632 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



August 17, I912 



A FIRST-CLASS COTTAGE 



GARDEN. 



If a man is really in love with his hobby 

 it is wonderful how successful he may be- 

 come, and if that hobby is gardening then 

 success is not only pleasurable to himself, 

 but affords a great deal of pleasure to 

 others. It does more, it stimulates the love 

 of gardening in others, and creates a 

 friendly rivalry that results in a general 

 improvement of the surroundings of many 

 homes in the neighbourhood. 



The two illustrations given herewith in- 

 dicate in some measure what can be done 

 by an enthusiast. One represents an al- 

 most full-length view, and the other shows 



may cost a little more to purchase, they 

 give first-rate results. In the border by 

 the fence Mr. Stringer has splendid ten- 

 week stocks, white, rose, and blue lark- 

 spurs, delphiniums in variety^ pentstemons, 



sweet 



antirrhinums, campanulas, 



violas 



peas, 



nemesias, vioias, pans.es, and tropseolums. 

 The rest of the garden is divided into three 

 portions, and here the two end blocks have 

 a central group of the best H.T. roses, 

 clumps of sweet peas, grand Canterbury 

 bells, a splendid lot of pure white ten-week 



delphiniums, larkspurs, a few 

 pelargoniums, calceolarias^ and a 

 bordering of violas. 



The large central bed has a fine Dorothy 

 Perkins rose as centrepiece, and around 



stocks, 

 dahlias 



necessary to produce the results here in- 

 dicated. But Mr. Stringer can grow vege- 

 tables as well as flowers, and devotes his 

 surplus energy to the cultivation of ex- 

 cellent table produce on an allotment some 

 distance from the bright surroundings of 

 Hope Cottage q 



SPIR-ffiA HENRYL 



There are eo many hardy, shrubby 

 spiraeas that a new one has to possess ex- 

 ceptional merits if it is to become popular 

 and it appears as though S. Henry i were of 

 the number. Belonging to the canescens 

 gro'Up, it has the advantage of fblossoming 

 between the time when the maioritv +1,^ 



the large central bed, in the garden of Mr. this are sweet peas and cactus dahlias. A early kinds are oyer, and the later ones are 

 John Stringer, at Hope Cottage, Sumner belt of Paul Crampel pelargonium provides approaching their time of flowering. Of 



ME. J. STRINGER'S FIRST PRIZE GARDEN AT HOPE COTTAGE, CROYDON 



Road, Croydon. Mr. Stringer is a brick- 

 layer, and has to leave home between five 

 and six o'clock each morning to reach his 

 work in good time, and he arrives home 

 again in the evening about seven o^clock. 

 His opportunities for gardening are, 

 therefore, not exceptionally good, but by 

 utilising every spare moment, early and 

 late, and devoting his Saturday half-holi- 

 day to the work, he manages to keep his 

 garden in first-rate condition over a long 

 period. This year Mr. Stringer has se- 

 cured the first prize offered for cottage 

 gardens by the Thornton Heath and Nor- 

 bury Horticultural Society, and he has also 

 won the still higher honour of first prize 



offered by the Croydon Horticultural So- 

 ciety. 



Mr. Stringer has long since found out 

 that the best strains and the best varie- 

 ties of flowers cost no more to grow than 

 the poorest and oldest, and though they 



of 



a rare display of rich colouring, while Ver- 



l>ena Miss Willmott_, nemesias, and golden 



violas complete the bright and attractive 

 scheme. 



Cowper's observation that he who loves 

 a garden, loves a greenhouse too,'' is quite 

 true, so far as Mr. Stringer is concerned, 

 for he has two small greenhouses one 

 either end of his garden. The larger one, 

 near the house, gives shelter to a variety 

 pot plants. Ferns and tuberous begonias 

 are veiy much in evidence, but there are 

 also quite good specimens of several cool 

 cypripediums, coelogynes, and other -orchids. 

 The smaller greenhouse is used chiefly for 

 raising the many tender and half-hardy 

 plants that Mr. Stringer grows so success 

 fully. 



Close attention, enthus'asm, a goo<l 

 general knowledge of the more popular 

 plants, and a proper understanding of 



cultivation," are 



a proper 

 ed by good 



- 



vigorous growth, it attains a height of 5ft. 

 and a diameter of 6 or 8ft. in about eight 

 years from the sowing of the seed ; there- 

 fore it should be planted in a position where 

 it can have plenty of room for develop- 

 ment. The leaves are ovate in outline, u-p 

 to l^in. long, and fin. wide, the upper p^^^ 

 at being serrated. White flowers are produc^ 

 in dense heads from short, axillary growth, 

 which appear from the previous years 

 shoots. Although individually, the flowers 

 are small, they are made conspicuous by 

 their numbers. 



S. Henryi is a Chinese shrub, which was 

 introduced early in the present century 7 

 Messrs. J. Veitch and Sons, through 

 collector, Mr. E. H. Wilson. In , 

 XXVm. of the Journal of the Roj^il 

 Horticultural Society, p. 61, an illustration 

 of the plant appears, and on several 

 sions the species has been seen at the Horti- 

 cultural Hall. 



Vol. 



