Some Favorite Flowers of the Garden 
By Wm. R. Fowkes, New York 
AFLOW'liR garden is an inspiration and a refining 
influence to mankind. Love began in a garden. 
'1 lie creation of the beautiful world we live in, 
in spite of the gross sins of mankind, would be an oasis 
were it denuded of flowers. The difference, it has been 
said, that there is between town and country is, that ( iod 
made the country, and man the town. 
But be as it maw the town and city are no longer 
neglected in our land. Across the Atlantic we find the 
flats and dwellings of the city people adorned with 
beautiful flowers, grown in window boxes. 
( lur grandmothers all had their own favorite plant, 
which they grew with marvelous success and a great 
source of pride and satisfaction. 
The favorite of one would lie the show Pelargonium, 
tlie old Kingston Beauty variety, which many flower 
lovers will remember ; another, the fuchsia, grown on 
a home-made ladder, like trellis; the Begonia; the droop- 
ing Campanula; Gypsophila, with its azone blue covering 
the pot; and then the white variety Alba, succeeding it; 
others had the monthly roses, and mi the walls surround- 
ing would he found the Gloire-de-Dizon Rose and Clema- 
tis Jackmanni. 
We recall the ivy-clad porches and sometimes honey- 
suckle-adorned entrance to the house, modest but beauti- 
ful. In February the Snowdrop appeared in the hedge- 
rows, from under the snow ; the Crocus followed with 
their golden hues; later the blue Scilla Sibenica, and the 
golden daffodil. Narcissus Von Zion. appeared with 
March breezes loud and shrill, followed by the beautiful 
sweet-scented single-flowered Pheasant's Eye Narcissus 
we used to call Sweet Nancys. Then came the double 
i iardenia flowered type, which was rich in odor ; and 
then the lovely primrose modestly peeped forth with its 
healthv verdant leaves and charming flowers that we 
loved to pluck in the fields as well as gardens. And 
the modest sweet spring flowers seemed almost to whisper 
to us of a promise which never yet failed, that winter 
chill is past and that while the earth remaineth, seed- 
time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, 
shall not cease. 
In America floriculture is advancing rapidly, and we 
are not far behind Europe, for we can now go to our 
cities and find window boxes on the hotels and apart- 
ment houses; and the less pretentious city dweller raises 
a few bulbs in pots and glasses and boxes which, al- 
though sometimes crude, contain some lovelv flowering 
plants. 
Horticulturists are constantly giving us some new and 
fascinating exotics to grow. 
I am penning these lines to show the amateur how he 
or she can grow some of these lovelv flowers we had at 
our disposal. There are three classes of flowering plants, 
namely, annuals, biennials and perennials. The first 
named can be produced from seed, and grow, blossom 
and die the same year. The second one, raised the first 
year, makes growth the succeeding year, blossoms and 
dies. The third class is permanent and is mostly raised 
from seed, afterwards being propagated by cuttings or 
division of the roots. 
We have also the bulb and tuberous plants, and they 
all belong and continue to occupy their position in the 
gardens of flower lovers. 
Then, the roses we all love and would not like to be 
without are at our disposal in great varietv of glorious 
colors and shapes. The great variety and habit pos- 
sessed by them have rendered them as fixtures in our 
gardens. We have the Tea rose with its delightful 
fragrance and great usefulness as a cut flower ; the more 
vigorous hardy hybrid Perpetual ; the Banksiana rose 
that will grow on any dry, hard, worthless-looking bank 
and give a lovely display in early summer ; the ramblers 
with their wonderful prodigious growths and charming 
blossoms; the Pillar rose, which adorns the pillars of 
many entrances to the mansions of our wealthy people ; 
the Standard rose has its place, and if planted in con- 
junction with dwarfs becomes at once a thing of beauty. 
There is also the lily family. Lilies are not planted 
as they deserve to be, for nothing is more noble in our 
gardens during August than a bank of Iilium Auratum 
ami kindred varieties. They require a deep, well-drained 
sandy loam, and can be planted five inches deep, and, left 
undisturbed, will thrive for years. All their after re- 
quirements are a coating of rotten manure during the 
hot months of the year. They thrive best in partial shade, 
and an ideal place is among a clump of Rhododendrons, 
the peaty soil suiting them admirably. Spent hops are 
also an ideal food to use in planting both Rhododendrons 
and Lilies. 
The flower kingdom is of such vast proportions that I 
can only touch briefly on it in an article like this, but 1 
will give a few brief cultural directions to show how a 
good supply of flowers can be obtained in the garden 
from spring until frost arrives. 
The first flowers we have in spring belong to the bulb 
family, and are the Crocus and Narcissus of main- va- 
rieties, but all they require is to be planted twice their 
depth and six inches apart in rows a foot apart, or if in 
clumps nearer, in good deep soil that has one-fourth 
well-rotted manure incorporated in it. They should be 
planted in October if possible. A covering is necessary 
to protect them, not from frost, but to prevent the bulbs 
lifting out of the ground in spring when freezing and 
thawing have done their most. Do not cover, however, 
until the ground is frozen, and then do not use green 
manure or too much rotted manure. The ammonia from 
such, I know, has often caused bulbs to decay during the 
winter, and no flowers or bulbs are seen, and the seed- 
man is often blamed for sending out diseased bulbs. The 
best covering is salt hay or dry litter, about nine inches 
in depth, to be taken off when frost is over and the ground 
commences to warm up. 
Annuals predominate largely, but I must not forget 
that the bulbs are perennials if they are planted where 
they can remain. If obliged to take them out for sum- 
mer bedding, then it is more satisfactory to procure 
fresh bulbs each year. They can be purchased at very 
low cost, and as new varieties come out, it is well to add 
to one's stock. Lily of the Valley can be planted thickly 
under trees or in any shady border, and will remain there 
for years, while its sweet-scented flowers will come up 
annually. All it requires is a good covering of leaf 
mould every fall. 
Asters are one of our most useful flowers. The great 
improved varieties have almost rivalled Chrysanthemums 
with their productiveness and size of bloom. Seed should 
be sown in a temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit about 
April 20, not sooner, because if sown too early they be- 
come root bound and the stem becomes hard and woody, 
a prolific source of trouble later on with stem rot. 
Prepare some loam and leaf mould in equal parts and 
put through a one-half inch screen; fill flats three-fourth 
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