84 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



March, 1918 



Sow seed <>t call annual branching Larkspurs 

 in November. These are available in a nice 

 range of blues, lilacs, pale pink and white with 

 .1 rosj red variety which is best kept separate. 

 Seed will germinate quickly, but growth 

 through rln cold rainy season will be slow, so 

 that it will be unnecessary to thin them out 

 until February. As each plant makes but 

 .i single stem branching' about 18 inches from 

 the ground, lots of room is left for the bulb 

 foliage. If watered and kept from seeding 

 they will bloom for a couple of months in 

 midsummer while the Tulips and Iris are 

 ripening. 



If it is intended to lift the bulbs one may 



which I have found useful for variety are 

 annual Linarias (especially the pink, rose, and 

 lavender strain known as Excelsior), scarlet 

 Flax, and the beautiful little yellow compo- 

 site, Leptosyne Stillmanni. Early in June 

 when the annual is going off, clean out the plot, 

 dig, and plant Dahlias for late summer and 

 autumn bloom. 



5. Hyacinths (February — March); Omphalodes 

 linifolia (April — May); Sweet Alyssum (July — No- 

 vember) 



THIS is simply the combining of an early 

 spring bulb with two annuals, one sown 

 in the autumn for late spring flowers after the 

 Hyacinths are over. When the Omphalodes 





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May aspect of the garden shown on page 84. Spanish Iris have grown up between the Daffodils and have the better 

 garden effect because the Daffodil foliage is still green and helps out the scanty herbage of this Iris 



substitute for the Larkspur some of the 

 beautiful new Clarkias of the elegans type, 

 or that improvement of another of our natives, 

 the double rose-pink Godetias. These are, 

 however, both short bloomers though wonder- 

 ful in their time, early June. 



4. Tulips (March — April); Shirley Poppies (May — 

 June); Dahlias (July — October) 



THIS is an arrangement to be used where 

 Tulip bulbs are to be lifted. By sowing 

 Poppies in the autumn and thinning them 

 out in spring you may have a pretty patch of 

 color in your Tulip bed while the foliage is 

 ripening, provided you have protected the 

 young Poppy seedlings from the sparrows. 

 I have found mosquito netting or fine-mesh 

 chicken wire satisfactory. Other annuals 



is over clean up the bed and sow Sweet Alys- 

 sum for succession. Hyacinths may be lifted 

 or not as preferred. Many of the attrac- 

 tive little annuals which one sees in Eng- 

 land but never in the eastern United States 

 can in this way find a place in the garden, for 

 they all do well in this greatest of all states 

 for annual flowers. If the gray foliage and 

 dainty white spikes of the Omphalodes do not 

 fit the requirements, one may substitute 

 Baby-blue Eyes (Nemophila insignis), Cream- 

 cups (Platystemon californicus) Phacelia 

 campanularia, a glorious blue in color, or 

 Swan River Daisies in a variety of blues and 

 white. For Sweet Alyssum alternatives would 

 be the constant-blooming hybrids of Dimor- 

 photheca aurantiaca, or the hybrid Nemes- 

 ias just now coming into use here. 



6. German or Bearded Iris (April — May) ; Gladiolus 

 (Midsummer) 



HpHE Flag Irises are, all things consid- 

 ■*■ ered, the best perennials for California gar- 

 dens. They are being planted much more 

 frequently since our gardeners have learned 

 that besides the common blue and white there 

 are dozens of other more attractive varieties 

 in lavender, lilac, mauve, yellow, maroon, 

 bronze, and innumerable other combinations 

 of colors. Their increased use has created a 

 demand for something which will give later 

 bloom in the same place. The planting of 

 Gladiolus seems the solution. While new 

 Iris plantings are best made in late summer, 

 it is better not to interplant with Gladiolus 

 until April, as the flowers of the latter are not 

 wanted before midsummer. It is possible, of 

 course, simply to cut down the Gladiolus tops 

 in the fall and let them come up again and 

 bloom in June the second year. This saves 

 labor, and both Iris and Gladiolus can be 

 lifted and divided the following September. 

 It is not desirable to subject expensive Glad- 

 iolus novelties to this competition, but if 

 good vigorous varieites are used the results 

 will be quite satisfactory, for the period of 

 growth of the Gladiolus coincides with the 

 period of rest in the Iris. 



An alternative suggested by Mr. Carl Purdy 

 is that Montbretias be planted among the 

 Iris, and as these also make their chief growth 

 and bloom in summer there is no reason why 

 they should not be used together. I prefer 

 the Iris-Gladiolus combination, however, 

 as the foliage of these is so similar. Where the 

 Iris-Montbretia arrangement is made both 

 should be planted together in early autumn, 

 and they may be left without moving for two 

 years. 



7. Wallflowers (March — May); Pompon Chrysan- 

 themums (October — November) 



THESE are two of the most useful border 

 plants, the former because it takes away 

 from the flatness of spring borders, the latter 

 because it gives wonderful color in autumn and 

 is a better garden plant than its larger-flowered 

 relations. Scattered at rather regular inter- 

 vals in a north border, I have plantings of 

 Pompon Chrysanthemums made up of per- 

 haps a dozen separate shoots arranged in an 

 irregular patch. One variety is used in each 

 clump. After they have bloomed I dig up 

 and discard all but one or two stock plants of 

 each, which are cut down and left where they 

 flowered. The balance of the original patch 

 is then planted in Wallflowers raised in a seed 

 bed. When these in turn have finished flow- 

 ering, in early summer, they are discarded and 

 the Chrysanthemum stock plant is lifted, 

 divided into single shoots, pinched back and 

 replanted again over the original area. 

 , In the pink section of my border I have 

 substituted Canterbury Bells for Wallflowers, 

 and will follow them with pink Pompon Chrys- 

 anthemums, just as the Wallflowers were 

 succeeded by yellow, bronze, and scarlet 

 varieties. 



8. Spring Bulbs and Double Gypsophila Paniculata 



THESE can hardly be called succession 

 crops. I have merely noted that during 

 its dormant period — autumn to spring — the 

 Perennial Gypsophila needs only the space 

 occupied by its compact bunch of deep roots, 

 but from May to its July or August blooming 

 period it is very rampant. As its foliage is 

 very light I am using it in the back of a north 

 border behind some bulb beds, so that it will 

 gradually cover these shortly after their bloom- 

 ing period is over. 



