The Flowers We Love 



WHAT have been called the "special so- 

 cieties," that is to say, organizations de- 

 voted to studying and popularizing one 

 particular plant or group of plants, small 

 though they may be individually, are focus points 

 of great activities — the American Rose Society, 

 for instance, which has just issued its "Annual for 

 1919," the fourth of the series. It contains 160 

 pages chock-a-block with the Aery latest informa- 

 tion about Roses and their cultivation from an 

 American viewpoint. It is not saying a word too 

 much when we challenge the production of a 

 better Rose manual than the one now before us; 

 and we take off our hat to Mr. J. Horace McFar- 

 land for his excellent work as Editor. 



Among the leading articles is a memorial to 

 the late Admiral Aaron Ward entitled the "Pass- 

 ing of a Great Rosarian." Mr. Bissett tells of 

 F. F. Meyer's contributions in "New Roses from 

 China." There are short reviews of the Rose cult 

 in other lands, and the list of "Roses Introduced 

 in America" is corrected to March 10th of the 

 current year. The Chairman of the Federal 

 Horticultural Board explains the machinery of 

 getting new Roses into the country as it will be 

 from this time "forever" (?) This volume, which 

 is handsomely bound in linen, is included in the 

 $2 membership of the society. 



The American Peony Society is also rendering 

 yeoman services in its own sphere and has just 

 issued another number of its bulletin, which con- 

 tains some brief biographies of those who have 

 been most famous in raising new Peonies in 

 America. This publication, however, is not so 

 far reaching as the Rose Society's Annual — 

 its appeal is not as wide. The Peony Society 

 is doing equally valuable work, however, and has 

 succeeded in establishing a general appreciation 

 in its own particular field. 



There is so much of internal interest concerning 

 any one particular plant that its devotees are 

 rendering a real service by cooperating to spread 

 authoritative information concerning their par- 

 ticular fancy. In this way also the American 

 Gladiolus Society, the American Sweet Pea So- 

 ciety, and the American Dahlia Society are rend- 

 ering valuable service's; and as time goes on we 

 shall undoubtedly see associations for fostering 

 other garden favorites. Indeed, the establish- 

 ment of an Iris Society has already been bruited. 

 It is certain that of all the plants that go to make 

 the American garden there is no one to-day that 

 is more appealing, that has greater diversity of 

 interest, and a wider range than the Iris; and of 

 recent years, tco, some splendid creative work has 

 been done by American raisers. It would in- 

 deed be a pity if their efforts were not encour- 

 aged and developed. The enthusiasm of the Iris 

 connoisseurs is evidenced in the discussion aroused 

 over Winter and Fall blooming forms in last issue, 

 and continued this month. 



AS A matter of fact the dominating influence 

 in progressive horticulture must always be 

 the amateur. The wonderful work accomplished 

 during the last few years by the various garden 

 clubs all over the country is a demonstration of 

 this fact and also a protest against the lack of 

 vision of certain influences within the trade. 

 More power to the progressive amateur in whose 

 hands the future of American horticulture is held ! 



Will the nurserymen who support Quarantine 

 No. 37 as a glorious event in the annals of Amer- 

 ican horticulture, whoever they are, forthwith 

 start out to supply the needs of gardens with a fine 

 selection from the multitude of native plants of 

 rig merit, that at this day, unfortunately, 

 can hardly be found in any catalogue? 



We are in a rut. We all get into ruts and have 



to be hauled out. Will our Western friends make 

 it possible for us to use in quantities in our home 

 gardens the plants that are now being asked for 

 in the present time interest in rockeries and Al- 

 pine gardens? It is somewhat galling to take a 

 selection of catalogues of American and European 

 dealers and find that if we want to plant an Amer- 

 ican landscape in all its variety and make a purely 

 American garden we must go to Europe for the 

 material. An inquiry from a correspondent for 

 seeds of certain plants revealed the really appall- 

 ing condition of affairs that not one of the twenty 

 plants asked for was offered, so far as we could 

 ascertain, by a single seedsman in this country; 

 yet we could find in any one of at least a score of 

 European catalogues a great majority of all the 

 seeds sought. 



"No demand," says the dealer. "Have you 

 ever tried to satisfy it?" ask we. It is time the 

 American plant dealer got out of his rut. 



Midsummer Madness 



TSN'T it queer, to say the least, that, popularly 

 speaking all active garden work comes to a 

 standstill about this time of year when in 

 fact the garden on the whole is at its best? 

 The old tradition of "making garden" once for 

 all in the spring and so have done with it still 

 persists. Yet a balanced garden needs some 

 attention at all seasons. Strange as it may seem 

 midsummer has big opportunities for effective 

 work. On the material side there is the winter 

 supply of vegetables to be thought of, as is dis- 

 cussed elsewhere in this issue. On the aesthetic 

 side there is a chance for making improvements 

 in the flower garden. Seeds of biennials and 

 perennials are sown with advantage this month 

 and active planting can be continued on a large 

 scale with care. Then there is the keen joy of 

 building for the future. 



The actual ordering or buying, and the setting 

 out of a tree or a shrub or a group of them, makes 

 up only a mere detail of the real job of planting. 

 They represent the mechanical, physical work, 

 the relatively "unskilled labor" phase, so to 

 speak. Any one can make out an order for nur- 

 sery stock in fifteen minutes, write a check to pay 

 for it in one fifth the time, and plant each specimen 

 ordered, probably, in from five minutes to 

 half an hour. 



The big, serious part of planting is, after all, 

 the selection of the material, the choosing of the 

 stock to meet particular needs, to fit into any 

 particular situation. It is this part of the prob- 

 lem to which you can and ought to devote days 

 and even weeks; the part that calls for taste, 

 knowledge, foresight, observation, study — even 

 real genius. To succeed in it, you must study 

 and come to know plant materials, both in cata- 

 logues and in their outdoor environs as they 

 grow. You should visit other plantings that are 

 acknowledged to be good, or, if this is impossible, 

 become familiar with successful gardens by proxy 

 — by carefully studying pictures of them; "Peeps 

 into Other Peoples' Gardens" in The Garden 

 Magazine, for instance; you should compare 

 the effects of different styles of planting; and 

 above all, you should take note day after day of 

 conditions in your own garden so as to ascertain 

 just what is needed, and where, and when its 

 effect is required. For all this constructive study 

 and planning and replanning, there is but one 

 long season — extending from one end of the year 

 to the other. Now, and during midsummer, 

 when the blossoms on bush and plant and vine 

 follow one another in quick succession, when trees 

 are in their richest leafage; later in the season 

 when the riot of floral color is past and the au- 

 tumn colorings are beginning to flame in their 

 place; still later, when the hour of the evergreens 



192 



and the trees and shrubs of multi-colored barks 

 is at hand; and again, when the first brave blos- 

 soms of spring burst their way out of frost-sealed 

 buds. 



To apply this line of thought along purely 

 practical lines, keep your catalogues and order 

 blanks handy and make up your list for ultimate 

 planting day by day and week by week, jotting 

 down not only the items you want right away, 

 but also those you are going to need, as fast as 

 you discover that they will be needed to fill a gap, 

 round out an effect, complete a border, etc. 

 You need not call for extra early delivery, you 

 need not even send the order in until nearly 

 planting time (although it is best to be fore- 

 handed), but you certainly should keep revising, 

 improving, modifying and developing the list 

 until it represents the essence of best judgment 

 as to actual needs as built up while the contrib- 

 uting thoughts were uppermost in your mind. 

 So can you make your whole year a planting sea- 

 son and avoid many of the costly, discouraging, 

 time-devouring mistakes that follow last minute 

 ordering, snap judgments, and long distance 

 consideration of garden problems. 



\X^"HERE individual, unlimited attention can 

 * ' be given, most plants can be safely moved 

 and planted at practically any time. Winter 

 moving of trees with frozen root balls is one of 

 the most practicable and safest of modern meth- 

 ods. As for summer planting, we have known of 

 flowering shrubs to be lifted, moved several miles, 

 and replanted while in full bloom, without 

 scarcely drooping or losing, prematurely, a flower 

 head. The secret of this is, bf course, keeping 

 the roots of the plant comfortably moist at all 

 times — before moving, while being dug, while in 

 transit, and after being set in a new location, 

 until fully established there. In the case of 

 extensive plantings this degree of care is often 

 impracticable; but where the garden lover can, 

 and desires to, move one plant or a few at a time, 

 and can lavish care upon them, even the mechan- 

 ics of planting can be made a part of the garden- 

 ing operations of practically every month in the 

 year. 



rpeOPEN'OOLyWM". 



\ Readers Interchanges °f Experiences 



Some of Mrs. Wilder's Notes in recent issues 

 are provocative of comment. (1) With me 

 Corydalis glauca is a favorite, and self-sown 

 seedlings in rich, open soil have formed two-and- 

 a-half foot bushy plants; it is particularly lovely 

 when its grayed green is in association with the 

 light yellow-green of Stylophorum (Celandines) 

 which is of equally easy culture. (2) The yel- 

 lowed green of Forsythia or the deeper, brighter 

 tones of Cornus var. flaviramea might be added 

 to the list of bright stems and I like the warm 

 brown of Spiraeas van Houttei and Thunbergii, 

 or the bright crimson and green of certain of the 

 Roses; but the list could be made too all-inclusive, 

 and to me the greatest of winter charm lies in the 

 revelation of the growth character of the many 

 varieties of shrubs. A note in The Garden 

 (England) of Nov. 10, 191 7, deals exclusively with 

 the winter effect of the many Rose species. 

 (3) Let me add also to "Not for Little Gardens" 

 Coronilla varia, a plant of vetchlike growth with 

 delicate pink and white clover-like blossoms and 

 smooth gray-green mounds of foliage but entirely 

 too deeply running roots for safety and con- 

 venience; Physostegia virginica and the weedy 



