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HOME AND FLOW EES 



FLOE A L PEEPLEXITIES FEOM THE SOUTH 

 Answered by Mrs. G. T. Drennan. 



[All questions regarding floriculture, from 

 the Ohio and Potomac Eivers to the Gulf of 

 Mexico — which are the limits of Southern gar- 

 dens—will receive careful attention and prompt 

 responses.] 



Miss Mary T., Molile, Ala. — Siveet peas 

 should be in bloom from the first of March 

 until the last of May. They do not endure 

 the sun of summer, and a second planting 

 is not worth the trial. It is better to refill 

 their places with some of the many all- 

 summer vines such as love-in-a-puff, cy- 

 press, and balsamina. Japanese morning- 

 glories also burn and dry up in midsummer, 

 but they are easily grown from seeds. In 

 a few weeks from seed sowing a second, 

 and even a third planting will make lux- 

 uriant vines, gay with rich, velvety flowers. 

 These morning-glories are much m.ore en- 

 during than sweet peas, but the summers 

 in Mobile begin in April and last until 

 November, and the morning-glories will 

 come from seeds, bloom, go to seed and 

 make quantities of volunteer plants sev- 

 eral times within those months. 



Eev. J. B. H., Galveston, Texas. — The 

 baby primrose would be sure to do well in 

 the open border in Galveston. It is grown 

 in pots in New Orleans during midwinter, 

 and early in the season is turned out into 

 the border. The small, degenerate blooms 

 of the phlox Drummondii you describe 

 are from the self-sown or volunteer plants. 

 Year after year they grow abundantly and 

 bloom as freely one year as another, but 

 get less in size of flower and lose the rich 

 tints of cultivated phloxes. The problem 

 is easily solved by cutting up the volunteer 

 plants and sowing fresh seeds bought from 

 the seedsmen. 



Young Gardener. — Plant your nastur- 

 tiums in sunny places and on poor soil. 

 The blooms will then be very rich in color. 

 Nasturtiums do not last all summer. They 

 may be grown from seeds or from cuttings. 

 As your garden is in New Orleans, it is 

 well to say that none of the soil is poor. 



as the whole delta is alluvial, but at least 

 leave it as it is, without adding fertilizers. 



Mrs. E. B., Atlanta, Ga. — Eoselle is the 

 commercial name for Hibiscus subdariifa. 

 It would grow in Atlanta out-of-doors, 

 maturing the stems and blooms that are 

 used for making jelly and cordial. The 

 stems are bright red, the blooms yellow. 



Mrs. Benj. P., Nashville, Te?!?!.— Amer- 

 ican Beauty has failed you rather because 

 it is not a reliable rose in Southern gar- 

 dens than that you made the soil too rich. 

 Suppose you try Mrs. Pierpont Morgan, 

 Helen Gould, Liberty and Ulrich Bruner 

 on the same soil, without adding any more 

 rich compost. If your Crimson Eambler 

 blooms six weeks every spring be satisfied, 

 for that is a considerable time for a con- 

 stitutional "spring-bloomer" to be in 

 flower. Crimson Eambler can be pruned 

 into bush form, making a fine appearance. 

 It has uncommonly beautiful foliage, and 

 fully redeems its fault of non-ever-bloom- 

 ing properties. May is early enough to 

 plunge your pots of crotons in the open 

 border. 



Emigrant, Salem, N. C. — "On a barren 

 hillside," you say, "what will grow ?" Tak- 

 ing for granted you will enrich, break up 

 and fully prepare your hillside, get a quan- 

 tity of portulaca, sweet alyssum, coreopsis, 

 annual phlox, cosmos and marigolds, and 

 say to yourself, "A sower went forth to 

 sow," scattering the seeds in some places 

 broadcast and in some drilling them in 

 rows. They will clothe the hillside in 

 beauty until late frost. Four-o'clocks, 

 cypress vines and fancy gourds will grow 

 with no trouble. As you say nickels must 

 pay for your outlay, the result obtained 

 from the above named flowers will seem to 

 contradict the statement. For one season 

 these cheap annuals do better than peren- 

 nials started in late spring. Don't be 

 discouraged. 



