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House & Garden 
THE IMPORTANCE OF FALL GARDENING 
Autumn Work Is Essential In Any Garden 
IVhere Perennials and Bulbs Are Used 
T HE true test of a gardener’s enthu¬ 
siasm is contained in his attitude 
toward gardening in the fall. Any 
apathetic amateur can be brought to a state 
of ecstasy by the first faint breath of spring 
and sustained in that condition during the 
colorful garden duties of summer; but if 
autumn comes to find him resting on his 
laurels with the thought: Oh, let nature take 
its course now 7 ! then you may know that his 
enthusiasm is far from running over. For 
just as religion, if it be practiced at all, is 
something to be practiced seven days in the 
week, gardening, if one prides oneself as a 
gardener, is something to be engaged in 
twelve months in the year. 
\ ND it is not only in order to spread 
E\. garden interest over the whole year 
that we urge at this time an apprecia¬ 
tion of the value of the fall season. There 
are many intensely practical reasons and 
many extremely important ones why we 
should get in a lot of garden w 7 ork at this 
time. The tw 7 o principal tilings are plant¬ 
ing, and preparation for winter protection. 
On the positive side, as has been indicated 
on the opposite page, there are quite a few 
plants, especially among the herbaceous 
stock, that from which to get successful re¬ 
sults, must be planted in the fall. On the 
negative side, and a just as important fall 
observation if we are to prevent failures, 
there are others that must not be set out 
until spring. 
T HE peony, as one of the most impor¬ 
tant of the herbaceous plants, is a 
splendid example of a fall planting 
subject. Its heavy tuberous roots must make 
some growth and become well established 
long before its blooming season. If it is 
not set out until spring it is futile to expect 
a flowering until the following summer. As 
the most general means of propagation is by 
division of these large tuberous roots, care 
must be taken to avoid a disastrous weaken¬ 
ing of the strain by improper methods. For 
the peony is today one of the few altogether 
sturdy, disease-resisting perennials, and it 
should be kept so. Before dividing them for 
fall transplanting the leaves and stems 
should be cut to the ground and the soil 
scraped away, exposing the roots. The most 
always tangled mass of tubers should be cut 
with a sharp knife, avoiding unnecessary 
mutilation of the fleshy roots, and divisions 
should be made of from three to five eyes, 
or buds, each. The private and commercial 
practice that, W'hether for profit or economy, 
goes in for one-eyed divisions! cannot be too 
strongly condemned, as it is bound to result 
eventually in weakling strains susceptible 
to and encouraging diseases that will affect 
all peonies. 
I T is the deep rooting perennials that, as 
a rule, prefer fall planting. The two 
notable exceptions are chrysanthemums 
and Japanese windflowers, which flower so 
late in the fall that there is little or no 
strength left in their roots to allow 7 them to 
become established before winter sets in. 
Deep rooting plants, too, are not so easily 
heaved from the ground by the action of the 
frost; although—and it might as w 7 ell be 
said in this connection—this latter trouble 
is not apt to occur if the beds are well 
mulched down w 7 ith dried leaves as soon as 
heavy frosts begin. 
A LL the spring flowering bulbs, from 
the tiny snowdrops to the towering 
tulips and narcissi, should be planted 
in the fall. Any time after six weeks in 
advance of the first killing frost—if it is at 
all possible accurately to estimate that—is 
the time to begin this delectable task. And 
when we say delectable we mean delectable. 
For there is no other practical garden duty 
that appeals so strongly to the artist in every 
one of us—that is, if we think of these 
plants as early spring splashes of color to be 
scattered about or naturalized in clumps over 
the lawn, under trees and in odd corners, 
rather than as prim subjects for stiffly proper 
display. Here is a fall planting job that is 
more play for the imagination than any other. 
T HERE is a curious notion about that 
roses should be planted only in the 
spring. As a matter of fact we may 
expect a greater profusion of bloom if the 
dormant stock is planted at any time from 
October to December than if it is planted 
at any other time of the year. Just as in 
the case of most of the herbaceous peren¬ 
nials, roses will extend the growth of their 
tiny rootlets and make themselves at home 
in the fall, and by doing this will be in a 
position to put more strength into their 
blooms and foliage the following spring. 
The beds should be prepared early and al¬ 
lowed to settle for several weeks before the 
roses are planted. Then, if anything hap¬ 
pens to delay the planting, a mulch of dried 
leaves should be scattered over the ground 
to prevent freezing. When the plants arrive 
this litter may be removed. 
A LL the lilies may be, and the Madon¬ 
na lily should be, planted in the fall. 
The Madonna, unlike many of the 
varieties, is not stem-rooting, and for this 
reason it needs the accustomed repose of 
several months in the ground before it is 
called upon to do its gorgeous share in the 
decoration of the garden. It should be 
planted with its splendid foil, the larkspur, 
sharing the same clump in the border in w 7 ell 
knit confusion; and as the larkspur, with 
its large, heavy roots, is a thing most adapt¬ 
ed to fall planting, the arrangement of the 
two comes conveniently together. 
O UITE a number of the annuals may 
be sown in the fall to splendid advan¬ 
tage. It is much less of a task, after 
all, to put these seeds directly in the border. 
It saves planting them in hotbeds and in¬ 
doors in the early spring and the results are 
just as successful; for those that do not ac¬ 
tually germinate before frost will begin their 
growth with the first sign of warmth after 
winter. Among the annuals which may 
safely be sown now are sweet peas, poppies, 
pansies, love-in-mist, candytuft, sweet alys- 
sum, snapdragons, calendula, cornflowers, 
clarkia, annual larkspur and China pinks. 
It is unwise, of course, to plant the seeds in 
ground that is too wet or too cold. If the 
season is so far advanced that frost seems 
imminent before you have had a chance to 
get at this part of your garden work it would 
be well to have the border spaces in which 
you are going to do your planting covered 
with enough litter to keep them warm. Then 
when you have removed the litter and put 
in the seeds cover the beds with a light 
mulch of finely pulverized, well rotted ma¬ 
nure. This will act both as a protection 
and as a stimulation, unless, with a sense 
of too great generosity for your seedlings, you 
make your mulch too heavy; in which case 
the young beginnings will inevitably be 
choked and smothered before they have 
gained sufficient strength to fight their way 
through this rich blanket. Whole borders 
of annuals may be planted in this way, ar¬ 
ranging the groups of seeds exactly as you 
would arrange the clumps of potted or field 
grown plants or seedlings. In the spring it 
will be necessary, of course, to do a certain 
amount of thinning out. 
np HE whole business of fall planting 
A might be summed up in this way: 
that (a) it relieves the congestion of 
work that comes during the spring season 
when every growing thing seems to shoot 
forth all at once, calling for some sort of 
immediate attention; that ( b ) with the ex¬ 
ceptions listed on the opposite page, it offers 
more favorable growing conditions; that (r) 
it provides a period during which the plant 
may become well established and thus keeps 
the shock from coming at the critical time 
immediately before it begins its foliation 
and its blooming, and, finally, that it pins 
the gardener’s attention down on his beds 
and borders and lawns at a time when he is 
tempted to let things slide and thus not only 
neglect vitally important duties, but, what 
is even more essential to gardening as a 
pleasure, to miss out on probably the most 
interesting season the garden affords. 
