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WAYSIDE RAMBLINGS 
[ Written expressly for The Flower Grower .] 
DATES OF BLOOMING OF 
GLADIOLUS PRIMULINUS HYBRIDS. 
The following list deals with Primulinus 
varieties only. The corms were planted as 
soon as the weather, in each year, permitted. 
The date given is that on which the first 
flower was open : 
1917 
1918 
1919 
Variety 
D.M. 
D.M. 
D.M. 
Albion 
7 8 
2 8 
5 8 
Alethea 
8 8 
6 8 
Alice Tiplady 
1 8 
28 7 
30 7 
Altair 
25 7 
23 7 
30 7 
Anamosa 
7 8 
6 8 
Angola 
1 8 
31 7 
1 8 
Anita 
28 7 
30 7 
30 7 
Argos 
31 7 
24 7 
25 7 
Ariadne 
31 7 
29 7 
11 8 
Arlon 
30 7 
30 7 
Astra 
30 7 
1 8 
Aurega 
2 8 
Bouquet 
2 8 
2 8 
Canonite 
29 7 
24 7 
31 7 
Canopus 
2 8 
23 7 
31 7 
Capella 
5 8 
2 8 
7 8 
Cassandra 
2 8 
3 8 
Countess Torby 
24 7 
21 7 
25 7 
Dexter 
24 8 
Elberton 
24 7 
21 7 
31 7 
Elegant Beauty 
6 8 
2 8 
Enon 
1 8 
9 8 
Faun 
12 8 
7 8 
Firefly 
22 7 
29 7 
26 7 
Florian 
4 8 
25 7 
Gladness 
14 8 
4 8 
Gold Drop 
9 8 
12 8 
Golden Gate 
30 7 
8 8 
Golden Girl 
10 8 
24 7 
28 7 
Linton 
26 7 
23 7 
26 7 
Midsummer Dream 
6 8 
3 8 
Mintaka 
25 7 
5 8 
Mira or Myra 
2 8 
2 8 
Nopal 
29 7 
30 7 
Nova 
25 7 
1 8 
Nydia 
2 8 
24 7 
Prim 
8 8 
9 8 
Primunella 
6 8 
Ramona 
5 8 
Regulus 
1 8 
28 7 
23 7 
Rigel 
11 8 
8 8 
9 8 
Rodano 
2 8 
31 7 
Rosalia 
6 8 
5 8 
Sedan 
30 7 
28 7 
25 7 
Seneca 
26 7 
28 7 
Silvis 
14 8 
8 8 
15 8 
Sirius 
5 8 
4 8 
6 8 
Spica 
2 8 
28 7 
2 8 
Sweet Orra 
27 7 
24 7 
30 7 
Topaz 
29 7 
26 7 
Tupelo 
8 8 
Ulrica 
21 8 
6 8 
Vega 
29 7 
27 7 
5 8 
Yeoman 
11 8 
2 8 
Zenobia 
29 7 
25 7 
South Hants. 
(England) 
PLANTING IRIS, ETC. 
A party in Wisconsin wrote and asked me 
why I did not tell the many readers of The 
Flower Grower my way of planting Iris. It 
is thus : 
A shallow trench is dug with a potato fork, 
and perpendicular on one side. The plants 
are placed against the perpendicular side, 
and dirt drawn against them with the hand 
to hold the plant in place. The dirt drawn 
in with the hand is also firmed by striking it 
with the hand. Then the dirt is raked in 
with an iron garden rake until the trench is 
nearly full, and then it is firmed with the 
foot, but you must firm it against the per- 
T5[)<l Slower (Brower 
pendicular side or the plant will be pushed 
down too deep. After firming with the foot 
the balance of the dirt is raked in, but not 
firmed. 
I plant all Perennials, Dahlias, Asparagus, 
Clematis, small shrubs, &c. this way. If you 
have never planted this way you will be sur- 
prised how much easier it is than the old way. 
Phlox and Platycodon should be planted 
with the crowns one inch below the surface, 
and Peonies two inches, and it is a very easy 
matter to have them at the right depth when 
planted this way, but if you dig a hole it is 
not so easy to have them at the right depth. 
When one wishes to plant in sod the best way 
is to take off a very thick sod, and then 
loosen up the dirt, and then dig through the 
center leaving one side perpendicular to 
plant against. 
If clumps of Iris are planted they cannot 
be planted against the perpendicular side, 
but a hole has to be dug. When planting 
clumps of Iris the rhizomes should not be 
covered more than an inch deep. I never 
plant clumps of Iris for smaller plants soon 
make a fine showing, and do not have to be 
divided so soon. 
Flowers are very much like people and 
animals. Some are very beautiful, but lan- 
guid, and never make good. Others are large 
and healthy, but not good to look at. Some 
are lazy while others are liars, and I had one 
seedling Iris lie to me last season, and also 
caused me to do the same. I described it as 
being late, and this season it was medium early. 
If I find a seedling that is very good, but the 
plant lacks vigor I seldom name it, but may 
grow it a few years, but they are generally 
a disappointment. 
Among my seedlings blooming this season 
for the first time I have some of the largest 
Iris plants I ever saw, and the flowers are 
extra large too. Had one that was nearly 
four feet high when in bloom. 
Willis E. Fryer. 
SPANISH IRISES. 
Spanish Irises are now unobtainable, owing 
to Quarantine No. 37, unobtainable except 
in limited quantities strictly for purposes of 
propagation, and subject to the regulations 
of the special permit under which only they 
may be imported. 
B. C. Auten. 
CORMS VERSUS BULBS. 
That sounds like an absurd suggestion, 
and when applied to the Gladiolus, it certainly 
is. But, follow it out to the end. Do we not 
persistently say “Bulblets?” and ought we not 
to be consistent? If Corms then Cormlets, 
or if we are going to use Bulblets, then we 
ought also to use “ Bulbs.” It is worth while 
to be correct, and the writer makes this state- 
ment confidently although he places the ac- 
cent on the third syllable of Gladiolus, know- 
ing all the while that it belongs on the second ! 
W. E. Saunders. 
PROPAGATING PEONIES FROM ROOTS. 
Buds absolutely will not develop on roots of 
Chinensis Peony. They will develop only in 
the bark of the stem or crown tissue. As I am 
no botanist I may err in details, but I am 
positive that root tissue of the Chinensis, 
Peony is utterly unable to form buds. 
B. C. Auten. 
July, 1920 
DIGGING GLADIOLUS CORMS 
IN QUANTITY. 
We have never used a beet digger for har- 
vesting Gladiolus bulbs, but we have used a 
sub-soil plow with fairly good results. Last 
season we used an old potato digger with the 
elevator chain removed and we can hardly 
see how any tool could do better work. It 
loosens the soil nicely and leaves the top 
standing in good position to handle. 
A. H. Austin Co. 
Hardy Amaryllis. 
By Mrs. E. B. Murray. 
[iVritten expressly for The Flower Grower . ] 
Lycoris Squamigerii or Hallii is a 
rare and lovely bulbous flower, but 
little known. It is among the com- 
paratively recent introductions and 
this flower does not receive the atten- 
tion it deserves. It has so many good 
qualities that it should be in every 
hardy garden— large or small. One 
bulb or a small clump is lovely. But 
a large bed of them, say, fifty or one 
hundred, would certainly be a dream 
of beauty. Its absolute hardiness is 
one great and admirable quality. Who 
among us has not bought, often when 
we could ill afford to spare the money, 
various plants or Lilies, warranted 
hardy, only, when another spring 
comes, to find the place vacant, our 
cherished flower dead? No such experi- 
ence awaits the gardener who plants 
one of these Amaryllis. As sure as 
Spring comes the big tuft of light 
green long leaves, somewhat like a big 
Narcissus, but lighter green, comes up 
and grows rapidly until about July 1st, 
it then begins to turn yellow and finally 
dies. Some morning in August, walk- 
ing through your garden, you stop 
amazed at seeing one, two or more — 
according to the number of bulbs you 
planted— tall reddish flower stalks big 
as your thumb, in fact a regular Am- 
aryllis flower stalk which is unlike any 
thing else only this grows so fast. I 
have never seen one less than 8 or 10 
inches high. I don’t know when they 
start, but they grow like a Jonah’s 
Gourd. The flowers are from 6 to 10 
on a stalk and their color is impossible 
to describe, a blending of pink and 
lavender— most wonderful. The bulbs 
are large and increase rapidly in size 
and number. From one, planted in 
spring, 1914, in 1917 I took up (because 
they had grown up out of the ground) 
four, three times as large as the origi- 
nal one. They should be planted about 
six inches under the soil as their tend- 
ency is to work up towards the surface. 
The bulb is exactly like our Am- 
aryllis. I think they are a near rela- 
tion to Am. Belladonna, although I 
have never seen one of these bloom. 
But Am. B. makes its growth in fall 
and winter. 
Catalogues and Price Lists. 
Babcock Peony Gardens, R. D. 79, Jamestown, N. 
Y.— Exceptionally complete catalogue and price list 
of Peonies, bulbs and hardy plants, 18 pages and 
cover. 
H. F. Chase, Andover, Mass. Fernlea Iris and Peony 
Gardens.— Retail price list of Peonies and Irises. 
