The Garden Magazine, March, 1924 
S3 
THE OPE^ C 0LUM ^C 
Readers’ Interchange of Experience and Comment 
Own-root Roses a Yard Apart! 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
O have brought back the Rose to the flower garden is the best bit 
of work 1 have done so far; and, therefore, with reference to what 
I said in my article in the February number (pages 341-343) I should 
make it clear, that in bringing back the “Queen of Flowers’’ to her due 
place, 1 do not crowd her in the bedding way, which is not good either 
for beauty or for health. My Roses stand a yard apart so that each 
plant can develop its full stature and beauty. Wherever possible the 
plants are on their own roots; but, as in the trade there is no such thing 
as growing them in that way, I have to put in cuttings of mv favorites 
every autumn. Even then new kinds can only be obtained as grafted 
on the Dog-briar, and all we can do is to bare the bark round the graft 
and above it. We hope that the plant will start out its own root. It is 
a poor substitute, however, for the real thing—the natural root.— 
William Robinson, Gravetye, Sussex, England. 
Humming-birds as Originators of Gladiolus 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
OR several years 1 have been an enthusiastic reader of your ma¬ 
gazine and consider it the most useful all-around journal for the 
amateur gardener. Have recently sent subscription for same to our 
“Y” Reading Room. The Open Column often contains valuable 
information and the pictures of gardens which you have been running 
for some time are most interesting. 
My own garden, a delightful hobby, while neither formal nor showy 
is considered by many very attractive during the blooming season, es¬ 
pecially when the “Glads” are in flower. Of these, I have over fifteen 
thousand bulbs, gathered from many of the most prominent growers, 
and the humming-birds who swarm over the blooms have given us many 
varieties not elsewhere to be seen.— Isaac B. Wakeman, Conn. 
lias. In spite of its distinguished appearance, I never hear of nursery¬ 
men featuring it and comparatively few amateurs know it. The leaves 
of the Mahonia with their shape and coloring make an admirable foil 
for pale Tea Roses. They are lovely also with Chrysanthemums and 
when arranged with the stiff red berries which country people bring to 
market tied in little bundles, they make a charming basket. Alas, that 
they should be so shabby in the spring when the bulbs are coming up 
around them! Evergreen ground covers are doing a great deal to re¬ 
deem hopeless corners and out-of-the-way places in my garden. Pachy- 
sandra terminalis covers the bare ground immediately below the win¬ 
dows of living rooms where old trees take the life from the soil and 
where the sun seldom shines. A bare spot in the lawn at a boundary 
line also densely shaded, is being fertilized, lightened with leafmold, 
and planted with Vinca minor.— Helen M. Sharpe, Chambershurg, Pa. 
Good Garden Roses for the Different Sections 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
T SEEMS to me that a list of Roses that do well in the different sec¬ 
tions made up by your subscribers in the different states would 
prove very helpful to all of us and would give the beginner the encour¬ 
agement of success at the very start instead of the discouraging failure 
that was my lot. 
1 went to my local greenhouse man to find out what to buy and lost 
two years in discovering how poor my varieties were for garden use. 
When the first June arrived 1 had a yard full of Killarney, Paul Neyron, 
and American Beauty bushes—the greenhouse man having been (na¬ 
turally) interested in good Roses to force under glass and failing to dis¬ 
criminate between them and varieties suitable for garden use.—J. R. 
Dickson, Columbus, Ohio. 
—The collection of just such constructive data has been undertaken by 
the American Rose Society, among other serviceable activities, and 
their findings are reprinted on pages 24 and 25 of this issue, constituting 
a most reliable and illuminating guide to “ Roses for All America.” Of 
course, as Mr. Dickson points out in his letter above there is a clear-cut 
distinction between Roses for cultivation under glass and those grown 
under ordinary garden conditions—a distinction to be borne in mind 
by the amateur when making a selection for either purpose.— Ed. 
Engaging Little Polyantha Roses for All Summer Bloom 
To The Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
Use Your Frames All Summer 
T HE most satisfactory things in our garden last summer, judged by 
bloom, were the beds of Polyantha Roses. From early June to the 
end of November they were in continuous flower—not great trusses of 
flowers, to be sure, but single blossoms well covering the little bushes. 
The variety is Echo, an exquisite pink when the sun is not too hot. 
There are about seventy bushes and they fill two beds 
which are always in the eye of the beholder and 
which just must look well all summer long. 
They are bedded with Pansies raised 
from seed sown the preceding August. 
The result is the gayest spot in 
the garden—gay with a kind of 
engaging simplicity or naivete 
—the miniature Roses set 
among their little leaves; the 
quaint faces of the Pansies, 
always a little droll, below. 
It makes one feel light¬ 
hearted just to see them! 
Small bedding plants as 
Pansies and Violas are per¬ 
fectly practical with Poly¬ 
antha Roses because the 
latter need so little cultiva¬ 
tion during the season. 1 find 
them quite in the way with 
Hybrid-Teas because the Roses 
require constant loosening of the 
soil and fertilizing. 
Why do we so seldom see Mahonia 
that shrub with the wonderful foliage? 
Whenever 1 pass a garden where Mahonia 
grows I do homage to the good taste,of the 
owner. Mahonia is one of the aristocrats of 
the garden (although I don’t know that Mr. 
Wilson includes it in his goodly company) as 
surely as Boxwood and English Ivy and Magno¬ 
ROSE TIME IN MR. I. B. WAKEMAN’S 
GARDEN AT SAUGATUCK, CONN. 
Where humming-birds gather when the 
Gladiolus are in flower, playing the part of 
industrious little hybridizers (see text above) 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
UjOR several summers 1 have made good use of the frames by grow- 
* ing pole String-beans in them. This type of Beans does not do 
well in our vegetable garden, always getting a blight similar to the 
“streak” that Sweet-peas are so subject to. In the specially prepared 
soil of the frames this blight does not appear, which 
may be due to the ease with which the plants are 
kept growing ahead. In the open garden 
the ill effects of a dry spell will soon show 
in a yellowing, drying, and curling of 
leaves, which are sure signs of dis¬ 
aster to come. 
As each frame is emptied of its 
contents—potted Tomato 
plants, Egg-plants, Celery, 
etc.—I plant the Beans. 
All the frames are not 
ready at the same time, 
which is convenient as it 
gives a succession. The 
bed is prepared by forking 
well so that the top soil is 
mixed with the manure that 
was used early in the season 
to give the bottom heat neces¬ 
sary to hurry along the seedling 
vegetables and flowers. By this 
time the manure is cold and fairly 
well rotted, for we do not use that 
long strawy kind. Then bamboo poles, 
six feet long at the least, are put in a row 
down each side and across the top of the beds. 
The poles are spaced about a foot apart, only 
one row being necessary between frames in 
which beds of Beans are next to each other. 
More poles, spaced eighteen inches apart, are: 
woven between the uprights, and the corners. 
