March 21, 190S. 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
205 
FLOWER GARDEN . 
2699. Delphiniums in Tubs. 
How many roots of Delphiniums should 
h plaiit in tubs about; 15 in. in diameter? 
J. Sturt; Middlesex.) 
If your plants are as strong as they 
should be for planting out, three of them 
blaced af equal distance from one another 
should be sufficient to fill a tub 15 in. in 
iiameter. Even if they were very small 
plants, but healthy, they should scon grow 
o profitably occupy a tub of 15 in. diameter. 
\Ye should prefer to have all three of the 
same colour in a tub. 
2700. Front Garden. 
Enclosed I send plan of my garden. Will 
you please say how you would fill the beds 
loted ? The garden is flat, open and sandy 
oam. I grow the usual Geraniums, bed- 
iling Fuchsias, Violas, Begonias, Stocks, 
\sters, Beet, Petunias, Phlox Drummondi, 
Uyssum, Lobelia and Pentstemon. Of 
;ourse, 1 want to add to the above to make 
iecorative beds. Ij. Sturt, Middlesex.) 
Unless you desire to follow out what is 
cnown as mixed flower bedding, 3'ou have 
juite a sufficient number of varieties to fill 
ill of the beds without additional plants. 
The sunniest part of your garden is against 
he wall of the house, and we have selected 
hat for the plants that like plenty of sun- 
;hine. For instance, for beds Ncs. 1 and 8 
•ou could have' a row of white Marguerites 
igainst the wall, as the heat and drought 
here would keep them flowering instead of 
unning away to growth. This could be fol- 
owed by a line of Pelargoniums, then a 
ort of double edging, the inside one being 
Beet and the outer one either Alyssum or 
vhite Lobelia. Then the borders 2 and 7 
■hould correspond, whatever the plan 
idopted. In order to utilise the various 
ilants which you have, we think it would 
>e a good plan to divide those borders into 
hree portions or panels. The block next the 
louse on either side of the garden could tye 
illed with Petunias. The middle portion 
>n either side of the garden could be planted 
■vith Pentstemons. At the far end from the 
louse Fuchsias could be planted, as ihey do 
lot require so much sunshine as the plants 
ve have already named. There should be 
m edging of blue Lobelias as a nice finish 
>ff to both of these borders. You would 
iractically have six beds in these borders 
illed with three kinds of plants, with the 
dditioa of the edging. They will thus be 
he compliment oFone another so as to avoid 
arting contrasts. In the narrow borders 
vhere you have three Roses on either side 
■f iihe path you could plant tuberous-rooted 
Begonias, as they are shallow rooting and 
vould r*ot interfere with the Roses, while 
;oth kinds enjoy liberal feeding and water - 
ng during summer. The shaded borders 3 
n 4 6 could be entirely filled with Violas or 
- line of Calceolarias could be planted next 
ne flowering shrubs with Violas next the 
;rass. 
!701. Back Garden. 
Enclosed I send plan of m}' back garden 
Vould you say how you would fill the bed: 
■oted? (J. .Sturt, Middlesex.) 
Bed 8, being nearest the house and lookm.; 
awards the north, would be somewba 
haded, unless the house is further aw*.. 
10m it than the plan would seem to indi 
ate. This being so, we would recommenc 
to be filled entirely with Calceolaria' 
dged with white Alyssum. Beds 1 and 
-ould give the garden a better balanced ap 
earance if they were each filled witl 
uchsias edged with Alyssum or blue Lo 
eJaas, whichever you think best. Beds . 
M.6 could he filled with some light Pelar 
omum edged with blue Lobelia. The larg< 
ound bed. No. 4, could be filled with scarle 
elargomums surrounded bv a line of Beet 
nd then an outer edging .of blue Lobelias 
Beds Nos. 3 and 5 could be filled with tuber¬ 
ous Begonias edged with Alyssum. As we 
previously mentioned tuberous Begonias, we 
would ofter the alternative plan of filling 
3 aind 5 with Stocks in the centre of each 
with an edging of dwarf Asters. Of the 
plants you mention only Phlox Drummondi 
remains. We could easily get these into some 
of the beds, but as they are so narrow we 
should hesitate to employ them. You may, 
however, not have enough of some of the 
kinds to fill all of the beds, and you might 
arrange to have some one of the pairs dif¬ 
ferent. An alternative suggestion would be 
that tne Phlox Drummondi could form 
dividing lines between the different blocks 
or panels of the side borders in the front 
garden. We do not agree with your ar¬ 
rangement of having Roses against the north 
aspect of the house, especially if they are 
dwarf ones, as they can get no sun, and 
besides growing weakly, would be liable to 
mildew. Bed No. 4 would have' been a bet¬ 
ter situation, but it is now too late to shift 
Roses with advantage. 
2702. Plants for Borders of Garden. 
Accepting your invitation to send a sketch, 
I enclose a rough or.® of my garden. Can 
you mention in your correspondence column 
a few plants suitable for the borders shown ? 
The east end is sunny, hard ground, on 
rock bottom, and very soon becomes dry in 
warm weather. West of the red lire is a 
clay bottom of damp soil. The corner 
marked very wet is quite a swamp in wet 
weather. (A. Merryweather. Yorks.) 
You do not say that you have made any 
attempt to alter the conditions of your gar¬ 
den, but evidently the moisture or water in 
it is badly distributed. If we had the con¬ 
trol of it we should throw the good soil on 
to the lawn and then proceed to trench the 
hard rock bottom 2 ft. deep, then return 
the good soil or* the top of this trenched 
matter. If this was done in the autumn: it 
would be settled down and ready for plant¬ 
ing or sowing in spring. Apparently the 
water drains into one corner, which you de¬ 
scribe as a swamp, but if the whole of that 
border were trenched to the depth we men- 
tioried above it would allow the surface 
water to sink down more deeply in the 
ground, and in summer it would keep a 
supply of moisture which would be avail¬ 
able for the use of the plants. Even if the 
roots do not go down so deeply the moisture 
would rise up by what is termed capillary 
attraction. This trenching of the soil we 
consider of primary importance in equal¬ 
ising the moisture whether in. summer or 
winter. You would then have less difficult!' 
in growing flowers. ' The herder by the 
diagonal fence facing the west could be plan¬ 
ted with Petunias or Pelargoniums for the 
present season, if you cannot manage to do 
the trenching this year. If it had been 
trenched, you could have grown either Cal¬ 
ceolaria Golden Gem, Antirrhinums, Pent¬ 
stemons or Violas in that border. The last- 
named should certainly not be tried until 
the ground has been deepened. The border 
by the corrugated iron fence is not very 
suitable for annuals, but if you would like 
to try them we would recommend a line of 
Lavatera trimestris next the fence, followed 
by a line of Chrysanthemum coronarium. 
either single or double, the double white and 
double yellow being, best. Next the grass 
you dould have an edging of the blue- 
flowered NTembphila insignis. As-this border 
looks towards, the north, and the fence is 
high, we should prefer having it planted 
with such perennials as Violas, spotted 
Mimulus, Aquilegias, Anemone japonica, 
Doronicum plantagineum excelsum.* Prim¬ 
roses, Polyanthuses, Campanula persicifolia 
grandiflora, C.p.g. alba, single and double 
Hesperis matronalis, Wallflowers and Even¬ 
ing Primroses. Along the front you could 
have such tilings as London Pride (Saxi- 
fraga umbrosa), S. geunq S. rotundifolia, 
Woodruff, Anemone Hepatica and Anemore 
blanda. With the exception of the Violas 
and Mimulus, this would rot give you con 
tinuous blooming plants, but it supplies a 
number which bloom at various periods of 
the year. They are also well adapted for 
shady situations in gardens, though they 
are equally, if not better, suited by full ex¬ 
posure to sunshine. Most of these, when 
once established, would, of course, occupy 
the ground continually, and you would or.lv 
have to dig and manure them once a year, 
and keep them clean for the rest. The Cal¬ 
ceolarias, Antirrhinums and Pentstemons we 
mentioned would, of eourse, require a cold 
frame during winter. The others would re¬ 
quire no such protection. 
2703. Sweet Peas for the Beginning 
of August. 
Being a reader of The Gardening World, 
I should be much obliged if j'ou could tell 
me when to sow Sweet Peas so as to have 
them in flower by the beginning, of August. 
An3 r hints given through your valuable 
paper will be thankfully received. (W.H.G , 
Berks.) 
As Sweet Peas sown in March come into 
bloom in Jurte and continue through July, 
some might imagine that a sowing in April 
would give better results for August.. While 
we understand that some successful sowings 
have been made in April, most of them com¬ 
ing under our notice and experience have 
been practically failures. Sweet Peas re¬ 
quire to get well established before the heat 
of summer sets in, otherwise they are liable 
to be poor and short-lived. On the other 
hand, we see no reason why you should not 
make a sowing at once in the open ground 
and expect them to be good in August. It 
is more a matter of cultivation than the 
actual time of sowing. We should advise 
you to select good fertile ground that has 
recently been, trenched, and to take out 
trenches where 3'ou intend to make the lines 
of Sweet Peas. After taking off the top 
spit of soil, 3'ou could then fill in as much 
manure as 3'ou can comfortabl3’ dig into the 
space beneath that. Then some manure 
could be mixed with the top spit and that 
returned. In taking out furrows for the 
Sweet Peas, the3' nmw be left somewhat be¬ 
low the level of the ground, so that some 
soil could be placed on the top after the 
Peas have made 3 in. of growth. If 3’ou 
have no room to make lines or hedges’ of 
Sweet Peas, or for other reasons, 3-ou could 
take out holes 2 ft. in diameter and as deep, 
mixing the soil with plenty of well-decaved 
cow manure. Fill up the holes and sow the 
Peas at least 6 in. apart in a circle round the 
centre. Several stakes would be required, 
and if the Sweet Peas grow well in 3'our 
garden they should be 8 ft. to 10 ft. above 
the soil. This will allow for long continued 
growth and a supply cf flowers that will 
take you much, further on than the begin¬ 
ning of August. 
2704. Helleborus major 
Can you inform me where I should be 
likely to obtain plants of Helleborus major? 
{Dfrrei, Derbyshire.) 
We presume 3'ou mean a variety of Christ¬ 
mas Rose, namely, Helleborus niger major, 
which is the Bath Variety. This is offered 
by Messrs. T. S. Ware, Ltd., Feltham, 
Middlesex. It is bv no means a common 
plant. 
2705. Primroses Hybridised with Poly¬ 
anthuses. 
A friend of mine informs me that he plan¬ 
ted some Primroses and PoWanthuses in close 
proximity, and that the Primroses became 
hybridised with the pollen from the Poly¬ 
anthus and bore Polyanthus flowers. Is this 
possible? I shall be obliged if you will 
reply through the medium of 3'our interest¬ 
ing paper. (W. Allen, Essex.) 
