The Garden ng World, February i, 1908 
CONTENTS. 
Acacias . 66 
Achimenes, The . 63 
Alpine, A Choice (illus.). 67 
Amateurs Letter to Amateurs, An ... 61 
Angelonia, The Loosestrife-Leaved 
(illus.) .-.. 63 
Aster, The Single China (illus.) ... 67 
Cannas, The Culture of . 72 
Cardinal Flower, The (ileus.) . 7 1 
Chrysanthemums: W ork for Feb- 
ruary . 7 ° 
Competition Awards . 62 
Competitions, Prize Letter . 64 
Day Lilies . 76 
Enquire Within . "3 
Flower Garden, The (illus.) .. 68 
Fruit Garden, The (illus.) . 68 
Gaillardias . 64 
Grape Vines, Propagating (illus.) ... 65 
Greenhouse, The Amateurs .. 69 
Hyacinths and Their Culture . 76 
Kitchen Garden, The (illus.) . 68 
Lawns, Plants for . 02 
Orchids for Amateurs .•. 69 
Pears: The Influence of Soil on 
Flavour . 7 2 
Points Which Puzzle the Amateur ... 72 
Roses on Light Soil . 62 
Tools, The Amateur's Garden . 70 
Washington Thorn, The . 7 1 
Work of the Week . 68 
-- 
Moon of the rains—a peaked and peevish 
shrew 7 , 
Kill-joy and lachrymose, at Winter’s heels 
She trails uncertain steps through sodden 
flats 
Of meadowlands, lean woods and streets 
bemired, 
With meagre smiles of sun, unwilling 
flung, 
As though she hugged her wretchedness. 
Yet spite > 
Of snarling humours and the hungry 
frosts 
Loosened o' nights, seeking a tender prey. 
The first flqu 7 ers hear the sweet enchanted 
notes 
Blown on the far triumphant flutes of 
Spring, 
And wake, respondent to that happy call, 
To lift defiant heads to ashen days. 
F. O’Neill Gallagher. 
In the “Daily News.” 
CXXVIII. 
Commelina coelestis. 
This is an old-fashioned garden plant, 
and once was familiarly known as Spider- 
wort. It has straight, clean-edged foli¬ 
age, and the bright blue flowers, though 
not particularly showy, have a quaintness 
—the whole plant has that, in fact, so 
that it is a characteristic and distinct 
plant in the border. I went once to a 
friend's garden of which he had but lately 
taken possession. “ One thing I want you 
to name,” he said, and added that for the 
whole summer they had been wondering 
what it was. It v 7 as this Commelina 
coelestis. My chief aim in calling atten¬ 
tion to it to-day lies in the rather curious 
fact that it is one of the few bulbous 
plants that produce blossom from seed 
sown the same season. Sow the seed at 
the present time in frame or greenhouse 
and transplant in mid-April and flowers 
will appear during the summer. It is 
fortunate that it can thus be treated, as it 
is not hardy in cold, wet soils, though if 
grown as an annual as I have described it 
makes artistic groups in the border among 
the dwarfer subjects as it reaches some¬ 
thing under two feet in height. 
Day Lilies. 
Another bulbous plant that should be 
found in gardens far oftener than it at 
present Is, is Hemerocallis; quite an old- 
fashioned subject is this, and often known 
as the Day Lily. I confess I prefer to 
get it established in the autumn, but it 
can also be transplanted in the spring, 
and bulb catalogues generally include it 
among the lists of subjects for spring 
planting. H. fulva gives us that un¬ 
common touch of colour—a coppery buff. 
H. flava is a rich, clear yellow. One of 
the finest varieties, however, is the com¬ 
paratively new H. aurantiaca major, 
which is also sweetly scented. The Hem¬ 
erocallis is capital for the heavy soil of 
London suburban gardens, and it does not 
need a maximum of sunshine. I never 
saw so striking a use for it as, one day, 
walking along a busy suburban road, I 
saw an area planted with it. There was 
nothing else, just the slope fully planted 
with Day Lilies, and these were flowering 
profusely. It was a grand lesson in what 
may be achieved under unfavourable cir¬ 
cumstances. 
If there should be a pond in the garden 
it is a good subject to establish on the 
banks; or, in fact, in any of the wilder 
portions of the garden it may be decora- 
tively used, just as much as in the bed 
or border of the more formal portions. 
It is by no means every plant that is 
suitable for either purpose; often the bor¬ 
der subject looks incongruous and out of 
place in the wilder parts, but the Hem¬ 
erocallis, while suitable for the border, 
has yet a wild, shy look that is charming 
and constitutes one of the handsomest 
subjects for the remoter portions. I re¬ 
member seeing it growing practically 
wild, a great clump of it, by the road side 
in Normandy — and even thus it did not 
appear out of place. 
This question of congruity and suit¬ 
ability of a plant for the position it is to 
occupy is an important one, and should 
be carefully studied. Put an annual 
Sunflower into the wild garden and at 
once we are aware of a false note, but 
plant there Solomon’s Seal, and we re¬ 
joice in its quiet beauty quite as much 
as when it is used in the border. 
Manuring 1 Roses. 
Very often the question is put—When 
may stable manure best be spread over 
the ground above the roots of Rose trees. 
All authorities are not agreed upon this 
point, but a _very general practice is to 
supply the manure in early February, and 
lightly to fork it in later on, say in April. 
We do well to remember that Roses well 
repay generous treatment, and when sup¬ 
plying the manure those specimens grow¬ 
ing on walls, arches, and trellises should 
not be forgotten. A top-dressing of ma¬ 
nure for the Paeonies is decidedly bene¬ 
ficial ; indeed, where manure was not am¬ 
ply provided in autumn such top-dress¬ 
ings to beds and borders of hardy plants 
may be given now. Just a few things 
seem, however, to resent it, and it is not 
advisable to apply it to Violets. 
Violets. 
And speaking of Violets, few things, I 
think, give more pleasure in the garden 
that is without greenhouse or conserva¬ 
tory, than Violets growing in a frame. 
They are in flower throughout the late 
autumn, winter and early spring. For 
this long continuance of bloom I know no 
variety better than the good old Parme 
de Toulouse, a double form and of pale 
charming colouring. In my opinion, it is 
the variety that the novice is most likely 
to succeed with when first growing in a 
frame — or even, for that matter, out-of- 
doors. Too many people are under the 
impression that double Violets cannot be 
grown in the open—that a frame is a 
necessity. But this is not so, the variety 
I have mentioned does well out of doors, 
though the flowers are cleaner, less 
weather-worn, and of more delicate tex¬ 
ture under the lights of a frame. At the 
