76 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
August, 1912 
Y our water garden may even be one of the 
pottery jars of which there is a great variety 
smaller if surface space is limited. Where 
a specimen plant can be grown it will eas¬ 
ily cover one hundred square feet, but 
smaller plants in smaller boxes will give 
excellent results for general purposes. 
The hardy Nymphaeas may be planted in 
April, according to the earliness or lateness 
of the season, which may vary consider¬ 
ably. The season should be a little ad¬ 
vanced so as to assure immediate growth, 
otherwise mutilated roots are liable to de¬ 
cay, but they may be planted any time dur¬ 
ing the growing season until August. It 
is not safe to plant Nelumbiums before 
May and if the season is cold and late 
don’t plant before the 15th of May, and 
if deferred later use pot-grown plants 
which may be planted in June and July. 
Tender Nymphaeas may be planted from 
the middle of May to the middle of June, 
according to locality and conditions of the 
season. In the neighborhood of New 
York the end of May is about right; with 
Victorias the end of June in unheated 
ponds. 
Have boxes, tubs or other receptacles 
filled with soil, surfaced with sand, fine 
or coarse, and water about four or six 
inches over top of box and warmed by 
action of sun a few days previous to 
planting. Have everything in readiness to 
facilitate planting when plants are ready. 
For the amateur who has only a small 
garden and wants to start a water garden, 
a few tubs make a very satisfactory be¬ 
ginning. Select a sunny spot and if possi¬ 
ble have something for a background, tall 
plants or shrubs. Place the tubs in two 
rows, three in back and two in front, in¬ 
tercepting each other. Fill the tubs two- 
thirds full of good soil as before recom¬ 
mended, covering with sand and filling 
with water. The tubs should be sunk 
in the ground and the space between tubs 
Some little corner of the garden should afford space for some of the many varieties of nymphaea 
planted naturally. Such a pool as this may be kept supplied from the garden hose 
The elaborate fountain designs of yesterday are being supplanted by the more graceful and 
satisfying form of an intermittent jet rising from the pool 
vases. The Indian varieties are equally if 
not more serviceable, as they open their 
flowers at night and continue open until 
near noon the following day, and are more 
valuable, as the beauty of the flowers is 
enhanced by artificial light, whereas the 
African being day bloomers close at night 
and again blue flowers are not good colors 
under artificial light. 
Water lilies grow naturally in ponds, 
usually in low ground where the washing 
of fine soil, silt and humus accumulate 
what may be considered rich soil and 
plenty of it. Most ponds to hold water 
must have a stiff, retentive clayey bottom 
or subsoil. From this we may infer that 
under artificial conditions a rich soil is 
imperative for the plants to grow in. On 
this point many failures may be recorded. 
I have seen many plants starved to death 
in artificial ponds where, had the plants 
had ample root room, they would have 
been a grand success. The best kind of 
soil is a loamy sod composted with cow 
manure. What would be considered good 
rose soil is good for water lilies; if such is 
not at hand use the next best to be pro¬ 
cured. Do not use fresh manure; it will 
cause fermentation; neither peat or leaf- 
mould, except with heavy soil; neither 
take mud or the like from an old pond. 
Soil 'that is inclined to be heavy, rich in 
humus and well-rotted cow manure is the 
proper kind to use, and where such 
manure is not at hand the commercial 
sheep and cow manure may be used, but 
not as freely as the other, say one part 
to four; the other one to three. 
As to the quantity of soil for a single 
plant, I should recommend four to ten 
cubic feet. The hardy varieties are not 
as vigorous as the tender varieties and 
for one plant of tender kinds I would use 
a box about 3x4x1 feet. One a trifle 
