The Garden Magazine 
VoL. VIII—No. 5 
PUBLISHED MONTHLY 
Plants as Christmas Presents 
Wye not give some plants or flowers 
this Christmas? Flowers go 
straight to the heart. They are innocent, 
not designing, and as far as possible removed 
from commercial ideas. They provoke no 
unpleasant thoughts 
about cost and 
the necessity of 
“getting even.” Do 
they not symbolize 
the gaiety of the 
season and the 
personal relation 
you wish to express 
better than manu- 
factured goods? 
The best way to 
give flowers is to 
grow them yourself 
for your friends, be- 
cause the maximum 
amount of personal- 
ity then enters into 
the gift. There are 
two ways in which 
you can do that this year. You can buy Ro- 
man hyacinth bulbs on November 15th, the 
day this magazine is published, and with 
good luck you can have them beginning to 
bloom on Christmas day, for we have known 
them to bloom in 
six weeks. 
Another plan is 
to buy any plant 
you like now from a 
florist, take it home 
and bring it into 
bloom at your own 
hommes lhuses 2 
month of your own 
daily care will go 
into the gift. This 
scheme is too risky 
costly plants, 
Roman hyacinth 
Baby primrose for 
DECEMBER, 1908 
j ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
| FIFTEEN CENTS A Copy 
if you have noth- 
ing better than a 
window sill, but it 
is practical with 
the cheapest plants 
suitable for house 
culture, e.g., Ro- 
man _hyacinths, 
Chinese primroses 
and the baby primrose, any of which costs 
twenty-five to thirty-five cents a pot. The 
baby primrose is here pictured. It isa darling 
little pink thing — just like a baby — and 
many an infant has crowed at the sight of it. 
The Chinese primrose has fewer blossoms 
but they are the largest in the genus — about 
two inches across and often with abrightlycol- 
ored eye. There is apretty variety called Prim- 
ula stellata by the florists which has a starry 
effect, the blossoms being less showy but more 
graceful. Primroses should bloom through 
the holidays and are then thrown away. 
The flowers that 
last longest when 
cut are orchids, be- 
cause they have no 
insects here to ferti- 
vas. “ae, Nave 
most gorgeous or- 
chids are cattleyas. 
Here is the one that 
you see in all first- 
class florists’ stores 
at Christmas. Don’t 
take it for granted 
any longer that you 
can’t afford to buy 
one spray of orchids once a year. Ask and see. 
Red is the cheeriest color and therefore the 
favorite at Christmas. The cheapest red 
flowers you can 
buy at Christmas 
are tulips, pro- 
vided you get only 
a potful. A box of 
fifty may cost $ro. 
Only the Duc van 
Tholl varieties can 
be forced for Christ- 
mas and even they 
require special skill. Place your order 
now for these or you will “get left.” 
Now we come to the bushes, which cost 
the most but last 
longest. They really 
need a greenhouse, 
but if your friends 
have none they can 
“board them out” 
to a local florist 
every summer, and 
every Christmas 
they will be re- 
Chinese primrose 
Cattleya Trianei 
Red tulips 
Azalea 
joiced to see them 
again full of flowers 
or red berries. The 
showiest flowering 
shrub at Christmas 
is the azalea. 
Of the red-ber- 
ried shrubs, English 
holly is the richest 
in associations. If 
you live in a large 
city you can buy a 
magnificent English 
holly, in a tub like 
the one here shown, 
loaded with berries. 
The berries will 
drop soon after 
Christmas unless 
you have a cold, 
frost-proof room such as bay trees are stored 
in. ‘There they will last all winter. 
Think of red berries that last two years! 
About half the berries on the bush here pic- 
tured have been at- 
Ee ee "Se SE eae 1 
English holly 
tractive that long. 
They will drop off 
in summer, though, 
unless you have a 
greenhouse or a pit 
in which to put the 
plants. Every good 
floristhasthis plant. 
Ask for an ardisia. 
Everybody loves 
that spotty - leafed 
thing— the aucuba 
— which you seein 
window boxes or 
tubs in front of big 
hotels. A much 
better plant is the green-leafed form because 
it had red berries all winter. It is a tender 
evergreen from Japan. In the South it will 
grow outdoors. 
Ardisia crenulata 
DON’T FORGET 
Plants cost more | S&S 
than cut flowersbut | : 
they last longer and 
mean a lot more 
as Christmas pres- 
ents. 
Don’t wait until 
Christmas week or 
you will pay the 
highest prices and 
miss the best things. 
Place your order 
now and wrile on a 
card when andwhere 
you want the plants 
delivered. 
Aucuba Japonica 
