December, 1909 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



221 



Monstera deliciosa is a giant aroid with edible spadix. 

 The flower is a combination of pineapple and banana 



Perhaps you can catch a glimpse of the 

 jack or spadix inside the hood. That is 

 what grows into the fruit. The fruit is 

 about six or eight inches long, and green 

 like a pine cone, but is covered with charac- 

 teristic hexagonal plates. 



It was a great event when our monster 

 began to bloom and we watched the develop- 

 ment of the fruit with eagerness, wondering 

 when it would be ripe. At last it showed 

 a tinge of yellow and the rind came off in 

 kits at the touch. So we nibbled gingerly 

 at the delicious monster. It has a flavor 

 between that of a pineapple and a banana 

 and is highly fragrant. But we could not 

 pump up any great enthusiasm for it. The 

 ceriman soon cloys, as do many other trop- 

 ical fruits. 



All the same, Monstera deliciosa is a 

 delicious monster and I am going to give 

 him lots of room in my hothouse, for he is 

 a beauty in more senses than one and every 

 visitor admires him. 



An Unbeatable Arbor Vine 



Harry Erskine, Connecticut 



IS IT a wonder, when you come to think 

 of it, what a few vines will do? Just 

 look at this old arbor or summer house at 

 the Dana place, Dosoris, Long Island. 

 They say the kudzu vine is the quickest plant 

 that grows and the biggest roots will send 

 up stems that grow three feet a day for a 

 while. But in the north, the kudzu vine 

 dies down to the ground every year. 



Therefore I say, give me the good old 

 trumpet creeper (Tecoma radicans), the one 

 you see on this page. Look at its beautiful 

 pinnate foliage, always free from insects. 

 And think of its big orange trumpets borne 

 all summer! They attract humming birds 

 too, the most fascinating creatures that fly. 



And what other vine could make so per- 

 fect a canopy as this in, say, seven to ten 

 years ? 



A New Way of Protecting Pansies 



Viola McColm, Kansas 



DURING the summer of 1908 our pansy 

 bed had the usual care. By attend- 

 ing to the hoeing, watering and the picking 

 of wilted flowers and of seed-pods the 

 pansies bloomed continuously until hard 

 freezing came. Then it was that we desired 

 to save the plants for the next year. The 

 pansies were directly against the north side 

 of the house and having no natural protec- 

 tion must have a cover placed over them. 

 If covered too heavily, or too closely, the 

 plants would smother or decay. We tried 

 the plan of laying a few fence posts in the 

 bed and putting on these a layer of corn 

 fodder — not too thick a layer. The posts 

 held up the fodder so the pansies had some 

 air. The fodder was a cheap, convenient 

 protection that had no objectionable seed 

 to fall off and come up, the next year, 

 among the flowers. 



Early this spring the covering was removed 

 and the pansy roots, having gone through 

 the winter in good condition, soon sent up 

 a strong growth that bloomed freely. And 

 the bed was attractive all through the sum- 

 mer and fall. Some trimming or pruning 

 of the old plants was necessary. Many 

 new plants came up from seed, and where 

 there was room or where it seemed desirable 

 to save the new plants they were taken care of. 



It is not satisfactory to keep the same 

 pansy bed, for a number of years filled with 

 the same old roots and seedlings from same, 

 for the flowers do not maintain their original 

 size and beauty. Any way one wants a 

 change of varieties and colors of pansies. 

 But for two years the same bed is very 

 satisfactory and easily kept. 



Surprising Growth of Roses 



Eugene Ryan, Ottawa 



HAS the past season been unusually 

 favorable for the growth of roses? 

 It would appear so from what I have 

 observed in my garden. I have a Frau 

 Karl Druschki that finished the season 

 eight feet high. This is not a climbing 

 rose, but a stout-stemmed tree. I pruned it 

 last spring to three feet. There were a 

 dozen other hybrid perpetual roses which 



Is there a more luxuriant flowering vine than the 

 old trumpet creeper ? 



grew seven feet high and over. All the 

 hybrid perpetual roses grew unusually tall. 

 It must be remembered also that in flowering 

 time, every flower was plucked, thereby 

 giving the trees a second severe pruning, 

 nevertheless in the months of August and 

 September they achieved this remarkable 

 growth. The hybrid teas the same. I 

 have one Etoile de France that beats any- 

 thing in the hybrid tea line I ever saw. 

 The Killarneys grew amazingly. Not only 

 was the growth tall, it was vigorous and 

 spreading in every instance. About the 

 1st of September, however, I pruned out all 

 the growths but the strongest, as I do not 

 like a spreading bush. Despite the sur- 

 orising growth of wood, the flowers were 

 never produced so abundantly, were never 

 so large and fine, and never flowered over so 

 long a period. It was altogether a remark- 

 able year in my rose garden. The spring and 

 summer were mostly cool and wet. My 

 roses are mostly Irish grown, so perhaps 

 the moist conditions helped. My soil is a 

 rich, moist, black loam, fertilized heavily 

 in the spring with stable manure. I cul- 

 tivate the rose beds in growing time on an 

 average of twice a week. Perhaps that 

 helps too. However, I am not sure that any 

 or all of these things explains away the 

 exceedingly rapid and vigorous growth of 

 my roses during the past season. 



This pansy bed was kept a second year and gave flowers all through both seasons 



