned, but is now classified as Chrysan- 

 themum coccineum which is specifically a mis- 

 nomer as the type is not scarlet. 



However, "a Rose by any other name would 

 smell as sweet," and the Pyrethrum by any 

 name that may be applied remains one of the 

 finest and most showy and generally satisfactory 

 hardy perennials of the late May and early June 

 garden. 



Gardening is likely to develop a suspicious 

 nature and when a plant is recommended as 

 "hardy, and easy to grow in any good garden 

 soil" nine cases out of ten there is a catch in it. 

 There is, in the case of the Pyrethrum. It is not 

 the easiest thing in the world to grow unless 

 one is familiar with its habits and likes and dis- 

 likes. In fact in some soils it is not reliably 

 hardy and will not grow at all; but given a little 

 ■care and provided with suitable conditions 

 nothing can rival it for a glorious sheet of bloom, 

 and nothing so appeals to the youngsters as 

 these Daisies. They can't keep away from them. 



In addition to its value for garden decoration, 

 the Pyrethrum is one of the finest subjects for 

 cutting that can be grown. The flowers will 

 last for ten days with an occasional change of 

 water and clipping of the stems. In fact, the 

 stems will start to decay before the flowers 

 have lost their beauty. The ferny foliage is 

 ornamental when the plants are out of flower. 



TT IS many years since I first became ac- 

 A quainted with the "Persian Daisy" as it 

 was then called, and although it has been in 

 commerce for a long time, yet it is far from 

 common. It ranges in color from deep crimson, 

 maroon, scarlet, deep rose, deep and light pinks, 

 to pure white; and there are a few so-called 

 yellows, which, however, are pale and confined to 

 the double types. 



The double Pyrethrums rival the China Asters 

 in size and beauty. In this form, the name 

 "Summer Chrysanthemum" receives justifi- 

 cation, for the double Pyrethrums in shape and 

 general form closely resemble the Chry- 

 santhemum types known as anemone-flowered 



and their kindred varieties, the doubling con- 

 sisting not only of a multiplication of the ray 

 florets but in the development and coloring of the 

 disc florets which in many cases are of a dif- 

 ferent tint from the ray flowers, forming beauti- 

 ful combinations of rose and pale yellow, crimson 

 and light rose, white and pink, and so on. 



The flower presents a great variety of form. 

 Some have single rows of narrow petals with 

 small discs, others have shorter and wider ray 

 flowers with a larger disc. Some will have two 

 or three rows of petals, some will be twisted 

 as in the cactus-flowered Dahlias. Others will 

 have collarettes as in the Dahlia of that type. 

 There will be anemone-flowered — this term not 

 being at all truthful, so far as my acquaintance 

 with Anemones goes, but meaning that there will 

 be a partial development of the perfect disc 

 flowers. By selection different strains have 

 been fairly well fixed and developed and to 

 secure a good strain of Pyrethrums rigid selec- 

 tion is necessary. The double flowered forms 

 are exceptionally fine. 



"Pink Daisies" raised from seed in the author's garden. Plenty 

 of bloom for cutting here 



COME 500 varieties are catalogued and in com- 

 ^ merce, but the finer named varieties are 

 comparative strangers to American gardens, 

 and there is a reason. Right here is the catch 

 in the culture of the Pyrethrum. It is very sub- 

 ject to a crown rot. After a healthy, vigorous 

 growth and generous bloom, the plants often 

 seem to dissolve or melt away into a nasty, 

 black mess and it is "good night Pyrethrum." 

 They are very difficult to import, a large per- 

 centage being lost in transit and as they have 

 been developed in England (the firm of Kelway 

 being largely responsible for their improvement 

 and dissemination) few find their way to this 

 country and the few established here must be 

 propagated by division. 



They will domesticate themselves like weeds in 

 a light, rich sandy soil — unless planted too closely; 

 but in heavier rich soil they may be made at 

 home by planting them in raised beds and lighten- 

 ing the soil by the addition of sand, or under 

 drainage by means of tiling. While emphasizing 

 the necessity of drainage it must be added that 

 they suffer from drought. Humus to retain 

 moisture in suspension, therefore, is necessary. 



As soon as it blooms the plant should be 

 sheared off — leaves and flower stems both — close 

 to the ground so that air may circulate freely. 



53 



Otherwise the thick leaf mass is likely to rot and 

 the plant is gone. In planting in masses they 

 should not be placed closer than eighteen inches 

 apart. Two feet will supply a fine mass in two 

 seasons. The photograph accompanying this 

 article is of a bed eighty feet long and four feet 

 wide two years old from seed. As will be noted 

 there is a wonderful profusion of bloom for so 

 short a period. They were transplanted into 

 their present quarters a year before the picture 

 was made. 



There are about 200 plants in the bed and the 

 total cost was fifty cents for one packet of double 

 and one of single seeds. In addition there are 

 two named plants, one James Kelway, a bril- 

 liant scarlet, and Lord Roseberry, a huge maroon 

 purple. They are the sole survivors of a pur- 

 chase of a collection of named varieties most of 

 which perished either on the way over or shortly 

 thereafter. 



The maroons, crimsons, and cerise shades are 

 the most beautiful and likewise the rarest and the 

 chances of securing any considerable number of 

 dark colored varieties from packets of mixed 

 seed are rare, indeed. However, there are likely 

 to be a few and they must be selected and prop- 

 agated to secure a stock or a chance taken on 

 ordering named varieties and establishing them. 

 The method of propagation is by division. 



"\X7HEN the clump has attained sufficient size 

 * ' and strength — say after three seasons — it 

 should be dug after blooming when it will be 

 found to consist of a number of distincttuftswhich 

 may be pulled apart, each portion being a pros- 

 pective plant. These should be potted off, sup- 

 plying generous drainage by means of broken 

 crocks in the bottom of the pot and rich earth, 

 watering just enough to keep the ground moist 

 but not wet and they will soon establish them- 

 selves. 



Unfortunately, the high priced named varieties 

 do not seem to be very self fertile. I have tried 

 for three seasons to segregate the scarlet James 

 Kelway and save seed to secure a stock of dark 

 varieties but have to date failed to secure any 

 seed. 



The Pyrethrum gives scattering bloom 

 throughout the season. After it is cut down 

 either give a light top dressing of pulverized 

 sheep manure or dig in bone meal. A few flower 

 shoots are bound to respond and when the new 

 leaf growth appears late in summer a supply of 

 fall blooms will be given. 



So far as I know after many years' experience 

 with this plant, it hasn't an enemy in the world 

 in the way of insects. It ought not to have any, 

 as the pulverized leaves form the basis of the 

 well known insecticide. 



TF SEED can be procured as soon as it is 

 -*- ripe and then sown there is considerable 

 saving in time as a fair percentage of the young 

 plants will give bloom the following season. 

 However, it is not often easy to secure fresh 

 seed so the best that can be done is to sow them 

 in the spring, taking care of the drainage until 

 they are safely past the damping off stage. As 

 soon as the seedlings have made three or four 

 leaves they may be transplanted to permanent 

 quarters. The seedlings show in the relative 

 darkness of stem and foliage whether they will 

 be dark or light colored. 



There have been some specialized forms, such 

 as the cactus-flowered, the anemone-flowered, 

 or the cosmos-flowered but as the Pyrethrum 

 does not come true from seed, only a percentage 

 of any batch of seedlings is likely to reproduce 

 its parent. If there is 20 per cent, double flowered 

 plants from one package of double seed, it is a 

 very high proportion. I never got it! 



