February, 1914 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



23 



clipped and the plants will bloom till snow 

 comes. 



Last year I learned for the first time 

 that one could grow dahlias from seed, so 

 I started some in a box in the house. They 

 germinated and grew rapidly, and in May 

 I transplanted them directly from the box 

 to permanent rows. The cutworms fancied 

 the tender succulent stalks, but I mixed 

 bran with Paris green, and put about each 

 plant, and with great success. The growth 

 was very rapid, and my seedlings blossomed 

 as soon as the plants grown from tubers. 

 They were' all single, some very fine, and 

 I notice that the catalogues also offer seed 

 of a strain of doubles. 



Hollyhocks are so well known that it is 

 ■unnecessary to either describe them or to 

 urge their culture; but they are almost 

 indispensable in certain locations, and their 

 decorative value is of the greatest. A row 

 of hollyhocks in front of a stone wall is a 

 picture almost beyond words! Last year 

 I tried the comparatively new "ever- 

 blooming,'' and when one thinks of the 

 short season of the old variety, and the 

 ragged appearance which the old stalks 

 present after blossoming time is over, one 

 is inclined to abandon the old for the new. 

 By pinching out the old stalk, the branch- 

 ing habit is encouraged, and the blooming 

 time prolonged. 



The platycodon is a smaller and less 

 showy perennial of which I am very fond. 

 The deep beautiful blue of its bell shaped 

 flowers and the little balloon-shaped buds 

 make it very effective in masses and it is 

 very satisfactory for picking. There is 

 also a white variety. It germinates very 

 slowly, and the little seedlings are also slow 

 of growth, so do not be discouraged if they 

 do not appear when you expect them. Last 

 year we thought we had lost all of ours, 

 placed in their permanent position in the 

 fall. Long after we had entirely given 

 them up, they peeped out, every plant, 

 I think, one by one. 



The New England aster — "Michaelmas 

 daisy" — we must have, as it is so beauti- 

 ful and decorative in the garden and border 

 in the autumn, and invaluable in the fall 

 bouquet. Its luxuriant masses of deep 

 purple and lavender bloom are most 

 effective among the deep reds and yellows 

 of the autumn flowers. It can easily be 

 seeded, and the garden variety being a 

 development from the strong native strain, 

 requires no especial care either in seeding 

 or in wintering. 



Tiger lilies fill a unique place in the garden 

 scheme, their masses of strong barbaric 

 color lighting up a dull spot or filling in some 

 empty corner. One must, however, use 

 care and judgment in placing them. They 

 are the easiest of all the lilies to propagate, 

 as they grow freely from the little bulblets 

 in the axils of the leaves. 



The Christmas rose has always seemed 

 the most romantic and interesting of all 

 flowers to me, especially after reading the 

 articles about it which appeared in The 

 Garden Magazine. Last winter a friend 





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All the plants in this efiective perennial border were raised from seed by the owner, 

 daisies. Sweet William. Larkspur. Margaret Carnations, etc. 



Foxgloves. Shasta 



showed me some growing in the snow, 

 which she had raised from seed. I can 

 therefore add them to my list of unique 

 and unusual plants which may be grown 

 in this way. Seed was sown in pots in the 

 house in late summer and the seedlings 

 planted in the open in the fall. I was sur- 

 prised to find how long the flowers lasted. 



One suggestion on which I should lay 

 great stress is this: Always carefully pick 

 off all the old flowers after blooming. This 

 is very important with annuals, but even 

 more so with perennials. Often it makes 

 just the difference of their having a second 

 blooming, or in doubling the length of their 

 blossoming season. 



Sweet William and pyrethrum raised from seed give fragrance and color in the shade of this pergola 



