232 
The Garden Magazine, December, 1923 
Ice as a Winter Protection for Hollyhocks 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
HIS stately old standby, of which there are many varieties, both 
double and single flowered, is by nature a biennial; but, by seeding 
itself, also bv sending new shoots from the roots, practically makes of 
itself a perennial. It has one drawback; the inability to withstand 
without protection the frigid winters of the North. 
In order to have the Hollyhock survive the extreme cold, one must 
have hardy plants to start with. Then, early in the fall, dig a trench of 
about eight inches deep by six inches across, directly in front of the 
plants. After freezing weather has set in for the winter, this trench is 
filled with water until a solid cake of ice is formed. Then the plants, 
ice and all. are covered well with dried leaves or straw. The ice cover¬ 
ing the root system should be left intact throughout the winter months 
and early spring. After all fear of frosts has passed, uncover and let 
the ice gradually melt. This process preserves the roots, and prevents 
germination taking place until such time as the new shoots may safely 
appear. They will then grow luxuriantly throughout the summer 
months, blooming early in the fall. 
The Hollyhock is as lovely indoors as out, and can be kept nearly a 
week in water if, directly after cutting, the stalks are slightly burned 
—Mrs. F. A. Nye, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 
As Gardens Grow in the Great Northwest 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
FTER reading S. C. Taylor’s article in the Open Column (June 
G. M.) I have come to the conclusion that he is not well informed 
on the geography of his country. He made a sweeping statement 
when he included all the states between the Mississippi River and the 
Cascade Mountains as part of the great prairie country of the Middle 
West. He must remember that the larger part of Oregon and Wash¬ 
ington are east of the Cascade Range and are not considered prairie 
land. I will speak for Oregon and Washington and let the other 
states stand up for themselves. 
The fertile Walla Walla Valley where I live and which extends 
through part of Oregon and Washington, can boast of lovely gardens. 
And there are many other valleys east of the Cascades in these same 
states that are equally fertile. We grow as fine Roses in our valley as 
in that famous Rose City, Portland, Oregon, though perhaps not in 
such large quantities. 
Few, indeed, are the homes in this great Northwest that have not 
some space allotted to flowers; to say nothing of nurseries and florists. 
The Miller Nursery Co. of this small town has six acres of Peonies 
alone and ships thousands of blooms during the season. 
Spring-floweTing bulbs do finely here. Our Tulips were wonderful 
this last spring and the Daffodils measured four and one half inches 
across the perianth and were fully eighteen inches high. We had 
Sweet-peas in bloom the latter.part of May which is early for the north. 
I do not wish to infer that all parts of these states are fertile, for they 
are not. There is some arid land; but even then we hope to have a 
large portion of it reclaimed through the Columbia River Basin project. 
1 am sure any one, whether in South Dakota or Oregon, if at all in¬ 
terested in flowers, would enjoy “The Garden Magazine” very much. 
1 also believe that the majority of your readers will agree with me 
that the “Meadow and Forest Landscape” farm views are very beauti¬ 
ful. Is it not hard to compete with nature in landscape gardening? 
Yes, the people of the Northwest do think of something besides grains 
and livestock.— Eunice McEwen, Milton, Oregon. 
—I am moved to write in protest to the letter from S. C. Taylor in the 
June issue. “Do prairie winds blow beauty off the map?” Never! 
Our county is decidedly a prairie county, and I do not know of a single 
farmhouse that does not boast of a splendid vegetable garden and a 
flower garden of some kind. Truly, most of us farmers are not rich and 
our flower gardens must grow slowly. But the point is that they do 
grow. When a mother with from one to five small children does all of 
her own housework, raises poultry, tends a vegetable garden, and then 
is willing to do the necessary work to have a flower garden 1 claim she 
appreciates beauty in flowers. No, we are not dried up just because 
the winds blow. 
Twenty-eight years ago my parents moved to this farm and among 
other things started a flower garden. A grove had been set out several 
years before by my grandparents and both have been growing ever 
since. Our garden contains wild flowers from eight states, between 
one hundred and fifty to two hundred varities and they are hard to sur¬ 
pass for beauty. These, along with our hardy cultivated flowers are in 
a garden ioo x 240 ft. At the present time we are putting a pond 20 
X 28 ft. in the centre of this patch. Besides we have our annuals in 
another patch containing about 1 so sq. ft., a shrubbery patch of a half 
acre, and a rose garden 30 x 60 ft. To be sure our neighbors do not 
have so many flowers, but they all have some and our city friends come 
to the farm when they want to see flowers instead of the farm boys and 
girls going to the city to see them. 
I agree that the landscape plans given from time to time are splendid 
and we have used several of the ideas, modified of course to suit our 
needs. But some of the “commonplace farm views” are beautiful 
also. Who can say, after seeing a patch of native prairie dotted with 
wild Lilies, Blazing-stars, etc., that God’s great prairie garden is not 
fully as beautiful as any man-made plan? Here in western Iowa a 
drive along our country roads in early autumn unfolds a wonderful 
panorama of Asters in all shades of white, blue, and lavender, Gentians, 
Goldenrod, Sunflowers, Prairie Clovers, and many others. And Nature 
never makes a mistake in her plans. It is only when man must have 
more of the soil for cultivation that her work is unbalanced. 
One thing that works against the farm beautiful is the too frequent 
moving from place to place. Hardy plants must have time to become 
acclimated and fixed in a new location. This spring we had a Fern 
come up, the root of which has been lying in the ground for several 
years without growing. It takes patience, labor, and love of the beau¬ 
tiful to have a real garden, and I claim our country folk, prairie folk 
have these in as large a measure as anybody.— Clara Blume, Denison, 
Iowa. 
Heaths and Salvias in California Gardens 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
N THE Garden Magazine for July reference is made to California 
conditions in several of the articles and I am taking the libertv 
again of stating just what species of certain genera are grown in Cali¬ 
fornia to any extent. 
Mr. E. H. Wilson states, referring to Ericas or the Heaths, “ In Cali¬ 
fornia the few species remaining thrive luxuriantly out of doors etc”. 
I am pleased to inform you that Ericas represented by quite a few 
species are now grown extensively throughout California. They are es¬ 
pecially adapted to the Bay region but some species will do very well in 
the interior and in the Los Angeles district. They have this good quality: 
i. e. most of the species bloom in winter or very early spring. E. mel- 
anthera, with rosy pink tubular flowers is now grown extensively for 
cutting. Several carloads of blooms and small potted plants are shipped 
annually to Eastern sections for the Christmas trade. The Mediterran¬ 
ean Heath, gobular in shape, is more formal in appearance, and is ex¬ 
cellent for planting near entrances to houses. Two of the most beautiful 
forms are E. persoluta alba with pure white, and E. persoluta rosea with 
rose-colored flowers. In addition to these species I have in my own 
garden E. regerminans, somewhat similar to E. melanthera, but with dark 
pink flowers, and E. lusitanica Veitchii with pure white flowers. Other 
dwarf species, somewhat tender, include E. Wilmoreana, E. cylindrica, 
E. lusitanica (Spanish Heath), two creeping forms E. carnea and E. 
vagans (Cornish Heath). Other species including hybrid forms are 
continually being introduced. 
Mr. Hamblin, in “New Mid-Season Perennials” laments the fact 
that Carl Purdy has ceased gathering seeds of California wild flowers. 
Mr. Purdy specializes in many bulbous and perennial native California 
plants; Mr. Theodore Payne of Los Angeles has specialized for a num¬ 
ber of years in seeds of California wild flowers, and now has seeds of 
quite a number of different kinds in stock. He also has a splendid 
collection of California native shrubs. 
The blue-flowered Salvias make a splendid showing in California. 
It is the opinion of most gardeners who have grown Salvias that S. 
farinacea has somewhat superior qualities to S. azurea, although both 
are lovely plants. Last year 1 had quite a stand of S. sclarea, which 
produces enormous bunches of purplish-white flowers. 
Speaking of Thalictrum—it seems strange that we have never appro¬ 
priated some of our own native species (except the native species T. 
polycarpum, grown by Theodore Payne). The only Thalictrums 
grown in California gardens are introduced forms. 
This summer I sent to Sutton & Sons, England, for the seeds of a 
number of perennials new to California gardens for the purpose of 
introducing them. 1 shall be pleased to give you the results of this 
experiment, from time to time.—A. M. Woodman, Calif. 
—In one of our articles we said that Crevillea Thelemanniana was 
in cultivation in California and we have also given them credit for the 
Callistemons, Hakeas, and Melaleucas. That these plants play a more 
important part in their gardens than we are aware of is all to the good, 
but this does not alter the fact that where they have one Australian 
tree, shrub or herb they might very well enjoy fifty did the Federal 
Horticultural Board exercise a more liberal policy.—E. H. Wilson. 
