4°4 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



December, 1905 



The Garden 



The Garden Month by Month — December 



I HE end of the calendar year serves to 

 strengthen the impression that the flower 

 gardener has been gathering during the past 

 month, that for him and for her there is 

 little rest. The flower lover must be con- 

 sistent and love her flowers the whole year. 

 There are no periods of rest, no times of respite. The work 

 varies from month to month; in one month it will be more 

 laborious than others, but there is always something to do, 

 always care to be expended, always trouble to be taken. 



To the genuine flower lover these are matters of small 

 moment, yet it is well to refer to them, since not a few per- 

 sons have the notion that flower-growing is an easy art, an 

 occupation for delicate women or fragile old folk. Nothing 

 could be further from the truth; for it is a laborious, constant 

 task, entailing work at all seasons, and in season and out of 

 season. It has, however, superb recompenses, and these 

 more than compensate for any effort put forth. 



The winter months are trying times to the amateur flower 

 grower, especially to those who have no good or proper 

 place in which to rear plants. House plants, even of the 

 commonest sorts, are difficult to maintain through the cold 

 weather. There are two causes which render house culture 

 exceedingly difficult. One is the presence of gas within the 

 house, with which must be joined the absence of moisture; 

 and the other is the great difference which may exist in the 

 temperature of the rooms in day and night, or even in dif- 

 ferent days. 



It is impossible to suggest remedies for these matters 



which will have any universal application, or which will be 

 generally or specifically effective. The single, practical sug- 

 gestion that is available is to do the best that can be done. 

 Gas is readily detected by most persons, but human beings 

 appear able to survive its injurious effect more easily than 

 plants do. When a house is heated by hot air, special pains 

 must be taken to immediately get rid of coal gas the moment 

 it comes up into the rooms or serious and permanent injury 

 will be inflicted upon the plants. 



A proper supply of moisture is more difficult to regulate, 

 since the importance of this feature of the winter house is 

 less understood and less generally regulated. Few plants 

 will survive a winter in a dry atmosphere. It is a matter 

 that can not be regulated by merely pouring water on the 

 pots and is a difficult subject at all times. 



Variations in temperature are also difficult to control. 

 Most houses are colder at night than in the daytime. The 

 relationship this bears to plants is simply that some will sur- 

 vive quite radical changes, while others will not. Delicate 

 plants will rarely survive many changes of temperature, no 

 matter how well other conditions may be met. 



House plants, even with the best of care, easily wear out 

 and become unfit for use. This applies in large houses, 

 where there are house gardeners, as well as to more modest 

 surroundings. It is always a safe rule not to try to keep too 

 many plants over the winter, and especially not to expect too 

 much life from them. It is a pity to discard a good plant; 

 but even a few weeks of association with it will give satis- 

 faction, and the next venture may be more successful. 



Winter Work 



When unable to work in the garden — think about it. 

 There is no better advice for the winter months, and there is 

 nothing more agreeable that one can do. The great aim of 

 garden making is the creation of beauty. There is no such 

 thing as failure in garden-making, for any garden which is not 

 a success is not a garden at all, but a failure. It is a very sad 

 failure, too, for its ill-success is visible evidence of neglected 

 opportunities. Moreover, the most discouraged of us would 

 fain hide one's failures and not blazen them forth to the 

 world. The unsuccessful garden, unfortunately, may readily 

 be seen. 



Now, to make a garden a success it is necessary to care- 

 fully plan every part of it. Just as the architect will draw 

 out every detail of the house he is building before the founda- 

 tions are dug, so the garden-maker must think out his plans, 

 commit them to paper, criticise them, perhaps begin afresh, 

 and so on with continual labor and improvement, hoping 

 that each new change will be a betterment, and not discour- 

 aged because his paper plans can be thrown to one side and 

 new ones begun without any special loss. 



If one happens to be a beginner there is a host of things 

 to learn. And there are many ways in which this knowledge 

 may be acquired. Too many. One speedily feels for the 

 books, papers, magazines and catalogues which are dedicated 

 to the garden art are filled to the brim with fascinating infor- 

 mation — so fascinating that one's modest dreams are speedily 

 shattered, and on their crumbling fragments are reared 

 gardens of ravishing beauty destined to rival those of legend 



and poetry. The garden enthusiast soon becomes a garden 

 dreamer. He fills his garden with all sorts of beautiful, 

 rare plants, plants difficult to grow, plants of unusual 

 character, but all so easy — once one has the knack of raising 

 them and the patience to follow the cultural directions. 



All this is an agreeable pastime for the winter months, 

 but before the snows and frosts have thawed away it will 

 be well to come down to mother earth, dispense with the 

 intoxication of flower dreams, and reduce one's ideas to a 

 careful order, keeping well within the beaten track and not 

 trying too much. In a second or a third year more may be 

 done; but as a starter, try as little as you can. 



In practical work the garden maker finds little to do in 

 the winter. The growing plants should be carefully watched 

 and an occasional glance given to the dry roots in the cellar. 

 Growing plants that are developing should be turned from 

 time to time to insure symmetrical growth. Dead leaves 

 should be taken off ; parts that seem to promise undue de- 

 velopment should be pinched; little water is needed, but the 

 plants should not be permitted to dry out. Hanging plants, 

 which always need more water than those in pots, should be 

 dipped and allowed to absorb all they can. Sunshine should 

 be permitted abundantly, the plants being moved if all do 

 not receive an equal share. Do not water the roots of cannas 

 or dahlias, and cut off promptly any diseased parts of canna 

 roots. A keen watch must be kept for insect pests at all 

 seasons and must be got rid of at all costs. This last is the 

 most tiresome kind of garden work but the most necessary. 



