296 



The Garden Magazine, February, 1922 



square feet. With space limitations in mind, what really are 

 the logical flowers? With room for but one flower, which will 

 give the greatest returns? Arbitrarily I might say that the 

 humble Nasturtium is the most satisfactory flower to grow in 

 the small garden, under all circumstances, on all soils, and in all 

 localities. And the sales' records of America's big seed houses 

 confirm this, since more Nasturtium seeds are sold every year 

 than seeds of all other flowers combined, Sweet-peas excepted. 

 One big seed house alone disposes of 25,000 pounds a year in its 

 retail trade, while the sales of the entire trade total nearly 

 300,000 pounds per year. In terms of home gardens, this 

 provides one ounce of seeds (the average quantity bought) 

 for nearly five million planters! 



As a second "small garden" flower consider the quite different 

 Marigold (Tagetes) which is rather ornamental as a specimen 

 plant in the garden besides furnishing an abundance of bloom 

 for cutting. Both a tall (African) type and a dwarf (French) 

 type are available, and please those who want an effective com- 

 bination in yellows, orange, and deep brown. The dwarf Pot 

 Marigold (Calendula) is a different plant, but harmonizes well 

 with the others. The Legion of Honor is a small variety of the 

 French type and presents a unique mixture of gold-and-brown 

 flowers on a compact dome-like bush. „ 



Only one other flower affords as striking possibilities and that 

 is Salvia. "Horrible," 1 hear some people say, and I agree! 

 But the fact remains that Salvia splendens predominates as a 

 scarlet flower in rural and surbuban gardens. It has decided 

 qualities and is certainly popular. There are several variations 

 of shade offered, including one violet. 



Two more flowers of particular merit for the small flower 

 patch are the dear, old-fashioned Four o'Clock (Mirabilis) and 

 Sweet Alyssum. Both do particularly well in sunny situations, 

 striving to outbloom each other throughout the season. Alyssum 

 self-sows constantly, and the new seedlings bloom before the 

 mother plants have sent flowers to the end of the trusses. Thus 

 a Sweet Alyssum bed spreads fragrance and cheer from early in 

 the spring until frost finally nips the last young seedlings. 



For Biggest Effect in the Small Garden 



YOU can hardly hope to provide an all season show unless 

 you use a diversity of kinds and varieties, although some 

 charming effects may be created in small space by the use of 

 different varieties of but one class of flowers. I have in mind a 

 bed, about 5 x 20 ft. which, some three years ago, I planted 

 with naught but Asters. True, there were no flowers before 

 early August, but from that time on until October we enjoyed 

 an uninterrupted show. Queen of the Market was chosen 

 from among the Dwarf Asters as a border. The centre was given 

 to both early and late Branching Asters, in conjunction with 

 that very fine variety American Beauty. 



Many a gardener has turned to the Petunia as the solution of 

 the one flower problem, and for persistent bloom anywhere and 

 everywhere on wet or dry soil it is unsurpassed. It blooms 

 anyhow in sun, but the quality of flower is directly proportion- 

 ate to the fertility of the soil. 



Of the two courses open, namely planting quite a variety of 

 flowers within the limited space and having these flowers serve 

 many purposes, or pinning faith to one kind and being satisfied 

 with one brilliant effect during part of the season, I believe the 

 latter holds the best opportunities. 



The Ever-Present Problem of Quantity 



AMONG flower seeds, in many instances, the ounce is con- 

 sidered a wholesale quantity. The question, therefore, 

 of how many flower seeds to order for the home garden is not 

 quite so easily answered as for vegetable seeds. Generally the 

 price question is a pretty good index of what you may expect 

 by way of quantity in a packet. Most catalogues price flower 

 seeds in packets, in fractions of ounces, and by the ounce. Where 

 for instance, a quarter of an ounce is listed as 25 cents and the 

 packet of the same variety costs 10 cents, it is a safe thing to 



assume that that packet will contain from \ to \ of one quarter 

 of an ounce. In other words, a 10 cent packet of any kind of 

 flower seeds valued at 25 cents for one quarter of an ounce 

 usually contains from one tenth to one twentieth of an ounce. 

 Ordinarily such a packet will sow a row 10 to 15 ft. long, de- 

 pending entirely upon how carefully the sowing is done. In the 

 case of coarse seeds such as Marigolds, Zinnias, Cosmos, Nastur- 

 tium, Sweet-peas, as well as Scarlet Runner and Dolichos among 

 the climbers, it is economical to buy by the ounce. But do not 

 let the question of price per packet or per ounce be the governing 

 factor in your decision as to which quantity to buy nor even 

 where to buy. 



Rigid selection to an ideal involves a lot of labor on the part 

 of a grower, and labor costs money; and again all kinds of flowers 

 are not equally constant in coming true or, as it is expressed, in 

 remaining "fixed." With some plants the tendency to reversion 

 is particularly strong and seeds of a double strain, for instance, 

 may not always give 100 per cent, doubles and will vary down- 

 ward to even as low as 25 per cent, according to the rigidity of 

 the selection for several generations back and the inherent in- 

 stability of the particular kind of flower. In such "unfixed" 

 types the risk of 100 per cent, disappointment naturally in- 

 creases with the decrease of the quantity of seed sown; therefore, 

 of any such, sow in excess of requirements for a safe margin. 

 Here are two recent personal experiences to illustrate. 



Two years ago I secured several packets of Double Cosmos, 

 paying 25 cents per packet to a house of fine repute. Although 

 told that I must expect a reasonable percentage of single flowers, 

 I was both amazed and delighted to see that nearly 50 per cent, 

 did come double. During the season just past I saw Double 

 Cosmos offered by another reliable house at 10 cents per 

 packet and bought some. To my disgust this strain gave me but 

 five plants with double flowers out of one hundred. And worse 

 still the single flowers of this "double strain" were inferior to 

 any other single Cosmos, either early or late flowering, that 1 

 have ever grown ! 



Now the other case: I grow Celosia Thompsoni magnifica to 

 mark paths or to define borders. Any well selected strain of this 

 will produce very handsome symmetrical bushes two to three 

 feet tall with a spread of perhaps two feet, in scarlet, ruby red, 

 and yellow from early August until frost. Failing to order seed 

 of this early in the season, an emergency purchase was made at 

 the corner store. Imagine my feelings when by the middle of 

 August these Celosia plants had become rank weeds — most of 

 them over five feet tall with a spread of three to five feet and 

 flowers not far removed from the common Amaranthus — com- 

 pletely blocking the paths. They were finally ejected in mid 

 September after a heavy storm had blown them over in all 

 directions. 



Here is a standard of quantities that will be practical 

 for a flower garden consisting of four borders, three by fifty 

 feet: 



Kinds Where Packets Hold Enough: Celosia, Helichrysum, 

 Nicotiana, Aster, Calliopsis, Centaurea, Larkspur, Pinks, 

 Brachycome, Ageratum, Petunia, Portulaca, Dimorphotheca, 

 Antirrhinum, Gypsophila, Calliopsis, Gaillardia, Salpiglos- 

 sis, Scabiosa, Sweet William, Salvia, Nigella. 

 Kinds of Which Ounce Fractions Serve Best: Balsam, Marigold, 

 Cosmos, Zinnia, Mignonette, Mirabilis, Phlox, Candytuft, 

 Alyssum, Calendula, Eschscholtzia, Verbena, Ricinus, Sun- 

 flower, Nasturtium, Lupine, Hollyhock, Sweet-pea, all 

 Climbers. 



M 



Words of Warning and Hints of Permanency 



ANY flower gardens are killed by kindness. All the 

 Annuals dealt with in this article thrive like weeds after 

 once becoming established. The ever present temptation is to 

 " fuss " about them. Being for the greatest part shallow-rooting 

 plants, Annuals dislike being pushed or pulled about. When 

 gathering flowers, cut the stems. 



Do not get the soil too rich ! The average " good garden soil " 



