Garden Suggestions 
Qvieries 
The Flower Garden 
CONDUCTED BY GRACE TABOR 
Author of The Landscape Gardening Book, The Garden 
Primer, Old-Fashioned Gardening, etc. 
The Winter Adulch 
P to the middle of this month, bulbs 
may be planted; but not a one 
should be above ground after the fifteenth, 
for they begin to “go back” by that date, 
and deteriorate very fast. 
Until the ground freezes other garden 
material may be transplanted and shifted, 
excepting always those things which are 
not adapted to fall moving at all. All the 
stone fruits you will remember come un¬ 
der the ban ; and generally speaking, the 
very latest flowering perennials are better 
for handling in the spring, although this 
is not a hard and fast rule. 
Gather up all the fallen leaves and never 
burn a one! It is heartrending waste to 
the gardener to see the countless autumn 
leaf fires sending their smoke heaven¬ 
ward on every side, at this season; for 
autumn leaves are one of the most valu¬ 
able assets the garden has. Burned, they 
may return a trifling amount of chemical 
to the soil; but disintegrating and ming¬ 
ling with the earth in their entirety they 
are of the greatest value, physically as 
well as chemically. They make the soil 
more friable, increase its moisture-retain¬ 
ing capacity and encourage the growth of 
fine feeding rootlets, thereby making it 
possible for plants to avail themselves of 
the foods already in the soil, as well as 
adding to these foods their own small pro¬ 
portions ; yet we burn these up on every 
side — and wonder what ails the earth on 
lawn and garden plot. 
If you have more than you can use as 
mulch above lilies, on the flower beds 
generally and among the rhododendrons, 
pile them up somewhere, throw a few 
bhovelfuls of earth on to hold them down, 
and let them rot and form leaf mold. 
This is always needed in gardening opera¬ 
tions, especially in indoor work, leaf mold 
being one of the most valuable ingredients 
of potting soil. 
Leave the four-inch leaf mulch above 
the rhododendron roots in the spring, how¬ 
ever; for this is their natural covering 
when they grow wild in woods. It should 
be given them wherever they are and how¬ 
ever they may be planted — whether in 
naturalized masses or singly as specimens 
upon a lawn. 
Winter Plant Protection 
UISANCE though it is, there is no 
doubt but that winter protection is 
a very wise precaution in the latitude of 
New York. This is owing to our sum¬ 
mery January days, following all too often 
right on the heels of a severe cold snap. 
The hardiest plants in the world can¬ 
not endure this sort of “temperamental’’ 
weather, for plants cannot so rapidly ad¬ 
just themselves to different conditions. 
Other Protective Measures 
TRAW jackets are not needed, to be 
sure, on the general run of things, 
and we do not commonly plant anything 
in the way of a tree or shrub that cannot 
breast the winter unprotected; or we 
should not, anyway. But roses generally 
—that is, the garden roses classified as 
hybrid perpetuals and hybrid teas—must 
have some blanketing down if they are to 
survive the alternate heat and cold of 
northern gardens. Personally I prefer the 
appearance of the garden when the system 
of general covering is adopted in place of 
the individual jacketing which some prac¬ 
tice ; but general covering must be done 
at just the right time, and in just the 
right way, or field mice will become the 
unwelcome tenants* of the cover, and eat 
up all the plants before the winter is over. 
Rose bushes should be cut back to a 
fairly uniform height of from twenty-four 
to thirty inches; then the earth around 
them should be loosened slightly, and their 
canes bent down and covered with four 
Mulch your rhododendrons with dead leaves held 
down by branches 
inches of additional earth. This holds 
them down and protects them at the same 
time. After they are thus buried, little 
tent-like structures made by nailing two 
light boards from eight to ten inches to¬ 
gether in the form of the letter A, are set 
over each plant by some growers, to shed 
rain and snow. When these are used no 
mulch is required. 
A simpler and less unsightly protection 
-— to my taste — as well as a most certainly 
effective one, is made by enclosing the 
rose beds with little temporary fences of 
twelve-inch chicken wire and filling these 
box-like structures lightly, right up to 
their tops, with either oak or hard 
maple leaves. Corn stalks or some loose 
branches laid on top of these will hold 
them in place; and such a blanket will in¬ 
sure warmth and protection to the tend- 
erest of plants, even in the North. Do not 
use leaves that will pack and hold mois¬ 
ture during the winter, however; be care¬ 
ful to get the loose-lying kind mentioned. 
Not until about an inch of the ground 
has frozen should this protective covering 
be spread, for not until such locking up of 
their underground houses will field mice 
seek permanent winter quarters. And not 
until they have sought these, and found 
them and moved in for the winter, is it 
safe to put up anywhere such an alluring 
apartment as twelve inches of nice dry 
warm leaves make for him — least of all 
around the roses, whose tender bark 
will furnish the mice with most delicious 
winter repasts. 
Caring for Plants Under Glass 
A T this season careful attention must 
be given to plants and vegetables 
in the greenhouse or coldframes. We still 
occasionally get a bright hot day when the 
ventilation must be watched very closely 
in order that the temperature does not run 
up too high and things must be closed up 
early in the afternoon, as the houses or 
frames chill very rapidly as the sun gets 
away from the meridian. The amount of 
water required is now less than a month 
ago and more care must be taken to apply 
it only on bright mornings so that soil and 
foliage will be thoroughly dried before 
night. The cuttings which were made last 
month should be ready to pot up now, and 
for this purpose a good supply of soil 
with a little bone flour mixed through it 
should be prepared a week or two in ad¬ 
vance. 
(314) 
