HOUSE AND GARDEN 
September. 1910 
175 
There is not a lovelier sight in the garden than a bank of pink 
Phlox against a grey wall. Plan for one next season. 
Growing Watercress at Home 
W E have a stream running through our 
country place where we spend a 
great deal of our time in winter as well as 
in summer. We thought we would like to 
plant Watercress in it, so thought you 
could give us some idea as to how to go 
about it. D. G. S. 
you did not take into 
account this season. 
One of House & Gar¬ 
den's readers tells u_ 
of a bit of gray cement 
wall in his garden, 
against which he plant¬ 
ed a mass of pink 
Phlox which blos¬ 
somed forth to delight 
the eyes of everyone 
who looked upon it. 
Indeed gray and pink 
is one of the loveliest 
garden color combina¬ 
tions to plan for, and 
where so much gray 
concrete and gray plas¬ 
ter is being used in 
constructing walls and 
outbuildings, you could not choose a hap¬ 
pier color than that of pink flowers and 
soft greens to harmonize with it. 
These are some of the patterns of plant sticks 
which the ingenious artists of Germany 
have devised for gardens 
toots have to be transplanted with the 
greatest care and do not permit of any 
delay that would cause them to dry up. 
Generally speaking, you will find that 
three-year-old crowns are seldom a suc¬ 
cess. Replant your bed with one-year-old 
roots next spring. 
Making Garden Paths 
\\ 7 E have a lot of broken bricks, stone 
’ ' and other material in a rubbish heap 
near our place, and I am writing to ask you 
if it could not be utilized in any way in mak¬ 
ing garden paths. L. M. S. 
Any large seedsman can supply you 
with Watercress seed. Take a handful 
of this seed and scatter it along the mar¬ 
gins of the water course in moist spots or 
pools of shallow water. Another way is 
to get some branches of the plants, which 
must be freshly cut, and scatter in shal¬ 
low places, fastening them in the moist 
soil or in the shallow bottom of a pool or 
ditch. Sandy soil is the best for cress 
planting and this is always to be found in 
the bed of streams. As Watercress is a 
hardy perennial, it will spread very rap¬ 
idly, and if the stream flows constantly 
through the winter and covers the plants 
there will be no trouble in its getting on 
from season to season. 
Interesting Plant Sticks 
G ERMAN gardeners are always care¬ 
ful to make their gardens interest¬ 
ing as well as merely beautiful. They are 
not content with mere strips of bamboo 
for plant sticks, but here and there 
through their gardens place quaint little 
sticks for Pinks and other flowers to be 
tied to for support. These plant sticks, 
here pictured, have little flat painted sil¬ 
houetted birds, houses, animals and fig¬ 
ures cut out to decorate their tops. They 
are especially attractive when used in¬ 
doors with potted plants, and, with a lit¬ 
tle ingenuity and a pot of paint there is 
no reason anyone should not make then. 
Planning Garden Color 
\\7 HEN you are looking around your 
’ ’ garden this fall preparatory to 
bettering it next year by a retrospect of 
this year’s appearance, bear in mind the 
value of color schemes, which perhaps 
It is very probable 
that in lifting the As¬ 
paragus roots there 
was some careless¬ 
ness in their hand¬ 
ling. Three-year-old 
Did you plant Nicotiana this year? If not look around and see 
where you will wish to have it next season 
You may utilize this material to a depth 
of four inches as a base for garden paths, 
over which two inches of coarse gravel, 
well mixed should be pressed. On top of 
that spread fine gravel to a thickness of 
one inch. This should be carefully raked 
and well rolled, giving you a hard, dry, 
clean walk. 
During September it will be well to 
think of the plants you will be wanting 
for the house in winter time. If you have 
a greenhouse this is the season to secure 
without delay: Primulas, Cyclamens, Sal¬ 
vias, Solanums and Pelargoniums. 
Watch your Magnolias during the dry 
weather, especially if it is their first sea¬ 
son. Keep them well watered and place a 
mulch of leaves or straw around them to 
keep the sun from drawing the moisture 
out of the soil around the tree stems. 
Asparagus Beds 
L AST spring I planted several varieties 
of three-year-old Asparagus. Its 
growth was anything but a success, plants 
coming up in a very 
strange meagre manner. 
1 cannot imagine what 
the trouble could have 
been, as the bed was 
properly made, and the 
soil was ordinarily good. 
Can you suggest any 
possible reason for fail¬ 
ure of this bed? I do 
not find any grub worms. 
N. R. V. 
Flowers for Evening Decoration 
W HEN selecting flowers for the din¬ 
ner table or for other decorative 
uses under the conditions of artificial light, 
bear in mind the fact that all yellow and 
blue flowers appear much paler and rather 
“dead” by artificial light, while white flow¬ 
ers, and the brilliant hued flowers stand 
out with more “snap.” On the other hand, 
the soft green foliage appears to greater 
advantage under artificial light than does 
the very dark green foliage, though bright 
greens show up far better under these 
conditions. 
