HOUSE AND GARDEN 
114 
October. 
I 9°9 
Meleagris and it is blood brother to the old-fashioned crown im¬ 
perial that is so attractive but smells so “most awful vile.” 
The variety Meleagris lacks the latter unpleasant attribute 
and naturalizes very readily in the right situation. It must have 
the congenial conditions however—which means moist though 
well drained soil, and partial shade. 
Curiously enough the common native irises have never been 
naturalized to any extent, so far; yet the exquisite color of the 
blue varieties—the larger, and the slender blue flag — is so vividly 
fefreshing as it gleams forth from meadow, open thicket, 
roadside and boggy underbrush, in the localities where they 
grow in wild luxuriance, that it is an inspiration to’tltebeholder. 
Irises do not by any 
means require damp or 
swampy land, the little 
Iris verna^- lilac, some¬ 
times white, and yellow — 
being native to woody 
hillsides. Iris versicolor, 
which is the common flag, 
may prefer moist places 
but it thrives perfectly in 
ordinary garden soil. 
The yellow European flag 
has become naturalized in 
New York, Massachusetts 
and New Jersey and 
though at home it grows 
in marshland, it does not 
seem to be so particular 
here. Irises are curious 
plants which have a way 
of refuting popular no¬ 
tions about what they 
like and what they do not 
like, and one can only be 
sure that a species will not 
grow in a given spot by 
trying it there and having 
it fail. The bright yellow 
Iris arenaria should be 
chosen for distinctly dry 
soils, and the mountain 
variety from North Caro¬ 
lina — Iris cristma —which 
has been tested as far 
north as northern Ver¬ 
mont. I his is blue and 
fragrant. 
Lilies can hardly be 
naturalized in as broad a sense as snowdrops or Narcissi, yet there 
are some varieties which ought always to be planted among 
shrubbery thickets or along half shaded woodland borders. The 
wild yellow meadow lily— Lilium Canadense — and the white 
trumpet lily — Lilium longiflorum —are both good and different 
enough to give sufficient variety. Their fragrance is not the 
least of their charms. 
One autumn-flowering variety I must include here and 
that is the “autumn crocus” or colchicum. This funny little 
thing turns the cart before the horse by blossoming in September 
without any leaves and sending up leaves in spring without any 
blossoms. Its colors range from white to purple and there is a 
yellow form but 1 doubt if it is in the market. Colchicum bulbs 
should be planted thickly in grass that is not mown very often, 
nor before July first. It should be cut short before their blooming 
period however, else you will miss them entirely for they are not tall. 
And now a word about getting these masses and colonies that 
we have been talking about, into the ground in natural patches. 
Of course anything like regularity must be guarded against so 
thoroughly that it simply cannot occur—and this isn’t easy 
always, for things have a way of getting into rows when we least 
expect it that is most astonishing and exasperating. 
My way is to take all the bulbs to be planted in a pail — or 
as many as the pail will hold — and turn the pail upside down over 
the spot to be planted at a good height from the ground—say on a 
level with the shoulder. The bulbs, falling this far, scatter if 
the pail is inverted quickly, so that they lay finally in a group 
that is thicker at the center and runs off at the edges, with here 
and there odd ones that have gone farther than the rest. Plant 
them exactly where they 
lay; if there are open 
spots so much the better 
—there will be if you have 
held the pail high enough. 
If you are mixing two 
kinds take the larger 
bulbs first and then the 
smaller. This gives the 
latter a chance to roll in 
and around the others just 
as they would naturally 
spread under ground in 
the process of growth. 
Bulbs are generally 
planted too near the sur¬ 
face rather than too deep. 
It is not possible to give 
a hard and fast rule, but 
ordinarily cover to twice 
the depth of the bulb it¬ 
self, unless otherwise 
specified in the catalogue 
from which you make 
your selection. 
Always guard every 
kind of bulb carefully 
from coming in contact 
with manure; this is the 
only safe way. It can be 
done by putting a little 
cushion of sand down for 
the bulb to lie on and 
sprinkling sand around it 
before covering. 
For planting bulbs in 
the sod of a lawn there is 
an ingenious tool made 
from gas pipe, sharpened at one end. This is pressed down into 
the earth as deep as the bulb is to go and removes a core of sod 
and earth. T he bulb is dropped into place and the core pressed 
down upon it by a wooden plunger that moves inside the pipe. 
The work is rapid and easy and no mark whatever is left 
in the turf. 
Do not credit the statement that small sizes or “seconds” 
will produce such results as first size bulbs. A bulb is a plant 
storehouse in which an entirely new plant is formed during the 
“ripening” process, after flowering. Unless this process is com¬ 
plete — that is, unless the bulb is allowed to store up its full 
quota of nourishment and energy for the succeeding plant — that 
plant cannot possibly be as large and vigorous as it otherwise 
would. 
For general naturalizing, however, the smaller sizes will do 
because not so much is expected of them at first; they will do 
better in succeeding years, gradually attaining their full growth. 
riAME 
G?L°R 
CCteT 
PER 100 
INSTRUCnom 
Galantbus nivalis 
White 
teb-Man 
1 00 
Plant m shady lawn- 
grass can be 
mowed closely 
over these 
5 cilla Aibirica 
RluC 
Mai 
•j 5 o 
« bifolia 
Dlue 
Mai 
] 15 
» campanulafa 
Rose 
May 
z°° 
FWcissus poehcus 
White 
May 
] 00 
Tlanf in meadows, open 
woods, shrubbery bor¬ 
ders, and on stony 
banks of streams 
and pond* 
* poeticus,oroatus 
White 
Late Apt 
j Z 5 
Jonqui Is (single.) 
Ye 1 loyy 
Apr 
\ 00 
Daffodils 
Ye 1 low 
Apr 
| 5 o 
C rocus 
Mixed 
Feb -Apr 
0. 60 
Lawn or meadow 
Ornrfhogalum umbellatum 
White 
Apr-Mgy 
0 V 
Meadow or woods 
Tulip Gmriana spatbulafa 
Mixed 
May 
1.^ 
Wild spots 
Allium aurcum 
Yellow 
J one 
o v 
Uncut toreros 
by paths or 
on banks 
azureum 
Line 
Jun& 
<o°° 
Friti llaria Meleagris 
Checkered 
Apr. 
) -15 
Moist Semi-shade 
Iris versicolor 
blue 
Mfly-June 
\o°° 
Meadows, open 
thickets, road sides 
and banks 
« pseud a corns 
Ye llow 
May-dune 
10 00 
« verna 
Violet, 
Yellow 
Apr. 
« arena r/a 
Yellow 
Apr. 
* enstafa 
Blue 
May 
4 00 
Lilium Canadense. 
Vorieble 
Yellow 
J une 
rj 00 
Thi elceFs 
« longiflorum 
White 
June 
(o°° 
Shrubbery, -thickets 
What to plant, where, how, what it will cost and what you will get 
