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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 
OF AMERICA 
Devoted to the Science of Floriculture and Horticulture 
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Vol. XX. 
OCTOBER, 1916. 
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No. 10 
Things and Thoughts of the Garden 
By The Onlooker 
THE time is at hand to think of winter protection for 
tender shrubs or those that are doubtfully hardy. 
For large Hydrangeas or choice dwarf ever- 
greens, a wooden case, ever so slender, or a barrel with 
both ends knocked out, affords a ready means of gathering 
up the shoots and surrounding them. Dry leaves fern 
fronds, straw or like material can be packed in lightly as 
an additional means of warding off cutting winds and 
sun and of preventing alternate thawing and freezing. 
It is this that does the damage, not the severity of the 
frost. Where Lavender edgings or dwarf hedges of 
Lavender exist, or Box, Southernwood, Santoline, etc., 
etc., exist, a light double railing can be nailed along each 
side and another over them which will keep the protec- 
tory material together and save the plants. Rambler 
Roses may have their leaves stripped off, the shoots taken 
down and buried a foot deep in soil. 
# * * 
Standard Geraniums are not common. They are de- 
veloped from young plants that are grown on and are 
kept to a single, upright main stem. When they attain 
the height desired they are allowed to branch out and 
form an umbrella shaped head. It takes two years growth 
to get a well developed plant. For prominent positions 
in borders or beds they are admirable and can have the 
bush type or dwarf plants bedded beneath them. Clor- 
inda, the comparitively new hybrid scented leaved Ge- 
ranium is well suited for growing as a standard. Its 
rich pink or cerise flowers, in long trusses, are welcome 
in the early spring months; as are the fragrant leaves of 
this plant. Other similar subjects that make good stand- 
ards are Streptosolen, Jamesoni, Heliotropes and Mar- 
guerites. 
At this season of the year the amateur should make 
preparations for having a stock of hardy plants for the 
alpine house so that he or she may have bloom? next Feb- 
ruary, March and April. Mostly the little bulbous plants 
are employed, these being potted up and kept over in 
cold frames or even cellars. Funkias, Bleeding Heart, 
( uraniums. Saxifragas, Violets, Yellow Alyssum, Au- 
brietias and such kinds as these are what are most suit- 
able. The "alpine house" is any little greenhouse that 
will afford protection from the weather and allow our 
floral pets to bloom and grow. It need only be heated to 
50 degrees so that much piping is not called for. Bed- 
ding plants and other crops may follow when the spring 
hair ingers are out of the way. 
# ^ H" 
Oriental Poppies can be propagated now or until De- 
cember. Strong clumps may be dug up and their thick- 
roots cut into pieces of three inches in length. These 
are potted in light soil and placed in a cold frame over 
Winter. By next May nice young plants will have devel- 
oped. Perennial Phloxes may be treated similarly. Cut 
the roots into short lengths and place them in a cold 
frame in soil. Young plants are ready by next May and 
if set out in an open position, and well attended, will 
flower the next October. Other plants than can be in- 
creased in a similar manner include Sea Holly (Eryn- 
gium), Anchusa Italica, Stokesia cyanea, Senecio pul- 
cher, Gaillardia, Anemone japonica, Verbesina hybrids 
and the Chimney Bellflower (Campanula pyramidalis). 
^ : != * 
We have had such indifferent success with spring sown 
Sweet Peas the last two years that I think it would be 
well worth while trying an Autumn sowing. The seeds 
could be sown at about the end of this month or the first 
few days of November. These fall sown peas flower 
earlier, better and longer than those put out in spring, 
even if the latter have been raised in pots and planted out. 
* * * 
As the early flowering Cosmos show signs of waning 
the late flowering ones are just coming into bloom. The 
latter are the larger as well as the later. They last away 
into the time of sharp frosts and supply their graceful 
flowers when hardly anything else, except chrysanthe- 
mums and a stray rose or two, are obtainable. 
In a letter from an acquaintance in Ohio he speaks of 
the pink flowered perennial Aster Mrs. A. J. Raynor as 
a novelty. The plant is now many years old and passed 
the novelty stage long ago. But this only serves to show 
that certain plants of real charm and merit may remain 
an unknown subject to the great majority for a decade 
or fifteen years and to them, it is, of course, a novelty 
when they see it. How curious it is after all that our 
native perennial asters (Michaelmas Daisies) had to go 
to Europe to be improved by the hand of the cross- 
breeder and selector ! Over there they have some highly 
developed large flowered varieties that are seldom to be 
found in our American gardens. 
* * * 
Great interest has been taken in Dahlias this year, al- 
though it has not been a good growing season. Latterly 
the plants have bedecked themselves with bloom, but 
those that got hardened owing to the drought have come 
to nothing. When the stems become in any way woody 
or "set" no power on earth will make the Dahlia blossom. 
Yes, there is a way ; it is to cut down the plant and let 
new wood start from the base. But this had to be done 
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