WISTARIA NOT BLOOMING 



Q. I have a wonderfully luxuriant Wistaria vine. It is about 

 ten years old and has never bloomed. Could you tell me why? 



A. It is too luxuriant in foliage. All the strength, all the vi- 

 tality has apparently gone to foliage. This is undoubtedly due to 

 the lack of hard pruning ; then again it may be a seed-grown vine 

 and not a grafted Wistaria ; very frequently seed-grown Wistaria 

 never blooms ; this is just another example of the whims of flowers. 

 I would suggest that in the Fall you have the soil deeply loosened 

 all around the Wistaria's base, work into the loosened soil a quart 

 of bone meal and a quart of lime. Cut back all the side growths 

 to one-inch spurs, that is one inch from where the side growths 

 spring; this is called spurring. After a "top" killing frost, have 

 three or four heaping shovelfuls of rotted stable manure dug into 

 the soil, where a few weeks before the lime and bone meal had 

 been dug in. In the Spring give each vine two ounces of Sulphate 

 of Iron, spread thinly over the surface and worked into the soil. 



(The above answers the numerous letters received relative 

 to "Wistaria" not blooming.) 



* * * 



PLANTING AT BASE OF WALL 



Q. What shall I plant this Fall that is hardy in a border at 

 the base of a wall? The wall is of red brick, four feet high. I 

 am having the border prepared now. It will be two and a half 

 feet deep, and almost a hundred feet long. As it is on one side of 

 a roofed terrace where my family spend the greater part of the 

 day, I am very anxious that it be pleasing to the eye. There is a 

 flagged path the entire length, terminating in stone steps leading 

 down to the herbaceous garden. 



A. Red brick walls must be well considered in planning for an 

 harmonious border. White and Pale Gold and Blue are the 

 colors I should choose to plant directly next to a red wall. White 

 Delphinium moerheimi, five feet tall, and at different points but 

 not regularly spaced, the King of Delphiniums, five feet tall all 



6i 



