November Garden Suggestions 



TT IS time to look after the dahlia tubers. 

 -1 Cut back the stems to a foot from the 

 ground. Remove the tubers without in- 

 juring them and see that each cluster is 

 properly labeled. Clean all the soil from 

 the tubers and then store them in a dry 

 place for two or three weeks. After that 

 they will be well cured and may be stored 

 for the winter. 



So often are the bulbous plants neglected 

 and they become matted that the blooms 

 are greatly reduced in size and beauty. If 

 you have been thus negligent, resolve now 

 to not let it happen again. Examine this 

 month all beds of montbretias and iris. 

 If the plants and bulbs are crowded, re- 

 move all, spade the soil two or three times, 

 and add a generous amount of manure. 

 Then select the best of the bulbs to replant. 

 If there has been any sign of pests in the 

 old location, you better plan for the bulbs 

 in another location. Most bulbs do better 

 when not grown on the same soil year 

 after year. 



Other perennials that need attention 

 now are: Cardinal flower {Lobelia car- 

 dinalis), phlox, dorOnicum, delphinium, 

 tritoma, and primrose (Primula). Prune 

 off all the old flower stems and divide the 

 crowns. Arrange for some of these in a 

 new location for next year. Select a good 

 rich loam and pulverize it thoroughly, 

 working in a coarse manure if the soil is 

 heavy. If you have more crowns than 

 are needed, by all means use only the 

 largest and best. You can probably find 

 a market for the others among neighbors. 



Perhaps I am a crank on bulbs, but 

 there certainly is no excuse for having a 

 yard half full of weeds when bulbs might be 

 grown instead. No matter how care- 

 fully you have planned your place, you 

 will surely find some corners where a few 

 bulbs will fit in nicely. It is not yet too 

 late to plant tulips, hyacinths, and daffo- 

 dils. You don't have to study color har- 

 mony so much in putting in these little 

 clumps, because they will be blooming before 

 other flowers about them have opened. 



Canterbury bells grow to perfection in 

 California. If you have experienced the 

 pleasure of coming unexpectedly upon a 

 clump of them as you turned a corner in 



a friend's garden, you will surely want 

 some for your own. On good soil, they 

 grow quite tall, so they must not be planted 

 in front of something else. They do very 

 well in clumps by themselves. I saw an 

 especially attractive bed beside a rustic 

 pergola in Berkeley last summer. The 

 pergola was a small one, just large enough 

 to shelter a small stone seat; and the person 

 who could resist the invitation of the 

 Canterbury bells to come there and rest, 

 must surely be without a sense of the 

 beautiful. 



Good growthy plants can be secured 

 now from the seed houses for about $1.25 

 per dozen. One dozen isn't enough, how- 

 ever, for they are at their best when massed. 

 They may be had in white, blue, and rose 

 pink. Perhaps the best way is to plant 

 each color in a cluster by itself. If you 

 want a combination, however, the white 

 and pink will harmonize, or the white and 

 blue. Do not set the plants too deep and 

 not more than eighteen inches apart. 



Keep a close watch on the lawn and 

 drives. Don't let the rough edgings get 

 a start. Keep everything well trimmed, 

 and the weeds all removed. A frequent 

 rolling at this season of the year will 

 accomplish wonders. If your lawn has 

 suffered from gophers (there are few 

 lawns in California that have not), fill in 

 the holes with good rich soil, and pack it 

 well, giving special attention both before 

 and after rolling. 



You must always be on the watch for 

 the depredations of pests. This month is 

 a good time to examine the lily bulbs. 

 Cut worms and wire worms often do great 

 damage to lily bulbs, especally those that 

 have been in one place for some time. If 

 you find either of these in the lily bulbs, 

 take up all the bulbs at once and soak 

 them in water strongly impregnated with 

 soot. Either move the bulbs to a new 

 location or destroy the pests in the soil 

 before putting back the bulbs. In order 

 to destroy all insect pests in the soil, use 

 carbon bisulphide. This is a volatile 

 liquid that produces a heavy gas that 

 goes all through the soil and kills all life. 



It may be applied by making a small 

 trench every two or three feet and pouring 

 the liquid in and covering it at once with 

 soil. Nothing should be planted in this 



149 



soil for two or three weeks for there is danger 

 of its being affected by the poisonous gas. 

 Just before planting, thoroughly aerate the 

 soil by spading deep and pulverizing. 



This carbon bisulphide is also an excel- 

 lent poison for moles or gophers. Satur- 

 ate a ball of cotton with the liquid and 

 drop it down into the rodent's hole. Then 

 cover the hole. The gas will go down into 

 the hole and kill all the animals in it. The 

 liquid must be handled with caution. It 

 is highly inflammable and so should not be 

 brought near any fire. In applying it, 

 be careful to not breath the fumes. 



You probably won't care to plant any 

 vegetables this month, but you must see 

 that everything that is growing in the vege- 

 table garden has a fair chance. This is 

 the time of year when weeds will get ahead 

 of you if you don't keep after them. The 

 removal of weeds is not the only thing, 

 either; the stirring of the soil about the 

 growing plants does a lot of good. Some- 

 times I think that weeds are provided so 

 that we will be forced to stir the soil about 

 the plants. 



If you have clematis of certain var- 

 ieties, now is the time to attend to the 

 pruning. Varieties of the viticella, Jack 

 manii, lanuginosa, and paniculata groups 

 blossom from the new shoots, so there is 

 little danger of affecting the bloom by too 

 severe pruning. Varieties of the montana, 

 caerulea, and florida types make flowers on 

 the old wood, and must not be cut back. 



Work in the Greenhouse 



F^ERNS, primulas, calceolarias, cala- 

 diums, and cinerarias will need atten- 

 tion. 



Begin to treat the ferns so that their 

 fronds will become hardened to withstand 

 the changes in weather conditions that will 

 come during the next few weeks. Move 

 them from the close, moist atmosphere into 

 a location where they will receive more 

 light and air. 



Flowers will be showing on the 

 earlier primulas. The pots should be full 

 of roots, and a little weak liquid manure 

 about once a week will do them good. 

 Later plants should be examined for root 

 growth. If the roots are well developed, 

 they should be transferred from a three 



