Garden Notes 
Winter Protection for Plants 
By Ellen P. Williams 
T here is much to be done in the garden before 
the winter covering is put on. One must 
take up the dahlias, gladioli and other not 
hardy bulbous roots and store in sand in a cool 
cellar after giving them a thorough drying in the sun 
and shaking off all the earth. 
Cut down the perennial and pull out all the annual 
plants and burn, as they are often filled with insects 
and plant disease. The covering of plants is prin¬ 
cipally to protect them from thawing and freezing, 
which does the real harm. 
I would like to condense the rest of my subject 
into: “Oh, just cover up everything with manure, 
leaves and stable litter.” But one must do this 
with care, for some things like to be entirely covered 
and others wish to show their green tops all winter. 
The latter, such as hollyhock and foxglove, must 
have their protection of leaves or manure tucked 
around under their leaves and not on top, as they 
will dampen and rot off if their crowns are covered. 
The galladia cannot stand any manure. I would 
let the plants that stay green all winter, such as 
sweet william, rock cress and basket of gold, show 
a little and breathe in the open air. All iris love a 
generous covering of manure and dead leaves. 
Bulbs like a covering of two or three inches of 
stable litter, for leaves pack too closely and may 
smother the bulb. 
I would wait until the first very cold snap to cover 
the iris and bulbs, when the mice and moles have 
made their winter quarters elsewhere and will not 
settle among them to feast all winter. 
If your box or evergreen hedges are exposed to 
heavy winds and winter sunshine, put up boards on 
the north and west sides. Snow melting and freez¬ 
ing on their boughs will burn them brown. 
In covering the roses, I think it really does no 
good to give each one a coat of straw, unless very 
tender roses. I would cut a foot or so off the high 
ones to prevent them from being whipped by the wind 
which would loosen them at the roots. Put around 
the hybrid perpetual roses a dressing of stable ma¬ 
nure. The hybrid teas or everblooming roses should 
have, besides the manure, a foot or more of stable 
litter around them. 
Snapdragon and wall flowers can be protected 
by a covering of stable litter and boards. 
If you have a cold frame to carry tender plants 
through the winter, you will be able to save many 
seedlings that are too small to stand the cold. The 
cardinal plant is better for this protection. Lilies 
like a mulching of leaves. 
Beautify the Dark Corners 
By Robert H. Sterling 
I T is the exception, if about the house or yard 
there is not one or more dark corners—corners 
where direct sunlight never enters, and it is 
often a problem when planning the spring work in 
the garden, how to prevent such places from detract¬ 
ing from its general appearance. Without the 
sun-rays it is out of the question to grow flowers, 
but by a little effort and attention these dark, shaded 
corners can be converted into the most attractive 
features of the yard. In the garden of the forest 
there are many sunless nooks, and when the city or 
suburban dweller rambles therein on a summer day 
it is just such places as are sought. They are cool, 
romantic woodland dells crowded with mosses, ferns, 
lichens and many similar plants. 
With a little assistance the places about the 
garden where “nothing will grow” can be made 
almost—but not quite—as attractive to the eye as 
the natural dells which are so eagerly hunted. Go to 
one of these natural, sunless gardens of the woods 
and gather a number of choice fern plants. You 
will find here probably some vigorous plants of the 
coarse fern, or brake, whose fronds are oftentimes 
four and even six feet long. These will make a very 
effective background. 
Take them up with their full mass of roots 
and allow the black, spongy mold in which they 
grew to cling to the roots. Wrap the roots care¬ 
fully to protect them from the light and to pre¬ 
vent, as far as possible, the evaporation of the moist¬ 
ure; soak them thoroughly in water and set in the 
ground as near as possible to the depth they origi¬ 
nally grew. After transplanting flood heavily with 
water; continue to supply plenty of water- dots of it 
—and there will be developed as fine specimens of 
ferns as grow naturally in the forests. 
In the woods where the ferns are gathered, there 
will most likely be found an abundance of flat 
stones covered with silver-gray lichens. If a liberal 
supply of these be taken also, a beautiful back¬ 
ground can be made tor the tiny dell —the heretofore 
dark, damp and sunless corner which has been a 
source of annoyance. 
The beauty of the corner can be enhanced addi¬ 
tionally by hanging a bucket or pot above the bed of 
ferns, in which should be set a trailing fern. Pierce 
the bottom of the bucket or pot with extremely small 
holes, so that the water will merely trickle out, or, at 
the most, fall in a very fine spray. Let the hanging 
position be such that the water will drip on the fern 
bed, and while watering the fern in the pot the same 
water is utilized for the bed plants. 
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