9-1 
water than the others, as they are planted 
shallowly. If you have no greenhouse, but 
have a frame, you can manage to raise a 
great variety of choice half-h.vrdy annuals, 
such as Ten Week Stocks, Chinese Pink 
(Dianthus chinensis), white, yellow and crim¬ 
son Antirrhinums, Dwarf Victoria or Dwarf 
Chrysanthemum China Aster, and striped 
French Marigold. You can raise all of these 
if you have only a cold frame and sow the 
seeds in March. They would germinate 
more freely, however, and come on more 
rapidly if you make up a hotbed, stand the 
frame upon it, and cover the manure with 
a layer of soil. Upon this soil you can 
stand the pots or seed pans in which you 
sow the seeds. As soon as they have made 
one rough leaf you can transplant them into 
boxes about zin. apart each way, or a little 
less in the case of the slow growing ones, 
and if the weather is cold you can stand the 
boxes back into the hotbed for a day or two 
until the seedlings take to the fresh soil. 
As a rule, however, the sun is sufficiently 
strong by April to enable you to grow all 
of these things well in a cold frame. You 
can keep them dwarf and sturdy by tilting 
up the sash at the back during the day. By 
closing just before sundown you will 
economise sun-heat, thus encouraging the 
plants to make growth. During May you 
must give more and more ventilation until 
by the end of that month you might leave 
the sashes off at first during the night, then 
by day and night for a week, at least, before 
you plant them put. This will harden them 
off and enable them to take to the fresh soil 
without feeling the change much. 
2580. Pansies and Management. 
Will you kindly give the management of 
Pansies for summer blooming on small, 
shaded and partly shaded borders. (Be¬ 
ginner. Norfolk.) 
If you have no plants at the present time, 
you must either get seeds and sow them at 
once in a gentle heat, or get plants and put 
them out in the borders during March. 
Fancy Pansies are very suitable for bedding 
purposes and another strain named Trimar- 
deau produces flowers somewhat similar. 
For summer bedding the best plan is to sow 
seeds of these in July, so as to, get plants 
of some size by autumn. In your district 
they should live out in the open during the 
winter, and may, therefore, be planted dur¬ 
ing October. They will gradually increase 
in size during the winter and commence to 
bloom in spring as soon as the weather is 
sufficiently warm. If you already have 
plants, cuttings of these may be taken in 
July and rooted. Subsequent treatment 
would be much the same as for seedlings. 
Before planting them out the borders should 
be deeply dug and manured, but if Pansies 
have been grown, in the same borders before 
it would be advisable to trench the ground 
at least two spits deep. Then in October, 
when the seedlings or cuttings are rooted, 
they may be put in their permanent posi¬ 
tions. The subsequent treatment will be 
making up any blanks that may .have oc¬ 
curred during the winter and mulching the 
ground about the beginning of June if the 
weather happens to be warm and dry. By 
giving them timely attention in this man¬ 
ner they will make vigorous growth and 
flower well early in the season. Probably, 
however, they would get exhausted before 
the end of the summer, unless you keep re¬ 
moving the old stems after they finish flower¬ 
ing, so as to encourage the plants to go on 
growing and flowering. You may have a 
preference for Pansies, but Violas are more 
easily managed, because they are more de¬ 
cidedly perennial, and naturally they keep 
throwing up young shoots all through the 
season. These could be dealt with much in 
the same way as Pansies as to propagation 
and planting out. If you find that the au- 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
tumn planted Pansies or Violas are likely 
to get played out considerably before the 
end of the season, it would be advisable to 
put in a batch of cuttings early in Septem¬ 
ber, leaving them in the boxes until March. 
These, of course, would make growth during 
March and April, and under favourable con¬ 
ditions would bloom in May and keep up a 
succession till late in the season. 
2581. Making a Wild Garden. 
Would you kindly inform me whether in 
constructing a wild garden it is correct and 
proper to introduce such work as rustic 
fences, bridges and seats? A few hints on 
its establishment in general would be appre¬ 
ciated. I would take this opportunity of 
thanking you for the ready assistance you 
have given me in. the past through the 
columns of The Gardening World, of 
which I have been a reader for some twelve 
months past. (One Who Appreciates 
“ G.W.,” Surrey.) 
If the size and contour of you.r garden 
lends itself to the making of such fences, 
bridges, etc., it would -be appropriate 
enough. Indeed, it is in such a garden that 
such rustic structures would be seen to the 
best advantage. The bridges to appear na¬ 
tural should either have to cross some gully 
or ravine or stream of water, so that this 
would imply a stream of water in your gar¬ 
den. or a pond in the form of a river. The 
latter would, of course, be the necessity for 
having a bridge, and the actual length of 
the waterway could be obscured by planta¬ 
tions of trees or shrubs that will hide these 
structures or portions of the water, so that 
you come upon it by surprise. Seats 
would also be appropriate, just as they 
would be in the pleasure ground or by 
lonely walks in woods. Concerning the gene¬ 
ral construction or arrangement of this wild 
garden we could not advise as we have not 
seen it, and could not have any idea as to 
itc capabilities. That, of course, actually 
depends upon the form of the garden, its 
contour and other various accessories. A 
wild garden should be ‘made, if possible, 
to conform to, its surroundings. If on a 
small scale, of course you will have to hide 
the extent or certain of the accessories, so as 
to give impression of size, etc. In detail, it 
would be perfectly appropriate to plant ir¬ 
regular groups of Daffodils on the grass in 
places where the ground is more or less 
level. Crocuses could also be planted in the 
same way. Then you might have some 
clumps of irregular size and shape of 
Primula japonica, Hemerocallis flava, H. 
fulva, Primroses, Polyanthuses and other 
dwarf plants which you might fancy. In 
order to make these latter groups of plants 
grow with success, it would be as well to 
prepare spots for them by digging or trench¬ 
ing. This would give the plants a good 
opportunity of getting well established and 
making good growth. If the ground was 
more or less grown over with grass after¬ 
wards it would not matter so much.. Then 
for bolder clumps in prominent positions you 
could plant Pampas Grass and Arundo con- 
sp.icua, which are splendid Grasses for this 
purpose. Other plants for grouping would 
be Giant Cow Parsnip (Heracleum villc- 
sum) and Gunners, scabra. Very suitable 
shrubs for hiding the approaches to bridges 
or forming a background to seats are Rosa 
rugosa, White Broom (Cytisus albus), Yel¬ 
low Broom (Spaxtium junceum), and Ferns. 
In preparing the ground for Ferns it would 
be well to use peat or leaf mould or both to 
a considerable extent, as they serve to re¬ 
tain the soil moisture in summer. Then be¬ 
tween and amongst the Ferns you can grow 
a great variety of dwarf early flowering 
subjects like Snowdrops, Crocuses, Anemone 
blanda, A. nemorosa, A.n. flore pleno, and 
other early flowering subjects which you 
may fancy. They serve to make the garden 
39 
February S, igoS 
interesting until the Ferns commence grow¬ 
ing. Primroses, Polyanthuses, and Ferns 
more particularly, can be planted- in situa¬ 
tions under deciduous trees where they 
would be partly shaded .in summer. Even 
a north aspect would suit Ferns well, as they 
like cool situations. Although we advise you 
to prepare situations for all of these by deep 
digging or trenching, it is not necessary 
that the ground should be kept in anything 
like a tidy condition afterwards. Indeed 
the ground might be sown over close up tc. 
the plants, taking care only in the case of 
weak growers to see that the grass and other 
vegetation does not smother them. In the 
making of this wild garden you could, in¬ 
deed, confine it to British plants alone if 
you feel so inclined, because you can get 
some with bold leafage; others again, like 
Daffodils, Primroses, Cowslips, and Polyan¬ 
thuses, could be made to do duty, even in a 
British flower garden. Then, instead of the 
Yellow Broom above mentioned, you could 
have the common Broom, which is yellow, 
or the variety Cytisus scoparius andreanus. 
In the making of a pond or stream, natural 
or artificial, it would afford you an excel¬ 
lent opportunity for introducing hardy 
Water Lilies, Marsh Marigolds, single and 
double, and various other interesting or 
bright-flowered aquatics. There is, indeed, 
no limit to the number of plants which you 
may grow, and the success of their growth 
will depend in many cases upon the cultural 
care given to start them by the methods we 
have mentioned. As to the general construc¬ 
tion, we must leave that to you, who know its 
capabilities and surroundings. 
ROSES. 
25 82. Roses at Christmas. 
Please tell me at your earliest convenience 
how 1 can get Roses about Christmas, or a 
month later. All my Roses are grown out¬ 
doors at present, but I wish to pot up a few 
so as to flower in the winter, if possible. I 
have a cold greenhouse, and daresay I could 
warm it with a stove. (Novice, Somerset.) 
Unless you have some experience in the 
cultivation of pot plants it would be a very 
difficult job for you to undertake the flower¬ 
ing of Roses at Christmas, for the simple 
reason that the days are at their shortest and 
the light is very bad then. There is nothing 
like trying, however, and we should advise 
you to prune and pot up some Roses now. 
If, however, you get fresh ones from the 
nursery, they would be more easily got into 
pots of suitable size. Place them in the 
greenhouse and let them come along natu¬ 
rally. If they give you Roses in summer, 
so far so good. After that we should con¬ 
sider it a good plan to place the pots out 
of doors on a bed of ashes for the (rest of 
the season. About the beginning of Septem¬ 
ber you should withhold water for a week 
or so, so as to encourage the ripening of 
wood. You could then prune the plants |and 
let them be preparing to commence fresh 
growth. About the middle of September they 
might be put in the greenhouse, and towards 
the end of the month have a temperature of 
so degs. by night, so as to encourage the 
Roses to make fresh growth. As they con¬ 
tinue to grow the temperature should be 
gradually raised to 6o degs. or 65 degs. by 
sun-heat, but they should be well advanced 
before they get that degree of heat. It would 
be necessary also to ventilate, otherwise the 
shoots will get drawn and weak. You will 
find it not a very easy operation to get Roses 
to bloom well in winter, but you should 
select Hybrid Teas and Teas which would 
respond more readily to your labours than 
H.P.’s. In this issue .you will find an 
article on Roses at Christmas, showing how 
to get them out of .doors if the autumn is 
favourable. If yon resolve to pot up some 
