March, 1911 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE, 



87 



(Editor's Note. — We want to know how suc- 

 cessful workers do things in order to put actual 

 experiences before our thousands of readers in all 

 parts of the country. Every reader is invited to con- 

 tribute a short note on some interesting experience. 

 Just stale the facts about some ingenious idea that you 

 have actually worked out yourself or have seen.) 



It is not generally realized that the 

 common blue violet {Viola palmata) is 

 worth growing for its foliage. Under 

 cultivation the leaves, after the blooming 

 period, attain to a luxurious growth. 

 Not infrequently the dense foliage is ten 

 inches in height. Used in clumps, as 

 an edging or for carpeting, this violet is 

 very effective during the summer. While 

 it is best for the out-of-the-way places 

 on the home grounds, it may be used 

 anywhere that a " something-f or-nothing " 

 result is sought. — H. S. A. 



To take away the bare look of newly 

 set shrubbery borders, try setting English 

 daisies, forget-me-nots, and pansies between 

 the shrubs, taking pains to have them 

 placed neatly about midway between 

 bushes, and to have the various kinds 

 scattered evenly all through to give a 

 homogeneous appearance. Carelessly 

 "scattered" plants will only give a ragged 

 effect, as I found last spring to my sorrow. 

 Sow sweet alyssum liberally in a line 

 about a foot from the edge of the bed, 

 and keep cutting it back ruthlessly for 

 the first few weeks until the plants are 

 very bushy. Then leave it to take its 

 own sweet will, and you will have a bank 

 of snow until winter sets in in earnest. 

 — S. H. 



I have a brick-walled hotbed about 

 a dozen feet in length in which I start 

 early annuals. In one end, among other 

 things, are some early tomato plants. 

 At transplanting I usually leave a few of 

 these plants and let them bear through 

 the summer, taking them and other things 

 out in the early fall to make room for my 

 late lettuce. Last fall they were full of 

 green and ripe tomatoes, so I left two or 

 three plants, and put on the glass. The 

 plants continued to grow, and I had fresh, 

 ripe tomatoes up to the middle of Decem- 

 ber. In the other part of the bed I have 

 fine heads of lettuce. These usually keep 

 all right until January ist. This year, 

 I am planning to start my tomatoes a 

 little later, expecting better fall results. 

 I grow Chalk's Early Jewel.— J. L. M. W. 



Last year we had a plague of grasshop- 

 pers here in Nebraska, that swept every- 

 thing before them. Our garden suffered 

 most. Common salsify, scolymus, okra, 

 cardoon, a variety of sweet pumpkin and 

 artichokes were the only vegetables that 

 stood the test. Mignonette, four o'clock 

 and larkspur also lived right through the 

 plague. — B. E. N. 



My home is nearly as far north as Al- 

 bany, N. Y., but my Christmas rose plant 

 has survived several hard frosts without 

 being covered. The flowers have not 

 been harmed when chrysanthemums stand- 

 ing next were turned black. This plant 

 has grown in the same place for ten years, 

 not having been transplanted in that 

 time, and the only care it gets is the spring 

 mulching with fertilizer that is put on the 

 whole garden. The flowers of the Christ- 

 mas rose are white and waxy and resemble 

 an anemone. They can be found bloom- 

 ing under the snow. — K. R. V. A. 



There has been much extravagant praise 

 showered upon Lilium Henryi which, 

 according to my experience, is not alto- 

 gether deserved. I have found Hanson's 

 lily or Lilium maculatum a much better 

 subject. A picture printed in The Gar- 

 den Magazine some time ago showed 

 a beautiful specimen of Lilium Henryi — 

 many flowered and evidently of good 

 height. I have tried bulbs from three 

 different sources but none of them justifies 

 its description. I have also seen this 

 lily as grown by some of the park gardeners 

 in Chicago in the hardy borders and it 

 is far from being "majestic." It would 

 correspond to the description of "yellow 

 speciosum" if it were yellow. Mine was 

 not yellow. Neither were those I saw 

 in the park borders. They were tawny 

 or dull orange in color, with fine spots 

 in the centre of the flower that gave a 

 rather dirty effect. It grows on the bias 

 as do the speciosums, but in my lilies this 

 characteristic was so pronounced as to 

 make them rather awkward. The bulbs 

 I secured were sound, firm and of fair 

 size. The first year I decided that the 

 lily had not sufficient time to establish 

 itself, but when the second and third 

 seasons it showed no increase in the vigor 

 of its stems but continued to lop over, 

 it struck me that perhaps there were 

 variations in this lily and that inferior 

 types were being sold. The first year I 

 had two blooms. The third five. The 

 bulb had one offset in this time. It was 

 planted in a cool corner in soil consisting 

 of leaf mold, well-rotted manure and 

 silver sand. In this situation Hanson's 

 lily grew finely, multiplied rapidly (for a 

 lily) and gave fine clusters of its thick 

 waxy flowers, much the same in color as 

 Henryi. At one dollar a bulb, Lilium 

 Henryi strikes me as an extravagance. 

 As Lilium auratum, Hansoni, and superb- 

 um had done excellently as near neigh- 

 bors to Henryi, I suspect the lily itself 

 rather than the culture I gave it. — C. J. 



Last year I saw at Fonthill, an estate 

 in Virginia, white Madonna lilies which 

 were planted about eighty years ago and 

 still bloom every year. The estate is an 

 old one and is filled with many beautiful 

 things, but in my opinion the most strik- 

 ing feature is a long double holly hedge 

 which rises in a dense mass from the 

 ground to a height of nearly fifty feet. 

 This hedge is never pruned and bears 

 an immense load of brilliant berries every 

 year. — P. S. H. 



The most important tool in my garden 

 basket is a large pair of long-bladed scis- 

 sors. If one is a keen gardener, one can 

 never pass by the beds and borders with- 

 out seeing something that needs attention, 

 and that immediately, and down one 

 goes, and hands are ruined even though 

 the plant is saved. For gloves are not 

 always by. But with the scissors one 

 becomes so dexterous that a weed is 

 wrenched out neatly with a turn of the 

 wrist, seed pods are snipped off, or speedy 

 death is given to worm or beetle. — 

 F. E. Mel. 



Two years ago I secured a few plants 

 of the double arabis to use in late tulip 

 plantings. Previously I had been using 

 the single arabis. The double form proved 

 so much more floriferous and better in 

 every way that I pulled up the single form 

 and propagated enough of the double 

 by cuttings to cover the bed. The cut- 

 tings strike readily in July and make good 

 plants by fall. This arabis resembles 

 a miniature ten weeks' stock and blooms 

 sparingly all summer after its main season 

 in the spring which extends over a month. 

 I found it an easy matter to secure as big 

 a stock of the plants as was necessary by 

 taking the new shoots, planting them in 

 flats and setting them in a coldframe until 

 they rooted. — S. R. D. 



The double arabis resembles a miniature ten- 

 weeks' stock and is excellent for planting with 

 late tulips 



