a 
ARISTOCRATS OF pie ae GARDEN 


affords protection against harsh winds and severe frosts. Often a plant which 
may be injured by a hard frost in an open exposed situation, will suffer little 
or no damage if given the protection of a wall. 
HARDINESS OF PLANTS 
We have always been reluctant to assert flatly that such and such a plant 
will stand just so many degrees of frost. The degree of cold a plant will 
endure without damage depends upon various circumstances and conditions, 
such as the health and vigor of the plant in question, its age, the nature of the 
soil in which it is growing, whether heavy or light, well-drained, or holding 
excessive moisture (a very damaging factor in cold weather) the situation of 
the plant, whether it is protected by proximity to other plants or trees, build- 
ings or walls, etc., and whether there is a free circulation of air or not, also 
a very important consideration. Indeed, a plant which may be seriously in- 
jured by low temperatures in an unheated glasshouse where the air is still 
and dead, may be uninjured outside where there is a free circulation of air. 
The shelter provided by buildings and walls will often save a plant from seri- 
ous injury. 
Where there is reason to suppose that plants have been damaged by an 
extra cold night, playing a hose on the foliage and branches as early as pos- 
sible the morning after, will often take out the frost and save the plant from 
severe injury. With many plants in California it is the combination of wet 
feet and low temperatures which is dangerous. A plant which will survive 
hard frost in a free, well-drained soil is in much greater hazard in a cold, 
heavy water-logged soil. 
Ordinarily speaking, tender plants, after they have reached the age of 
two or three years and have developed some hard wood, will stand consider- 
ably lower temperatures than will very young plants. It is a simple matter 
to partially cover a young and tender plant during very cold weather by put- 
ting some straw or brush or even weeds around the main trunk and branches, 
or by covering it with burlap or paper. 
It is difficult to lay down hard and fast rules, but, by and large, the 
comparatively frost free areas are in the coastal regions, on elevated ground, 
in the foothills, etc., and it is the low lying areas which are usually the most 
adversely affected. Itis always a wise precaution to discontinue heavy water- 
ing of tender plants with the approach of cool weather, so they may have a 
chance to harden up, before any real cold comes. 
FERTILIZERS 
Many of our soils in Southern California are deficient in the proper nu- 
tritive qualities essential to the growing of fine plants and too many gardens 
are not regularly and properly supplied with the right fertilizer. It is easy to 
tell at a glance those gardens which are properly fed, and those which are 
starved. While there is a certain expense attached to the purchase of fer- 
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