The Gardening World, December 21 , 1907 . 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“Ashes, which in themselves are sterile, fertilise the land they are cast upon.” — Landor. 
An Amateur’s Letter to Amateurs. 
CONTENTS. 
Amateurs Letter to Amateurs. An ... 793 
Aprons for Gardeners . 79 ^ 
Bitter Root (illus.) . 799 
Calochortus, Concerning the . 799 
Christmas, Flowers at . 794 
Chrysanthemum Sport, A New . 796 
Competition Awards . 794 
Competition, Prize Letter . 796 
Enquire Within . 803 
Flower Garden, The . 800 
Fruit Garden, The .. 800 
Greenhouse, Heating the . 796 
Greenhouse, The Amateur's . 801 
Kitchen Garden, The . 800 
Leonotis Leonurus . 794 
Orchids for Amateurs . 801 
Rose, The Lyon . 802 
Seakale, Forcing and Propagating 
(illus.) . 797 
Shrub for Beds, A Beautiful (illus.) 798 
Work of the Week . 800 
Worm, The Planarian . 802 
-*+4- 
Common £o\. 
Ghosts of old Elms stand moaning in the 
gloom, 
Brown, bony fingers meet across the 
lanes, 
Pixies of dead leaves rustle to the doom 
Crimping their bloodless veins. 
Thorn leaves in dreary pageant of drab 
death, 
Oak leaves, in glamour of a golden 
pyre; 
The gardener, or the crisp nor'-easter s 
breath, 
Mingles them with the mire. 
Golden or dun, or high or lowly birth, 
We from our lofty boughs or bushes 
fall j 
Deep in thy great brown sepulchre, O 
Earth, 
The Gardener sweeps us all. 
Arthur Waghorne. 
-- 
Phosphates for Fruit Trees. 
Mr H. Cousins, in “ The Chemistry of 
the Garden,” says that all fruit trees m 
bearing should receive a manuring of 
phosphates every year, quite irrespective 
of anv other treatment. 
CXXII. 
Paeonies. 
It does not seem to matter much when 
these are planted or transplanted, for they 
are among the hardiest of our garden 
plants. A tree Paeony in a small garden 
would practically take the place of an 
ordinary shrub. I can recall a straight, 
oblong suburban garden that stands out 
from a great number of others by reason 
of the characteristic features that had 
been made of two large and bold flower¬ 
ing plants—Tree Paeonies of a clear, 
bright rose-pink colour, and, for later 
flowering, a profusion, everywhere that 
■ arches could be placed, of the purple 
Jackman Clematis. Of course there were 
many other subjects, but these were the 
keynotes ; these made, if I may say so, the 
distinct and beautiful character of that 
particular garden. To my mind, every 
garden, and especially these familiar ob¬ 
long suburban and town gardens that are 
so exactly replicas of each other so far as 
outline, and often of design, are con¬ 
cerned, need to strike out a line, need 
some individuality to mark them out from 
thousands of others. And, feeling thus, I 
am at pains frequently to urge this upon 
my readers, and to illustrate it by men¬ 
tioning such subjects as I come across 
that seem to have this boldness or char¬ 
acter sufficiently to constitute them 
worthy keynotes". It cannot be too 
strongly impressed on all keen amateurs 
that they have many more things to con¬ 
sider in achieving beautiful gardens than 
merelv the practical knowledge of pot¬ 
ting, planting, or digging. 
But to return to the Paeonies. Among 
the tree varieties Imperatrice Josephine 
is of a beautful and striking rose colour. 
Madame de Vatry is also very similar 
and as charming. But where expense is 
a consideration, many will choose the 
“ Sinensis” varieties, and indeed excellent 
effect can be achieved with them. Marie 
Houillon, Edmond Lebon, and Eugene 
Yerdier are all of this welcome rose col¬ 
ouring. The one drawback tr Paeonies 
is the brevity of their floweu : for this rea¬ 
son I would never, if i could avoid it, 
place them in too 'prominent positions , 
but keep them for the inferior places, and 
even positions under partial shade. 
Where Paeonies are already established, 
a generous top dressing of stable manure 
is very acceptable, even if not necessary. 
The Corners of the Garden. 
That expression prominent positions re¬ 
minds me what an attraction the corners 
of beds or borders or, indeed, any corner 
the garden may offer, has for me. What 
do I do with them? Well, if they are in 
the kitchen garden, I try to make use of 
them for some rather tall and important¬ 
looking herb, or plant that we associate 
closely with the herbs, like Rosemary or 
Lavender, or Sweet Cicely, or even 
Southern Wood. There is a charm that 
all garden lovers must know in pinching 
or appropriating leaves or blossoms of 
sweet-smelling plants, and corners are al¬ 
ways positions that we can' reach easily. 
In more important places in the garden I 
would always use the corners for striking- 
looking plants, and especially plants that 
are decorative over an unusually long 
period. I would always, in preference, 
choose a permanent subject rather than a 
tender plant, or plants that would continu¬ 
ally be changed, because the corners of 
borders and other corners lend themselves 
for particular use to emphasise some fea¬ 
ture, or rather to become a feature in 
themselves. In districts where they do 
well as hardy plants. Hydrangeas make 
splendidly long-enduring subjects, so long 
as they are not too large for the position 
they occupy. But whether as corner 
plants or as tub subjects or as specimens 
on a lawn or in any other position, Hy¬ 
drangeas seem to me quite indispensable 
in every garden. Nothing quite takes 
their place, and even if the neighbour¬ 
hood be too cold for them and slight pro¬ 
tection has to be afforded for the winter, 
they are well worth it. I have never 
seen better Hydrangeas than in certain 
London suburban gardens, and they re¬ 
ceived no winter shelter or protection 
whatever. As a matter of fact, a town or 
suburban garden when surrounded by 
paling is, more or less, sheltered and pro¬ 
tected. 
Another plant striking as a corner sub¬ 
ject is Spiraea Aruncus. It is one of those 
plants that for a full appreciation of their 
beauty need to be seen unhidden from top 
to soil by other plants. Yuccas, too, and 
in certain positions the Pampas Grass, 
make capital corner plants. The truth 
is, if we have a striking-looking plant, it 
grows in effectiveness very considerably if 
we give it an important and prominent 
position. 
There are many ways of emphasising a 
corner, even if there be neither border nor 
bed, such as a tub with some well-grown 
plant or a bold tree stump planted with 
some creeping plant; and there are other 
ways besides, but I want my remarks to be 
suggestive, and a particular corner should 
be well considered by its owner to see that 
the most is made of it. 
“Corners—corners, why I never give 
them a thought more than the rest.” I 
have heard an amateur gardener exclaim, 
but. believe me, in nine cases out of ten 
