Page 46 BETTER FRUIT May 



BOSTON IVY COVERING FACTORY 

 Portland Cordage Company, Thirteenth and Marshall Streets, Portland, Oregon 



PLANTING OF FLOWERS 



BY DOROTHY, IN THE ' 



IT is a mistake to suppose that garden- 

 ing work belongs to spring in any 

 exclusive sense. The owner (who is 

 also the lover) of a garden knows well 

 that this is a work for all times and sea- 

 sons. When frost forbids digging we 

 can still go on planning and forecasting. 

 But, in early autumn digging is still in 

 season, and there is much to be done in 

 making a start on next year's flowers. 



Most of our common garden flowers 

 have now ripened the seeds of this year, 

 and this is nature's intimation of the 

 time of preparing for a succession. Many 

 of them have already dropped the unno- 

 ticed product that will spring into a new 

 life without thought or care on our part, 

 if undisturbed. But that is far from 

 being enough. We may accept a volun- 

 tary increase as a free bounty, but good 

 gardening demands that we shall do our 

 part intelligently. 



Many biennials and perennials can be 

 grown from seed sown now that will 

 bloom next year, thus gaining a whole 

 year over seed kept over and sown in 

 the spring. The little seedlings will 

 strike root deeply throughout the fall 

 weather and start into growth very early 

 next spring. This is also true of some 

 of the best annuals that are hardy enough 

 to bear the cold of winter. These will 

 come into bloom early, and so help in a 

 continuous show of color. This constant 



TO MATURE NEXT YEAR 



'COUNTRY GENTLEMAN" 



succession of flowering, to keep up the 

 effect, while varying its features through- 

 out the season, seems to be more and 

 more a study with gardeners. For this 

 purpose good annuals are especially valu- 

 able for filling in dull or vacant spaces 

 between the more permanent occupants 

 of the beds. Perhaps this is one reason 

 why fall planting of many seeds has 

 become much more general. 



Cool and moderately moist weather 

 conditions, such as generally obtain in 

 September, are the most favorable for 

 germination of a large proportion of 

 small seeds. The gay and fragile poppy, 

 for instance, grows better when the seeds 

 are sown at this time than it does at the 

 ordinary date in May. This is true both 

 of the gorgeous perennial poppy and of 

 the annuals, like the exquisitely dainty 

 Shirley variety. Hybrid Orientals can 

 now be had in a variety of colors, and 

 the best of these are among the most 

 striking ornamentals for a mixed border, 

 though care is necessary in choosing 

 both the situation and their next neigh- 

 bors. Annual poppies sown in Septem- 

 ber make a strong growth early in the 

 spring, and flower earlier and more freely 

 (on account of a more robust growth) 

 than those sown in the spring. 



Rules for gardening have so many 

 exceptions that a wide margin of varia- 

 tion is commonly required if they are 



adapted to actual practice. It is often 

 advised to sow perennials "not later than 

 the middle of August." Other good 

 authorities recommend "all the summer 

 months" for this work. In fact the seeds 

 of many perennials are liable to be either 

 very slow or very uncertain in germinat- 

 ing, and the chances of exactly the right 

 weather conditions may bring good seed- 

 lings from the September sowing earlier 

 than from a sowing made several weeks 

 before. And it is not a rare case to have 

 certain seeds remain dormant in the 

 ground until the following season. Dis- 

 couraging? By no means. The many 

 delightful uncertainties only add to the 

 interest of a garden. But these are some 

 of the reasons for using every oppor- 

 tunity and making the most of the pleas- 

 ant days for outdoor work that come in 

 early autumn to do as much as we can 

 for next year's flowers. Even the seeds 

 that are too late for this year's start will 

 usually make good plants in the spring 

 by the time the ground is ready to work. 

 I am surprised every year to see how 

 many plants of pansies, candy-tuft and 

 the like are up and growing from self- 

 sown seed before one has felt that it was 

 time to entrust anything to the chilly 

 ground. 



If one depends upon plants and not 

 upon seeds this is one of the most impor- 

 tant months for work in the garden. 

 Setting and dividing perennials is done 

 to great advantage in the fall. With 

 some kinds it is in fact the only good 

 time for the work. Peonies, for instance. 



