384 



The Garden Magazine, August, 1922 



Iris Foliage That Holds Its Color 



To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 



IN GOING through my files of The Garden Magazine, making a 

 study of the Iris, I became much interested in Mr. Sturtevant's 

 "Decorative Element in Iris Foliage" in the October, 1920, issue. His 

 statement that Irises with trojana or pallida blood would likely be most 

 effective as all-season plants aroused my curiosity. I did not then have 

 the time to check his results in my garden but I did look up two or three 

 of the green ones and pallida dalmatica. These did not agree with his 

 statement, so I promised myself a complete check after we had had 

 some more cold weather. 



On the last day of the year, after a period of prolonged freezing, with 

 a minimum of 7 F., an investigation of the foliage was made. Three 

 groups were apparent: (1) those with uninjured foliage; (2) those with 

 injured foliage which was still green and more or less upright; (3) 

 those whose foliage was destroyed. From catalogues the varieties were 

 then thrown into their respective groups in so far as they could be 

 determined and the whole tabulated as shown below. 



SECTION OR SPECIES 



NUMBER OF 

 VARIETIES 



UNINJURED 

 VARIETIES 



INJURED 

 VARIETIES 



DESTROYED 

 VARIETIES 



Tall 











Variegata .... 



20 











20 



Neglecta 







18 



O 



I 



'7 



Amoena 







12 











12 



Plicata 







12 







5 



7 



Germanica 







5 



4 



1 







Squalens 

 Pallida 







18 



34 





 



5 

 6 



13 



28 



Trojana 

 Florentine 









1 













 



Other species 

 Varieties in unknown 



3 











3 



sections .... 



18 







2 



16 



Intermediates .... 



7 



3 



1 



3 



Dwarf and put 



nila 



hybrids 



7 



6 



1 







Aside from the Intermediates and Dwarfs there were but two groups 

 showing good fans of foliage at that time; trojana, and the germanicas 

 Amas, Kharput Major, and Violet Queen. Kochii was but slightly 

 hurt. Trojana was as good as in June. In the face of Mr. Sturtevant's 

 article I was much surprised to find plicata and squalens as well as 

 germanica ranking ahead of pallida. The half dozen pallidas listed as 

 injured were quite badly hurt; dalmatica foliage was a ruin. 



From these observations covering only one year, to be sure, it would 

 appear that winter foliage can be obtained much more surely with other 

 germanicas than with the Iris of pallida blood, under southern Idaho 

 conditions at all events! — David C. Petri e, Boise, Idaho. 



"Necessity the Mother of Invention" 



To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 



BY ACCIDENT we discovered this way of cultivating Wistaria and 

 Roses. A new home was being built, and as the veranda was not 

 finished at the time, we planted a pink Rambler Rose and a Wistaria 

 just about where they could be trained to the pillars later. Stout 

 stakes were driven in the ground beside the vines which, as they grew, 

 were loosely bound to them. When a foot or more beyond the top of 

 the stakes the ends of the vines were pinched off, causing them to send 

 forth more side shoots. As each branch grew 12 or 18 inches long it 

 was treated in the same way, keeping the vines as uniform as pos- 

 sible. After two years of this training, no buds being allowed to de- 

 velop, they blossomed out into the most beautiful mass of trailing 

 greenery and flowers — the lavender racemes of the Wistaria blending 

 with the pink of Roses across the walk. So much did they add in the 

 way of decorative effect that they were never trained upon the veranda. 

 — M. D. Brown, San Mateo, Cal. 



My Garden Reference Shelf 



To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 



I HAVE most of the numbers of The Garden Magazine for the past 

 twelve years and find them very useful for reference. For this pur- 

 pose I have a loose-leaf book with the various articles of particular in- 

 terest to me listed under separate heads, as "Old-fashioned Gardens," 

 "Rock Gardens," "Wild Gardens," "Perennials," etc; also pages besides 

 with culture of various plants and shrubs arranged alphabetically. 



I have just started a new plan so satisfactory and simple that it 

 may be of use to other subscribers. I pick out the issues of previous 

 years for the current month and put them on the reading table with the 

 new magazines and in this way I have at hand all the seasonable sug- 

 gestions and reminders printed for several seasons back. — Ruth L. 

 Torrey, Wenham, Mass. 



— I want to take this opportunity to say that I enjoy and get more 

 benefit from your Garden Magazine than all the others combined. 

 Your March issue on Roses is worth many times the yearly subscription. 

 — A. S. Fenton, Buffalo, N. Y. 



EXPERIMENTING IN THE AVENUE A GARDENS 



'HE boy and girl farmers who are cultivating the little 

 5x10 plots over in the Avenue A Gardens, in the tene- 

 ? ment district in New York's crowded East Side, are 

 learning something in the new school of agriculture. 

 Dr. Thomas T. Gaunt of New York City, who takes a special 

 interest in the children and the gardens and is also a student of 

 agricultural science, contributed to the work specimens of seeds 

 inoculated with nitrogenous bacteria which are supposed to 

 increase largely the quantity of vegetables produced. The 

 children under the direction of the instructor will have op- 

 portunity to observe the growth and learn for themselves how 

 much man can help nature in improving on her own way of 

 doing things. 



Already the children of the gardens and their families have 

 begun to know some of the benefits of working in the earth. 

 On their tables have appeared radishes, lettuce, beans, carrots, 

 and peas which have come direct from the gardens instead of 

 from the corner grocery. This means not only freshness and a 

 better flavor but may be the inspiration of family removals from 

 the congestion of the tenements to the healthier surroundings 

 of the suburbs or the country itself. 



FUNDS have been received by the The Garden Magazine to 

 establish Avenue A Gardens from : 



Miss A. P. Livingston, Medford, Oregon; Mrs. J. H. Spaf- 

 ford; Mrs. J. Hopkins Smith; Peter Paige (by Mrs. 

 Frederick Edey); Miss E. F. Eilers; Mrs. Isaac 

 Gimbel; Mrs. Martin Vogel; Mrs. Wm. B. Field Os- 

 born; Miss Julia Wray; Mr. George L. Becker; The 

 Chappaqua Branch of the National Plant, Flower 

 and Fruit Guild. 

 The garden provided for by Mrs. A. H. Storrs. Scranton, 

 Pennsylvania, is named The Elizabeth Storrs Belin 

 Garden. 



Ten dollars maintains for the entire season one of the 5x10 gardens 

 in the total of six hundred located on Avenue A in New York City, 

 between Sixty-third and Sixty-fifth streets. Each garden may be 

 named by the donor of the funds for its maintenance. The Avenue A 

 Gardens are cultivated under proper supervision and instruction by 

 children from the neighboring tenements for whom this sum provides 

 the necessary seeds, tools, and oversight. Checks to the order of 

 The Avenue A Gardens may be sent to The Garden Magazine, 

 Garden City, N. Y., or to the Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild, 70 Fifth 

 Avenue, New York City. 



