628 



July, 1913 



PENTSTEMONS. 



Few flo'A'ers have been so greatly 

 improved of recent years as has the 

 pentstemon, which is now among the 

 finest of our perennials. Many years 

 of patient work has been put into 

 perfecting this beautiful flower, for 

 no haphazard piethods could have 

 produced the wonderfully fine strains 

 which are now obtainable. The most 

 beautiful colors and flowers of large 

 size, combined with great hardiness, 

 strong, sturdy growth, and long 

 spikes of gorgeous bell-shaped flow- 

 ers, makes it one of the most indis- 

 pensable of garden flowers. It is 

 equally good for indoor decoration. Tt 

 is quite easily raised from seed or 

 cuttings, which should be made from 

 the young growth, about 3 or 4 inches 

 in length. These may be set around 

 the edge of fair-sized pots, or in opfrn 

 beds of nice free soil. 



GLADIOLUS. 



The gladiolus is another flower 

 which has been improved almost out 

 of knowledge. It is plantable almost 

 all the year round, and if one has not 

 already a good supply the present is 

 a good time to procure them. They 

 are easily raised from seed. For this 

 purpose a kerosine box on its side 

 will do well. First put in 3 in. of 

 broken bricks, oyster shells, char- 

 coal or other drainage, and on that 

 a layer of seaweed to keep the soil 

 from blocking the drainage; then fill 

 to within 2 in. of the top with soil 

 made of half sand and half loam. 

 Water well, and let remain until the 

 soil is crumbly. Plant the seeds an 

 inch apart in rows two inches apart, 

 and cover lightly. Sprinkle fine 

 washed or spent horse manure an 

 eighth of an inch on top; water gent- 

 ly, and keep moist. The plants should 

 be put out in the garden after they 

 have died down and rested, and the 

 second season many will l)loom. 



WATER GARDENING. 



The little water garden is easily 

 formed by obtaining sound oil cask«, 

 sawing these in two, burning them 

 out, so as to remove the oil, and 

 sinking them in the soil. A hole 

 should be dug of sufficient size to ad- 

 mit six of these half casks being 

 sunk in it to such a depth that their 

 rims are 6 inches to i ft. beneath the 

 surrounding soil. This can then be 

 gently sloped away with the spade, 

 so as to leave the casks in an appar- 

 ently natural depression in the 

 ground. A foot of soil should be 



placed in the casks, and one of the 

 best of the water lilies planted in 

 each. The spaces between the plants 

 may be filled with sandy peat, and in 

 this water loving plants may be 

 grown. The casks must be kept filled 

 to the brim with water, which will 

 keep the soil between the casks 

 moist. 



BEAUTIFUL RIVALS. 



There may be doubts as to whether 

 Lady Gay or Dorothy Perkins is the 

 better. While the last-named is un- 

 doubtedly a splendid rose for mak- 

 ing hedges, covering arches, pergolas, 

 and pillars. Lady Gay may also be 

 employed for the same purpose, and 

 always has darker flowers. They 

 quickly respond to cultural treat- 

 ment, and even the first year after 

 being planted make a fine lot of 

 young shoots. Dorothy Perkins has 

 paler flowers, even in its best con- 

 dition, and during the first year, at 

 least they soon lose color and become 

 of a very faint or washed-out pink. 

 It is the experience of some, however, 

 the when fully established the color 

 is better retained. No doubt both of 

 these varieties would keep their 

 color better in a situation not fully 

 exposed to the sunshine during the 

 whole of the day. 



Lady Gay produces large bunches 

 of bright cherry pink flowers that re- 

 tain their color for weeks. The color 

 lasts longer, however, in situations 

 that are shaded somewhat. This 

 shade may be produced by trees, but 

 the latter should be at some distance 

 from the roses to prevent the roots 

 from getting into the bed and also 

 to allow of plenty of diffuse light. A 

 free play of air is also essential to 

 most roses to get that texture in the 

 foliage and flowers which is desirable 

 and to properly ripen the wood. 



The climbing stems which it makes 

 during the year are slender, like those 

 of R. wichuraiana, one of the Japan- 

 ese parents of it. Their natural ten- 

 dency would be to rise in a little 

 arch and then spread on the ground, 

 forming at first a carpet and then a 

 bank of greater or less height by the 

 addition of each year's young wood, 

 provided it were left to its own re- 

 sources. It is susceptibe of beinci 

 trained, however, in any manner that 

 may be desired, so that it can cover 

 pillars, pergolas, arches, and so for*h. 



PAMPAS GRASS. 



There ought to be money in grow- 

 in pampas grass for its plumes, at 

 least, we have read that over one mil- 



lion are grown in California for ex- 

 port each year. They are said to 

 fetch about £40 per thousand plumes. 

 This statement wc take the liberty of 

 seriously disbelieving, no doubt, 40 

 dollars is what is meant, .\part from 

 its more or less vague financial pos- 

 sibilities, it is a noble grass which 

 should find a home in every large 

 garden. It is quite out of place, how- 

 ever, in the ordinary suburban flower 

 patch. 



WHY A COLOR SCHEME? 



Several undoubted authorities on 

 horticulture have laid down the law 

 that for the cori^ect border of herb- 

 aceous plants there must be a schem.e 

 of color. Thus Robinson, in his 

 "English Flower Garden," devotes a 

 chapter to this subject under the 

 heading, "Color in the Flower Gar- 

 den" — the pith of which is to advise 

 the reader to start one end of the 

 border with purples, lilacs, and whites 

 merging gradually into yellow and 

 orange, then to bring into play the 

 various shades of red, and finally to 

 terminate with blue, a somewhat dan- 

 gerous color, and one to be relieved 

 by dabs of white and yellow. 



All very admirable, but why this 

 grouping of hues in rainbow fashion. 

 Surely not following the teaching of 

 Nature, for how often one sees nat- 

 ural growth in direct contravention 

 of this so-called color scheme. The 

 theory that I advocate is that any 

 flowers of any color look well to- 

 gether on a border, due regard being 

 given to height and foliage. Perhaps 

 this idea may seem crude, writes a 

 correspondent to "The Gardening 

 World." Some years ago in accordance 

 with this theory of tints, we arrang- 

 ed a liorder, 50 yards long, averaging 

 5 yards in width, on this plan. Our 

 expectations were great, and, let the 

 confession be made at once, were not 

 realised. There were exceptions, of 

 course. But the general effect was 

 considered disappointing; so,, twelve 

 months later, when laying out a sec- 

 ond border of similar dimensions to 

 the first, the color scheme was dis- 

 carded, or at least adhered to only 

 in isolated cases. The things, how- 

 ever, that we did pay special atten- 

 tion to were the heights and foliag"! 

 of the plants. The borders have 

 paths on either side, and though in a 

 general way the tallest were grouped 

 down the centre, great care was taken 

 to arrange the heights naturally, and 

 not to have all the small plants in 

 front, many about 2^ ft. in growtli 

 being placed near the edge. The re- 



