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Conducted by W. C. EGAN 
CLIMBING NASTURTIUMS 
I am thinking of using the climbing nasturtiums for covering 
some arches over a garden path. The arches are seven feet high. 
Will they climb tall enough ? M. P. H. 
Yes, if you will keep the leaders tied as fast as they gain a foot 
or so. When once started, if in a sunny situation, it will keep 
you quite busy. 
DWARF PETUNIAS 
The enticing and confusing seed catalogues are now in and as 
each succeeding description portrays qualifications superior to all 
others, one is bewildered and led to exclaim “How happy could I 
be with either were t’other dear charmer away.” I want to grow 
some dwarf petunias, and, having had no experience with them, 
request you to advise me what seeds to get. W. J. M. 
You do not mention the color you desire, but are naturally 
limited to white, pink and different shades of red petunias. 
I think that “Rosy Morn,” lately introduced, is one of the 
handsomest of the group for bedding out. The plant is com¬ 
paratively dwarf, a free bloomer belonging to the small flowered 
section. The color is a brilliant rosy pink, with a white throat. 
“Snowball” is a fine dwarf white, and the old “Inimitable” with 
its cherry red star on a white ground is good. 
Howard’s “Star” petunia, while growing taller, where it can 
gain support, is a good bedder, as its long stems lie on the ground 
and send up erect, short flowering branches. The ground color 
is a rich velvety maroon on which is depicted a rosy white five 
pointed star. 
SUITABLE SOIL FOR A LAWN 
I am about finishing a new cottage and wish to have a fine grass 
lawn around it. I allowed the contractor to fill the earth excavated 
on top of what seemed to be good top soil so that the finished grade 
will be about 18 or 24 inches above the old top soil. The earth 
excavated is mostly sand from serpentine stone, with some red clay 
in it. The reason I allowed the contractor to fill the earth over it, 
was to retain the good soil on this steep slope. Was I right in 
doing this ? Is there any disadvantage in having the top soil so 
far beneath the surface to get a good lawn ? What kind of ever¬ 
green trees or shrubs will thrive well in such sandy and clayey soil ? 
Reader. 
All top soils, if not denuded, are generally in a proper condition 
for plant growth, having had the action of air and frost, and have 
been enriched by a deposit of humus from decaying vegetation. 
The fertile layer seldom exceeds a foot in depth, six to eight inches 
probably being the average unless the soil is an alluvial deposit, in 
which case it may be much deeper. As you have a “steep slope” 
your surface soil is probably not very deep. If you wanted to save 
the expense of a top dressing of good soil, you should have had 
some six or more inches taken off from that part to be covered, 
returning it to the top when the excavated soil was in place. Your 
best plan now is to scrape off six inches and use it further down 
the slope, then put on a thin layer of well-rotted cow manure and 
cover it all with good soil. Filled in soil settles and perhaps you 
need not scrape any soil away, but place the manure and good 
soil over it as it now stands. 
A combination of sand and clay generally makes a good loamy 
soil, and most any of the ornamental trees and shrubs will grow in 
it. If you are in doubt, see what your neighbors are having success 
with and choose accordingly, or consult some reliable nuseryman 
who is familiar with your neighborhood. The following will 
grow in a very poor sandy soil: Prunus maritime1, beach plum; 
Prunus putnila, dwarf sand plum; Tamarix, three varieties; 
Spircea salicifolia, willow leaved spiraea; Myrica cerifera, candle- 
berry, wax myrtle; Colutea arborescens , bladder senna; dwarf 
sumachs; Amorpha fragrans; Amorpha fruticosa, false indigo; 
Rosa rugosa, Japanese rose; Symphoncarpus vulgaris, coral berry; 
scarlet maple, white birch, red pine, Scotch pine, pitch pine. 
HARDY ANNUALS REQUIRING LITTLE CARE 
I have a large flower bed in full sun on a sloping lawn bordering 
a roadway, and desire to plant in it some hardy annual that will 
require but little care, and bloom all summer. I don’t want one 
that will be ragged looking towards fall. I have generally grown 
the Tom Thumb nasturtium, but want a change. 
Mrs. E. L. B. 
There are several flowering plants that would do well in the 
situation you describe. One of the annuals most easily grown 
that will flower until frost is the Sanvitaha procumbens, flore 
pletio. Sow the seeds as soon as the ground is fairly warm, say 
May 15th, in rows one foot apart, eventually thinning them out to 
a foot apart, or sow in “spots,” each “spot” a foot apart, and then 
thin out to one strong plant. Those left will soon cover the ground 
and present a mass of handsome foliage, profusely dotted with 
interesting, small, double, rich yellow flowers. Some will come 
semi-double and exhibit a black center when they somewhat 
resemble miniature black-eyed Susans. 
These plants will bloom all summer and shed their faded flowers 
so deftly that one is seldom seen, thus keeping the plants always 
looking neat and tidy. The dense foliage, which remains fresh 
looking until the last, crowds out all weeds, except a few stronger 
ones easily pulled out, which with the fact that it requires no 
staking, and where the drainage is good seems to do as well during 
a dry season as a wet one, makes it easily grown and easily cared 
for. 
If you have a greenhouse where you can start Vinca rosea, the 
Madagascar periwinkle, after the middle of February, growing 
them on in pots, and planting out when all danger of frost is past, 
you will have a plant that will bloom until frost and always look 
neat. It is a dwarf plant, the individual flower resembling that 
of the hardy garden phlox. The variety alba, being white with a 
pink eye, is my favorite. The bedding lobelias, especially 
Lobelia temour, L. neterophylla major, and some others, grown in 
the same manner as recommended for the vinca, will bloom all 
summer and give a fine coloring of blue. 
Zinnias are long bloomers where they do well, but their faded 
flowers require removal. 
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