The Garden Magazine 



American Plants for American 

 Gardens 



IS ONE of the results of the great war to be 

 a reaction on the materials of our gardens? 

 It may be perhaps altogether too far reach- 

 ing even to dream of an all-American garden 

 but, on the other hand, it cannot be disputed 

 that in the past we have followed so slavishly the 

 leads of the foreign trade that the splendid mater- 

 ial of our own land has been given only secondary 

 consideration. Even such a plant as the summer- 

 flowering Perennial Phlox, thorough-going native 

 that it is, is hardly appreciated as such because 

 in its improved varieties it comes to us with the 

 touch of the finishing education of a French 

 school. 



The very names that we read in the popular 

 varieties were transported to us across the seas 

 and while we return thanks to those progressive 

 horticulturists of the Old World who saw the 

 possibilities of our native flower, we should not 

 forget that fundamentally the Perennial Phlox 

 only comes to its own when it is re-transported 

 to the gardens of America. 



Unfortunately, except for certain so called 

 'wild plants" — that is species that remain 

 unimproved at the hands of the horticulturists, 

 and which are collected rather than grown — 

 there are very limited supplies of really charac- 

 teristic American plants even in our leading 

 nurseries. Of course certain shrubs, collected 

 plants of Rhododendrons, Kalmia and An- 

 dromeda and such like are familar enough; but of 

 the hosts of other available material of real merit 

 there are comparatively limited quantities. 

 Yet these things must sooner or later form the 

 background of the American garden. They are 

 the proper thing to plant because they are essen- 

 tially and absolutely at home. Strange exotics 

 can be introduced into gardens as embellishments 

 and as "accents" but the background should 

 look domestic. 



There are many really desirable small-growing 

 plants, that, equally with the Phlox, could fit 

 into the American garden and undoubtedly as 

 time goes on more and more attention will be 

 given to them. 



Of course, it would not be reasonable to suggest 

 the banishment from our gardens of any intrin- 

 sically valuable plant simply on the ground that 

 it is a foreigner. We need the Irises, and the 

 Peonies and the Roses and some other popular 

 flowering plants that give their wealth of bloom 

 to the delight of our gardens. We welcome them 

 because they actually fit, and recent years have 

 seen tremendously important acquisitions in 



all these groups as the results of the workings of 

 the plantsmen of America. 



Where the exotic plant is found to be fitting 

 and plastic in the hands of our own craftsman, so 

 that characteristic types and varieties are pro- 

 duced that fit our own needs, we have in that 

 fact sufficient proof that the plants merit further 

 attention. 



Little by little we are learning in this country 

 how to develop Larkspurs, Primroses, and Pyre- 

 thrums that are more resistant to the climatic 

 trials than their congeners from across the ocean; 

 and, as the supplies of foreign material become 

 more difficult of attaining, our dealers will natur- 

 ally turn more and more to the available material 

 at hand. The ultimate result cannot do other- 

 wise than ease the work of our awakened garden- 

 ing while adding greatly co the beauty of our sur- 

 roundings, because the material will be healthy 

 — it will in fact make a really American garden. 



In Europe to-day, the so called "American 

 Garden" is devoted to Rhododendrons" and allied 

 plants that demand a soil more or less sour and 

 peaty. In brief, the American garden is con- 

 ceived by our friends as a garden of Ericaceous 

 plants. Perhaps in the near future we shall be 

 able to demonstrate to them that an American 

 garden can show as much diversity as any other 

 kind and that we have at our hands plants of 

 sterling merit that do not of necessity grow in 

 peat. 



Why Plant Now 



*TpHIS month we stress with more than usual 

 ■*■ emphasis the spjendid opportunities of fall 

 planting. It was not so very long ago that fall 

 planting was regarded as a tantastic dream by 

 the majority of people who were not expert 

 horticulturists. 



That a plant can be moved in the fall, when its 

 seasonal activity is on the decrease and it is fast 

 approaching the dormant stage, surely does not 

 now need any bolstering argument. In the 

 nurseries the fall season has always been the 

 period for the rearrangement of stock. Enough 

 said! 



This year the argument for fall planting is 

 greater than usual because of the decided uncer- 

 tainty of conditions next spring. Freight and 

 express may possibly be badly congested, worse 

 than they were in the spring of this year. 



In the spring plants are starting to grow and 

 must be put into their permanent places with 

 the utmost speed. The curve of growing activity 

 is upward in the spring but in the fall the curve 

 is on the down grade. Delay in transit at this 

 time of year, barring frost, is of no consequence 



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to the plant's vitality. The forehanded gardener 

 will not only place his orders this fall so as to 

 secure selection of available stock but wherever 

 possible he will take immediate delivery. This 

 does not necessarily mean that the final planting 

 will be done this fall. Indeed it is not necessary. 

 Stock dug and delivered this fall may be heeled-in 

 over the winter and is then available for ultimate 

 disposition in the spring without any delay. 

 Wherever possible purchasers of stock at this 

 time are advised to get delivery by express rather 

 than by freight; and, even though the goods be 

 delayed somewhat in transit, preparations can 

 be made at leisure at this time so as to give the 

 materials the best possible attention on receipt. 

 Some extra preparation may indeed be very 

 necessary for late delivery of bulbs, and a bed 

 prepared at once can be kept from freezing by 

 proper covering so that the bulbs may be safely 

 planted well into winter. 



Next Year's Food Garden 



*TpAKING time by the forelock is the essence 

 _* of good gardening; and the leisure in garden- 

 ing that comes with the declining year may be 

 turned into productive capital by starting next 

 year's garden now. This has been proven in 

 more than one sense of the word. 



In the first place, when the errors and lessons 

 during the current year are fresh in mind, the 

 present is a good time to work over plans and 

 rearrange the spacings and successions and the 

 quantities. There is no reason indeed why the 

 seed order should not be blocked out at this time 

 when it can be done in the intelligent light of 

 visible results. 



Elsewhere in this number of The Garden 

 Magazine will be found articles that in one 

 phase or another discuss fall work in anticipation 

 of the spring drive. A certain amount of pre- 

 paration done now will repay tenfold the like 

 work done next year — and it can be done more 

 easily. Soils can be improved by proper atten- 

 tion now. Don't wait until spring to increase 

 available fertility. Add manure now, dig, and 

 trench; sow rye as a cover crop. It will give the 

 essential humus. 



There are good reasons, too, for planting fruit 

 trees, even in ,ornamental borders. Fruit trees 

 are also flowering trees but if the flowering effect 

 is not desired give a thought to the possibilities 

 of nut trees, Filberts for hedges for example, 

 Walnuts for shade or specimen. One splendid 

 point about the nut tree is that it yields a valuable 

 food product in increasing degree without future 

 attention after it is once planted. Walnuts, 

 Pecans, Japanese Chestnuts, Filberts, all these 



