HOUSE AND GARDEN 
November, 
1910 
305 
a few shrubs about your home; and, con¬ 
sidering the number of years they last, 
the expense is practically nothing. Hyd¬ 
rangea paniculata, var. grand Mora and 
some of the other hardy shrubs should 
receive your attention this month. There 
is no mystery about planting them. Get 
a few. The same may be said of the 
hardy lilies — especially the Japanese li¬ 
lies ( auratums) ; they cost little or noth¬ 
ing, require no care, except planting, and 
are a joy forever. 
There's a big chance that some spot 
about your house would be improved one 
hundred per cent, by a few dollars spent 
for grading or draining. Don’t put it off 
till next spring, for it's better done now. 
A few ordinary land-tile, to be had from 
the masons’ supply house, or even from 
the lumber yard, laid without cement, end 
to end, under any part ct your land upon 
which the water settles, will do wonders 
toward making it earlier in the spring. 
Then any dead wood in your shrubs, 
vines or trees should be cut out. If the 
branch was a big one, paint over the stub, 
which should be close against the trunk, 
and kept smooth. Rake up all trash, dead 
leaves, etc., but instead of burning them, 
put them where they will rot down, and 
they may be mixed with old lime, rotted 
sod or anything else that will rot and 
serve as manure next spring. 
Remember that it costs you nothing 
to make your grounds beautiful on paper; 
and that the more planning and studying 
you do, the further what you spend will 
go. The florists’ and nurserymen’s cata¬ 
logues are not expensive and contain lots 
of good stuff. Send for a few, and study 
up on the subject of making your home 
a Place Individual. You can’t do any¬ 
thing that will give you in the end more 
satisfaction than this. 
Keeping Azaleas in Flower Indoors 
L IKE many others I have found it al¬ 
most impossible to keep azaleas and 
rose plants in flower, in good condition 
while in the house. I have had many 
wonderfully beautiful plants, but the re¬ 
sult has always been the same until I had 
about given up all hope of ever being 
able to keep them in the house. By good 
chance I happened into a greenhouse 
while they were potting azaleas, and my 
difficulties were quickly solved by the gar¬ 
dener. As a practical demonstration he 
showed me an azalea plant. I noticed that 
the roots were in a hard, compact mass, 
quite large in proportion to the plant. 
When he put the plant in the pot he 
rammed the earth about the roots with 
a stick. Not with gentle taps, but with 
considerable strength. “These plants,” 
he said, “have been thoroughly soaked 
before potting, otherwise it would take a 
long watering to enable the water to reach 
the roots. Improper watering is the cause 
of azaleas and roses failing to do well in 
the house. Sprinkling on water every 
day may answer for some plants, but you 
can readily see that with an azalea, in its 
The only way to gci water to the compact 
roots of azaleas is to soak the whole pot 
occasionally in a bucket of water 
tightly packed earth, it will take some¬ 
thing more than a sprinkling to do any 
good. As a plant in full flower sometimes 
carries hundred of flowers, the amount 
of water that can be absorbed is consid¬ 
erable. Don't sprinkle your plants. Soak 
them; and do this by putting the pots in 
a pail of water and leaving them there un¬ 
til thoroughly soaked. The time to do 
this soaking is when you first receive the 
plants. Don't wait until there are indica¬ 
tions of trouble, evidenced by falling and 
discolored leaves. At such a time the 
harm will have started, but even then a 
thorough soaking will check further dam¬ 
age. If you will water your plants as 
they should be you will have no further 
trouble with them. After your plant has 
finished flowering, just pinch off all the 
old flower buds and plunge the plant in 
the ground outside during the summer 
months. Water it and keep it syringed, 
and in the fall it will be ready for another 
season.” 
I followed his advice and since that 
time I have never lost a leaf on either my 
azaleas or rose plants while in the house. 
An Erect Edging Plant 
I tWAS very much interested in the article, 
“Making the Vegetable Garden Beau¬ 
tiful” in your valuable magazine, and in for¬ 
mulating a plan for my next year’s garden 1 
write to ask what I can edge my grass paths 
with. I have sweet alyssum in my flower 
garden, but it lays over on the grass paths, 
and is very troublesome when the paths are 
mowed. Dwarf nasturtium is equally annoy¬ 
ing. It seems as though it needed an edg¬ 
ing plant that was stiff and wiry. Thanking 
you in advance for any information. 
C. B. H. 
Your objection to the use of sweet 
alyssum as an edging plant, excepting 
along a gravel or brick paved path, is a 
natural one, for it is a rather laborious 
matter to keep the plant sufficiently re¬ 
strained to keep out of the way of the 
lawn-mower. 
We would suggest that you use hardy 
candytuft (Iberis senipervirens). It is a 
perennial and nearly evergreen, growing 
about eight or ten inches high in a very 
trim and neat manner. Another variety 
which is lower is called “Little Gem.” If 
you want an annual we would suggest 
ageratum, the variety “Blanche” for white 
or “Stella Gurney” for blue. This blooms 
all summer. 
One hears a lot about the value of a compost heap, but they are too frequently more un¬ 
sightly piles of brush, plant tops, etc. On this Philadelphia suburban place a stone¬ 
walled excavation was made behind a clump of shrubbery 
