April, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



XIX 



burlap, at the nursery, and this should not be 

 removed until ready to plant. 



10. When planting is finished, smooth off 

 the soil and give a heavy mulch of leaves, 

 strawey manure, salt hay or pine needles. 

 Mulching is usually better than cultivating 

 and much easier. 



In a long drought watering may be neces- 

 sary the first year. The mulch should be re- 

 moved from each tree or shrub; a shallow 

 trench dug about it and filled with water 

 several times. The water then soaks into the 

 ground and does much good. After watering 

 replace the mulch. Ordinary watering with 

 2. hose, when only the surface of the ground 

 is wet, is useless. 



ORNAMENTAL BEDDING 

 PLANTS FOR HEDGES 



By Ida D. Bennett 



AN attractive feature of a garden or lawn 

 f-\ is always found in a hedge of blossom- 

 ing plants and it is rarely that a garden 

 exists which does not afford an excuse for 

 one. Usually one likes to separate the flower 

 garden, the vegetable garden or the service 

 part of the house from the lawn by the use 

 of a hedge of blooming shrubbery, of ever- 

 greens or the like, but there are more ex- 

 posed formal positions where something dif- 

 ferent seems required as the division line 

 between city lots, or a hedge in a temporary 

 home where it is not desirable to make per- 

 manent plantings, but rather to have for the 

 one season something ornamental, unusual 

 and fine. 



Fortunately there are many fine bedding 

 plants which may be used for this purpose. 

 It is desirable, however, that plants used in 

 this way should possess not only fine, attrac- 

 tive and striking blooms, but handsome foli- 

 age as well. Fortunately many of the plants 

 ■of which I shall speak possess the qualifica- 

 tions in a high degree. 



One of the most beautiful of bedding 

 plants is found in the Chinese hibiscus in its 

 various varieties. This is a hard wooded 

 plant which in time attains considerable size. 

 The foliage is exceedingly fine, being heavy, 

 wavy, glossy and of a dark, rich green. The 

 flowers, which are produced in various shades 

 of shrimp pink, rose color, rosy scarlet, or- 

 ange and a variegated blossom are rarely 

 heautiful. H. mir.eatus is much the finest 

 of the class, being a rosy-scarlet, double 

 flower five inches or more in diameter. This 

 variety has the added merit of being a very 

 free bloomer. Peach Blossom is also a very 

 attractive double variety of large size of a 

 delicate peach color, as its name indicates. 

 As grown in the greenhouse it is rather in- 

 sipid, but in the open ground it takes on a 

 deeper tone which is very pretty. The double 

 blossoms are far more attractive than the 

 single, though these are very handsome and 

 the long, brush-like stamens and anthers add 

 to the attractiveness of the flower. They 

 are very easily grown. The best way to 

 secure the plants is to purchase blooming 

 plants of the florist and plant out in a sunny 

 position in rich soil of leaf mold or muck 

 well enriched, and to give liberal culture at 

 all times. They are quite susceptible to frost, 

 and must be wintered in a greenhouse or 

 warm window. 



Another wonderful plant for hedge pur- 

 poses is found in the oleanders, the old-fash- 

 ioned double pink, which is so well known, 

 being one of the prettiest varieties. These 

 make in time small trees, which, during sum- 

 mer, are a mass of flowers, and if not allowed 

 to grow too tall or straggly are attractive 

 in foliage at all times. They may be bedded 

 out or grown in wooden pails or tubs sunk 



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in the ground. Possibly, like the hibiscus, 

 which, given too much root room, is apt to 

 run to foliage, they will bloom better for hav- 

 ing their root room rather restricted. There 

 are several fine varieties of the oleander sel- 

 dom seen at the North, but which may readily 

 be secured of southern florists. Among these 

 one should make a choice of one or more 

 of the dark-red varieties such as N. atropur- 

 pureum plenum, or N. DeBrun, and with 

 these combine the old-fashioned pink splen- 

 dens, Madame Peyre, a double creamy-yellow 

 variety with pink center, and Madonna gran- 

 diflora, the best double white. There are 

 also several good single varieties, and if one 

 chooses to make a collection of the various 

 sorts it will well repay the time and money 

 expended. Oleanders are easily propagated 

 by rooting cuttings of the new wood in water 

 in a sunny position or in wet sand with bot- 

 tom heat, and the plants make a quick growth. 

 They may be wintered in a dry, light and 

 warm cellar and brought up in the spring in 

 time to start into growth before they are to 

 be planted out late in May. Any good, well 

 enriched garden soil will grow them suc- 



cessfully and a hedge of them in full bloom 

 is a thing to rejoice and be proud over. 



Less rare, but still highly ornamental, the 

 lantanas have a claim to consideration for 

 their freedom of growth and profusion of 

 bloom. They make very symmetrical bushes. 

 a well developed specimen being as broad 

 as tall, and as they may be grown from small 

 spring-set plants to bushes two and three feet 

 in diameter by midsummer, their availability 

 as an ornamental hedge-plant is obvious. The 

 colors range from orange and red to pink, 

 lemon and pure white and the individual 

 flower, though small, is borne in large clus- 

 ters which completely cover the plant, making 

 it a most striking and handsome object. They 

 should be set far enough apart in the row 

 to assure perfect dvelopment, and any good 

 rich soil will grow them well. They should 

 be well watered, especially after coming into 

 bud, and at this time should have liquid 

 manure once or twice a week. 



Where a low hedge, eighteen or twenty 

 inches high, is desired the vincas are admir- 

 able. These plants make shapely, compact 

 bushes nearly as wide as high, and the glossy 

 green leaves are as ornamental almost as the 



