The Garden Magazine, April, 1921 
131 
Shasta Daisies a Superb Border 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
1 AM sending a picture of a Daisy border that flourishes in our gar- 
den. The row is over a hundred feet in length and when the flowers 
are in bloom it is five feet across the border. Five years ago 1 ob- 
tained one clump of the Shasta Daisies, and from that modest start 1 
PORTION OF THE DAISY BORDER 
Over a hundred feet in length and five across, this border of 
gleaming Shasta Daisies is an arresting sight in midsummer — 
and a most refreshing one with its suggestion of snowy coolness. 
have not only propagated all of my own plants but have given away 
hundreds to other gardeners. 
Of course, we have to irrigate our plants in this country, and I never 
fail to water them copiously. Also we let the water flow through a 
trench on each side of the plants. In the fall we mulch them lightly 
with cow or sheep manure; we have found that where the mulching is 
too heavy the plants are not apt to survive the winter. 
In June and the early part of July our wonderful hedge repays us 
for all of our labor by blooming lavishly. We cut flowers by the hun- 
dreds for weddings and they are never missed. When combined with 
Baby’s Breath and La France Roses they make a delightful show, but 
it requires care to arrange a pretty bouquet of the long stemmed 
Shasta Daisies and not have the result look stiff. 
We have also discovered that Shastas make the most gorgeous dis- 
play when the border runs east and west and they are viewed from the 
south. This is because they turn their faces toward the south, and we 
found when we planted our rows running north that we did not get a 
wall of white extending from the ground to a height of more than three 
feet, but instead the stalks were quite in evidence. — Fay Willis, 
Boise, Idaho. 
Preserves from the Vegetable Garden 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
I N TRYING new things in my vegetable garden I have found a new 
fruit which meets with great approval from those who taste it when 
preserved. Not even my choice red raspberry jam received more 
praise last year from certain New York guests who did not guess the 
plebeian origin of the fruit, and begged that 1 would put them up some 
at any price I chose to ask! The plant possesses the advantage of 
fruiting at once; one does not have to buy bushes or trees and wait 
years for results. And it can be grown in the smallest garden. 1 
refer to a new variety of the old Ground Cherry or Husk Tomato. I 
had long known the small yellow fruit of the old common Ground 
Cherry. It never has attained importance though the flavor is pleas- 
ant, and it seems as if it really might be utilized, dried, as a substitute 
for the dried currant of commerce which in pre-war days we used in 
fruit cake. This newer form is in comparison of immense size, very 
like a small green tomato; with the husk removed it can only be dis- 
tinguished from a tomato by a tinge of purple, and many specimens 
lack that color and would pass anywhere for common tomatoes unless 
tasted. The plants bear prodigiously, and it is so easy to raise that it 
may escape from cultivation and become a weed as its ancestor has in 
some places. It certainly self-sows. Any one who cares to raise preserves 
in his vegetable garden with next to no trouble or expense would find 
this plant interesting. 1 found it of value in my own family, and had a 
demand for my surplus from my neighbors. Name: Mammoth Purple 
Fruited Ground Cherry. — A. H. Botsford, Edgemoor, Del. 
Slackers in Gladiolus 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
W HAT seems to be an odd performance of some of my Gladiolus 
has been noted. I noticed that some of them did not come 
up with the others, but on digging down 1 found that they were mostly 
sound appearing, often showing some growth, so I waited. As a rule, 
though, they never appeared and then, on uncovering them, I found in 
some cases that the new corm had formed as usual above the old one, 
ready, maybe, to repeat the process next summer. I do not know the 
variety of the slackers, but suppose that they are of more than one 
variety. Is Gladiolus given to doing that sort of thing? I have al- 
ways found that a few had a way of wintering in the ground — they will 
mostly do that here in ordinary winters, especially if given a little 
protection — and perhaps the whole species has the trick of thus 
taking a year off, now and then. — John W. Chamberlin, Buffalo, N. Y. 
Ash Shoots as Plant Supports 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
A FTER experimenting with various kinds of stakes for supporting 
tall-growing plants in the flower border, I have at last found one 
which is wholly satisfactory. It is nothing less than the new growth 
from the stump of an old Ash tree. The sprouts came up this spring 
almost perfectly straight, and grew six or eight feet tall. By the time 
I needed them they were just the right size for stakes. The color of the 
bark is such as to make them very inconspicuous, and it is almost im- 
possible to break them owing to the texture of the wood. Of course 
all stakes are objectionable to a certain extent, and must be used with 
care to prevent producing an unnatural and ungainly effect, but these 
Ash shoots are so inconspicuous that they are less undesirable than 
anything else of the sort yet seen. Certainly they are far preferable 
to the painted stakes so often seen. — E. I. Farrington, Mass. 
Lilium Canadense in a Garden 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
I HAVE taken your magazine several years and expect to several 
more. Am always re-reading old copies. Not long ago I picked 
up the September number, 1918, and what attracted my attention 
was a picture of a Lily on page 41. The article is entitled “A Fine 
Lily.” They are fine indeed. 1 transplanted a few bulbs of this 
Lilium canadense from a meadow near here. This year it attracted 
HARDY PHLOX IN LATE JULY 
A very effective border planting of Phlox decussata; in the foreground 
Pantheon and Mrs. Jenkins, farther back are F. Von Lassberg and Aurore 
Boreale. Home of Mrs. Walter King Sharpe, Chambersburg, Pa. 
