^^^^^^ 



134 



to give the necessary amount daily. Be sure if this method 

 is adopted that the pipe does not slope towards the trunk of 

 the tree and carry all the water toward the centre as a con- 

 sequence, instead of down to the tips of the roots where the 

 fine, hair-like feeding roots are located. 



In moving trees the bark is frequently bruised, and this 

 shows in the summer as sun scald, or splitting of the bark, 

 with running of the sap. The injured tissue must be care- 

 fully cut out and the wound painted with tar. Good results 

 follow wrapping the trunk with straw or burlap the first sea- 

 son to protect from drying winds as well as too much sun. 



The question of costs will of course present itself. Na- 

 turally cost will be greater proportionately where transplant- 

 ing is limited to one or two or a few specimens than where 



The Garden Magazine, November, 1919 



wholesale operations are carried on. But there is no reason 

 why cooperative projects should not be undertaken, in which 

 a group of owners joining may reduce the expense to each to 

 a minimum. Considering the results of planting even a sin- 

 gle large tree on the average plot and in the place that is 

 literally "crying for shade," it is doubtful if the same sum 

 of money can be spent in any other way to as great advantage. 

 So it is highly gratifying that the idea is taking vital hold 

 upon various communities as well as individuals. At Trin- 

 ity College, Durham, N. C, for example a tree moving force 

 was organized and many large trees found their way to its 

 campus to give shade to the present generation as well as to 

 those to come. And in the summer-residence sections of the 

 North big tree planting is really a well established practice. 



OBVIATING WINTER LOSS IN THE HARDY GARDEN 



H. H. GREENE 



Blanket the Frost In With the Plants Instead of Smother- 

 ing the Unfortunates Under a Mulch Prematurely Applied 



gHAT constitutes a hardy plant? Why do "hardy" 

 plants winter-kill? At what season does this occur? 

 These are perennial questions and yet quite easy to 

 answer with a little thought. Hardy plants die in 

 winter because we won't let them be really hardy, but fuss 

 around them and over them, and literally, cook them with 

 heat and moisture. 



What we call hardy plants are perennials and biennials — 

 which live over from one season to another, the former 

 usually for several years, the latter only long enough to 

 flower and ripen seed. Nature intended them to endure the 

 winter. Why then, should they winter-kill or succumb to 

 the winter season? 



In this article we must assume that all plants are of equal 

 hardiness inasmuch as many plants which are perfectly 

 hardy in our Northern states are not so here (Louisville, 

 Kentucky) or south of Mason and Dixon's Line, and vice 

 versa. And as the practice of mulching plants is general, 

 the matter must be discussed along general lines. 



Practically all winter covering is put on several weeks too 

 soon. When the leaves begin to fall people proceed to pile 

 them on their bulb beds and hardy plants and as soon as the 

 first hard frosts come they begin mulching with manure, 

 etc. These are the very worst things they could do. At 

 that season no "hardy" plant is dormant except it be some 

 early flowering kind such as Bleeding-heart which has 

 matured by midsummer. As the cool moist weather of 

 autumn comes on the majority of hardy plants are making 

 strong root growth. The crowns are soft and green. They 

 are making their own preparations for the winter season 

 and growth does not cease until winter sets in. 



By applying a mulch in early fall we simply smother the 

 plants. They may endure the covering until on toward 



March but then, with the constant freezing and thawing and 

 the melting snow and rains, the crowns of the plants, already 

 in an unhealthy condition from the heat of the mulch put on 

 early in the season, proceed to decay. Many die and we 

 wonder why with six inches of manure over them they did not 

 come through safely! 



Do not put any covering over your plants until late November 

 or December. Wait until the frost gets in, then mulch to 

 keep it there. 



Plants also die during winter through lack of drainage. 

 The hardy border is often made gradually and the 

 ground is rarely prepared properly. It is advisable 

 to throw out the top soil the depth of a spade, then dig 

 the subsoil to the depth of eight or ten inches. In replacing 

 the top soil add one fourth of its bulk of sand or fine coal 

 ashes, and mix thoroughly. This will provide good drainage 

 and prevent water standing about the crowns of the plants. 



But here is another point. We plant such flowers as 

 Hibiscus and Platycodon and because they do not appear 

 with Larkspurs and Hollyhocks in the spring we assume 

 they are dead, whereas these plants never start into growth 

 until after most kinds are several inches high. 



Such plants as Coreopsis and Shasta Daisy are termed 

 hardy, yet we frequently lose them through ignorance of 

 their requirements. After this type of plant has flowered, 

 the heart or centre of the plant invariably dies and the 

 plant is renewed through the rooting of the stems extending 

 out from the centre of the old plant. Frequently these are 

 not well enough rooted to hold their own and unless reset 

 in the early fall, succumb during the winter just like newly 

 set plants that, not having a firm roothold in the ground 

 are heaved out by the alternate freezing and thawing if not 

 kept mulched the first winter, after being frozen in. 



