May, 1910 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



211 



A Wanderer's Garden 



By Gladys Hyatt Sinclair 



OT all who delight in the good and glory of 

 a garden can have one to live in. Many, 

 especially women, who would make the 

 wilderness blossom as the rose could they 

 but have the chance, must move so often 

 as to make permanent planting out of the 

 question. 



"Wistfully they look and languish" at real home gardens 

 whose people can live in them and enjoy them and add to 

 them. These women read and plan and dream what they, 

 will do in the time when they, too, shall arrive to stay. 

 A large percentage of rented houses have a bit of yard 

 where flowers could grow — but it is always a different bit 

 and one grows tired of leaving petted roses and cherished 

 perennials behind, only to start again. Annuals? Yes; but 

 only a few annuals are really fine and — suppose one moves 

 in June? 



But a bit of the time has come to those flower loving 

 transients who realize that there are a few choice plants that 

 have a snug place in the cellar every winter and will pay 

 rent in bounteous and beautiful bloom. They can be packed 

 close and moved any distance in spring, autumn or winter. 

 If the gardener is certain to stay in one place all summer, 

 they can be set in the ground; if not they can all be planted 

 in pots, tubs or large boxes, sunk or otherwise, and moved 

 at any time. 



This sort of garden may be very beautiful and has rare 

 advantages. Being planted anew each spring, new arrange- 

 ments and color effects can easilv be managed. One never 

 needs fear drought or winter killing — and the effect of a 

 garden of really choice and brilliant flowers springing up in 

 an erstwhile desert yard is marvelous. 



To succeed with this garden you will need two kinds of 

 soil; one a sandy loam or the best "garden dirt" you can get, 

 with a third old manure or a pound of bone meal to the 

 bushel. The other soil must be lighter, composed of nearly 

 equal parts of leafmold and sand with just a little loam. If 

 you have no leafmold, scrape the rooty earth from under 

 the sod, the older the better, and use it, roots and all. 

 Failure to provide such a soil is the reason of failure with 

 many of the finest plants. 



Summer flowering bulbs form the mainstay of the wan- 

 derer's garden and of these the oxalis will be the first to 

 bloom. They can go out as soon as danger from frost is 

 past and will throw up their pink, white or golden flowers 

 pertly, about three weeks from planting time. The named 

 kinds are twenty-five cents a dozen and the mixed sorts but 

 fifteen cents. Plant them in the loam soil four inches apart, 

 grow in the sunshine and give them plenty of water. Their 

 flowers and bulbs increase astonishingly. Dig and store 

 them after light frosts. 



Another low grower is the ixia. These are usually grown 

 for winter bloom but a generous splash of the little bulbs 

 makes a pretty show in summer. Set these and those follow- 

 ing, where the south sunshine will not fall too warmly upon 

 them; an eastern exposure is the most suitable. 



In this protected space, besides ixias, set tuberous be- 

 gonias. These are excellent investments. The number 

 brilliance and soft satiny colors of the huge flowers make 

 them treasures indeed. They like bone meal as fertilizer bet- 

 ter than manure. Plant in the light soil, with the hollow of 

 the bulb up. They need more water when blooming than 

 most plants and a mulch of leaves or short grass is a great 



benefit. Let frost kill the tops, then dry the bulbs well. 

 They will keep in any dry cellar or cool closet, away from 

 mice. If you wish early flowers, start begonias in pots in 

 the window. Nothing is gained by starting them before 

 mid-April and they can go into the ground about Decoration 

 Day. 



Gloxinias, the wanderer can have to perfection. Don't 

 put any faith in the notion that they are hard to grow. 

 Choose your colors carefully, the most charming light ones 

 coming at fifteen cents each. Put them in pots rather than in 

 the open ground. Give them the light soil and start in April 

 with the begonia tubers. Sink the pots beside the begonias 

 but do not sprinkle the flowers or buds: wet the earth, and 

 never let it get dry as you would for a geranium. When 

 the beautiful, velvety, chalice-like blooms come in June, give 

 manure water once a week and blossoms will follow blos- 

 soms all summer. When the leaves die the plant is asleep. 

 Set it away without water until spring, or dig and store with 

 other bulbs. 



The last of the shade plants are the fuschias. When re- 

 potted each March, they should be cut back about half. 

 Give them the light soil, large pots and always plenty of 

 water. Lack of water causes fuschias to drop their leaves in 

 a puzzling way. Put them away before frost. 



One of the best sun growers and cellar dwellers is the 

 geranium. They take the rich heavy soil and plenty of 

 water, and may be started indoors or put from the cellar to 

 the garden when frosts are past. Started April first, they 

 bloom about June fifteenth and a three year old geranium 

 will often bear a dozen trusses of bloom. A row of these, 

 their branches touching and white oxalis or sweet alyssum 

 planted in front, is a pretty sight. Before frost, lift the 

 geraniums, cut back if too tall, set close together in a box 

 with six inches of dirt and put them in the cellar. Water a 

 little about once a month. The leaves fall, but more come in 

 the spring. 



No handsomer plant grows, even in anchored gardens, 

 than the tender hydrangeas {H. Horteiisis) . Not the old 

 sort that fades to hideous plum color, but the clear pink 

 Otaska or white Thomas Hogg. They are large eaters and 

 drinkers. Treat them like the geraniums, except that the tub 

 and all will usually go into the cellar. Repot in April or 

 May, and prune about six inches. 



Crape Myrtle {Lager stj-oemia) is as decorative as the 

 hydrangea and those who have seen it flourish in the little 

 yards of negroes in the South will know it is easy to grow. 

 It needs heavy soil and much water, and begins in July to 

 deck itself with beautiful poppy-like flowers, with petals of 

 pink or white. The white is the prettier. 



Of the same shrubby class, and doing best in tubs, is 

 Chinese hibiscus. It should have extra rich soil, excellent 

 drainage and abundance of water. The flowers are like 

 enormous morning glories. Of the reds, Miniatus is per- 

 haps the best; very bright and inclined to be doubled. 

 Grandiflora is single and a pretty deep pink. Water with 

 the geraniums in winter. 



The wanderer can have Chrysanthemums — and who does 

 not want them? Old plants furnish cuttings in the spring, or 

 one can buy them. Pot these in spongy soil and sink the pots 

 out of doors in full sunshine. Shift to larger pots three 

 times as the plants grow, pfnching back the branches each 

 time. A dozen branches to a plant is plenty for medium 

 sized flowers. After the middle of July do not pinch again. 



