Your Garden This Week [Reprint 2022 ed.] 9781978810914

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Your Garden This Week

Your Garden This Week By

BEN BLACKBURN Illustrated

with photographs by the author

CN^ew "Brunswick

Rutgers University Press 1939

COPYRIGHT I 9 3 9 BY THE TRUSTEES OF RUTGERS COLLEGE IN NEW JERSEY

PRINTED

IN

THE

UNITED

STATES

OF

AMERICA

To GRAHAM L. SCHOFIELD who loves to raise plants to watch them grow who gave the idea for this book

Preface

T

HIS book is designed to instruct amateur gardeners in the more important work to be done around the average home property during the succeeding weeks in the year. The schedule of garden work is planned especially for the northern area in which frosts are not expected after the first week in May. However, the scope of the book has been amplified as much as possible to make it adaptable to regions of more severe winters, and to some degree, of milder ones. Assigning the seasonal tasks in a home flower or landscape garden to definite weeks in the year presents many obstacles, chief of which is the wide range of variation in weather which an area may experience over a period of several years. Gardeners pursuing their hobby north of a diagonal line extending approximately through Hagerstown, Maryland, northeastward to Providence and on to Cape Cod, but with a tongue reaching northward up along the Hudson as far as Poughkeepsie, will need to make a suitable adjustment before adopting the schedule of garden work—possibly a few days, a week, or more, depending on the progress of the seasons in their region. The converse is true for gardens southward. Wherever possible, scientific names of plants have been avoided, but only to make the text clearer to beginning gardeners. Scientific names have been used when they seemed helpful in avoiding confusion. The treatvi

Preface

Vll

ment of both common and scientific names is generally in accordance with the recommendations of the American Joint Committee on Horticultural Nomenclature {Standardized Plant Names, 1923). Each separate word in the common name of a particular plant is started with a capital letter, and this is not done when general or group common names are used. As examples: Sugar Maple, Red Maple, American Holly, Arctic Chrysanthemum, Korean Chrysanthemums, Oriental Poppy, Shirley Poppies, and maples, hollies, chrysanthemums, poppies. Only the genus name in scientific names is started with a capital (Crocus sieberi, Daphne cneorum), and when Latin genus names are used as English words and given a plural by adding 5 or es, they are treated as English substantives (hydrangeas, viburnums, crocuses). When used as Latin names, they are spelled accordingly (kinds of Viburnum, species of Crocus). Thus, in the quotation of plant names, " . . . Gloryof-the-snow, Siberian Squills, winter-aconites, grapehyacinths, and most of the spring-flowering crocuses," we know that a specific kind of plant is designated by each of the first two combinations, Chionodoxa luciliae and Scilia sibirica, to give their technical names. T h e last three, however, indicate groups of several k i n d s — possibly two or three winter-aconites (Eranthis) of different kinds, two or three species of grape-hyacinths (Muscari), and perhaps half a dozen species of Crocus. Grape-hyacinths, by the way, are not true hyacinths (Hyacinthus), as every bulb enthusiast knows,

viii

Preface

so the name is written with a hyphen to show that it is really one group name (similarly: winter-aconites, Christmas-rose, and Mountain-laurel). Notes on garden operations and dates of bloom covering eight years have been the source of some of the week by week outline, and these have been amplified from the weekly news release, Garden Science, by the Agricultural Extension Service of the New Jersey State College of Agriculture. Mr. Amzi C. McLean of the Extension Service has been the most regular contributor to Garden Science in his column, Your Garden This Week, and in other articles. These have been printed in New Jersey newspapers for the past nine years, and they have given their title to this book. Occasional articles for Garden Science prepared in their special fields by Drs. Charles H. Connors, Clyde C. Hamilton, and Howard B. Sprague of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station and by Dr. Richard P. White, formerly of the Experiment Station and College staff, have proved valuable sources of material. I am also indebted to Dr. Cynthia Westcott of Glen Ridge, New Jersey, for the verification gained (along with much pleasure) from her unique and valuable book, The Plant Doctor, for the limited treatment of plant diseases and insects in these chapters on general garden work. BEN

New Brunswick, New Jersey December, 1938

BLACKBURN

Contents Preface

vi

January

3 22

February March April May June July August September October November December Index

37 55 77 95 119 135 147 167 189 213 230

Your Garden This Week

January First week—Gardening Indoors; Living Christmas Trees; Christmas Pot Plants; House Plants in General Second week—Principles of Landscape Design; Making a Pace Survey Third week—The Garden Outdoors; Mulching the Rock Garden; Protecting Boxwoods; Moving Woody Plants in Winter Fourth week—Forcing Bulbs; Inspecting Stored Roots and Bulbs; Hardwood Cuttings; Care of Tools January Flowers Herbs Shrubs Winter Heath Darley Heath Ozark Witch-hazel Common Witch-hazel Christmas-rose Winter Honeysuckle Common Gorse Laurestinus *

in the

Garden

Erica cornea Erica darleyensis Hamamelis vernalis Hamamelis virginiana Helleborous niger Lonicera jragrantissima Ulex europaeus Viburnum tinus

* Moderately hardy only in the southern part of New Jersey and in exceptionally favorable areas southward.

S

resolutions for the New Year are in order this month, the gardener should assemble his mental notes and memoranda of the past season's experience. INCE

3

4

Your Garden This Week

Plans made now for the new year's garden are sure to result in a valuable saving of time and trouble. The unpredictable weather of January makes it difficult to plan a precise weekly schedule of garden operations. The form given can be taken merely as suggestive, and it will usually be necessary to change the order, as well as to work the topics together into whatever combination the weather dictates. A garden schedule for the winter months must be flexible enough to permit easy rearrangement. It is quite possible that a thick blanket of snow after the holidays may furnish the best of all protecting mulches for garden borders and other plantings; yet such a picture outdoors will hardly be encouraging for pruning. Actually, only the indoor activities can go on regularly, and outdoor work will be guided largely by the weather. During the growing and blooming season outdoors potted plants usually get the minimum of attention, but during the winter months the pent-up gardener turns to them gladly. At the turn of the year it is frequently advisable to devote some time to a survey of house plants. Living Christmas Trees. The first house plant to require attention is the living Christmas tree, which may enjoy (or suffer) such a status for a comparatively brief period, usually ending on New Year's Day. With its root system carefully protected while indoors in a compact, burlap-wrapped ball of earth, many an evergreen conifer of suitable size can lend its perennial beauty to the lawn border or garden out of doors after

January

5

its symbolism for the holiday season has ended. Firs and spruces are considered most appropriate in the East, and particularly handsome is the White Fir (Abies concolor) of the Rockies with its lovely grayish blue foliage. Less attractive, perhaps, are the kinds of spruces most frequently used, particularly as they are likely to grow into thin open specimens later unless they are furnished with the moist soil they need. A light coating of wax sprayed on the leaves and branches before the trees leave the nursery will be good insurance for their survival. Living Christmas trees should not be kept indoors any longer than necessary. Using a waterproof material under the tree will permit pouring a little water into or over the ball of earth daily to prevent it from becoming badly dried. Then, once outside again, the plant should be watered liberally. Until weather permits its planting, the tree should be kept in some moist and cool place, such as a garage or storage cellar. Even a shady corner outdoors will suffice. It is always well to have the outdoor location selected and the hole dug before Christmas, so that the tree can be settled in its new home just as soon as its ceremonial duties are over. Frost can be kept out of the hole and the pile of earth saved for filling in by a mulch of leaves, by several thicknesses of burlap, or by some similar means. As soon as the elements permit, the little tree can be planted. The ball should be puddled in with a pailful or two of water; a generous mulch and more water should be given when the job is finished.

6

Your Garden This Week

Winter is just about the worst possible time to set out any evergreen plants, and special care to furnish protection from the damaging winter winds is advisable. For a small conifer, one or two thicknesses of burlap nailed over light wooden frames and staked up on the windward sides can be managed without much difficulty. The gardener's temporary exposure to these biting winds will enable him to enjoy an easy conscience when he contemplates the new addition from his windows on days of extreme cold. Christmas Pot Plants. Christmas plants in particular should have careful consideration, for it is certainly desirable to retain the beauty of their flowers as long as possible. The sudden change they have recently experienced, from the cool or moderate temperature of a humid greenhouse to the dry and often overheated air of modern living rooms, makes the task difficult. Flowers last longer in a cool and rather damp air, out of the way of draughts and bright sunlight. Placing potted plants in window enclosures away from radiators helps considerably, and the trouble of setting choice blooming plants in cool hallways or even on the floor at night is amply repaid. As a rule water should be given regularly in the early part of the day. Overwatering must be avoided to keep many of the Christmas blooms, and this caution is especially pertinent for Poinsettias, Christmas-cactus, and Jerusalem-cherries. Many failures to succeed with the popular Christmas-cactus arise from overwatering in fall and early winter. In the forests of Brazil, where

January

7

the typical form of this strange and brilliant plant grows as an epiphyte or air-nourished plant on trees, the blooms are produced near the end of the dry season. Shortly after the flowers have finished, the rains come and the forest vegetation expands into rapid growth. Thus, plants of Christmas-cactus should have liberal watering only during our late winter and spring; summer and fall should see them dry and resting, preparing to send out the green buds which develop into the amazing flowers. The soil in which Christmas-cactus is grown as a pot plant is not particularly important, though it should be porous and well-drained. Earthen pots of unglazed ware should be used, and should not be very large in proportion to the size of the plant. Poinsettias need only the most limited quantity of water—a six-inch pot might have half a teacupful every other day. The plants are fairly tolerant to temperature, and last well in a warm living room or in a cool entranceway or hall (but not much below 65°). When no longer attractive, the plants are best discarded, though some gardeners rest them without any water till May, cut the stems back to near the ground level, repot, and plunge the pots outdoors in a sunny place. Well ahead of frosts the pots are lifted and moved indoors to a sunny window, and impelled by the short days of early winter the flowers are sometimes produced in time for Christmas. The florist yearly replenishes his stock of Poinsettias by cuttings, for after a few seasons old pot plants become hard-rooted and less attractive.

8

Your Garden This Week

House Plants in General. House plants include such a great variety of subjects that directions for their care must be rather general. Those which are to flower this winter should be placed in a window where they can benefit from all the sunlight they can have during the cloudy winter season. January is not the time ordinarily for repotting house plants; this work is best done in May and early summer. Generally, plants which are slightly pot-bound or crowded in their containers bloom more profusely than those which have too much root room. Except for cacti and succulents, house plants are much benefited by spraying the foliage with clear water. Set on the kitchen sink or in some suitable place, shower baths once or twice a week wash off dust and help keep the leaves healthy. The leaves of foliage plants, such as palms, aspidistras, India Rubbertrees and other figs, should be washed with a weak soap solution about every month, taking care to keep this from getting into the soil. After washing, the leaves can be rinsed by spraying them with water. This will free them from dust and the more tender scale insects and greatly improve their general vigor. Dust allowed to accumulate on plants clogs the pores and prevents air from being taken into the leaves. A house plant will rarely grow well in too large a pot, as the soil is likely to retain excessive moisture and become sour and the roots will not get the amount of air they require. Vigorous and healthy roots will usually be white or yellowish in color at the growing tips; stunted and unhealthy roots are usually brown-

January

9

ish. It is a simple matter to examine the roots of house plants if it is suspected they are crowded, or even too wet, too dry, or infested with insects. Place the forefinger and second finger of one hand around the main stem of the plant and invert the pot, holding it with the other hand. Then strike the rim of the pot sharply against something solid, and the earth and roots will become loosened and rest in the palm of the hand. Replaced after the examination, a light tap or two brings the soil back firmly into place. Only a few insects and a very few fungous diseases are ordinarily troublesome to house plants. The former can be combated effectively with extracts of pyrethrum, derris, and nicotine applied as liquid sprays. These insecticides are offered in an assortment of trade products, which can be procured at modest cost from seedsmen, florists, hardware stores, and many department stores. The directions furnished by the manufacturers for their use should be followed carefully. Care must be taken that spray material does not run down the stems of plants and get into the soil. This danger is removed and the under leaf surfaces can be well covered if the pots are placed on their sides before the application is made. Plant diseases can be treated similarly with fungicides—typically, mixtures containing sulphur or copper as the toxic principle. Many of these substances for controlling plant pests and diseases can be used effectively and somewhat more conveniently in the form of dusts. Small hand sprayers and dusters for indoor use

io

Your Garden This Week

can be purchased inexpensively from the sources mentioned above. Very fortunately, diseases rarely bother ordinary house plants. At intervals through the winter, branches of earlyflowering shrubs can be cut for forcing indoors, and their color and fragrance contribute much to the home's attractiveness. Subjects which force readily are Winter Honeysuckle, Winter Jasmine, Flowering Quince, and forsythias, and also a great variety of more modest yet interesting subjects, such as alders, barberries, maples, birches, and hazelnuts. After they are brought inside, the stems should be cut again with a long slanting cut to absorb water easily. Placed at once in deep containers of water and left in a cool cellar or a storeroom for about two weeks, these "barren branches" can be brought into warmer and brighter surroundings as one wishes the flowers to open. At very little trouble, such colorful branches can be kept opening indoors during January, February, and March. SECOND

WEEK

Principles of Landscape Design. This is a suitable season for paper gardening—gardening with a pencil— and this may mean making or recopying plans or charts of special plantings, and particularly working out a map of the grounds as a whole. Most home grounds are planted with little attention to the principles of landscape design. These fundamentals are harmony, variety, and unity. Unless these principles are understood and given careful consideration, it is advisable

The lengthening days of mid-winter—rhododendrons ing over a snow-rimmed pool

hang-

12

Y o u r Garden This Week

to secure the assistance of a competent landscape architect. Periods of inclement weather and long winter evenings in January furnish a splendid time to analyze the design of a garden and outline improvements. Perhaps a little can be done the first spring, a little more the next, and so on till the whole plan is achieved. Of the three principles of landscape design, observance of the first, harmony, insures a feeling of conformity between the plants used and the house and also among the plants themselves. T h e popular American Colonial type of house, for instance, seems to harmonize perfectly with roundish-topped trees, such as oaks, lindens, Sugar Maples, and Common Horsechestnuts. On the other hand, the many angular and sharp lines of a half-timbered cottage blend nicely with the positive spire-like growth of such evergreens as spruces, firs, and many pines. Variety is important in the home landscape to furnish continual interest and to avoid monotony. As an example, a clipped hedge of privet or buckthorn may become monotonous because it presents an even surface of one tone of green; a border composed of groups or single specimens of different ornamental shrubs presents great variety because of their variation in form and color at changing seasons. T o o much variety, however, results in the loss of unity and harmony. Unity is the most important of the three principles of design. It brings every part of the landscape into a definite relationship with every other part. Utility demands that each landscape detail have a well defined

January

13

purpose, and it demands that nonessentials be eliminated. T h e specific purpose of each part of a home property as well as the purpose of the plants themselves is best shown on a plan or map of the area. In most cases, a ground plan can be made sufficiently accurate for much home landscape improvement by making a simple pace survey. A mild day when there is little or no snow on the ground furnishes an opportunity to do the preliminary surveying of the grounds, and this lays the groundwork for the development of a complete garden plan. Making a Pace Survey. T h e length of the gardener's pace or stride must first be measured. A simple way to do this is to take an average measurement from heel to toe. With this distance as the unit of measure, a moderately accurate survey of the grounds can be mapped out. White wrapping paper or any fairly generous sheet thumb-tacked on a drawing board serves as the record. First, make a figure approximately representing the outline of the house itself, and jot down along each side its number of paces. Then from corners of the house, from doorsteps, and other convenient points pace off the distances to all the things of importance in the plan—trees and shrubs, road and curbing and sidewalk, paths, flower beds, and similar features. Now, by completing triangles of measured lines and relating these to each other over the whole area, it is possible to make up a data sheet with the necessary information on it. Both the trunk diameter and branch spread of trees should be shown.

14

Y o u r Garden This Week

From the field sheet it will be possible to construct a plan accurate enough for general home landscape purposes. For this second step, cross-section paper is helpful. A plain or three-cornered scale will also serve to plot out the distances, and the scale of one inch on paper representing four or eight feet on the ground will prove convenient for most properties. T h e pace figures are transposed to actual feet, and as they are marked out on the paper and the triangles are constructed, the whole plan will gradually take accurate shape. THIRD

WEEK

The Garden Outdoors. Attention should be given to a great many garden tasks whenever the weather is mild. It is well to inspect the mulches applied earlier to make sure they are adequate and properly in place. M a n y gardeners prefer to postpone mulching herbaceous perennials and rock garden plants until now. Most varieties benefit from considerable exposure, and by mid-January the surface soil will frequently be so thoroughly frozen that a mulch applied at this time will hold the frost till spring. Certainly mice have already taken residence in their winter homes, and a liberal layer of mulch over favored subjects will no longer attract them. Mulching the Rock Garden. T h e less rock gardens are mulched the better, but the indulgent gardener may feel that such small and treasured plants need covering. This is indeed advisable for all rock plants which have taproots, as these are very apt to be gradually raised out of the ground by alternating freezing and

January

15

thawing. Plants with persistent leaves should be covered lightly, so that air and some light can reach them. The purpose of the rock garden's mulch is to prevent repeated freezing and thawing, to shield plants from drying winds and from bright winter sunlight. There is no intent of warding off cold. Ideally, the rock garden is mulched just after a two- or three-inch fall of snow, which in itself is a perfect protection if it can only be kept. Salt hay and pine boughs will help to retain the snow mulch through the difficult weeks of February and March. Christmas greens can be pressed into service as mulch material, as boughs of conifers furnish admirable protection for many plants. Evergreen azaleas, small rhododendrons, and any evergreen shrubs which need favoring will benefit from having these branches stuck in the ground around their edges, making an encircling canopy to give shade and wind protection. Protecting Boxwoods. Unless the winter temperature is likely to fall below zero and remain there for a while, healthy plants of Common Boxwood normally require no protection aside from a liberal mulch of manure or some other cover. Recently transplanted specimens and those imported from the South within the past five or six years (and hence not yet well used to more northern climate) should have screens of lath and burlap surrounding them. Boxwoods so placed in the planting scheme that they are liable to breakage damage from small avalanches of ice and snow from roofs can be protected by erecting over them a wooden cover resting

16

Y o u r Garden This Week

on four stakes at the corners. This type of a shelter is not particularly obtrusive, and it eliminates the possibility of snow and ice injury to valuable plants. Moving Woody Plants in Winter. Most deciduous trees and shrubs—those which have dropped their leaves weeks ago and have no burden of evergreen foliage to supply with water—can be moved to advantage during open weather when the soil is in a workable condition. Lilacs, spireas, honeysuckles, mockoranges, maples, elms, and many other familiar ornamentals take well to winter moving. Evergreens moved in winter are endangered by the loss of much of their waterabsorbing root systems, however, and precautions to insure success in moving them now are ordinarily too troublesome for the home gardener. A n y plants on the borderline of hardiness and those with thick fleshy roots (such as the magnolias) should not be moved till growth is ready to start. Birches, cotoneasters, bayberries, and barberries are best moved in early April; beeches, Flowering Dogwood, and American Holly should be left until late April or M a y . The work should be entrusted to nurserymen and plantsmen who have the needed equipment and experience. Thus fortified, experts hardly hesitate to move many plants at any time of the year. Loose soil (not chunks, stones, or frozen clods) should be tamped firmly around the roots of trees and shrubs moved in winter with a planting stick. This valuable implement is merely any handy length of wood two or three inches in diameter—even a two-

January

17

by-four or a pick or grub-hoe handle serves nicely. In tamping around balls of earth and in small crevices between the roots of plants, such a planting stick serves much better than packing the soil by treading on it. It is wise for the home gardener to puddle the earth around the roots of winter-moved plants with a pailful or two of lukewarm water. Liberal mulching to serve as a protection from deep freezing and adequate staking to prevent trees being swayed and damaged by winds are both very important concluding rites in winter planting. FOURTH

WEEK

Forcing Bulbs. Daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips potted up and stored in pots or frames last fall should now be ready for bringing inside. An examination of the roots will show whether or not they have developed enough. A pot full of healthy roots means that the bulbs are ready for forcing. If bulbs are exposed to bright sunlight right after coming in from storage, short stunted stems usually result. It is best to keep them in a dark cool cellar or storeroom while the leaves are developing. A temperature of 50° or 55° is suitable. When the leaves are well up and the flower stems nicely grown, bring them into the light gradually. As soon as the leaves are healthy green, the plants can have all the light available. Among the many bulbous plants that give brilliant color and lavish beauty to indoor gardens during the

18

Your Garden This Week

winter season are some old favorites well worthy of attention—Amaryllis, Clivia, Crinutn, Hippeastrum, Leucocoryne, and Oxalis. Rich soil, ample moisture during their growing season, and a moderately cool situation suit most of them. They may be found in most plant catalogues, and the modest price of a few bulbs or roots is small indeed compared with the rich display they will make. Large-size bulbs of House-amaryllis (Hippeastrum hybrids, for the most part) can be bought now and potted in six- or eight-inch pots of rich, moderately heavy loam. They will start to grow in February, and the flowering stalk will be developed rapidly. The blooms will usually open in late February and March, though this depends entirely on how the bulbs are handled, and the leaves follow them. The new hybrid hippeastrums have flowers in white, maroon, and a great range of brilliant and marvelous pinks, and they are well worth the price when obtained from reliable dealers. The old scarlet varieties, however, are interesting and inexpensive, and they are particularly suitable for children's winter gardening. White and yellow freesias are splendid plants for forcing in cool window enclosures and winter garden boxes, and their unique and lovely fragrance endears them to plant lovers. Blooms of this dainty Cape of Good Hope plant may be enjoyed through late winter and until June by making successive plantings from now through February. For Christmas blooms, large corms need to be started in October, as it takes a little

January

19

over ten weeks to bring them into flower. Freesias do not require storage in a dark place after planting; they should be started into growth at once, preferably at a temperature not much over 50°. Valuable winter plants also are callas, the seemingly endless array of begonias, and several primulas. The Baby and Fairy Primroses (Primula jorbesi, and P. malacoides) are among the most satisfactory. Despite their lovely pink and lilac flowers, plants of Primula obconica are to be approached with caution, as many people are subject to severe skin irritation from their leaves. Paperwhite Narcissi may be started in water now. It is advisable to leave them in a dark place at a temperature about 40° while the roots are forming. Later they can be set in a sunny window or bright room while the flowers develop. Inspecting Stored Roots and Bulbs. At this time it is wise to examine tender bulbs and corms stored during the winter. If gladioli have suffered from attacks of thrips, there is a strong possibility that some of these minute ravagers are spending the winter underneath the outer husks of the corms. If the storage room temperature is moderately high, they will start to eat the tissue, while storage just below 40° prohibits this. Corms found to harbor thrips can be fumigated with naphthalene flakes easily and effectively. Unless the shucks are on the corms, however, direct contact with naphthalene flakes will cause injury and some other method must be used. About one ounce of the flakes—

20

Y o u r Garden This W e e k

approximately one handful—should be spread over or distributed among each 100 average gladiolus corms. The fumes of the evaporating flakes should be confined around the corms by covering them with paper. If the proper amount of flakes is used, they will evaporate rather quickly. After about five weeks there will be little odor left, and the thrips, incidentally, should be creatures of the past if the campaign has been managed properly. Tigridias are near the top in the list of choice items in the diet of mice, and they are best kept in baskets or trays enclosed by wire netting. Dahlia roots require storage in a cool airy room. T h e start of mold indicates that more air is needed, and on the other hand, a shriveling of the roots shows they are losing too much moisture. Sprinkling with water and sometimes scattering clean moist sand over the clumps may correct this loss. Hardwood Cuttings. It is not too late to make hardwood cuttings of such flowering shrubs as forsythias, bush honeysuckles, weigelas, privets, many deutzias, and a number of other subjects. Cuttings about six inches long should be taken from the young wood and kept covered in moist sand in a cool place where the temperature is not expected to fall below freezing. M a n y gardeners make bundles of each kind of the cuttings, label them with pencil on an ordinary wooden label, and pack them away bottom-side up in a box of sand. Inversion seems to assist callus formation in some subjects. Then in the spring, when the cuttings are well

January

21

callused, they may be set out three or four inches apart in narrow rows. These shrubs are so inexpensive, however, that it scarcely pays to raise them from seeds or cuttings, considering the time, room in the garden, and labor involved. Care of Tools. This is a season when the meticulous gardener will earn a great feeling of satisfaction by cleaning his garden tools and putting them in good shape. T h e blades of lawn mowers, sickles, trimming shears, and hoes will almost surely need sharpening. T h e y should have a coat of oil, along with the metal parts of other tools. T h e overhauling of spraying and dusting apparatus will save annoyance and expense next summer. T h e conscientious gardener will certainly make a hearty effort to return borrowed tools. What may be even more important, by dint of hints, barters, even threats, it may be possible to effect the return of one's own valued properties from careless neighbors.

February First week—Building a Coldframe; Hotbeds Second week—The Gardener's Friends; A Card Index of Plant Notes; The Seed Order; Starting the First Seeds; The Fight Against Damping-off Third week—Gardening with a Pencil; The Front Yard Picture; Service Areas Fourth week—Pruning—Good and Bad; Treatment for Special Groups of Shrubs; Improving the Habit of Trees; Creating Vistas by Winter Pruning February Herbs Shrubs

Blooms in the

Cloth-of-gold Crocus Lavender Dalmatian Crocus Alpine Quince February Daphne Winter Heath Darley Heath Japanese Witch-hazel Chinese Witch-hazel Ozark Witch-hazel Christmas-rose Winter Jasmine Winter Honeysuckle Common Gorse

Garden

Crocus sieberi Crocus susianus Crocus tomasinianus Cydortia japónica alpina Daphne mezereum Erica carnea Erica darleyensis Hamamelis japónica Hamamelis mollis Hamamelis vernalis Helleborous niger Jasminum nudifiorum Lonicera fragrantissima Ulex europaeus

February

23

T

HE home gardener who does not know just how his gardening energie may be directed in the lengthening days of mid-winter will find a very interesting and practical task in the construction of a coldframe. For the amateur who does not have a greenhouse, a coldframe proves valuable for wintering plants of doubtful hardiness, for starting seeds, and for carrying along seedlings raised in the house early in the season. M a n y perennials, and alpine plants in particular, germinate best at moderately low temperatures, and a frame serves admirably for starting them in February and March. Hardy annual flowers can be started at the same time, and this treatment is of distinct advantage with such favorites as Sweet Peas. Tender flowers that would be injured by frost must be handled indoors when an early start is desirable; they can hardly be tried safely in a frame before the end of March in most sections of New Jersey.

Building a Coldframe. In its simplest form a coldframe is hardly more than a large flat box without ends, covered with a sash of glass or glass substitute. Ordinarily the top of a frame should pitch towards the south in order to shed water and to catch as many of the slanting rays of the winter sun as possible. When used as a seedbed, a frame can be one foot high at the back and six inches high in front. The standard sash for coldframes measures three by six feet; hence the dimensions of a frame will usually be slightly less than six feet in width (to accommodate the slanting sash) by some multiple of three feet in length. Smaller sashes,

24

Your Garden This Week

and frames correspondingly smaller, will be more convenient for the home gardener, as a bed nearly six feet across is rather wide for easy management. When a frame is to be used for storing and growing plants, as well as for a seedbed, it is well to have it deeper than one foot, and a beneficial arrangement is to have the walls sunk six or eight inches below the grade outside. This not only provides valuable extra space, but also takes advantage of the greater protection gained by sinking the bed of the frame. Any ordinary rough boards will serve for a coldframe if it is well staked at the corners. For snug construction it is well to use tongue-and-groove lumber. The sides may be sloped by cutting them to the right slant, or the front of the frame may be sunk into the ground to the proper level after the box is constructed. The most serviceable frame, as well as the most heatconserving, is one with narrow concrete side walls. There is no better insulation for the sides of a coldframe than banked-up soil. Have the sash in place for several days before the earliest seeds are sown in late February or early March. The sun will soon make the soil warm and mellow, and it can be forked over a few times to make the seedbed loose and friable. To secure the right texture, it may be desirable to put in some sand and peat-moss or other form of humus. A mat or cover to go over the sash at night is essential. Such a protection of several thicknesses of burlap sewed together, or of mats made with straw, canvas, or old carpeting, will conserve the heat accumulated during the

February

25

day. When an adequate covering is used at night, a coldframe can be used for starting seeds earlier than one would think. Detailed information about building coldframes and hotbeds is given in a number of books and can also be secured from most state experiment stations. Hotbeds. A hotbed is a sash-covered frame furnished with some means of heating the soil in the bed or the air above. Decomposing horse manure, steam or hot water heat pipes, hot air, and electric cables are the means used for heating hotbeds. They are valuable in the same way as a small greenhouse for getting an extra early start with vegetables and herbaceous perennials. It seems likely, however, that most home gardeners will find a coldframe adequate for their needs. SECOND

WEEK

The Gardener's Friends. Outdoor gardening may be more or less at a standstill this month, but consolation can be taken in those supreme messengers of cheer and promise—the seed catalogues. Arriving at the season's lowest ebb, these bright harbingers of glories to come could hardly put in their appearance at a more opportune time. Long winter evenings are ideal for going through the various lists. In view of the landscape surveying and planning initiated last month and scheduled for continuance in February and March, thought given to seed and plant orders seems timely. This mapping and outlining on paper is sure to bring to mind previous sea-

26

Y o u r Garden This Week

son's successes which it may be desirable to repeat, as well as achievements which the gardener may well be reminded to avoid. A Card Index. Notes kept on index cards or in a special notebook of pocket size listing outstanding plants or skillful combinations of plants at home or in visited gardens prove invaluable for these sessions with the catalogues. T h e trouble of keeping such records is generously repaid now, as elusive variety names can be brought to mind, as well as particular uses for new and old varieties which will require an addition to the order list. Perhaps the records are most serviceable, however, in reminding the gardener about combinations notable for their artistic use of colors or of a very advantageous blooming sequence. The Seed Order. The glamorous medal winners and other new introductions are usually well publicized by articles in the garden magazines, and by the advertisements of their sponsors. Both of these channels are valuable for giving the home gardener a few clews to the novelties advantageous to try. A wise decision in most cases is to try a few of the new varieties of annuals, but to make up the bulk of the seed order from the long array of sterling kinds which have honestly won their popularity and continued existence. Starting the First Seeds. If space is available in sunny windows or in flower rooms, February is good for starting seeds indoors, a practice which will mean good-sized annuals to put out for early bloom. Particularly suitable for these early sowings are flowers which are

Sprays of alder in a window

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Y o u r Garden This Week

actually tender perennials, though usually treated as annuals. M a n y of these need a long growing season— lantanas, nierembergias, vincas (especially the Madagascar Periwinkle), and verbenas. It is not wise to start too many kinds, however, nor too great a quantity, as the transplanted seedlings would take up too much room before the weather becomes mild enough for planting out of doors. The Fight Against Damping-off. Soil should always be sterilized before planting seeds indoors, as the ravages of damping-off fungi among tender young seedlings are most disheartening at this time in the garden calendar, and once started they are usually impossible to check. For each ordinary-sized seed flat (about 2 0 x 1 4 x 2 % inches) one tablespoonful of liquid formaldehyde (40 per cent) can be diluted with about onethird cupful of water, and this should be sprinkled over the soil and then mixed thoroughly. Turn the soil in the flats occasionally, and let it aerate for 24 hours before sowing seeds. Some authorities advise covering the treated soil with newspapers or canvas for 24 hours, then allowing it to remain uncovered and turning it over a few times for 24 hours more before planting. Water thoroughly before or after sowing. Sterilized soil or sand should be used for covering. For a bushel of soil, use 2]/2 tablespoonfuls of the 40 per cent commercial formaldehyde solution. Commercial formaldehyde dust can also be used if the manufacturer's directions are followed carefully. With a bushel of loamy soil, the general rule is to mix

February

29

in eight ounces of the dust. Most flower seeds can be sown right away in soil treated with dust provided water is applied generously before or after sowing. Seeds of petunias, snapdragons, campanulas, and plants in the Mustard Family or crucifers seem liable to injury, and they should not be sown for 24 hours after treatment. This will kill fungous spores in the soil in the seed boxes. T o be sure that none of these microscopic organisms are clinging to the seeds themselves, insert a small pinch of red copper oxide into the seed packet and shake it several times. Then when the seeds are poured out, each one will be coated with a thin film of this antiseptic dust. Red copper oxide can be purchased from druggists and seedsmen; a few ounces will suffice for the average gardener's needs for a season. Scatter seeds evenly, or better still, in rows, on the leveled and firmed soil in the flat or box; then press them into the earth with the hand or a small piece of board. Sift on a thin covering of sand, firm again, and cover the box with paper and glass till germination occurs. If the flat has been given a thorough watering before sowing, no further water will be necessary until the seedlings are up. It is especially desirable to water thoroughly before sowing small seeds, which are so apt to become uncovered. THIRD

WEEK

Gardening with a Pencil. Pencil gardening has already been initiated in January in making a pace survey of

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Y o u r Garden This W e e k

the grounds. T h e artistic effects and proper relationships between the various parts of the home property can be worked out by developing this survey economically and carefully. These landscape divisions of the home grounds may be listed as (a) the front yard, (b) the service areas, and (c) the back yard or garden. The Front Yard Picture. The front yard should be a relatively small area compared with the plot as a whole — s m a l l enough so that it can be kept in immaculate condition with a minimum of care at all seasons of the year. Against a landscape background of trees, if possible, the house itself should always be the object of first importance, and the focal point will usually be the front doorway. Everything else in the front yard should enhance the beauty of this feature. Simplicity of design is the objective in front yard planning. Most of the space should be given over to an unbroken expanse of lawn, and if the area is large, substantial and carefully placed shade trees may be grown to frame the house and protect it from sun and winds. Intimate plantings close to the house should be much more modest and restrained than one sees commonly. Their sole purpose is to associate the house with its surroundings. T h e good lines of a house should be emphasized by the foundation shrubs; frequently the awkward points can be hidden or made less obtrusive. Border or boundary plantings in the front yard frame the sides of the picture, and at the same time they can be designed to shut out or diminish neighboring features which are not desirable. T h e y take the form of

February

31

mass groupings of shrubs or of plants trained on fences or trellises. Scattering plants all over the front yard is an error that destroys unity. T h e use of such horticultural freaks as Weeping Mulberries, Umbrella Catalpas, and Colorado Blue Spruces should be avoided, as such plants attract attention to themselves and detract from the front yard picture as an artistic composition. As the foreground to the object of prime importance—the house itself—the front lawn should be kept open. Its care will also be much simpler if it is not broken up with specimen plants which interfere with easy mowing and have to be trimmed around. Unless in bays in the shrubbery, flower beds are not advisable because they look so forlorn in winter and are apt to be neglected in summer. Particularly in home grounds of small and modest size, garden flowers are best restricted to the garden area proper—typically at the side or back of the house. Service Areas. The service areas in the home landscape—the second division of the plan of the grounds— include the necessary means of access to cellar and kitchen, the drying yard and work areas. A s typically treated, a coldframe would be a part of the garden service area. T h e space occupied by a detached garage and driveway are service features. Above all, the service areas should be arranged to be economical of time and space. A compact and labor-saving arrangement of these utility features will usually mean that more time will be free for gardening and other pleasures.

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Your Garden This Week

When topography and the house plan permit, an attached or basement garage proves a great saving of space and a great convenience, since the driveway will be shorter, less expensive to construct, and easier to maintain. The drive should be close to one edge of the lot in a town or village property so that it will not give the effect of dividing the front yard in two. Ideally, it should be slightly curved to soften the unrelenting appearance of a geometric expanse of drive converging at the garage doors, which, by the way, can be redeemed from their habitual artless appearance by the use of climbing roses or such vines as wisterias, Chinese Trumpetcreeper, and China Fleecevine on a trellis or other support. For small properties, the concrete runway type of drive with grass in the center should be considered. In order to keep the amount of concrete at a minimum, one of the runways can be widened to three feet to serve as a walk as well. If a separate walk is desirable, it is usually best to have it parallel the driveway at a distance of two or three feet. With the front yard and service areas considered in this pencil gardening process, the remainder of the property will be made up of the garden proper, perhaps such features as vegetable and cutting gardens, and a play-yard for children. Brick or stone walls, clipped hedges and informal shrubbery borders, and in the small lot, vine-covered fences and trellises should mark definite lines of separation. Walks, steps, and gates should be simple and conform to the surroundings. A path of stepping-stones or flags is preferable to one topped with white gravel, and a plain wooden gate is

February

33

more in keeping with a small place than an elaborate iron one. Since this work will continue as weather keeps the gardener indoors, pencil gardening in the garden area proper will be given further consideration in March. FOURTH

WEEK

Most northern horticulturists agree in pronouncing winter the most practicable season for pruning deciduous shrubs. Forehanded gardeners even start pruning in January, and mild afternoons which are almost sure to come in February offer a special opportunity for the pent-up gardener. As the framework of all deciduous woody plants is now exposed (and, one might add, deeply enjoyed by the enthusiast who has come to appreciate more than foliage and flowers) pruning shrubs and trees can be done adequately and with a minimum of trouble. Pruning—Good and Bad. Removal of dead wood is essential to the health and best appearance of plants, and at the same time a judicious thinning of the old growth is in order. Shrubs growing too high for their location can be regulated by careful winter pruning. Every season or so new growth from the base can be encouraged by removing about one-third of the oldest stems within a few inches of the ground. This type of pruning will not materially lessen the bloom—in fact, it acts as a stimulant to most flowering shrubs and permits their development with vigorous wood and an artistic habit. The very general practice of shearing shrubs in informal plantings back to a certain height is indefen-

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Y o u r Garden This Week

sible. Actually, this is treating the plants as though they were in a hedge. N o t only does this ignorant practice sacrifice most of the bloom of such early-flowering subjects as forsythias, mockoranges, flowering quinces, lilacs, and many spireas, but transforming them into stiff mounds or awkward truncated figures defeats the purpose for which shrubbery plantings are used—to soften and enclose the landscape composition with graceful, attractive masses of planting. Treatment for Special Groups of Shrubs. Shrubs which bloom on new wood, such as most of the summerflowering kinds (with the notable exception of the French or Garden Hydrangeas), can be pruned as directed above without any further consideration. It should be kept in mind, though, that all the popular early-flowering subjects produce their blooms from buds made the previous season (February Daphne, Winter Jasmine, Cornelian-cherry, Flowering Dogwood, Kousa Dogwood, azaleas, forsythias, lilacs, and many magnolias) or on short blooming shoots pushed out very rapidly in M a y (mockoranges, bush honeysuckles, and spring-flowering spireas). A n y winter pruning which involves a loss of flower buds will mean diminished bloom. If thinning is done every winter, however, the amount of bloom sacrificed will not be great. Rather than delay pruning this important class of plants till the blooming season is over, in June and July when so many other things take the gardener's time, it is best to carry on the schedule of winter pruning throughout most plantings. One authority states that even if pruning is not neglected in early

February

35

summer, it will usually take the form of shearing, which aggravates the crowded condition of the branchlets. All of the taller kinds of hydrangeas should be pruned now, including Panicle and Smooth Hydrangeas and their sterile-flowered forms known as Peegee and Snowhill. Other large types can be pruned at this time, though the Oakleaved Hydrangea rarely needs more than an occasional branch removed to improve the shape of the plant. The somewhat tender Garden or French Hydrangea, varieties of which are used so extensively for forcing in greenhouses for spring trade, usually fail to make new flower buds if the terminal ones are lost through severe winter weather or improper pruning. The canes of these can be thinned when the blooms have faded in August or early September. Improving the Habit of Trees. This is also a good season to prune trees. Dead branches and broken or damaged ones should be removed, and rubbing or other interference should be corrected. It is next to impossible to keep a good lawn under trees with dense tops, and thinning can be done now to permit sunlight to penetrate to the grass below. Now that the framework of deciduous trees is so beautifully exposed, pruning can be done most efficiently. Any branches in the general pattern which seem to impair the beauty or symmetry can be taken out. A gratifying reward in this work is that the careful study involved is sure to give one a keener pleasure in the winter aspect of trees. This is one of gardening's greatest joys. Branches over two inches in diameter should always

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Y o u r Garden This W e e k

be removed with two cuts—the first made two feet along the branch (a good length stick for a fireplace) and the second close to the larger branch or trunk. T h e first, out on the limb, should be started with an undercut about one-third up from the bottom and finished by a cut down to this from above—or one just beyond. Care in doing this for every branch too large to support with one's free hand prevents stripping back of bark. The final cut should offer only a slight divergence from the plane of the branch or trunk against which it is made. In all tree pruning, cuts over one-half inch in diameter should be covered with a dark-colored asphalt or white lead paint. This prophylactic coating should be renewed every season over large wounds until they are healed. Creating Vistas by Winter Pruning. With the extent and detail of the landscape much enriched by the leafless condition of a great part of woody growth, this is a valuable time to analyze the outlook which is framed or enclosed by trees. A critical eye should see if any particular branches or even whole trees or shrubs shut out too much of the view to justify keeping them. When the gardener fully realizes how much of the view is sure to be lost when foliage returns, he may decide that pruning is required. Fortunately, a modest amount of pruning and the removal of a few branches usually suffice to give a much extended outlook, and frequently very charming vistas can be created by a few hours' work with the pruning saw.

March First week—More Gardening with a Pencil; Designing the Backyard Garden; Garden Axis; Enclosure; the Annual Flower Border Second week—Finishing Winter Pruning; Hunting Tent Caterpillar Eggs and Cedar-apples; Banding Trees for Spring Cankerworms; Loosening Mulches Third week—Starting the Coldframe; Broadcasting Seeds Outdoors; Inspecting Stored Roots and Bulbs; Grafting Fourth week—Weeding Lawns; Replacing Nutrients in the Soil; Liming and Fertilizing Old Lawns; Clean-up Sprays March Flowers Herbs Shrubs Pasque-flower Marsh-marigold Glory-of-the-snow Cornelian-cherry Korean Corneliancherry Cloth-of-silver Crocus

in the

Garden

Anemone Pulsatilla Caltha palustris Chionodoxa luciliae Cornus mas Cornus officinalis Crocus biflorus Crocus korolkowi Crocus sieberi Daphne cneorum Daphne mezereum Eranthis cilicica Eranthis hyemalis

Garland-flower February Daphne Cilician Winter-aconite Common Winter-aconite 37

38

Your Garden This Week Winter Heath Darley Heath Biscay Heath Korean Forsythia Giant Snowdrop Common Snowdrop Plaited Snowdrop Japanese Witch-hazel Chinese Witch-hazel Ozark Witch-hazel Hybrid hellebores Sharplobe Hepatica Netted Iris Algerian Iris Winter Honeysuckle Early Honeysuckle Standish Honeysuckle Mountain Andromeda Japanese Andromeda Podolian Whitlow-herb Early Squill Siberian Squill

M

Erica carnea Erica darleyensis Erica mediterranea Forsythia ovata Galanthus elwesi Galanthus nivalis Galanthus plicatus Hamamelis japónica Hamamelis mollis Hamamelis vernalis Helleborus, hybrids Hepatica acutiloba Iris reticulata Iris stylosa Lonicera fragrantissima Lonicera praeflorens Lonicera standishi Pieris floribunda Pieris japónica Schivereckia podolica Scilla bifolia Scilla sibirica

AKING a pace survey of the home grounds and

planning the front yard and service areas have been assigned, somewhat arbitrarily, to January and February, and this leaves for discussion now the backyard or garden area proper. Such an outline, assigning a definite portion of the landscape plan to certain weeks, is not extremely practical, perhaps, but any kind of schedule is better than none at all. Weather during these weeks of winter will govern the actual use of gardening time.

March

39

Designing the Backyard Garden. In the backyard it is often desired to develop the garden in an unconventional pattern, though a limited amount of space usually can best be treated in a formal manner. A feeling of harmony between house and plantings should always be one important goal. Often a small formal garden immediately adjacent to the house can lead into another of less conventional feeling just a few feet away. Between a formal garden with its prim walks and beds, generally making a regular geometric pattern, and an informal or naturalistic one with sweeping natural lines there are many grades of variation. Both need balance and unity, however, which are obtained to a great degree by the proper use of an axis or several axes, and gardens which have not benefited from a diligent and thorough pencil-cultivation show their lack of these qualities most strongly. Garden Axis. A dictionary defines axis as an imaginary straight line supposed to pass through a design, about which the different parts of the design are symmetrically arranged. On a garden plan, if the main entrance is from a living room, a gate, or a terrace, the principal feature should be straight ahead as the eye takes in the scene. The line of vision to the feature, whether it is a pool, a sun dial, a specimen tree, or an arch or gate into another part of the scheme, will be the main axis, and the effect of the garden is pleasing. If the main feature is at the end of a diagonal line, off-center from the entrance, or in a corner, there is a feeling of lack of proper balance. Most gardens

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Y o u r Garden T h i s W e e k

will have at least two lines of a x i s — a major, and a minor at right angles to the major axis. Though depicted in the plan, these exist actually in the garden only by suggestion to the eye of the initiated, and every part and feature of the garden scheme should conform to these axes. The major axis has its origin at the point where the garden is entered customarily or from which it is viewed most frequently. It progresses across the lawn or through the beds and terminates in some special feature such as a bird bath, a seat or arbor, a pool, or perhaps a fine view framed by careful planting. In an informal garden the axes will usually cross the open lawn. In a formal design, however, they will frequently be treated as paths. It is a common mistake to plan paths too narrow—they not only appear cramped and miserly, but wear may be so concentrated in a restricted area that they may not look well. A n important path should always permit two people to walk side by side, and a width of four feet must be set as the absolute minimum; one five feet wide is better, and when a path embraces a main axis it should, if possible, be widened to six or ten feet. Let the design of the garden be influenced by its purpose—whether it be to provide an enjoyable environment in which to work and play, to make a lovely picture as seen from the house, to furnish flowers for cutting, to produce some economic return, or to hold an interesting collection of plants. Ideally, a garden is an outdoor room, and it should have a relatively large

A well enclosed

garden

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Y o u r Garden This Week

area of open lawn to afford a setting for flower borders, a pool, sculpture, and structures that may form its furnishings. These furnishings, too, should be in harmony with the landscape design and the "feeling" of the garden. Rustic summer houses and seats are out of place in a formal garden—even in a semi-formal one in a small area. Nor do Italian Renaissance seats or well-heads belong on a small property. Enclosure. Always of prime importance is the effectiveness with which the garden may be enclosed, for an enclosure is essential to furnish privacy. It should be possible to entertain friends, to enjoy a Sunday afternoon nap, or to appear in disreputable or scanty raiment in the adequately enclosed garden without everything being immediately apparent to the neighbors— and certainly the street should be shut out of the picture. Stone and brick walls, clipped hedges, a fence or trellis smothered with vines—and when space is not at a premium, informal shrubbery borders—constitute the usual garden enclosures. T h e size and type of the garden, as well as the amount of money and time available, determine the enclosure to be used. T h e engrossing occupation of designing and redesigning these and the many other details of even a small backyard can well keep the gardener busy while the wintry winds are blowing. T h e most painstaking care will be rewarded. The Annual Flower Border. It is wise to have annual flower borders planned and drawn out on paper. Height, color, and season of bloom govern the location of gar-

March

43

den flowers in general, in relation both to the spot that is given each kind in the border and to the associates that are selected. These windy evenings give the gardener a good opportunity to make the final plan, surrounded with catalogues, notes, and the reference books that are invaluable in predicting and planning every picture and every grouping to a nicety. Lacking a greenhouse or hotbed, the gardener should not make the mistake of sowing seeds too early. T h e middle or end of March is ample time to start the very earliest plants in a coldframe, and it is usually well to curb one's enthusiasm to sow annual flower seeds indoors until the middle of the month. Unless conditions ideal for seedlings can be furnished in a greenhouse or other heated structures, where the gardener can cope with the extremes of late cold snaps, young plants are very apt to be retarded in growth. Once stunted, it is difficult to make them amount to much. SECOND

WEEK

Finishing Winter Pruning. For the most part the gardener can finish pruning trees and shrubs this week, except Hybrid T e a Roses, which should not be pruned until late March or early April. It is still too early to remove the mounds of earth from around Hybrid Teas, and they cannot be pruned properly till this has been done. Spring-blooming shrubs should be given only a light thinning, so that much of their bloom will not be

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Y o u r Garden This W e e k

sacrificed. A s a matter of fact, if branches of these have been commandeered for forcing indoors during the past weeks, considerate removal of the branches will often result in the shrubs being adequately shaped. Possibly a few old branches need to be removed at the base. Summer-flowering shrubs can be cut back rather hard—excepting the French Hydrangeas, which should be pruned only as the flowers are fading. Hunting Tent Caterpillar Eggs and Cedar-apples. In the course of winter pruning, the gardener should keep an eye out for the dark oblong egg masses of the Tent Caterpillar, which surround small branches and twigs of the cherries, apples, crabapples, quinces, and hawthorns. It is difficult to see all of these varnishedappearing, oblong bodies, but each one destroyed now saves much trouble in a few weeks. A step-ladder and heavy shears or pruners are the equipment needed to remove the so-called apples from Redcedars at this season. Otherwise, during the spring rains a few weeks ahead, striking orange masses of gelatinous material will be exuded, and multitudes of tiny spores of the very troublesome cedar-apple rust will be carried on winds over the countryside for a mile or more. During the summer this fungus lives part of its life on the Common Apple, and such relatives as quinces, hawthorns, and pears, and during the winter on our native Redcedars. It causes serious damage to growth and fruits only to the apple group. Repeated spraying with sulphur has proven moderately effective. T h e home gardener will do well to cut off and burn

March

45

all "apples" on his cedar trees before the spring rains come. Banding Trees for Spring Cankerworms. In many sections of the East, one of the most annoying pests in recent seasons has been the Spring Cankerworm, or Inch-worm. The wingless, crawling females of this species can be trapped on bands of sticky material three or four inches wide placed around the trunks of trees up which they climb to lay their eggs after the weather gives signs of moderating in March. The males appear in great numbers around the end of the month, grayish masses of them in the air or showing up conspicuously under automobile headlights. These need be of no concern, however, as it is the egg-laden females which prepare the stage for new damage. Various types of prepared bands are on the market, and home-made ones can be very serviceable. Over a layer of felt or soft batting to fill the bark crevices is wired a strip of heavy paper. On this is painted the prepared sticky material. Bands are often put on in early October to catch the Fall Cankerworm, and in this case they need only to be repainted with the material in March. The sticky band must be cleaned off and renewed when necessary, and watch must be kept that the female insects do not manage to cross it. Oaks, beeches, and hickories are particularly favored by cankerworms, and banding all of these species in a locality is an effective means of reducing the number of worms during years when this pest is near the peak of its cycle.

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Y o u r Garden This Week

Loosening Mulches. It is still too early to remove mulches, but herbaceous perennials will benefit from having the mulch over them lifted and loosened with a fork. Most mulch materials become matted down by snow and ice, and it is beneficial to let light and air in at this season. If a light mulch was given to herbaceous perennials with evergreen leaves and to bulb plants, part of it may be removed now. Unless the gardener revels in making more work for himself, however, there is no reason for mulching the hardy spring-flowering bulbs during the typical northern winter. When a mulch has been applied over bulbs, it must be removed before they start to come u p — unless it was a layer of peat-moss, which can be left in place. In the collector's garden, of course, tender bulbous subjects, such as some of the tulip species and montbretias, will need careful mulching. Such protection should be removed gradually as the leaves appear. Evergreen trees and shrubs, recently transplanted ones in particular, are often damaged by the waxing March sun shining on them while the leaves are still frozen. Special protection for rhododendrons, andromedas, and evergreen conifers to prevent this injury and to ward off drying March winds will be very beneficial in exposed locations. THIRD

WEEK

Starting the Coldjrame. An old gardener's rule has it that Sweet Peas should be planted on St. Patrick's D a y . Certainly they should be in the ground as soon as

March

47

the soil can be prepared for them. Sweet Peas thrive in cool weather, and they will not remain in good shape long after the hot weather of July sets in. Soil for Sweet Peas should have been deeply trenched, well enriched with manure, and made sweet with lime in the fall. In areas where winters are quite severe, a sowing can be made in pots indoors or in a coldframe, sowing two peas to a two-inch pot. Hardy annuals and practically all perennial flowers can be sown in coldframes now—in fact, for an especially early start it is possible to sow them even earlier if the frame can be covered snugly at night to insure the tender seedlings against frost. Sowing now, however, brings on the young plants in good time for setting out in M a y when the earth is warmed and mellow, and there is less likelihood of their becoming stunted. It is still too early to sow seed of such tender subjects as zinnias and dahlias in coldframes. These can be started indoors on a bright window sill, however, and put out in the frame in two or three weeks when there will be less danger of a sudden drop in temperature. Broadcasting Seeds Outdoors. M a n y hardy annuals do best when they are not transplanted, and it is advisable to sow them right where they are to flower in garden rows or in the flower border. Gardening tradition has it that plants of the Poppy Family are difficult to transplant, and seeds of these can be scattered where the gardener wants them to stay. M a n y others need to be well started and extensively rooted before

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Y o u r Garden This Week

hot dry weather arrives, lest they burn to a crisp in mid-summer. A list of these hardy annuals to sow in the open ground now includes the several kinds of poppies, California-poppies, hunnemannias, bartonias, annual chrysanthemums, cornflowers, linarias, Portulaca, Cape-marigolds, Mignonette, and the annual types of phlox, lupines, and larkspur. M a n y gardeners also start these in November. These plants require no great preparation of the soil. The surface merely needs to be cleaned off and raked lightly, and the seeds can be scattered where they are to come up. The last frosts will settle them into the soil, or the larger ones may be pressed in with a board. T h e y will germinate in a few weeks when there is still ample moisture at the surface of the soil. Later sowings can be made at two- or three-week intervals when a long procession of bloom is desired. As the seedlings start to crowd each other, they should be thinned out to the necessary distance. Seedlings in a coldframe require only light watering, but it is wise to apply water only in the morning, to prevent unhealthy dampness lasting through the night. It is important that the sash be propped up or slid back two or three inches to give them air on bright days. T h e sash should be closed about mid-afternoon, and at night the covering of mats or canvas should be put on as long as the temperature continues to fall below freezing. Inspecting Stored Roots and Bulbs. It is well to inspect roots of dahlias, caladiums, and bulbs and corms

March

49

of other tender plants to be sure they are in good condition. A light sprinkling of water every week now may help the roots from becoming too dried out. Be sure that mice are not getting at these plants in storage. Grafting. March is the time for grafting. The scions should have been cut in January or February and stored in a box of moist sand at a temperature around 40°. Depending on the season, if the buds have not yet started to swell, it may still be possible to find good scions. The various types of grafting are explained in detail in many garden books and cyclopedias, and here it must suffice to say that although essentially simple, the operation must be executed carefully and skillfully. T h e two essentials are that the scion be kept entirely dormant until the graft is made and that accurate cutting and careful placing bring the two layers of cambium cells, just under the bark layers, into close contact. The amateur may have no difficulty in producing good grafted plants of apples, lilacs, and roses and the work brings a great feeling of satisfaction, but it is generally true that buying plants from a nursery brings surer returns. FOURTH

WEEK

Weeding Lawns. As spring is now officially here, the gardener may well take inventory of the garden outdoors and check up on the condition of his beds and borders. With a few bright days and drying winds, light soils will be in good shape to start the spring planting season. However, to dig or plant when there is too much

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Y o u r Garden This W e e k

moisture present is zeal misapplied. T o determine the condition of the soil, press a handful tightly in the palm; then drop the moulded mass to the ground. If it crumbles into granular bits, the soil is in fit condition to work; if it remains pasty and sticky, only cracking into a few segments, it is still too wet to begin planting. Lawns can be given a preliminary weeding whenever the soil is not frozen. This is particularly a good time for removing dandelions, docks, and other perennial weeds. They may also be killed by dropping iron sulphate onto the crowns. This chemical may blacken grass leaves, but it does no permanent harm to the turf. Replacing Nutrients in the Soil. Garden soils usually become depleted in nutrients and organic matter just as most agricultural land does, and additional supplies of these needed elements must be added in some form to maintain healthy plants. There is no w a y of telling accurately which substances are needed most unless a chemical soil test is made. This is rarely necessary for the home garden. It might be said here that the testing of a soil for its relative acidity, a comparatively simple and easy performance which has had much publicity in recent years, gives no indication of the stock of nutrients in the soil. A knowledge of a soil's acidity or alkalinity rating, however, as indicated by its p H ratio, is essential. (This p H figure relates to the potential hydrogen ion concentration.) An application of fertilizer at this time enables plants in the garden to get an early start and make strong growth before the soil moisture may become depleted in

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hot summer weather. A s the weather permits, fertilizing and working is especially beneficial for beds which will receive annual flowers, dahlias, and gladioli in a short time. A fertilizer containing supplies of all the nutrient elements likely to be needed for plant growth is much to be recommended for general purposes; its use obviates the need for a chemical analysis to determine which elements are low. Such a fertilizer mixture is termed a complete fertilizer, and it will be made up essentially of compounds supplying three nutrient substances—nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. For convenience, these three are always designated in this order, and their ratio in the fertilizer mixture is indicated by three figures, such as 5-10-5. Most farm supply stores, seed and plant houses, and farmers' cooperatives sell complete fertilizers of various ratios for different soil types and different crops at moderate prices. A good general application of fertilizer is at the rate of one pound for 40 square feet. This can be dug into the soil with a spading fork or raked in with an iron rake. T a k e pains that none of the chemical is scattered into the crowns of plants, as burning of buds and stems might result. Liming and Fertilizing Old Lawns. A dressing of commercial fertilizer at this time is also of great benefit to the lawn. An adequate supply of nutrients will be made available by scattering one pound over each 40 square feet of lawn area, and a 5-10-5 fertilizer is suitable. M a n y northern soils are too acid for the best growth

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of lawn grasses, and now is an ideal time for providing lime to neutralize this acidity. An acid soil not only prevents full utilization of the nutrient substances in a soil and those added in the form of commercial fertilizers, but it also absorbs much less moisture from rains than a neutral soil. High acidity is also held responsible for the sod-bound condition so characteristic of old and poorly managed lawns. Lime may be applied in the form of hydrated lime or as finely ground limestone. General recommendations for correcting acidity in lawns direct an application of 25 to 50 pounds of hydrated lime or 50 to 75 pounds of finely ground limestone broadcast evenly over each 1,000 square feet of lawn area. Over a lawn of modest size, lime and fertilizer applications can be scattered easily by hand. Frequently, however, a more elaborate program is easily managed by combining operations. Fertilizer, lime, and a third important addition to keep the lawn healthy, organic matter, can be mixed together and applied at the same time. Pulverized peat, screened compost, and spent mushroom soil are good sources of organic matter. Even a good topsoil may be used if it is known to contain no weed seeds. (Crab-grass must be guarded against with the utmost vigilance.) The fertilizer and lime may be mixed with any convenient amount of the humus carrier. After this dressing is applied and distributed evenly with the back of an iron rake the lawn should be rolled, and bare spots can be seeded with a good strain of grass seed. A second rolling in the opposite direction from the first should follow

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the seeding. Light scatterings of grass seed in small patches, as where weeds have been dug out, will not require rolling, as the frosts still ahead will cover them sufficiently. Clean-up Sprays. This is the season also to apply the general spring clean-up spray. The application of an oil spray or lime-sulphur is invaluable for the garden's good health throughout the year. Particular pains should be taken to spray all woody plants liable to harbor scale insects—the osier dogwoods, lilacs, boxwoods, roses, crabapples, maples, poplars, ashes, and all species of Euonymus and Celastrus. These armored pests cannot be unseated easily after the leaves are out, as lime-sulphur and oil sprays which are very effective in annihilating them will also ruin deciduous foliage. If ignored now, the young scale insects will need to be sprayed with one of the summer contact poisons (nicotine, pyrethrum, rotenone) in late M a y or June. Lime-sulphur applied according to directions may prove the safer dormant spray for the home gardener to use, especially on evergreens, but its odor and the indelible stain it makes on paint and wood are serious drawbacks. Various types of miscible or emulsified oils, which are best for most ornamental plants, are available for this dormant spraying. Care should be taken in following the manufacturer's directions, and the spraying should be done on a warm bright day. Injury is likely to occur when an oil spray freezes on the branches; it should have an opportunity to dry on before the temperature drops.

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Many junipers and some other evergreens with small leaves are injured by having droplets of oil spray retained in the cup formed by the leaf and the twig or by leaf stem and twig. Spiny Greek Juniper, Needle Juniper, and Common Juniper are examples. For these and for Sugar Maples, hickories, walnuts, and for the wintercreepers and other evergreen Euonymus a dormant spray of lime-sulphur (one part to nine parts of water) is much to be preferred.

April First week—Making a New Lawn; The Last Dormant Spraying; Preparing Seedbeds; Pruning and Planting Roses; Planting Lilies Second week—Uncovering and Pruning Roses; Sowing Hardy Annuals in the Open; Dividing Herbaceous Perennials Third week—Removing Mulches vs. Leaving Mulches; Turning the Compost Heap; Planting Shrubs; Coldframe Management; The Herbaceous Border Again Fourth week—Planting Gladioli and Tender Bulbs; Spring Attention to Perennial Borders; Trees to Plant Now Some Early April

Flowers

In many gardens the flowers listed below will be in bloom during the first two weeks of the month. Many familiar trees, shrubs, and garden perennials follow in rapid succession. The wave of spring bloom becomes so engulfing, in fact, that any list of helpful size would consume more space than can be devoted to it here, and these lists of bloom will be discontinued now that the garden picture becomes more diversified. Herbs Trees and Shrubs Abeliophyllum Red Maple Spring Adonis Golden tuft

Abeliophyllum distichum Acerrubrum Adonis vernalis Alyssum saxati'le ss

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Your Garden This Week Flame Anemone Pasqueflower Snowdrop Anemone Wallcress Marsh-marigold Glory-of-the-snow Cornelian-cherry Goto Winterhazel Chinese Winterhazel Spike Winterhazel Cloth-of-gold Crocus Spring Crocus Garland-flower Lilac Daphne February Daphne Leatherwood Alpine Epimedium Common Winter-aconite Darley Heath Dogtooth-violet Korean Forsythia Crown-imperial Snowdrops Ozark Witch-hazel Lenten-rose Bluets Common Hyacinth Anatolian Iris Netted Iris Winter Jasmine Spring Snowflake Winter Honeysuckle Star Magnolia

Anemone julgens Anemone pulsatilla Anemone sylvestris Arabis albida Caltha palustris Chionodoxa luciliae Cornus mas Corylopsis gotoana Corylopsis sinensis Corylopsis spicata Crocus imperati Crocus susianus Crocus vernus Daphne cneorum Daphne genkwa Daphne mezereum Dirca palustris Epimedium alpinum Eranthis hyemalis Erica darleyensis Erythronicum dens-canis Forsythia ovata Fritillaria imperialis Galanthus, several kinds Hamamelis vernalis Helleborus orientalis Houstonia caerulea Hyacinthus orientalis Iris histrioides Iris reticulata Jasminum nudiflorum Leucojum vernum Lonicera jragramtissima Lonicera praeflorens Magnolia stellata

April Leatherleaf Hollygrape Heartleaf Saxifrage Narcissus, daffodils Creeping Forget-me-not Mountain Pachysandra Japanese Andromeda Himalayan Primrose Cowslip Nanking Cherry Cowslip Lungwort Bethlehem-sage Pyxie-moss Korean Rhododendron Bloodroot Podolian Whitlow-herb Siberian Squill Oconee-bells Peatpink Lady Tulip Waterlily Tulip Carles Viburnum Fragrant Viburnum Common Periwinkle Violets Yellowroot

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Mahonia beali Megasia cordijolia Narcissus, many kinds Omphalodes verna Pachysandra procumbens Pieris japónica Primula denticulata Primula veris Prunus tomentosa Pulmonaria angustijolia Pulmonaria saccharata Pyxidanthera barbulata Rhododendron mucronulatum Sanguinaria canadensis Schivereckia podolica Scilla sibirica Shortia galacijolia Silene pennsylvanica Tulipa clusiana Tulipa kaufmanniana Viburnum carlesi Viburnum fragrans Vinca minor Viola, several species Zanthorhiza apiijolia

o OFFSET the competition of weeds and the dry spells which hot summer weather usually brings, turf grasses should be given an early start by sowing new lawns the first part of April. In order to make conditions as favorable as possible for the young grass plants, most soils require three special additions: or-

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ganic matter to create a suitable soil structure, lime to correct excessive acidity, and fertilizer to supplement the stores of plant nutrients. Well-rotted manure, pulverized peat-moss, and spent mushroom soil are suitable sources of organic matter, as mentioned in March, and any of these materials may be used as a carrier for the lime and fertilizer. Actually, the three additions can be applied in one operation. For a new lawn área, from one-half to one ton of organic matter per 1,000 square feet of surface should be applied. Hydrated lime or ground limestone and a complete fertilizer, such as one containing five per cent of nitrogen, ten per cent of phosphoric acid, and five per cent of potash (5-10-5) can be added, as already recommended for dressing an established lawn. These additions can be applied evenly in any convenient fashion. It is not necessary to mix them deeply into the soil; a light forking to incorporate them in the upper five or six inches is adequate. After this last working over, the surface should be leveled very carefully with an iron rake. When the surface seems properly graded, study it critically from a distance of 30 feet or more. Care in raking out slight elevations and in securing an artistic grade to a slope is well repaid in satisfaction later. When the raking is finally done, roll the area carefully. Special lawn seed mixtures for average loamy soils, for shaded locations, and for poor clayey, sandy, or shaly soils may now be obtained by number from many wholesale and retail seed firms. Four pounds of good

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quality seed are enough for seeding 1,000 square feet of lawn. A good mixture of grass seed for the average lawn might consist of the following proportions by weight: Kentucky Bluegrass Redtop Colonial Bent Perennial Rye-grass White Clover

45 25 10 iS S

It is wise for the beginner to divide the amount of seed he is going to use into halves, and to sow each half by working over the entire area in a different direction. Thus if one portion is sown across the whole ground area from north to south, the remaining half of the seed would be sown from east to west. This slight precaution gives a much more even distribution of the seed than one operation might produce. After sowing, the seed may be raked in lightly about one-eighth inch deep, and the lawn should be rolled for the last time. Many gardeners consider raking the seed unnecessary, and it is true that as a result of inexpert raking the fine seeds are often buried too deeply. Sown at this time of year, the lawn rarely needs watering, for the ample supply of moisture in the soil will soon work by surface tension up through the drier, recently tilled earth to the rolled surface. When watering seems essential, it is best done by hand with a very fine misty spray. Another advantage of sowing a lawn now is that the surface soil can hardly dry out excessively, and if the

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weather is favorable, germination will start within a week. During the second week a gratifying, delicate green haze will be gaining substance and deepening in color. Stakes and strings should be put up wherever needed to remind everyone that shortcuts across the lawn are taboo. When the timely sowing of a new lawn is prevented, it is best to postpone the permanent seeding until September. A temporary lawn may be produced in three weeks b y using Perennial or Domestic R y e grasses, and this will serve admirably during the summer. The Last Dormant Spraying. A s the buds of many deciduous trees and shrubs are swelling, the time for applying dormant sprays is growing short. A s soon as the growth has pushed well through the protecting scales, later in the month, these miscible oil and limesulphur sprays will start to cause injury to the expanding leaves. The oil may be used diluted with 20 parts of water for most deciduous plants; a slightly stronger spray may be needed to wipe out bad infestations of scale insects. If some injury is caused on such evergreens as the wintercreepers (Euonymus radicans and its varieties), new growth will soon mask the harm. T h e dormant spray should always be applied to all plants of the Common Snowball. This long-popular shrub is very susceptible to aphis attacks, and the destruction of overwintering eggs will save much trouble later in the season. In addition to taking particular pains in following

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directions in making up the sprays, it is important to remember they should be applied on a warm bright day. Even then, late afternoon is best avoided. A s already directed in March, junipers, Sugar Maple, hickories, and some other subjects should be sprayed with lime-sulphur rather than an oil spray. An arsenate of lead spray applied when Tent Caterpillar nests are the size of silver dollars cleans up these pests with a minimum of trouble. All apples, crabapples, cherries, plums, and hawthorns should have this spray when the caterpillars have been bad the season before. Preparing Seedbeds. Seedbeds for sowing hardy annuals and perennials outdoors will be needed in a week or so, and these can be spaded over now. If dampingoff attacks have been serious in the past, it is essential that the beds be given the formaldehyde treatment (February, Second W e e k ) . The treatment is so easy that it is wise to give it anyway. Since seeds cannot be planted with safety in formaldehyde-soaked soil in ground beds for about one week after treatment, prepare the soil in ample time for sowing about the middle of the month. Pruning and Planting Roses. Rose buds start early, and it is well known that the plants do not take kindly to transplanting after growth has commenced. The sooner new roses can be planted now, the better they will do early in the season. T h e cut roots should be trimmed neatly and interlacing and crooked ones straightened. A s the root system has been reduced drastically, the tops should be cut back hard to balance the diminished

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roots. In planting roses, pains need to be taken in arranging the roots in the hole and in setting the plants at the proper depth—about an inch deeper than they have been growing. Lightly shaking the plant up and down as the loose earth is shoveled in will permit soil particles to sift down between the finer roots. The earth should be packed firmly and watered while there is still sufficient depression around the plant to hold a generous pailful of water. When this has soaked away, the remaining soil can be leveled in place. Bush roses such as Rugosas, Hybrid Perpetuals, Prairie, Scots, Harrisons Yellow, and other cherished dooryard roses, as well as the newer arrivals from the Orient—Father Hugo Rose, Eca Rose, and many other handsome species—need little pruning at this season. Reducing the young growth would mean fewer flowers, so light pruning or thinning to improve the shape of the shrubs is sufficient. The season for giving bush roses a thorough overhauling is early summer, as the blooms are fading. April is about the last call to do battle against the Rose Stem Borer and the Rose Stem Girdler, as the adults of these insects will be hatching in a few weeks. The swellings in the stems which indicate the work of the larvae of these pests can be detected rather easily, and the canes so infested should be cut out and burned. Hybrid Tea Roses should not be pruned until danger of severe frosts is definitely past, since the gardener cannot spare time to prune them twice. In mild seasons it will be safe to uncover and prune them as early as the

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end of March, but little is gained by this treatment. In most sections of the North it is well to defer work with Hybrid Teas until the second week in April. Climbing roses can be divided into three groups for convenience in pruning practices: ramblers, pillar roses, and large-flowered climbers. Typical examples of rambler roses are Crimson Rambler, Dorothy Perkins, Evangeline, and Excelsa, all with small flowers in clusters. For the most part, their new growth is from the base of the plants in summer, especially after their lavish mass of bloom fades in late June. Aside from training and shaping, rambler roses need no pruning in the spring; early J u l y is the time for removing old growth. Pillar roses include the climbers which produce canes about eight or ten feet long. Climbing Hybrid Teas and others well adapted to growing on pillars or posts seven or eight feet high belong in this class. New growth starts from the old canes, and from the base of the plants as well, in most varieties. Worn-out wood should be taken out of pillar roses this month, before growth starts. This throws the energies of the plants into the newer, sounder growth which is producing most of the flowering wood. The growth made last year may need to be shortened and trained to the support. Some pillar roses benefit from summer pruning if they have the same vigorous growth of new shoots from the base that is characteristic of ramblers. Large-flowered climbing roses require a light pruning in the spring, but this consists of the removal of

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older wood rather than of much attention to the young vigorous growth. Large-flowered climbers should not be used in situations where they will have insufficient room, as drastic pruning to keep their strong canes (often reaching a height of 30 feet or more) in bounds may produce much growth and little bloom. Star of Persia is typical of the large-flowered climbers which are at their best when pruned hardly at all, except for the removal of dead branches. Others which require light pruning are Albertine, American Pillar, Dr. van Fleet, and Silver Moon. Planting Lilies. Spring-planted lilies are being used more extensively nowadays, and these also repay planting at an early date. It is well to have the ground prepared with abundant leafmold and sand or gravel if the soil is heavy, whenever opportunity affords during the winter. Nearly all lilies require sharp drainage. In fact, only some American species relish generous supplies of moisture; the choice Asiatics and Europeans are intolerant of wet feet. SECOND

WEEK

Uncovering and Pruning Roses. It is now time to remove the covering and protection from roses. Quite possibly many gardeners have been unable to curb their impatience, and have had their bush roses and Hybrid Teas uncovered for a week or more. There is little to gain by removing the protection earlier. Some Hybrid Teas may be killed back to the soil level, while others show light injury to the tips of the

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canes only. In most cases, the home gardener does not prune roses sufficiently. Regardless of the amount of winter-killing, Hybrid Teas should be cut back to within three or four buds of the ground level. This will mean leaving only four or five inches of the bush above ground. This seemingly drastic cutting removes a large percentage of wood infected with the rose canker diseases, black-spot, and other troubles, and so lessens the chances of disease later in the season. Furthermore, the strongest buds are at the base of the plants; hard pruning now results in sturdier growth and finer blooms. When the pruned wood is being removed this week, rose beds should be carefully cleaned. Fallen leaves should be gathered up painstakingly and burned at once along with the trimmings. Black-spot, mildew, and other fungous diseases are carried over on old leaves as well as on badly infected canes. Many gardeners favor a clean-up spray of limesulphur for roses as soon as they have been uncovered and pruned. If the buds are pushing out lustily by this time, as they may be if the season is early, it would be best to use one of the sulphur fungicides. Sowing Hardy Annuals in the Open. Any of the hardy annuals may be sown in the open ground now, and those flowers which are inclined to languish under the low night temperatures should be sown in a coldframe. It is necessary to cover the frame carefully at night. China Asters, cosmos, and zinnias do best if sown in

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a frame and transplanted in May. Dahlias and chrysanthemums will bloom this season if started from seed now. Dividing Herbaceous Perennials. This is one of the best seasons for lifting and resetting late-blooming herbaceous perennials. If this necessary work is delayed, toll will be taken in diminished flower stalks and smaller blooms. Usually perennial flowers blooming after the middle of June can be transplanted to good advantage at this season. Those coming early in the season and producing a lavish display through May and June are best moved in summer or early fall. Many perennials are now starting into growth, but most of the summer- and late-blooming perennials are still essentially dormant, and they can be handled easily. Spring divisions of herbaceous perennials should not be made too small lest the bloom and general effect the first season be reduced greatly. Rapid-growing herbs, however, such as the more robust varieties of chrysanthemums, perennial cornflowers, Mistflowers, Michaelmas-daisies, and other hardy asters, stand extreme separation well, and it may be desirable in many cases to plant back only single divisions and set them a little closer together. This work can continue through April, but it is best to have it out of the way before May arrives. THIRD

WEEK

Removing Mulches vs. Leaving Mulches. This may well be designated as the ideal time for removing winter

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mulches from flower beds and shrubs. In areas where the season is earlier, the gardener may be justified in uncovering his treasures the first or second week in April. Then, too, after a mild and short winter, it will be definitely harmful to leave mulches over herbaceous things so long that they make abnormal and forced growth. Careful inspection during the middle of April will indicate the feasible time to remove mulches, and this time will vary not only with the particular year, but also with different soils and different exposures. Mulches around shrubs can often be forked into the soil to good advantage. This is usually done when the protection has been peat-moss or manure, and the store of organic matter in the soil is fortified thereby. Mulches of leaves should always be left around rhododendrons and azaleas, as these two groups need protection from summer's heat and drought as well as against winter's damages. The earth around rhododendrons and azaleas should never be spaded, as the roots would be badly injured. When the mulch has to be removed, however, it can be done all at once. This is an appropriate place to urge that year-round mulches be provided for ornamental plantings, as practically all of them will be benefited by this treatment. A permanent mulch is invaluable for shrub borders and large mass plantings which are well faced-down with low-growing types. N o t only does it insure complete rain absorption and hence a lessening of the drought problem, but it also creates the natural conditions which go far toward the maintenance of soil fertility. T h e oldest portion of

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a permanent mulch, the bottom layer, is always breaking down into leafmold and furnishing needed enrichment for the soil. If the edge of such a mulch is obvious or objectionable where the shrubs do not branch low enough to cover it, introduce groups of shade-loving and shallow-rooted plants. Lilies-of-the-valley, Plumy Bleedingheart, Shortia, Galax, Wild-ginger, violets, evergreen ferns, and many other woodsy plants suggest themselves as delightful in such a capacity. The incredibly fat buds of Eremurus should be covered with fruit-baskets and burlap every night that promises to be freezing. The flower buds of these impressive Asiatic plants are so tender that a touch of frost does great harm. Turning the Compost Heap. Mulches that have to be removed at this season can usually be added to the compost pile, particularly if they were composed of tree leaves, straw, or similar materials. Salt hay contributes little to the compost, and it breaks down so slowly it is best not to include it, but it can be piled in an odd corner and saved for mulching next winter. The same procedure employed in building the compost heap should be followed in these supplementary layers now—a layer of leaves or other material and then a scattering of soil and a fertilizer high in nitrogen (see October, Third Week). The compost should be kept wet at all times to hasten decomposition. Some time this month there should be an opportunity to turn last autumn's compost heap. If this is to be done, the new material brought in from cleaning up

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mulches ought to be made into a pile by itself—a new one for the season perhaps. Starting at one end, the old pile can be attacked with a spading fork and rebuilt immediately adjacent. It is a good plan to work the less broken-down material from the sides and top of the old pile into the interior where it can decompose more completely. Watering will pack the turned compost heap surprisingly, and as the breaking down process goes on, the pile shrinks more and more. Planting Shrubs. This is a good season to set out or transplant all hardy evergreen conifers, cotoneasters, and barberries. Small seedlings of these very dissimilar plants can be transplanted without soil on the roots, but with plants over a few inches high this method will rarely meet with success. Place each plant in its hole carefully, with an eye to its best appearance when the job is done. Shrubs and trees invariably need turning so that their best side faces in the most important direction. A few seconds devoted to this artistic side of transplanting make all the difference between an ordinary, uninspired moving and a skillful artistic placing in the new location. Inspection from a distance, before the earth is filled in, helps in case of doubt. Soil should be packed well around the balls of earth with a planting stick, so that all air spaces will be eliminated. Water generously before the holes are quite filled. Flowering shrubs in general can be planted now and most trees can be set out. In addition to the groups already mentioned, it is wise to move fire-

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thorns, bayberries, Sweetgale, and Sweet-fern at the earliest possible date. Coldjrame Management. During warm early afternoons, coldframes should be given more and more air as the weather grows milder. Confining too much heat in the frames encourages growth which will be excessively soft. The frames must still be closed carefully and given a light covering at night. Annual flowers which have been growing too tall should be pinched back in order to force them to make low-branched and bushy plants. Some annuals, however, such as the everlastings, strawflowers, lupins, and coxcombs, should not be pinched back. Rather than run the risk of having the larger and more crowded annuals in the frames become stunted, it will be advisable to transplant them a second time. Should this be necessary—and the possibility is one reason for not starting annual flower seeds too early— put them in two- or three-inch pots. Pots of paper or those made of veneer bands may be used. As new lots of seedlings progress nicely and start to put out their true leaves, pricking them off into flats of light loam or starting them in small pots must not be delayed. Always shade them with newspapers held up on wires or plant labels, or leave them in a shady spot for two or three days after pricking off to prevent bright sunlight from causing injury. The Herbaceous Border Again. Continue to divide and reset herbaceous perennials. In addition to those mentioned earlier which need almost annual division

Cinnamon Ferns unrolling clustered croziers

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for best results, such popular flowers as Oenotheras, gaillardias, heleniums, Shasta Daisies, and a great manyothers benefit from replanting every second or third year. German Irises furnish the classic example of perennial flowers on a three-year plan in the garden, but these are not subjects for spring dividing unless a special scheme calls for it. Herbs (i.e., herbaceous perennials) flowering before mid-June are best left until summer for division and resetting. In dividing most herbaceous perennials, first dig the whole clump, working around on three or four sides of it with a spading fork to effect an easy loosening of the roots. Next, shake off as much of the earth as possible. It should be dry and crumbly enough to shake off well. Then, by loosening and twisting the mass of crown and roots, carefully separate the plant into three or four parts. Cutting with a knife or a spade will have to be resorted to with some plants. Some portions of the crown will need further division, but rarely for these two- and three-year plants will fewer than three buds be advisable. The vigorous growers mentioned in the notes on the second week—hardy asters, chrysanthemums, and their like—will retrieve themselves heartily when only one bud is left. FOURTH

WEEK

Planting Gladioli and Tender Bulbs. This is a good time to start planting gladiolus corms, particularly those which will be depended on for early bloom. A nice succession of gladiolus blooms can be secured by mak-

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ing a number of plantings at two-week intervals from now through M a y . Set the corms firmly three or four inches deep and the same distance apart. When grown in rows, 12 or 18 inches between rows is adequate. For largest flowers, give the plants more room—even a foot in each direction. April-planted corms may not come up much sooner than the later ones, but they will form good root systems and in the end give the earliest flowers. Montbretias and tigridias can be set out now, particularly a few for early blooms. It is also possible to have these coming on in pots in the coldframe, so that goodsized plants with well-formed root systems can be set out in M a y . Almost any of the annual and perennial flower seeds, except the tender annuals, can be planted in beds in the open ground. After pressing the light covering layer of soil over them, spread a single thickness of burlap over the seedbed to furnish protection from the drying sun and prevent loss of moisture in the top layer of soil. Watch the beds carefully, however, and remove the covering at the first sign of germination. Germinating seedlings coming up under the burlap would be injured badly. Spring Attention to Perennial Borders. T h e soil in perennial borders can be tilled as soon as it is dry and crumbly enough to work well. As long as the earth is wet and soggy, cultivation is not advisable, nor is it wise to transplant. Plants are so close together in the typical hardy border that the soil is soon depleted of

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nutrient substances unless regular fertilization is practiced. Well-decomposed manure, compost, or commercial fertilizers must be applied to keep the plants in good condition. When manure or compost is applied, it is best to fork it into the upper layer of soil, though deep digging is never advisable. M a n y border flowers have spreading and shallow root systems, and they are frequently injured by too much zeal in cultivating. Unless generous amounts of manure are provided, it will be advisable to use some fertilizer over perennial beds. Bone meal is good, but lacks potash, and a complete fertilizer is a better recommendation. It may be applied at the rate of two pounds over 100 square feet. When manure or compost is not used, apply about three pounds of a complete commercial fertilizer per 100 square feet. A mixture sold as a potato fertilizer will give good results. Cultivate the dressing of fertilizer into the soil as soon as it is applied, so that it will be gradually dissolved by soil moisture and taken into the soil solution. In this form it is available to the plants as nutrients. It is also highly beneficial to add wood ashes to flower borders, and they may be scattered on until the soil is just covered. Unleached wood ashes contain valuable potash and even a larger proportion of lime. Soils which are shown by test to require lime, however, should be given a dressing of limestone about every other year. The safest w a y to add lime is in the form of finely ground limestone or ground oystershell lime, both

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used at the rate of five pounds per 100 square feet. Hydrated lime may be used at the rate of two or three pounds to ioo square feet, and generally this is also good for a spring application. In using fertilizers and lime, it is always best to pace off the dimensions of the beds and compute the amount required for each bed. Guessing leads to favoritism, and a fond gardener may over-fertilize and damage his choicest plants. Spread fertilizer evenly over the space between the plants, taking care not to get it in the budding crowns. Spring rains carry the material into all the soil occupied by plant roots. In all of this early work in perennial borders, great pains must be taken not to injure roots and crowns of plants. Shoots of such early-growers as Crown-imperials, Hanson Lilies, tulips, peonies, and bleedinghearts are very fragile, and they snap off easily. Such plants as Chinese Bellflowers (Platycodon), Butterflyweed, many lilies, and incarvilleas put in their appearance late, and to spade into their crowns inevitably leads to sad results. These should all be marked with stakes as one of the last gardening tasks in the fall, unless the border is very compact, or the gardener so photographic-minded that he remembers indelibly all such details. Botrytis blights are fungous disease causing ravages in peonies, some lilies, tulips—causing the condition called tulip-fire—and other garden flowers. As a precaution against such early-starting fungi, spray all likely suspects with Bordeaux mixture or dust them

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with copper-lime dust. It may be that the only effective means of controlling Botrytis on peonies will be cutting and burning the stems of the plants in the fall. These plants should be kept under close observation during the next few weeks. Trees to Plant Now. By this time the job of setting out shrubs should be about finished. This is the best season for planting a large number of trees, however. Many species seem to stand the great shock of being moved best when they are on the verge of starting their active growing season, just as the buds are breaking. A list of these trees includes the several white oaks, shadbushes or June-berries, birches, beeches, poplars, Sweetgum or Bilsted, Flowering Dogwood, Tuliptree, and its cousins, the magnolias.

May First week—Transplanting; Opening Hostilities against Diseases and Insects; Anticipated Embarrassments Second week—More Transplanting; Combating Pests; Cultivating Third week-—Late Pruning; More Setting Out and Sowing; Annuals to the Rescue Fourth week—More Pests; The Dog Menace; Staking; Starting Dahlias

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attention to details at this time of year is essential to the success and beauty of the flower garden. Sowing seeds at the proper time, transplanting some plants, adding a little fertilizer to the soil for others, and keeping an alert watch for plant pests and diseases are some of the tasks which make up the gardening calendar in May. Transplanting. Late-blooming perennials that still need to be divided and replanted should receive attention this week. If this work is delayed, the roots will establish themselves more slowly in the drying soil, and toll will be taken in growth and blooms. Except in northern areas, the time limit has already passed for planting dormant roses. Pot-grown roses can still be set out, of course. Ordinarily, these require no pruning. AREFUL

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Unless they are transplanted from pots, it is almost impossible to move any plants in active growth without destroying the root hairs—the delicate hair-like organs near the growing tips of active roots which do practically all of the absorbing of soil water and plant nutrients. In a dormant plant these vital structures are not functioning to any degree, and new growing tips and new root hairs can be produced as the plant needs them. When shrubs already in growth are moved, it is important to prune them back strongly. Unless this is done, the demands of the stems and leaves for raw materials so far exceed the ability of the damaged and reduced root system to supply them that wilting and severe damage result. When the balance is completely upset for any period, the transplants will either die back part way or fail completely. The actual operation of transplanting small and moderate-sized plants is not difficult for the average gardener to perform. Always be sure that the hole is large enough for the roots to spread out naturally; cramping and binding them is harmful. Hardy annuals and perennials in coldframes should be prepared gradually for their introduction to the outdoors. First, the sash can be moved off the frame farther each day; then it may be removed altogether during the day, though it should still be moved back each night to prevent checking strong growth. Soon plants in flats and pots can be taken from the frames entirely and set in a protected corner or on the south side of a building or wall for the final week before

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planting. They should always be within reach of the hose for daily waterings. As the coldframe is vacated, the more pampered subjects which have been luxuriating indoors—on crowded window sills, in flower rooms or glasshouses — a r e set out in the space released by the hardy subjects. Tender annuals such as Ageratum, Arctotis, Dimorphotheca, Impatiens, Lavatera, Stocks, Fouro'clocks, Mignonettes, Salpiglossis, as well as annual chrysanthemums, sunflowers, marigolds, and verbenas, can be sown in coldframes. In sections where cold nights hang on tenaciously, this is a very suitable treatment. In areas where mild weather has become settled, beds can be forked over and raked, preparatory to sowing annuals in the open ground. Opening Hostilities against Diseases and Insects. In the perennial borders, several subjects need to be dusted with sulphur or sprayed with Bordeaux mixture. This timely service may prevent outbreaks of several fungous troubles. When the temperature is above 800 F., sulphur dust will wipe out the mites which cause damage so early in the season. All hollyhocks, delphiniums, and the border varieties of Phlox should be given one of the above applications at this time. That scourge of shade trees, Spring Cankerworms, are now hatched, and during peak years millions of the tiny loopers will be gorging themselves on soft new leaf tissues. Their stomachs are accused of developing unwormlike resistance to arsenic poisoning later

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on, though it is more likely that the spray does not reach them. At this early stage, however, these pests can be greatly reduced by thorough spraying. As they are hatching out in the tree tops, to which the females have succeeded in arriving despite the tanglefoot bands applied in March, even tall oaks and elms, as well as hickories, beeches, apples, and most thin-leaved species, must be covered with a poison spray. During years when cankerworms are near the peak of their cycle this is certainly one of the indispensable sprays for every home property, and properly equipped tree men should be called in to do it thoroughly. Be sure the first spray is applied now, in early M a y , rather than at the end of the month when irreparable damage has been done to the season's foliage by the maturing worms. Rather than fight against heavy odds in the summer, gardeners can poison the grubs of Japanese Beetles by applying arsenate of lead over their lawn at the rate of 12 to 1 5 pounds per 1,000 square feet. The poison can be applied in a topdressing of humus or compost. As the growing season gets more fully under way, it becomes increasingly necessary for the home gardener to become well informed about particular insect pests and fungous diseases and which of his plants they are apt to attack. Sprays and dusts must be applied religiously, and proper equipment is a prime requisite. T h e gardener who wishes to learn more about these duties will find that they have been clearly and skillfully explained in books which are readily available. Several

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state experiment station publications cover much of this field. Anticipated Embarrassments. Nests of Eastern Tent Caterpillars may manage to survive till this date, and surprisingly enough, even the most meticulous of gardeners may find himself humiliated when the familiar gray tents materialize in the top of his flowering crabs, apples, and their kin! They should never be destroyed by burning, unless the whole branch in which they are woven can be removed and added to the bonfire heap. When they are more or less inaccessible, it is no great crime to leave them for the birds; otherwise, annihilating them by hand is the simplest means, and the true gardener may even come to glory in their moist destruction. Early mornings and late afternoons are the effective times for waging a campaign on the nests. New lawns which have come up thin in spots and sparse patches in old lawns can still be repaired with a scattering of grass seed. A light spraying with the hose will settle this last seeding into the ground adequately; rolling is rarely advisable. It is too early to mow old lawns yet, as new growth should be given a good opportunity to thicken. SECOND

WEEK

More Transplanting. Transplanting is one of the most important things to be done now in the garden. Annuals and other bedding plants have to be set out, and seedlings of perennials, if they are strong and promising,

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ought to be planted in locations waiting for them in the border or in nursery rows at one side of the vegetable and cutting garden. If these have been hardened by gradual exposure to conditions in the open, as already explained, the shock of transplanting will not stop their growth for long. On bright days now the sunlight is growing quite warm, and late afternoon or a cloudy day is recommended for setting out small plants. Plants from pots do not need this consideration. In setting out seedlings that have grown tall and leggy, despite the gardener's pains, it is best to cut them back about onethird. As a special favor to these newcomers in the garden, providing a small amount of water in the bottom of the hole before the roots are set in will help rapid recovery as almost nothing else. Always be sure the loose soil is pressed firmly around the roots of transplants. Leave a slight depression around the stem in pressing the earth down; then water. Managed thus, new root hairs are produced and the roots soon establish themselves. Shading unduly large seedlings with newspapers or boxes and baskets when it is warm the first few days after transplanting also helps immensely. T h e end of this week will mark the time when it is safe to sow tender annuals and bedding plants in the open. The surface soil has probably been well dried out between rains b y the increasing sun, and a covering of burlap over new seedbeds is very helpful in retaining moisture at the surface and thus bringing about rapid germination. T h e burlap has added value in preventing

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the seeds from being uncovered by heavy rains. A s soon as germination starts, the covering must be removed. Cuttings and divisions of chrysanthemums growing in pots should be put out at this time. T h e second planting of gladiolus corms should be made, with such satisfactory subjects as montbretias and tigridias following shortly. M a n y gardeners, however, may make their first planting of gladiolus in mid-May. It is well to look under the papery outside scales to see if the body of the corms show the small russet streaks which indicate damage from thrips. This injury is characteristic of corms kept in too warm a place during the winter. Systematic and thorough spraying is necessary for summer control (See August, Second W e e k ) . Combating Pests. Boxwood Leaf-miner is a troublesome pest which seriously damages the foliage of box when once started. Inasmuch as the other stages are safe in the leaves, the best method devised to control this short-lived fly is to keep the foliage covered with a molasses and nicotine spray for two weeks while the pupae are hatching. Once they get a foothold, plant lice or aphids build up large colonies on the succulent new shoots of most herbaceous perennials and flowering shrubs. Watch for them incessantly. For these sucking insects, a poison spray or dust which kills on contact is needed. Nicotine is the old stand-by and newer products containing rotenone and pyrethrum extracts are effective and easy to apply. Made into a great number of reliable trade sprays and dusts, these are now on the market, and in

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containers of convenient size they are available from seedsmen and florists and at hardware and many department stores. Standard directions for using them cannot be given, due to their varying make-up and concentrations. The manufacturers' directions should be followed carefully. Tiny slugs and snout-beetles which gorge themselves on the leaf tissue of roses, forsythias, mockoranges, and a number of other plants leave only the upper epidermal layer of cells and the veins. Lead arsenate or pyrethrum disposes of them, but care must be taken to reach them on the undersides of the leaves. Cultivating. Gardeners who neglected to divide and reset crowded clumps of herbaceous perennials will do well to thin the young shoots now. Three- and four-year clumps of chrysanthemums, perennial phlox, heleniums, hardy cornflowers, and Michaelmas-daisies or hardy asters should usually be restricted to fewer than eight or ten stems. This prevents excess growth and results in superior and larger blooms. Always cut the surplus stems off close to the roots with a knife. If merely broken off at the crown, new buds will develop at the base. Keep the soil well loosened in borders, for germinating weed seeds must be routed as they start. A light raking or stirring with one of the shallow cultivator tools does the job nicely; deep cultivation is harmful because it does untold injury to the feeding roots of plants. If the April fertilizing was not completed

Daffodils in a suitable surrounding

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throughout the garden, apply a light dressing of a mixture rich in nitrogen at this time. A good application is from 20 to 30 pounds per 1,000 square feet. This can be cultivated in at the same time a new crop of germinating weeds is being discouraged. Late in the season when the ground is warmer, nitrogen is made available by the action of soil bacteria, but as yet this process is not operating extensively. When the lawn or parts of it contain crocuses, squills, narcissi, daffodils, and other hardy bulbs, it is necessary to wait still longer before the first mowing. T o avoid injuring the bulbs and impairing their bloom next year, the leaves must be permitted to complete their growing season and ripen naturally. When they start to turn yellow, the grass can be cut. THIRD

WEEK

Late Pruning. An important problem in many gardens at this time is what to do with the woody plants that have suffered winter injury. Most roses should have been pruned hard weeks ago, but the actual extent of winter injury will only now be fully apparent in many shrubs and trees. In some it may not be determinable for several weeks. The best treatment is to cut out all dead wood and trim back to sound growth. Boxwood which appears severely burned may renew itself surprisingly. A n y w a y , with box it is advisable to wait until new growth starts because it is almost impossible

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to tell how little or how much injury has been done. N o one wishes to lose more growth from large boxwoods than necessary. Abundant moisture and feeding with liquid manure do wonders in restoring damaged plants. More Setting Out and Sowing. The setting out of annuals will probably be continued this week. Even though the season is advancing rapidly and the weather seems very mild, plants which come out of coldframes and greenhouses need to be hardened before transplanting. Whenever there are heavy rains during the planting season, it is a mistake to work in the soil until it dries out somewhat. Light sandy soils can be worked in a few hours after even a heavy downpour, but clayey and shaly soils are apt to be soggy for several days. Rather than continue when the soil is not in good shape, the gardener wisely adopts a schedule sufficiently flexible to permit his pursuing different work in such a case. Seeds of annuals for late bloom should be sown at intervals—even into June. M a n y of the hardy annuals which were started early in the coldframe will flower in a long sequence of bloom if successive sowings are made every two or three weeks. Annuals to be treated thus are African-daisy, Mignonette, Rocket Larkspur, Bachelor-buttons, annual gypsophilas, linarias, and cornflowers. Cover the seedbeds with burlap to hold moisture at the surface. As soon as there is a place for them, sowings of perennials and biennials for next year's garden should be made. These will furnish stocky young plants for

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the rearrangement and remaking of some parts of the borders in the fall. They can also be left in a nursery bed until next April, when there will surely be need for them. It is a good scheme to buy small plants or rooted cuttings of new perennials in pots from nurserymen at this time. Given lavish care for the next few months, they will make good clumps for September planting or even subjects for division if more stock is desired. Annuals to the Rescue. Leaving seedlings of annual flowers—or any kind—crowded in a seedbed is poor gardening practice. If there is no place for them at present, pot them in two-inch pots and later shift to threes and fours. Sunk in one section of the coldframe or along one side of the vegetable garden, they make a valuable reserve stock for filling openings in borders throughout the garden. So long as they are in pots they can be set out any time. Some will be invaluable for filling gaps when the foliage of ripening bulbous plants dies down. They are serviceable for massing around the lovely Hardy Amaryllis (Lycoris squamigera) when its leaves ripen in early summer. Many gardeners keep annual stand-bys waiting in pots until almost the end of the season, ready for any emergency that may make an awkward hole in a border, to replace some coloroffender, or merely to create a change for the sake of variety. Fairly dwarf and compact plants serve best in this capacity—petunias, verbenas, and snapdragons are worth considering. Continue to watch for insects and diseases this week,

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and keep the ground stirred, both to forestall weeds and to conserve moisture. As soon as planting is done and the beds are settled for the season, it will be pertinent to consider mulching them to relieve maintenance. FOURTH

WEEK

More Pests. Probably the most important garden task at this time is to keep a careful watch of practically everything so that infestations of insects and attacks of plant diseases can be forestalled promptly. Dust all roses regularly at weekly or ten-day intervals with materials effective against fungous diseases and chewing and sucking insects. Black-spot of roses is the scourge which resists all the gardener's thunder unless care is taken to keep a prophylactic layer of fungicide on the leaf surfaces and stems during warm humid weather. M a n y gardeners prefer to use some of the new rotenone (derris extract) products containing sulphur; they are nonpoisonous to animals and may be used with complete assurance. These mixtures may have great use in Japanese Beetle control, since it is now known that rotenone has a decidedly repellent effect on these ubiquitous pests. Always anticipate outbreaks of insects and fungi by spraying or dusting with a suitable toxic material at the first and slightest indication of trouble; never delay while they become thoroughly entrenched. Lilies growing vigorously now should be sprayed or dusted with sulphur to forestall Botrytis. Madonna

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Lilies are particularly susceptible, and they should be sprayed whether the fungus can be spotted or not. Mountain-laurels need a dose of Bordeaux mixture now if the gardener has noticed the characteristic round, brown or ruddy patches indicating that a leaf-blight fungus is at work. Care in picking up and burning every fallen leaf from diseased plants is a good aid in keeping the foliage of laurels handsome. Near the end of M a y , minute fly-like creatures put in their appearance on the undersides of rhododendron and azalea leaves, especially when the plants are in considerable sunlight. T o annihilate this first brood of Rhododendron Lacebug, spray strongly from below to wet the lower leaf surfaces, using nicotine, pyrethrum, rotenone, or any other good contact insecticide. Various scale insects are hatching about this time, and when there is any question regarding the effectiveness of the dormant spray applied last spring, the spraying outfit should be kept in readiness. If no dormant spray of miscible oil or lime-sulphur was applied at that time, it is a rare garden indeed that will not have some scale pest to combat. Oyster-shell and Scurfy Scales, Euonymus Scale, Pine-needle Scale and Juniper Scale are the kinds usually found on garden subjects. For the whole lot, a nicotine and soap spray is safest and very effective. Rotenone and pyrethrum sprays can be used, also, as directed on the container. The Dog Menace. A small amount of nicotine spray left from some of the above tasks can be used to great diplomatic advantage in preserving the serenity of a

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neighborhood which harbors both dog enthusiasts and gardeners. It is difficult and pointless to decide whether the initial offense starts with the gardener for embellishing the front of his property with evergreens (frequently placed, in the height of rashness, practically on the street at the opening of drive and front walk) or with the dog, for his being a creature of habit. As dogs dislike the odor of nicotine intensely, a few well-timed sprayings during the season serve to place susceptible plantings on the canine black lists. Staking. The amateur gardener often makes the serious mistake of neglecting to stake tall-growing annual and perennial flowers. Some lilies and campanulas, heleniums, sunflowers, hardy asters, Eulalia-grass, chrysanthemums, delphiniums, and other subjects of considerable height need support badly for protection from strong winds and heavy rains. M a n y other tall herbs have wiry stalks and survive without any extra support. W e are grateful to many of the finest lilies, to Black Snakeroot and other species of Cimicifuga for standing staunchly by themselves. Bamboo stakes are especially good because of their great durability and strength. Several other types of wooden and wire stakes are available from seedsmen and hardware dealers, and homemade ones are also satisfactory. Stakes should be as small and inconspicuous as will be consistent with the strength required, and they should be long enough to go into the ground at least a foot and come up to within about this same distance of the top of the mature plant stems. Raffia or

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any soft coarse cord serves for tying, and the tie should be loose enough for the stems to grow unimpaired. T o prevent slipping, the cord will need to be knotted on either side of the stake, the whole tie resembling the figure (8) with the smaller loop holding the stake firmly and the larger one enclosing the plant stems loosely. If wooden stakes are placed early, roots suffer little damage and the main stalks can be tied as they develop. Foliage soon covers the stake to a great degree and it becomes inconspicuous. Each main stem of an important plant requiring support should have an individual stake. Running a cord or two around a whole clump of several stems and tying it to two or three stakes produces a clumsy and unnatural effect which the careful gardener will hardly tolerate. Heavy wire stakes with a corkscrew coil at the top make staking very easy, as no tying is required. Starting Dahlias. Gardeners in the milder areas will be planting dahlias this week. Even earlier planting of dahlia roots can be practiced if the plants are kept cut back so that there will be strong, new growth coming on in August for the crop of flower buds. Dahlias are short-day plants; that is, they receive no impetus to produce flowers and seeds until the summer sun starts to wane. Since few blooms are produced when the growth is allowed to harden, it is generally believed that dahlias must be set out late. T o the contrary, stronger plants will be produced if plantings are made

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earlier and if the tops are kept cut back severely until August. The third planting of gladioli may be made this week, and many tender bulbous subjects can be planted now that the soil is thoroughly warmed.

A cool backyard terrace under an old Apple tree

June First week—The Garden at Its Best; Summer Mulching; Sowing Perennials; Annuals for LateSeason Bloom; Planting Dahlias Second week—No Rest for the Gardener; Combating Insect Pests; Discouraging Fungous Diseases; The Ripening of Spring-Flowering Bulbs; Special Attention to Perennials; Pruning and Trimming; Softwood Cuttings Third week—Sowing Biennials; Trimming and Cleaning; Topdressing the Rock Garden; More Spraying Fourth week—Still Spraying; Transplanting Irises ; Digging Bulbs; Pruning Shrubs; Fertilizing Shrubs and Trees

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HE spring display in most northeastern gardens will be at its peak early this month. With the lavishness of spring's soft flower colors set off against the rapidly expanding new growth, the gardener should take pains to make the picture as perfect as possible. An indelible impression of these beauties does much to tide him over the difficult weeks of combating insects and diseases and dry weather which may lie ahead. Lawns, flower borders, trees and shrubs should be kept in the best condition possible so that the whole scene will be as perfect as the gardener's efforts can make it. When purchases of bearded irises, peonies, flowering 95

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cherries, and other special plants now in their best bloom are contemplated for early additions to the landscape plan, it is wise to visit collections where the various named varieties can be compared in bloom. In the case of many of these, it is best to pay a visit to the nursery from which they will be secured. Summer Mulching. The contest against weeds should go on unabated during the month, for fresh seedlings seem only too willing to pop up and replace those wiped out by each cultivation. It is desirable to give the soil in beds a shallow stirring as soon as it is dry enough to crumble readily after every heavy rain. Cultivation every ten days or so not only removes weed seedlings, but also creates a loose soil mulch layer at the surface which conserves moisture against the almost certain need later in the season. This soil mulch is effective if only one inch thick; in fact, deeper cultivation is so apt to result in damage to the crowded root systems in flower beds that it should rarely be practiced. M a n y gardeners do not realize the value of applying a mulch material to the soil in flower borders at this season. Peat-moss is probably the best and most readily available summer mulch, and a one- to two-inch layer proves very effective. It should be spread on just after a cultivation, so that there will be no weed seedlings waiting to push up through the peat. A peat-moss mulch is attractive, it all but prevents weed seed germination, and it is one of the most effective methods of retaining moisture in the soil. A coarse horticultural grade of peat-moss proves satisfactory, as it is moderate in

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price, easy to spread, and will not blow or wash away readily. Other materials that may be used for summer mulching are grass clippings, compost, cut straw, paper, leached sawdust, tanbark, buckwheat hulls, and any light, loose material that does not contain weed seeds. Peat-moss, sawdust, and tanbark usually contain acidity that must be counteracted by adding agricultural lime to plantings of sweet-soil plants. If baled peat is to be used in the garden for mulching or for any other purpose, a point to keep in mind is that much trouble will be saved if it is obtained months ahead of time. Allowed to remain exposed to the weather in some out of the way corner, a bale of peat-moss absorbs water to its very core. If the bale is kept on hand long enough, considerable of the acid properties of the peat will leach away. Frequently this makes peat-moss more useful, as in preparing beds or as a mulch for roses and other plants requiring a sweet soil. A t any rate, a well saturated bale crumbles easily when the wires are snapped, and the peat can be handled with great ease. Gardeners who have labored at breaking up and shredding the hard chunks of dry peat will appreciate this time-saving procedure. Sowing Perennials. Early June is an ideal time for starting new herbaceous flowers from seed, and as quite a portion of the coldframe and seedbeds will be vacant now, sowing seeds of perennials for next year's planting becomes an important task. T h e forehanded gardener may have had time to start this work in M a y , and if so, he will find it an advantage. Most herbaceous

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perennials germinate best in the cooler temperatures of the early part of the season, and if the sowings are made in open beds, it is wise to make certain that the seedlings will be up and sturdy enough to survive the driving rainstorms we may expect in summer. Sow the seeds in rows about six inches apart, and distribute them rather thinly so that the seedlings will not crowd each other for several weeks. Sand is the best material for covering the seeds. Some device for furnishing a light shade for seedbeds and small plants during late spring and summer is a desirable feature. Frames of ordinary lath serve very well, and they can be made to fit the coldframe or they can be supported on a light wooden framework on posts two or three feet high over open beds. Annuals for Late-Season Bloom. Sowings of annuals may still be made to insure plenty of flowers for September, when many of the earlier plantings will be flowering poorly if the summer has been hot and trying. Some to continue sowing are calendulas, candytuft, alyssum, annual larkspurs, sunflowers, snapdragons, and zinnias, as well as Annual Babysbreath, Mignonette, Clarkia, Cornflower and other kinds of Centaurea. Burlap or papers placed over the seedbeds assist rapid germination by keeping the surface of the soil moist. These late-sown annuals will be useful for filling empty spaces in borders where bulbs are ripening or early annuals need replacement, and they will be invaluable in providing a fresh wave of bloom for the

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cutting garden at the end of the season—nicely timed for flower shows and fairs. Planting Dahlias. While dahlia planting may continue throughout June, many growers prefer to plant only during the first part of the month. Early planting is successful if the shoots are kept well pinched back during the hot weather of July and August. T h e secret of producing fine dahlias lies in keeping the growth soft and encouraging the plants to produce flowers quickly after the hot season has passed. Dahlias are started by seeds, by cuttings, and by divisions of old roots. Seedlings are treated as most of the other late-season flowers, and they are especially interesting to the amateur dahlia fancier. Dahlia cuttings are rooted in late winter from shoots sent up by the roots which have been stored over winter; the home gardener usually buys them from commercial growers. Dahlia divisions consist of a tuber-like portion of a root having attached to it a part of the crown bearing an eye. T h e thickened tuberous roots do not bear any eyes or buds; if such were the case, they would cease to be roots, and like potatoes, be real tubers. All buds start from the crown, at the base of last year's stem. T h e old clump can be divided easily if the eyes have just started to grow. If they have not started in storage, packing the clumps in moist sand for a week or so will induce the eyes to start. Sprinkling the clumps with water while they are still in storage also serves to start the buds. Proper handling is then much simplified, and

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the gardener has assurance that the divisions will not be blind, or without a bud. Most of the strongest roots of a dahlia division have their origin at the base of the young shoot; hence it is important to plant the division flat and five or six inches deep so the shoot can root properly. Dahlias do best with plenty of sunlight and ample room; four feet each way is generous spacing. They like a light, porous soil and a rich one. Late-planted dahlias can be given about a teaspoonful of a 5-10-5 fertilizer at the time of planting. Mixing the chemical thoroughly into the soil, or when the plot is being prepared for planting, work five ounces of this formula into the soil for each dahlia to be grown (approximately five ounces to 16 square feet). Too much fertility early in the season is detrimental to perfect blooms, however, since it will produce too much early growth which must be pruned away. The best time for feeding is in late July and early August, when the plants are starting to develop buds. It is best to drive sturdy stakes for the support of dahlias before planting, although they can be placed later if care is taken. They should not be less than seven feet long in order to allow two feet below the surface for adequate anchorage. During rain and wind storms, the heavy plants need strong support. Other tender plants for outdoors that are not yet in the ground should be planted now. Successive plantings of gladiolus corms started in late April or early M a y can still be continued at two- or three-week intervals. Short-season varieties of gladiolus planted up to the

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second week of July will have ample time to flower in many sections of the North, and their late blooms will be held more than welcome. SECOND

WEEK

No Rest for the Gardener. Even though early-season planting is more or less completed now, the experienced gardener knows this does not mean that time will lie heavy on his hands. Gardens that will look after themselves are fond pictures of imagination, for the most part, though carefully planned wild gardens may approach this ideal. A t this season spraying and dusting must be continued regularly each week. Warm spells of humid weather, when growth is soft and succulent, offer damaging insects and fungous diseases great opportunities. Even though the names of all these troubles may not be known when they are first manifest, the gardener can judge how to combat them from their general characteristics. A cheering note is found in one very simple w a y to cope with Crab-grass. Seeds of this much decried weed have means of finding their way to even the most elegant lawns, but the seedlings sicken and die in shade. If a lawn in which Crab-grass has gained a slight foothold is left unmowed for six or seven weeks the bluegrass turf will be able to smother the intruders. T h e grass will need to be at least five inches high to cast enough shade, however, and of course this will not make for a finishedlooking lawn. If the feeling against Crab-grass runs high

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enough, or if the family will be away for a holiday during the latter part of June and in July, this laborsaving plan works in a very gratifying fashion. Combating Insect Pests. Insects which chew and eat plant tissues can be combated easily with a stomach poison applied as a liquid spray or dust as soon as the first damage is noticed. Most of these poisons will remain on the plant surfaces and continue to be effective for some time after application. Lead arsenate is the common stomach poison, available in many trade forms, and most directions for its use advocate applying it at the rate of one ounce in from one and one-half to two gallons of water. Gardeners objecting to the white discoloration of arsenate of lead on foliage can use the commercial paste of the poison which has been dyed green. This paste needs to be applied about twice the strength of the powdered arsenate. In addition to Tent Caterpillars and Spring Cankerworms, which should have been routed last month, there are such pests as the Elm-leaf Beetle, leaf-eating caterpillars, willow beetles, and rose slugs which need to be combated with stomach poisons. One of the defenses against the dreaded Dutch elm disease is maintaining elms in sound and vigorous condition. Among the serious drains on their vitality is repeated infestation of Elm-leaf Beetle. T h e larvae of these menacing pests start hatching early in June, and all elms should be given protection by experts with the necessary equipment. Insects which suck out plant juices from the interior

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of the leaf or stem cannot be harmed by stomach poisons, and for this large group poisons which kill b y contact are used. The effectiveness of contact poisons depends on coating the bodies of the insects with a film applied as a mist. T h e y cannot be applied beforehand in anticipation of the arrival of the pests, nor will their good offices continue long after the time of application. Miscible oils and lime-sulphur were the contact poisons used for dormant sprays in late March; the usual summer contact poisons are extracts secured from p l a n t s — nicotine from tobacco; pyrethrum extract from a Dalmatian relative (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium) of the familiar Painted Daisy of perennial borders; and rotenone from the root of a species of Derris, leguminous plants most of which come from the East Indies. Commercial preparations of these contact poisons are available under many trade names, and they should be used as directed by the makers. Scale insects, leaf-hoppers, aphids or plant lice, Fourlined Plantbug, Rhododendron Lacebug, and European Pine-shoot Moth need to be watched for and sprayed or dusted with one of the contact preparations at this time. Timely and thorough applications are the keynote to success in control. A dust of very finely divided sulphur each week is the most satisfactory treatment for spider mites or red spiders on evergreens, delphiniums, phlox, and the long list of other susceptible plants. This sulphur dust is effective only in hot dry weather. Material and equipment should be in readiness for dusting whenever the

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characteristic yellowing foliage and almost invisible webbing are found on the undersurfaces of leaves and in conifer twigs. Discouraging Fungous Diseases. Dusting with very fine sulphur is the most effective means of controlling mildews on roses, lilacs, delphiniums, and other plants host to these ubiquitous diseases. It is best to have a weekly schedule for all of these plants which are liable to attack; with such an arrangement there is no problem in mildew control. M a n y other fungous diseases can be routed by regular sprayings with Bordeaux mixture. Madonna Lilies should have one more spray for Botrytis. Tulips infected with tulip-fire, another Botrytis disease, cannot be treated effectively now, but the diseased plants should be burned. The most devastating disease of roses is black-spot. Control of black-spot can be effected only b y painstaking sanitation and regular spraying or dusting with one of the sulphur products throughout the season. Proper cultural methods help in its eradication, and leaves bearing the tell-tale blackened circles should be picked from the plants and gathered up from the ground to be burned. The Ripening of Spring-Flowering Bulbs. Earlyflowering bulbs are still storing up plant food for next spring's display, though most of them will be starting their long dormant season in a short time. This is indicated by the gradual yellowing and ripening of the foliage. Even though the green leaves of bulbous plants may be a nuisance in flower borders at this time, they

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must be tolerated until the leaves start to wither. Sometimes clumps of tulips and other bulbs are lifted from the border as soon as they have finished flowering and heeled in some out of the way spot to complete their grdwth. Their removal leaves room for bedding annuals and herbaceous perennials to develop. (Heeling in is the gardening idiom for temporary planting.) Crocuses, grape-hyacinths, snowdrops, and scillas, planted in grass, must be given plenty of time to finish their growth, and during this period the grass will become rough and untidy in appearance. When bulb plantings are limited to bays at the lawn borders or to fairly small areas, the grass can be left uncut without great detriment to the garden's appearance, though it is well to use most of these small spring bulbs either in the shrub borders or in beds of such low groundcovers as Ajuga, Vinca, Moneywort, and creeping veronicas. The coarse and amazingly large leafage of the meadow-saffrons, species of Colchicum, causes the most trouble and annoyance. The lush masses of leaves seem to be making enough food for startling displays in the autumn. These plants can hardly be treated to good advantage in the herbaceous border, but underneath tall arching shrubs such as forsythias and honeysuckles or in openings between plants in a shrub border they prove very satisfactory. Special Attention to Perennials. It is advisable to thin out the buds and flower stalks of some herbaceous perennials in the interests of larger and finer blooms. To avoid leggy and ungainly chrysanthemums, the

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plants should be pinched back severely, and again about the middle of July. The same treatment that is traditional in producing fine orchard fruits and superb blooms on chrysanthemums and dahlias should be practiced more generally on garden flowers of the severalstemmed clump type. Further attention should be given to staking such plants as delphiniums, monkshoods, lilies, sunflowers, Michaelmas-daisies. Tender aquatics can be started in outdoor pools; there is no reason why they should not be started even earlier if the water temperature has risen to 70°. Pruning and Trimming. This is also the time to trim formal hedges, and whenever there is an opportunity, flowering shrubs which have finished blooming can be shaped and thinned. T h e fading flowers of lilacs should be sheared off without delay, as these industrious old favorites set to work immediately to mature seed and to set flower buds for next season. T h e gardener will have no use for the seeds, and all the shrubs' energies should be centered on blooms for next spring. T h e old flower clusters of Mountain-laurel need to be removed for the same reason. This is a time-consuming job, but a resulting mass of bloom season after season gives generous compensation. The old laurel flower clusters can be snapped off by bending them to one side between the thumb and forefinger, but great care should be taken not to break the tender new growths. Since the new shoots start from the base of the flower stem, the removal must be managed with care. Cutting out some of the oldest stems at the ground

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proves the best stimulant for forsythias, mockoranges, bush roses, and many other shrubs. Early-blooming shrubs, such as wild roses and bush honeysuckles, which are generous with their handsome fruiting in summer and later on in the season should not be pruned extensively. Some of the coniferous evergreens which enjoyed great popularity in foundation plantings and other intimate areas of the home landscape up to a few years ago may be sheared or trimmed to prevent their growing out of bounds. The best solution is undoubtedly to replace such plants with more suitable materials, but when this cannot be done, shearing now and again in August will keep the small tree forms of Japanese cypresses or retinosporas, junipers, and arborvitae reduced to more appropriate dimensions. Hemlocks and yews can also be restrained as seems necessary at this time. Summer growth will soon conceal the cut branches of the evergreens mentioned above. Pines, firs, and spruces, on the other hand, will normally make no more twig growth this season; so pruning these conifers will usually leave stubs visible until next spring's growth, unless the gardener uses his shears very skillfully. There is the great advantage, however, that adventitious buds will be formed during the summer to fill out the framework and produce thick growth next spring. Winter pruning of pines, firs, and spruces to produce dense and compact specimens cannot be recommended, as there is no opportunity for new buds to be made, and growth

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has to be initiated by the lateral buds which have been left. Thus the specimens pruned in the winter may be no more compact, and frequently they appear malformed due to loss of the leading shoots. Softwood. Cuttings. Softwood cuttings of flowering shrubs and some evergreens may be taken. Certain junipers, arborvitae, and retinosporas can be rooted easily by this method, but the constant sprinkling of the leaves which is necessary may prove too exacting a task for the average home gardener. A mixture of equal parts of sand and peat furnishes the best rooting medium for most softwood cuttings. They require light shade and constant moisture, but not excessive wetness. Syringing three or four times a day will be necessary to prevent wilting, for if the leaves wilt badly there is little hope of success with the cuttings. THIRD

WEEK

Sowing Biennials. A slight release from the routine tasks in the garden this week provides a good opportunity to make sowings of biennial flowers. If sturdy plants are to be set out in September, their sowing should not be delayed. Siberian Wallflowers, Canterbury-bells, Common Foxgloves, Hollyhocks, SweetWilliams, English Daisies, and mulleins are important names on this list of biennials. The sowing of these presents few difficulties. As the ground may be dried out considerably, it is advisable to cover the seedbed with burlap or paper to hasten germination. Shading it from

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the hot sun with screens of lath is also very beneficial. It is always best to transplant the seedlings when they are large enough to carefully prepared nursery beds rather than leave them for any length of time in the seedbed. There they can be spaced from five to ten inches apart, depending on their growth. In most northern gardens it will be necessary to keep plants of Siberian Wallflowers in a frame over winter to insure their survival. Foxgloves and Canterbury-bells are universally popular, but many gardeners have great difficulty in bringing them through the winter. Both are evergreen in the sense that they have a heavy rosette of green leaves through the winter, and often careful covering results in their rotting and loss. The plants should have a light, loose covering or none at all. A well-drained soil is most important, and particular care is needed to forestall attacks of spider mites. During the warm weather, dusting with sulphur is most effective; at other seasons, one of the pyrethrum or nicotine poisons is suitable. Trimming and Cleaning. Early-blooming plants in the flower borders should be inspected carefully. Unless seed is desired, all old flower clusters and stalks should be removed, and many plants of straggly growth should be cut back or trimmed to maintain order. By cutting back such popular rock garden plants as Arabis, Alyssum, Aubrieta, Dianthus, Phlox, and Viola, compact new growth will be encouraged and they will be far better prepared for the dry hot weather later. Very often, too, this trimming stimulates second bloom.

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Your Garden This Week

Early-planted dahlias should be inspected and pinched back to within a few inches of the ground. It is advisable in pinching back to leave two sets of leaves—that is, to pinch back to the second node.* If dahlias are allowed to produce flowers during the hot weather of July and August, the blooms do not amount to much and the growth becomes hardened. The plants should not be allowed to make much permanent growth until August. Topdressing the Rock Garden. The alpine garden should have a dressing of stone chips at the earliest opportunity to protect choice plants from high altitudes against the dry burning heat of our summers. It will take more than this solicitous care to bring many alpine treasures through a summer in the middle Atlantic section, however. The mulch of chips helps greatly in keeping the root-run as cool as possible, and judicious sprinkling in late afternoon as the hot weather draws on may preserve many of these jewels from the roofs of the world. Using limestone chips for the lime-loving alpines (many kinds of Aethionema, Alyssum, Anemone, Aquilegia, Arabis, Dianthus, Cerastium, Erysimum, Oenothera) and granite chips for all others, the dressing can be composed of three parts of chips, one part of sand, one-half part of leafmold, and one-half part of loam or compost. Some authorities feel that a small amount of complete fertilizer can be added to good ad* The place on a plant stem where a leaf or several leaves are produced. A node is popularly called a joint. The portion of stem extending from one node to another is the internode.

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vantage in topdressings early in the season. The application should be sufficient to cover the surface, and as much as one-fourth or one-half inch in some places may be advisable. The dressing can be worked with the fingers around and through the stems of plants of low prostrate habit; those of spreading, running habit of growth should have their wandering shoots covered over so they will be assisted in forming broad mats. More Spraying. This special work with perennials may disclose new aphid and red spider colonies which require attention with the sprayer or duster, and the routine care which roses, phlox, delphiniums, and other special subjects require must not be neglected. Pine-shoot Moth infestations can be prevented now when the adults are laying eggs. They are buff moths with a wing spread usually just less than one inch, and generally they fly at dusk and during the night. Any of the contact sprays applied with considerable force will be effective in exterminating these moths. In the case of severe damage to pine plantings, it is usually recommended that three applications be made: one during the second week of June, the next about ten days later, and the third around the first of July. FOURTH

WEEK

Still Spraying. An unremitting watch is required to guard against plant diseases and insect pests at this time of the year. Lest the novice feel it is necessary constantly to be armed with sprayer or duster and their appropriate poisons, it should be said that the

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actual spraying takes little time if the work is planned systematically. During this last week in June, practically every gardener will need to protect his domain from Japanese Beetles. The adults begin to fly about this time, and they continue until the middle of August.

Spraying

plants with arsenate of lead makes use of a standard stomach poison, but the principle of Japanese Beetle control in the home garden is repellence.

Repellent

sprays tend to drive insects away from plants, and this type of spray has proven most effective against Japanese Beetles. These sprays are also called deterrents. Trees, shrubs, and flowers should be sprayed by June 25, and one or two more applications may be needed as the first loses its effectiveness as a result of heavy rains. It is recommended that household wheat flour be added to the lead arsenate spray to increase its effectiveness. With one quart of water mix one level tablespoonful of dry lead arsenate and two heaping teaspoonfuls of wheat flour. In larger quantity, this formula becomes one and one-half pounds of dry arsenate and one pound of flour to twenty-five gallons of water. Conifers, broadleaved evergreens (such as rhododendrons, boxwoods),

azaleas, peaches, magnolias

and

earlier bearing apples than Wealthy should not be sprayed with lead arsenate. One of the best repellent sprays for ornamental plants utilizes rotenone (the derris-root powder) and a rosin residue emulsion. This spray has the added value of

June

ii3 not discoloring the foliage of plants. The formula is as follows: Derris powder Rosin residue Water

one ounce one ounce two gallons

Japanese Beetle traps attract the insects from the immediate neighborhood by means of an essential oil bait; hence, a conscientious gardener using a number of traps will have more beetles and suffer more damage than his neighbors who do not use them. When the natural enemies of Japanese Beetles have had an opportunity to establish themselves in this country, there seems reason to believe that the beetles will cease to be a devastating pest. Complete extermination cannot be expected. In the meantime, while oriental parasites and other controls are becoming established, the maligned starlings and other birds are striving nobly to keep the hordes of beetles at a minimum. Transplanting Irises. The ordinary bearded garden irises should be lifted and transplanted once every three or four years, just as the flowers have passed. Perhaps the industrious gardener will have found time to divide and reset the early-blooming Iris pumila and hybrids before this, but now is the best time to manage the German Irises. New roots will be able to reach out into the soil before dry weather comes; furthermore, any insidious Iris Borers which the plantings may be supporting will be in the lower part of the leaves—a most

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urgent argument in favor of immediate action. Delaying planting into July permits these worms to reach the rhizomes and feast in this rich storehouse. Iris damage from borers is often associated with the bacterium causing the soft rot of iris. Its unpleasant sliminess makes prompt treatment doubly desirable. L i f t the clumps of iris with a spading fork and shake the earth out of the crowded root mass. The rhizomes (thickened roots) can then be pulled apart and the leaf fans cut back with shears from one-third to two-thirds of their length, depending on the health of the leaves and the preference of the gardener. Withered portions of the rhizome over one year old should be discarded and burned with the tops and excess roots. Rhizomes showing indications of borer damage or any trace of soft rot should also be relegated to the bonfire heap. Choice varieties found infected can be trimmed clean and soaked in a solution of mercuric chloride (corrosive sublimate) for 20 minutes. This poison solution should be mixed in an enameled or wooden pail, at the rate of two of the commercial corrosive sublimate tablets in a quart of water. Mercuric chloride is a dangerous poison, and it should be handled with great care. There is no particular hurry about replanting the iris divisions, and many specialists advocate leaving them in the sun and air for a few hours. Irises are such hardy things that even if they were forgotten, the divisions would probably take root and grow! At any rate, plenty of sunlight is good for them. If the same beds are to be used again, an application of lime, organic

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matter, and a complete fertilizer should be worked into the soil before replanting. The location and plan of the iris planting will determine the distance between divisions in setting them back in the soil again. Five to eight inches is generally suitable. The shortened roots should be spread out and covered, but as the soil is firmed down, the division should be shaken and raised until the rhizome is halfuncovered. Leaving these creeping stems well exposed to the sun is their best insurance against root rot. A few seedlings from those last sowings of annuals —Mignonette, Moss Verbena, Annual Babysbreath—• started around the edges of clumps of transplanted irises soon relieve the stark appearance of these in the summer garden scene. Digging Bulbs. The growing season for most of the early-flowering hardy bulbs is near its end, and the leaves of these perennials are ripening. The foliage turns yellow or brown, and soon dries entirely. Most bulb specialists agree that it is advisable to leave Narcissus and the smaller hardy bulbs in the ground, and the best procedure for tulips is to dig and to store the bulbs till the fall. It is well to replant daffodils and the more permanent bulbs about every five years, however; they produce so many offsets and the clumps become so crowded that the plantings deteriorate for lack of nutrients. When narcissi, scillas, grape-hyacinths, chionodoxas, leucojums, and others in this group actually need division, they should be lifted just as the leaves are yel-

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lowing, so that their location will not be mistaken. They may be replanted at once, or cleaned and stored until bulb-planting time in September. A cool, dry cellar or shed is suitable for bulb storage. Care should be taken to keep the bulbs safe from mice and rats, and as one authority cautions, also from indiscriminating cooks. Tulips planted at a depth of six or eight inches will not suffer from the heat during July and August. Many growers advocate this depth and leaving them in place for two or three years. They are ready to dig when the outer skin of the bulb has turned brown, even though the leaves may not be completely ripened. When the gardener does not wish to go to the trouble of lifting tulip bulbs (and probably most home gardeners belong to this group), it is important to select for planting a spot which will be well drained and even dry in summer, as well as to plant the bulbs deeply. Pruning Shrubs. The majority of ornamental shrubs are through blooming by now, and all those which are not relied upon for a display of decorative fruits later in the year can be pruned at the gardener's convenience. With so much other work on hand, there may seem little opportunity to work summer pruning into the garden schedule; as a result, horticulturists are reduced to falling back on winter and early spring as the traditional seasons for pruning. Early summer is especially opportune for shaping deutzias, mockoranges ("sweet-syringas"), and weigelas, for at this time they will be decorated with the last traces of their flowers. Forsythias may still be

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pruned to keep them in shape, but it is better to give them a heavy pruning earlier in the month, when lilacs are being trimmed. Except in the case of clipped hedges or the wrongly used conifers mentioned in the second week, anything resembling regular shearing should be avoided. Individual specimens of shrubs clipped and trained as globes or squares may have a place in the formal backyard garden, but they soon grow tiresome in the front yard. Correct pruning consists of removing all parts of a plant which are not needed for its welfare or for decorative effect in the landscape. Most shrubs need thinning and a gradual selection of new growth. B y removing a portion of the old wood at the ground level to encourage new shoots from the base, large shrubs can be renovated completely in three or four seasons. This treatment is very helpful for such subjects as mockoranges, deutzias, and viburnums, in which new growth has a strong tendency to push upward rather than keep the framework filled out at the sides. Fertilizing Shrubs and Trees. Shrubs still to bloom benefit from a light application of commercial fertilizer at this time. A complete fertilizer is best. When a soil analysis shows which nutrient elements are needed, however, a chemical fertilizer supplying the particular deficiencies can be applied instead. Shrubs which will soon complete their growth—among them most of those just mentioned—can make good use of additional nutrients in elaborating their flower buds for next year or in replenishing their general vigor. Feeding shrubs and

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Your Garden This Week

trees later in the summer usually produces a soft, tender growth which may fail to ripen properly and suffer from winter injury. The crowbar hole method of applying fertilizer is usually best for mature shrub plantings and those where cultivation is not practiced, just as it is for trees. Younger plantings can be topdressed with fertilizer just before they are cultivated. Unless there is ample rainfall soon after applying fertilizer by either of these methods, generous watering with the hose is advisable.

July First week—Mulching with Peat-moss; Watering; The Crab-grass Battle; The Last Sowing of Annuals; In the Flower Borders Second week—Trimming Coniferous Evergreens; Plans for Replanting Herbaceous Perennials; More About Bearded Irises; Spraying and Dusting; General Culture Third week—Pruning Climbing Roses; Thinning Shade Trees Fourth week—Starting Seeds of Biennials; Taking Care of Softwood Cuttings; Dahlias

T

HE gardener who is planning to leave for a vacation during the summer should have weeds well controlled before he departs; otherwise these robber barons are sure to make devastating progress in his domain. Mulching with Peat-moss. Every year more gardeners turn to mulching as a regular practice. This not only carries the benefit of abolishing most weed seedlings, but it is also the best method of conserving soil moisture. Although many other materials may be used, a one- or two-inch layer of granulated peat-moss is a most practical mulch for the home garden. Peat-moss is clean, inexpensive, readily obtainable, easily applied, and it contains no weed seeds. Most grades of peat119

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moss contain little in the way of plant nutrients, and of course they are acid in reaction. Special consideration must be given before using peat-moss as a mulch for plants preferring an alkaline soil. This is necessary when a peat mulch is used for roses, bearded irises (Iris germanica, I. pumila, etc.), anemones, and other lime-lovers. The acid quality of the peat can be neutralized easily by applying a dressing of ground limestone. Watering. Despite mulching to conserve moisture and using more generally the splendid plants which survive dry summers, many gardens stand in need of considerable artificial watering during the summer months. As far as providing plant roots with the moisture they need, frequent light waterings do nothing but harm. T h e y encourage the feeding roots to grow to the surface of the soil which the merciless sun quickly dries out and bakes to a crisp the next day. A light syringing of the tops does clean and freshen the leaves of plants, however, and if given in the late afternoon after a hot day, such a sprinkling helps drooping stems and wilted leaves regain their freshness. It makes a garden cool and pleasant for an evening walk. T o give actual help to the roots, however, the soil requires a thorough soaking. This is far removed from having someone play the hose around in a desultory fashion at dusk. Such haphazard watering late in the day is almost completely ineffective in sending aid to the roots, and it is dangerous in offering fungous spores wet leaf surfaces and drenched crowns to attack dur-

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121

ing the night. Morning is the best time for watering the garden, but it may be done at any time that is convenient within an hour or two of sunset. This watering should be a thorough soaking that saturates the soil to a depth of at least six inches. Except in light soils, it rarely suffices to let the water run less than half an hour. Sprinkling when the sun is on plants does no particular harm in most cases, though it is not wise to water in the early afternoon of very hot days. Injury to delicate petals and slender growth may be avoided completely by placing a board in a level position on the ground and letting a mild stream from the hose flow out on the board and distribute itself over the adjoining area. This simple device can be moved from time to time as the surface layers take up all the moisture they can hold. Naturally, this method is not adapted to watering a sloping area. The Crab-grass Battle. Lawns should not be watered more than absolutely necessary, for excessive moisture benefits Crab-grass and other weeds more than it helps the permanent turf. When water is necessary, it should be given generously enough to insure deep penetration. A lawn should not be watered oftener than once a week, and if managed properly, an established lawn will not need watering more frequently than every ten days or two weeks during a dry summer. Painstaking hand weeding is widely advocated for controlling Crab-grass and other turf invaders, but the task is so laborious that most home gardeners give up in despair. T h e happiest insurance against these lawn

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troubles is to keep the turf grasses so robust and thick by means of early spring and late summer topdressings of fertilizers that there is no room for the weeds to start. Summer fertilizing and the use of organic fertilizers such as bone meal, tankage, and shredded manures are never advised for lawns when Crab-grass is a factor. Topsoil mixed with fertilizers or used to fill in holes and uneven places should be viewed with suspicion, as it is almost always generously furnished with seeds of Crab-grass and often other troublesome lawn weeds. Some form of commercial humus can be used in its place. Inasmuch as Crab-grass requires a moderately large amount of sunlight for its development, the system of not mowing lawns while Crab-grass seeds are germinating in June has been suggested under June, Second Week. An unmowed lawn for five or six weeks may have several drawbacks, but many gardeners are glad to adopt any easy scheme for worsting this obnoxious lawn pest. If the Crab-grass seedlings are smothered by the shade and denseness of a thick, tall turf, a simpler w a y to dispose of them can hardly be found. The Last Sowing of Annuals. While most bedding plants are in the ground now, annual flowers which bloom from seed in less than two months can still be planted. Among these are Bachelor-buttons or Cornflowers, Mignonette, Annual Gypsophila or Babysbreath, Rocket Larkspur, and Sweet Scabiosa. With moderate care these will make good growth and be at the height of their bloom in time for the fall flower

Weeding Crab-grass

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Y o u r Garden T h i s W e e k

shows. For these late sowings it is quite important to shade the ground with paper or burlap until germination occurs. Gladiolus corms may still be planted for late bloom if short-season varieties are used. In the Flower Borders. Cultivation must go on as usual in the flower borders that were not mulched. A dust mulch is valuable in holding moisture in the soil, and it should be renewed as soon as the earth has dried out after every rain or heavy watering. Faded flowers and seed pods should be removed regularly, as seed production is a heavy drain on all plants. M a n y biennial flowering plants can be induced to remain in bloom longer by preventing seed formation after the flowering period. In mass plantings of such biennials as foxgloves and Dames-rocket (Hesperis matronalis), however, it is best to permit a few of the best stalks to go to seed so that colonies of seedlings will be on hand for transplanting to new locations. Dahlias must still be prevented from making much growth. Care should be exercised in staking all the tall h e r b s * requiring it, as the season may bring severe wind storms which would otherwise do great damage. Michaelmas-daisies or hardy asters, delphiniums, campanulas, cosmos, gladioli, perennial sunflowers, and dahlias all need individual stakes for each large stem. A properly staked clump of the kind with several stems * Used here in the botanical sense to refer to any seed-producing plants which are not woody. Popularly, the term "herb" is interpreted to refer to plants used in medicine, in cooking, as scent, or even as food.

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125

from the crown will have more than six stakes supporting it in many cases. Such plants as cosmos and dahlias are customarily supported by a single stake. SECOND

WEEK

Trimming Coniferous Evergreens. T h e careful use of hedge shears on some of the familiar kinds of coniferous evergreens will do much to keep them in good shape and prevent the plants from becoming overgrown. Retinosporas, arborvitae, and junipers may stand in particular need of yearly trimmings, as many varieties of these have been used in plantings around houses with little thought to their ultimate stature. Retinosporas are the most frequent offenders, as many of the very extensively planted forms of Sawara Retinospora (Chamaecyparis pisijera)—itself a tree rising to considerably over 100 feet in Japan—grow into small trees from 20 to 40 feet high when left to their own devices. Actually, such plants as these are not suitable for foundation plantings around the average home. If about half the early growth is removed now, the shearing will soon be masked by the late growth. This treatment also prevents the openness and straggly habit characteristic of many of these evergreens. Under some conditions it is necessary to resort to two shearings a season. In this case, the first is best made in April, the second at this time. Pines, firs, and spruces have completed their normal growth for the season; hence shaping these conifers now would mean that the cut ends would be in evidence

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until concealed by next spring's growth. If some pruning is needed, however, it might as well be deferred until December, when the removed twigs and branches can be used as holiday greens. (See also June, Fourth Week.) Plans for Replanting Herbaceous Perennials. The gardener whose borders have received careful attention during the first part of the season should pause in his routine duties about this time each year and map out his plans for summer and fall planting. In flower borders planned for effect it is generally necessary to crowd the plants together so closely that frequent division and transplanting are necessary. With comparatively few exceptions, leaving the majority of herbaceous perennials longer than three or four seasons results in such crowded masses of roots and so many stems in a soil greatly depleted of nutrients that deterioration is inevitable. Rather than tear up the whole garden at once, it is often best to replant a portion of the borders each year. Usually much of this work can be done in late September after the principal effect for the season has been achieved. It might be well to mention in this connection that a very convenient scheme is to have a separate garden for the late-season flowers, such as the hardy chrysanthemums, Michaelmas-daisies and other late asters—perhaps even dahlias and late-season annuals. Then this late garden may be enjoyed and displayed to friends when the flower borders in the main garden are being dug up and overhauled.

July

12 7

On the other hand, much division and replanting can be taken care of throughout the summer at the necessary times if use is made of annuals kept growing in pots for the express purpose of repairing the crudities resulting from these operations. A few petunias, Drummond Phlox, or Moss Verbenas transferred from their pots to the front and even to the interior of newly replanted iris masses, for instance, soon make them look quite settled. A s intimated in M a y , such annual flowers waiting in four- and five-inch pots, sunk in some out of the way corner, will be of great assistance. More About Bearded Irises. Bearded irises may be moved at almost any time of the year, but to allow divisions a good opportunity to make new roots and establish themselves well and form flower buds for next year, replanting should be completed as soon as possible. T h e precautions against borers and iris soft rot described in June should always be observed. Root rot of iris is another disease which has become more prevalent in recent years. This causes decaying of the roots and dying of the leaves, but the rhizomes are not affected. The damage of root rot to the fans of iris leaves appears precisely like the injury they suffer from soft rot, the bacterial infection which turns the rhizomes to slimy, malodorous masses. T h e mercuric chloride treatment proves effective as an antiseptic measure when these diseases are present. T h e cleaned rhizomes, with soil, diseased roots, and rotted portions removed, are soaked in bichloride solution for from 20 minutes to half an hour. T h e solution

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is made up of two mercuric chloride tablets to a quart of water. Handling the poison in enameled or wooden containers and its careful destruction after use are important. If iris leaves show severe infestation of the leaf-spot fungi it is advisable to clip them back to within five or six inches of the ground with the garden shears. The diseased leaves should be collected and burned. Pulling off browning iris leaves as soon as they appear and working dressings of lime around the clumps prove the best preventives for most iris troubles and for general run-down conditions in the bearded groups. A rich soil and abundant moisture are usually dangerous for this class, especially during the resting period. The stately and lovely Japanese Irises have requirements which are just opposite, however. These beardless irises require water in great abundance until their flowering season in July and August is passed, and they revel in a rich peaty soil. Spraying and Dusting. The contest against diseases and insects must go on, despite a lull in many routine tasks while division and replanting are being considered. Insects usually give more trouble at this season, as growth is hardening and the humid weather of spring and early summer is passing. A second spray for Japanese Beetles should be applied this week, if frequent rains and great onrushes of this omnivorous pest have not made it necessary before. Practically everything in the border should be watched for aphids or plant lice, and phlox, delphiniums, and all evergreen

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conifers should have regular dustings to prevent red spider infestation. Sulphur dust is one of the best poisons for red spiders, or spider mites as they are also called. Special dusting sulphur should be used on days when the temperature is over 8o° to insure rapid vaporization. The Derris or rotenone products are excellent for liquid sprays. Spider mites are sometimes so tiny they can hardly be seen with the naked eye, but the characteristic yellowing or graying of foliage and the tell-tale traceries of minute webs, usually on the undersurfaces of broad leaves, indicate their presence. Plantings of rhododendrons and azaleas which have a fair amount of sunlight are still liable to fall prey to Rhododendron Lacebugs, and contact sprays to rout these ravagers should be held in readiness. Disregarding the brown havoc they create, the gardener can derive actual pleasure in studying these dainty creatures under a pocket lens. In fact, the flower lover who is awake to the fullest enjoyment of his garden will always carry a lens in his pocket to bring to him the beautiful and amazing details of flower structure and the fascinating minutiae of pubescence and texture of leaf and stem. It is true wealth, indeed, that remains hidden until the glass reveals it to our eyes. General Culture. Hardy Chrysanthemums should have their second and last pinching this week. This keeps new growth stocky and bushy, and the bead-like buds which develop around the latter part of next month will have ample time to do so properly. Orders for plants and bulbs to go in this summer and

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early fall should be put into shape and mailed very soon now. Orders for fall-blooming crocuses, meadowsaffrons, Madonna and Nankeen Lilies should be placed at once, and it is well to include all the other bulbous subjects for fall planting. Seeds of biennials to be started in a week or so and of perennial delphiniums should be on hand. THIRD

WEEK

Pruning Climbing Roses. Rambler roses should be pruned as soon as the flowers fade. This group, it will be remembered, is characterized by the strong new growth which is sent up from the crowns of the plants at this time; few of the new canes originate from the older wood. Pruning ramblers is done to best advantage now and with some severity. Since the young canes are shooting up vigorously, it is best to shift to them the job of supplying next season's bloom, and most gardeners advocate the removal of practically all the old wood. W e rarely count on ramblers to furnish decorative fruits later in the season, so this cutting out of all old wood has much in its favor. (See April, First Week, for general schedule of pruning roses.) It is much easier if pruning is done before the new canes become developed. Delay may mean some injury, for the new growth is soft and easily bent and bruised. When the bushes are trained on trellises or posts, it is frequently best to take them down from the support entirely; then the old wood can be cut off at the ground level and removed. As the new canes develop, they can

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be trained to cover the trellis or post as the gardener wishes. Rambler roses in naturalistic plantings, such as cascading down banks or making a tangle of luxuriant growth, may require little pruning aside from keeping the edges of the plantings in bounds. Any attempt to prune vigorous climbers growing in such conditions requires a great many protective layers of clothing, and even then considerable blood-letting and some profanity (or sheer rebellion in even the most meek and retiring of gardeners) seem inevitable. Large-flowered climbers need no special pruning now, but some training will probably be necessary to keep them in place. Shortening the blooming shoots at this time means that their handsome fruits will be lost, and this is unthinkable to anyone who has admired their autumn and winter beauty. Thinning Shade Trees. This is a good time of year for a critical study of the tops of shade trees, for their leafy canopies are now more or less fully developed for the season. In most cases much more character and distinction can be imparted to a maturing tree by thinning its juvenile framework. The Common Apple, studied from an aesthetic point of view, is a good example. Certainly the very generally planted Norway Maples, with turf making a brave stand underneath their deep shade and just over their mesh of greedy roots, will need to be thinned drastically to give the grass half a chance. It may be that a few low-hanging branches along

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the street and sidewalks need to be removed. It is not pleasant, either, to be whipped by water-laden branches along a walk in woodland. An inspection after a rainstorm when the branches are still weighted down will point out the trimming necessary. With young trees, the sooner this is done the less trouble they will have in healing the wounds. Street trees should be trimmed as early as possible in order that there may be a 12- or 15-foot height of trunk before branches start. The handsome Pin Oak, with its persistent habit of allowing its lowermost branches to droop more and more as maturity is reached, requires particular care in this respect. Wounds over an inch in diameter should be painted with a suitable antiseptic dressing at least once a year until healed. Asphalt paints are suitable. FOURTH

WEEK

Starting Seeds of Biennials. Late July is an excellent time to start seeds of pansies, English Daisies, Chinese Pinks, Canterbury-bells, Dames-rocket, forgetme-nots, foxgloves, and many other hardy biennials. Siberian Wallflowers and more tender biennials should also be sown as soon as possible, though it must be kept in mind that in northern gardens these must be wintered in frames for safety. It is necessary to have a deeply prepared seedbed ready, and the soil should be well moistened to a good depth. T o secure good tilth at the surface for sowing, the bed should stand a day or two after being forked and watered. If the weather is

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very hot and dry, it will certainly be best to defer sowing; pansies in particular seem to germinate poorly when the temperature is over 75 0 or 8o°. Extreme heat is usually fatal for most. Most biennial flowers have small seeds, and unfortunately, they cannot be sown very deeply as protection against hot weather. Covering with sand permits deeper planting, however, and the bad effects of unfavorable summer weather can thus be minimized to some degree. Covering the beds with burlap or paper is of great assistance, and it is also desirable to have lath frames to furnish shade over the seedbeds. With good luck, the gardener should have sturdy young seedlings to use in the September overhauling of borders. Seed of delphiniums should be sown as soon as ripe. If valuable seed pods are still ripening, it will be well to tie a small bag of thin muslin over them to forestall losses from sudden opening. A heavy cloth bag is not suitable, as it might hold moisture and start decay. Seeds of other early-ripening perennial flowers can be sown now to good advantage—columbines, Tufted Pansies, Goldentuft and other alyssums, Wallcress, hardy Carnations and other hardy pinks. It may often be helpful to sow the seeds thinly so the seedlings can remain in the seedbeds until they are needed in September; or they may be protected lightly over winter and used in the rehabilitation of the borders in early April. Taking Care of Softwood Cuttings. The secret of success in rooting softwood cuttings lies in keeping them fresh and healthy until roots form. This means

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that care must be taken in watering and syringing, in ventilating, and in shading when the sun is very hot. Dahlias. This is the time for the last pinching back of dahlias, as during the remaining weeks of growth, pruning them will be confined to disbudding. Dahlia shoots take about six weeks to develop into flowers. Pinching back for the last time now results in healthier plants and better blooms. Surplus branches must also be removed. Five or six good branches to a plant, each producing a bloom at the top, will be ideal for ordinary dahlias. If very large blooms are the objective, however, leave only two or three branches to a plant. Then, as soon as the flower is formed, let a new shoot start at the bottom of the stem to take the place of the one at the tip. Such treatment furnishes a continuous supply of bloom. Leaf-hoppers do great injury to the foliage of dahlias in some seasons, and good blooms cannot be expected when the leaves are not healthy. Yellowed margins and burned-looking areas at the leaf edges are typical of the work of this insect. Frequent spraying or dusting with pyrethrum or other contact poison is the best means of combating these agile pests. Particular care must be taken to reach the undersurfaces of the leaves, where the wingless stages feed.

August First week—Seasonal Gardens; Flower Border Maintenance Second week—August Spraying; Starting More Seeds Third week—Fall Crocuses, Colchicums, and Other Hardy Bulbs; Replanting Irises; In the Flower Border Fourth week—The Crab-grass Problem; Preparing for Lawn Improvement

G

energies are not at their highest during August, yet this is a month when much enjoyment can be derived from the garden. When borders are planned especially for midsummer display, it is no great problem to make them gay with color and full of interest. Many annuals, especially those which take well to our hot summer weather, will be nicely started on their best bloom, and the notables among the herbaceous perennials are quite numerous. Many hardy lilies are at their best, and there are such spectacular beauties as Hardy Amaryllis, Garden Phlox, and Cardinalflower, and even a brief list includes such old stand-bys as the boltonias, heleniums, many species of sunflowers, rudbeckias, sedums, kniphofias, and the earliest of the hardy asters. ARDENING

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Seasonal Gardens. When a garden is not to be lived in during parts or all of July and August, however, there is no reason for giving much space to the flowers which enliven the picture then. Some families regularly take their vacation during this period, and their gardens can well be directed toward interest and beauty at other times of the year. Relieved of the necessity of striving for mid-season bloom, the principal garden can be so developed that it will give a more specialized picture in spring and in late summer. Then, too, edgings and accents of evergreen subjects and other plants interesting in winter can be given more space. Flower Border Maintenance. It is at this season that the gardener may often regret, while leaning on his hoe or cultivator for a breathing space, that he did not apply a mulch to his flower plantings. During dry seasons when considerable artificial watering is necessary, a great deal of valuable time must be spent loosening the dried upper crust of soil after waterings. This task is obviated by the use of a mulch of granulated peat-moss or similar material. Old blooming stems of Hybrid Tea Roses should be cut back to the second leaf of the shoot, to encourage the development of the buds at the base into a second display of bloom. All flowers in the herbaceous border are best removed as they fade. This practice furnishes many plants sufficient incentive to go on blooming, and even to bloom long past their normal season. This is conspicuously the case with the popular perennial Coreopsis, Gaillardia, and Pansies and many other violas.

August

137 Hollyhocks, Common Foxgloves, Dames-rockets, and some other plants with biennial tendencies can be induced to remain as perennial residents in the border if they are kept from expending their last energies in seed production. Naturally, when Hollyhocks are troubled with rust, this lengthened existence is not desirable, for strong and vigorous young plants are much more resistant to the rust fungus than old ones. Some gardeners make a point of digging up and burning all Hollyhocks when their flowering is finished, thus depriving the disease of any opportunity to secure a foothold in the weakening clumps. Chrysanthemums should be examined carefully in early August. Remove surplus branches and shape the plants now before the buds start to form. Mildew on chrysanthemums should be checked by dusting with sulphur; for aphids on the tip growths, spray or dust with derris, pyrethrum, or nicotine. Golden-glow and other rudbeckias and sunflowers are very apt to support amazingly prolific colonies of red aphids, but timely spraying easily removes these. Dahlias, zinnias, and lilacs should also be inspected while the dusting apparatus is filled with sulphur, as these are all very susceptible to disfiguring mildew fungi. SECOND

WEEK

August Spraying. If July has been the usual hot and dry month, spider mites or red spiders have almost surely developed in great numbers, and careful exam-

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¡nation will reveal them on delphiniums, phlox, rhododendrons, azaleas, and on many conifers. When plants show yellowish or brownish foliage at this season, it is safe to conclude that they need to be dusted with sulphur to wipe out the miniature spiders. Derris or rotenone sprays (advised earlier to serve as deterrents for Japanese Beetles) and some of the summer oil sprays are recommended. Gladiolus Thrips have become such a general scourge that the comparatively few persistent gardeners who continue to raise gladioli usually need to apply summer sprays as well as use naphthalene flakes in the winter storage of the corms. Two pounds of brown sugar and one heaping tablespoonful of Paris green mixed with three gallons of water give an effective poison, and it attracts the tiny thrips out of their safe refuges between the leaves. Solicitous gladiolus enthusiasts may have to use the brown sugar poison several times at ten-day intervals now that gladioli are developing their flower stems and starting to bloom. Starting More Seeds. Seeds of many biennials may still be sown. Even Canterbury-bells and Hollyhocks, which are usually started earlier, can be planted where they are to grow. It is a good idea to sow three or four seeds in a spot where a plant is desired, and after the seedlings are well started—possibly in September—the weaker ones can be discarded or transplanted to a protected bed, leaving the strongest plant to continue without competition. Canterbury-bells need a loose, fertile

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soil and particularly a well-drained spot. They usually require protection over winter. Other biennials such as Pansies, English Daisies, Chinese Pinks, Siberian Wallflowers, and forget-menots may also be started. In addition to the hardy annual and biennial forms of Dianthus chinensis, all the perennial pinks come well from fresh seed planted now. Choice kinds may be propagated by cuttings at the end of the month and in September. English Daisies (Bellis perennis) are usually the first contribution of the Daisy Family (Compositae) to the garden's spring bloom. This dainty edging plant greatly resents our hot summers, and it survives as a true perennial only in particularly favored spots, which it doggedly selects for itself in most cases. Young plants are best wintered in a coldframe and set out at the end of March or early in April when the first warm spell arrives. At this time of the year there may be enough rains to supply the proper amount of moisture for seedbeds, though dry weather is more likely to make artificial watering necessary. Successful germination of seeds during hot weather depends on keeping the seedbed properly moist. A light soil to which organic matter, such as humus in the form of leafmold or peat-moss, has been added will serve best for a summer seedbed. Lath or burlap screens to shade the seedlings from the hot sun are of great help unless a spot which has natural shade in the afternoon can be utilized.

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W E E K

Fall Crocuses,* Colchicums, and Other Hardy Bulbs. Fall crocuses and meadow-saffrons (Colchicum) should be planted this month for bloom in September and October. Orders should be put in for Madonna Lilies, which also require early planting, and the bulbs for later planting should be ordered. Early ordering often forestalls the disappointment that comes when the stock of some varieties has been sold out. T h e most common autumn-flowering Crocus are C. sativus, the Saffron Crocus of Asia Minor, and C. speciosus. There are a number of handsome horticultural forms of each which flower in September and early October. The corms should be planted three or four inches deep in a light and well-drained soil, and all of them will benefit from sunny locations. A s the delicately hued flowers do not show off to good advantage in cultivated beds, they are best used in rock gardens, where a cover planting of low rock plants such as the creeping thymes can furnish a carpet. Plantings of autumn crocuses are also successful and very lovely in thin grass, provided the soil and moisture are both meager enough to prevent the grass from becoming a thick turf. * An attempt is made here to avoid the confusion arising from using autumn crocus as a general common name for all species of Colchicum. It seems logical to use autumn or fall crocuses as a group name for the autumnal-flowering species of Crocus, coordinate with spring crocuses in reference to the early-blooming ones. The longestablished name of meadow-saffron is used for Colchicum.

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The meadow-saffrons, species of Colchicum, are more robust and spectacular than the autumn crocuses, and they are much easier to grow. A moderately good garden loam suits them best, and they thrive in sun or light shade. The large corms should be planted now and left undisturbed for several years. As the lush leaf growth of colchicums requires quite a bit of space only to yellow and ripen off in June, using these plants with artistic success in the small garden is quite a problem. A good treatment is to plant the corms at the edges of shrubbery so that the over-arching branches of forsythias, bush honeysuckles, mockoranges, and such shrubs cover them lightly. The large crocus-like blooms that appear in September and October can be seen and admired easily, and they will contribute much lateseason interest to such shrub plantings. Colchicum autumnale, C. speciosum, and C. variegatum are the types most generally satisfactory; C. speciosum, in particular, with its huge violet or pinkish blooms five or six inches across is very spectacular. Replanting Irises. The replanting of irises should be concluded this month to permit the roots to develop well before the end of the season. The precautions discussed in July for handling the various bearded types should be followed. This is also a good season for replanting or setting out Japanese and Siberian Irises. The large assemblage of Japanese varieties is distinguished by fibrous roots and a preference for very moist peaty soil. Abundant water is a prerequisite for

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the best flowers during the growing and budding season previous to the magnificent display of blooms in June and July, but at this time water is needed in smaller quantity. In the Flower Border. Oriental Poppies should be divided or set out as soon as possible, as these popular border plants will be starting into growth in a week or two. The soft brittle roots of Oriental Poppies are less likely to suffer from rotting if replanting is done just as they start into growth after their summer rest. Spring planting is only rarely successful. This is about the latest date for sowing seed of perennial delphiniums if plants for spring bloom are to be wintered outdoors. Better germination is secured by sowing fresh seed now than by delaying the sowing until next spring. Flower borders should be kept clean of Crab-grass and other weeds. A few of these pests, which are so prone to develop unobtrusively underneath or behind perennial and annual flowers, will furnish a supply of seeds to start weed colonies next season. Unless seeds are introduced in manure or soil, a garden that is well kept for a few seasons should gradually attain comparative freedom from most pestiferous weeds. FOURTH

WEEK

The Crab-grass Problem. If a lawn is afflicted with Crab-grass, this is the best season to start a systematic

Waterlilies in a formal pool with wisteria trained on a wall

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plan of improvement. If raked vigorously, the flat spreading masses of Crab-grass will be raised and the mower can make short work of them. T h e clippings should be collected and burned. Repeated rakings and mowing in several directions will remove a large share of the ripening seed heads of Crab-grass. Very soon it ceases growth as the end of the season approaches, and it will not be a lawn pest again until next June; therefore the intervening period, from early September to June, should see every effort made to build up the lawn so that Crab-grass and other weeds cannot compete with the turf. Preparing for Lawn Improvement. Late August is the time to prepare new lawn areas for seeding, as well as old ones for renovation. Resowing in late summer is much to be preferred to labor with a spring-sown lawn which has not done well or one which is weedy. In the mellow days of fall and in the warm ones of early spring, the young turf will have ample opportunity to become well established before the hot dry weather of the summer and encroaching weeds can assail it. A good deal of organic matter is desirable for lawns on all types of soils—heavy, clayey, as well as sandy and shaly. In the heavy types, organic matter permits the soil aeration so necessary for best grass growth, and in the light soils it improves the water-holding capacity. It is also insurance against Crab-grass, as this grass thrives in thin, poor soils.

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If the soil is strongly acid, lime will be needed, and a commercial fertilizer rich in nitrogen to urge the lawn grasses to their best development would make a valuable ingredient in topdressings.

A garden path and narrow

borders

September First week—Replanting Herbaceous Borders; Perennials for Early Attention; Transplanting Evergreens Second week—Late Sprays and Dusts; Staking; Making a N e w Lawn; Renovating Old Lawns Third week—Planting Hardy Bulbs; Sowing Hardy Annuals Fourth week—Bulbs for Indoor Forcing; Potting Tender Plants for the Winter Garden; Harvesting Tender Bulbs and Roots

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is one of the gardener's busiest months —perhaps the most crowded of all if extensive plans have been made for next year. Among the important things on the garden calendar are sowing new lawns and repairing old ones, dividing and setting earlier-blooming herbaceous perennials and planting hardly bulbs for next spring's display, moving evergreens, and starting the seasonal cleaning. All of these activities are in addition to the garden's regular maintenance, for flower borders should be at the peak of late-season beauty and the routine tasks of cultivation, removing old flowers, and disease and insect control must be continued with diligence. There is a charm about gardens in September and October in the East that even surpasses the freshness EPTEMBER

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and lavishness of spring, with its surprises and bewilderingly rapid succession after the dragging weeks of winter. Much of this charm is undoubtedly atmospheric, and much of it can be attributed to the lovely color analogies in the late flowers, to the early suggestions of similar coloration in trees and shrubs, and to the eagerness with which the garden lover drinks in all this beauty as though to store it up for the gray months ahead. Replanting Herbaceous Borders. September is an ideal time for lifting and dividing, replanting, and setting out new plants of herbaceous perennials which bloom earlier in the season. In fact, the only large group of garden perennials not lending itself well to September planting is made up of the flowers yet to bloom—the Michaelmas-daisies and many other hardy asters, late-blooming aconites, goldenrods, Mist-flower, Japanese Anemones, and some of the gentians. It is a general recommendation, too, that delphiniums be divided and set out only in the spring. Most herbaceous garden flowers become crowded and their root masses exhaust the soil in periods ranging from two to five years. T o maintain these flowers in good health and to obtain the best returns in beauty, periodical division and replanting in renewed soil are necessary. T h e great advantage in setting plants out at this time is that they will have ample opportunity to establish themselves before frosts come, and next spring they can start off with a jump. Plantings made in April and M a y must first get on their feet before accomplishing

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much in the way of top growth and flower development. Very often a dry spell is upon them before the new root system has been established, and unless water can be furnished, the first season's results are apt to be unsatisfactory. One great advantage of late summer planting is that unsuitable and ineffective plant arrangements in the border can be corrected while they are still fresh in mind. Color and texture combinations which leave something to be desired can never be remedied to better advantage than while the troublesome picture is still before us. A t this time, before the blooming season is finished, it is easiest to select the proper setting and the most fitting associates for the gay-feathers (Liatris), Silene, and Lychnis, and many of these bright herbs which the gardener can hardly find it in his heart to exclude from the border even though their colors often cause dissension in the ranks. Unless a very conscientious record is kept, deferring these changes until spring will mean that many of them will be lost to mind entirely, and the same disconcerting pictures will take shape again next year, when it is too late to do much to correct them. September overhauling of the herbaceous border is particularly recommended for Maryland, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, Long Island, and similar areas in the East which usually enjoy mild winters. Encouraged b y the autumn rains and mellow sunshine, herbaceous plants can make strong root growth in the warm soil. Flowers which produce a basal rosette of leaves in

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particular are not slow in making their satisfaction obvious. Perennials for Early Attention. German Iris and the other bearded types (for which June replanting is advised) furnish transition between the spring and fall transplanting seasons. Then, as has been recommended in August, Madonna Lilies and Oriental Poppies come next on the list, with a special note around the middle of the month too for setting out autumn-blooming crocuses and colchicums. Madonna Lilies (Lilium candidum) usually put forth their thick basal leaves in September, and these play such an important part in the bulbs' well-being that early planting is very desirable. If the bulbs are still out of the ground, they should be planted at once—with no more than two or three inches of soil over their tips. T w o other lilies that should be handled the same as L. candidum are its hybrid, the lovely apricot or yellow Nankeen Lily (L. testaceum) and the Chalcedonian or Scarlet Turks-cap Lily (L. chalcedonicum). T h e latter is a bright red lily blooming about the same time as Madonnas, and these are now considered to be the parents of the mysterious Nankeen Lily, the origin of which was a matter of conjecture for many years. The old-fashioned Bleedingheart (Dicentra spectabilis) is now dormant, and this is the best time to move this long-cherished plant. Fragments of roots broken off or removed can be made into root cuttings and buried in boxes of sand. Another herb which gives the gardener a special problem, as its foliage ripens early

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and leaves a hole in plantings, is the exotic Hardy Amaryllis (Lycoris squamigera). Now that the satiny lavender-pink flowers have faded, the large bulbs can be lifted and separated. Lycoris prefers a deep, rich soil in light shade. This is the best time to divide and plant herbaceous peonies. These old-time garden favorites grow so quickly in the spring that early September planting to allow good establishment before winter sets in is essential. A moderately heavy, well-drained loam is best, though proper mulching and feeding help to give good returns in very light soils. Fresh manure is never advisable in preparing soil for peonies, though an addition of lime may be needed to make the soil sweet or neutral. Two handfuls of bone meal to a plant and wood ashes and well-rotted stable manure worked two feet deep into the soil will go far to produce good results in beds where the fertility is low. Newly planted peonies should be mulched to hold moisture in the soil and to prevent heaving in the winter. When it becomes necessary to lift old clumps of peonies, loosen them easily with a spading fork, and when lifted out of the ground, shake off the remaining soil. A sharp knife should be used to cut the clumps into divisions having from three to five eyes each. Smaller divisions are not advisable in the home garden, as too few roots would be left to make good growth and the plants would be weak for at least two seasons. Broken and bruised roots should be removed with a clean cut. Peony roots which are found to be gnarled

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and distorted are usually infested with root-knot nematodes, and they should be discarded unless the affected portions can be cut away entirely. The tops of peonies have practically ripened by this time, and many specialists advise cutting the stems off at two or three inches from the crown and burning them. This sanitation measure is the most effective control for Botrytis blight of peonies, and it should always be done before frosts. One point which requires particular emphasis in setting out peonies is the depth of planting. T h e eyes should have just two inches of soil over them—possibly a little less in heavy soils. Deeper planting encourages the crowns to form so many buds that none is strong enough to produce flowers, while shallow planting is likely to result in frost injury. Transplanting Evergreens. This is also one of the most auspicious seasons for the home gardener to move evergreens. Both conifers and broad-leaved evergreens come under this rule, though if there is any question about the hardiness of particular varieties, they are better left until April, except in very favored sections. More transplanted evergreens fail due to the lack of moisture in the leaves and stems than because of extreme cold. T h e reason for transplanting or making new plantings of evergreens now is the same as for herbaceous perennials—there is enough mellow growing weather left to permit the plants to become fairly well established in their new situations and so avoid the likelihood of winter injury that might be incurred by

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later moving, unless done by a specialist with proper training and equipment. It is not exactly politic to mention it, perhaps, but many times the amateur garden enthusiast's training and equipment are more meager than his ambition, and it is well to take advantage of all the safeguards. Plants with evergreen leaves are forced to give off large quantities of moisture through their persistent foliage all through the winter months, and on windy and sunny days this water loss is considerable. This is one reason why evergreen leaves are usually thicker and more leathery than those of plants which lose their foliage in the autumn; the heavily cutinized layers of cells assist in conserving all the moisture possible. The moisture lost through the leaves must be replaced by more sent up from the roots and distributed through the stems and branches. If the roots are not established—if the absorbing root hairs have been sacrificed as a result of recent transplanting and no new ones have been formed—little cell sap can be supplied, and the leaves turn brownish and eventually appear burned and blistered. If the garden schedule for September is very crowded and there are quite a few evergreens to transplant, it is better to start the work in the latter part of August rather than continue it into October, as the latter procedure would allow too little time for root growth. Unless the summer has been an unusually rainy one, the early growth of most coniferous and broad-leaved evergreens will have ripened fairly well, and August

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moving can be advised. Pines, firs, and spruces are possibly best adapted to this August transplanting. Naturally, this cannot be done if dry, hot weather is continuing. All September transplanting requires the same care and precautions specified for the same work in the spring. The holes should be well dug, the soil should be improved by applying fertilizers, humus, and other additions if necessary, and the roots should be given every consideration. Air pockets must be eliminated b y careful tamping, and it is important to hunt up the planting stick used for spring transplanting. M a n y gardeners use the handle of a pick-axe, though a somewhat longer stick is often more convenient. Rather than attempt to move evergreens too large for his equipment and ability, the home gardener will be well advised to entrust the work to a professional plantsman. So many evergreens are purchased when they are small and dwarf-appearing and planted in places around the home grounds without much thought to their ultimate size; in eight or ten years, perhaps, they have reached such proportions that shifting becomes necessary. Especially when symmetrical and in good health, large evergreens are likely to be of considerable value, and it is not advisable to take chances of losing them through inadequate handling. Plants moved at this time should be watered abundantly before the holes are entirely filled with topsoil. When the final filling has been done and a shallow saucer-shaped depression made around each plant, oc-

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cupying all the space covered by the branches, apply a mulch of clean leaves, well-rotted barnyard manure, or some other material. Leaves may be held in place by a light scattering of soil on top of them. If the autumn weather is dry, water the plants every week, or as they need it, and be sure that the soil is well saturated with moisture at the end of November, lest the ground freeze and shut out further water. SECOND

WEEK

Late Sprays and Dusts. With so many changes taking place in the garden when much transplanting and setting out are being done, routine work is apt to be overlooked. Needless to say, precaution should be taken against this neglect. Now that the trying part of the season is over, Hybrid Tea Roses and others in the classes generously termed "everblooming" are beginning to repay the pains taken in routing black-spot and mildew for the past few weeks. Vigilance should not be relaxed, as these fungi never seem to be completely vanquished; the weekly sprays and dusts must still be applied. Various mildews are only too willing to whiten leaves of lilacs, some honeysuckles, dahlias, phlox, sunflowers, rudbeckias, and delphiniums—to keep the list of suscepts very short. Dusting sulphur should be on hand for controlling these fungi. Aphids or plant lice find the soft late-season shoots of many shrubs and herbs very much to their taste, and the contact poisons must be ready for use.

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Staking. Staking hardy chrysanthemums should be done before a heavy wind or rainstorm bends them over. It is also wise to inspect the tying of dahlias, Michaelmas-daisies, and the tall-growing sunflowers. The busy gardener can be grateful indeed for the stocky height of such reliable plants as Tatarian Asters and and the wiry grace of Helianthus Miss Mellish, which need no staking. Making a New Lawn. A turf authority states that cool, moist weather is ideal for germination and sturdy growth of grass seedlings and that lawns sowed in early autumn in the northeast are always the most successful. M a n y new lawns fail because of inadequate preparation of the soil. Careful preparation of the seedbed for a lawn includes adding and mixing in sufficient amounts of organic matter, nutrients, and lime to bring the soil to the desired tilth. All these may be applied at the same time, and they should be forked into the upper four or five inches of soil. Exact recommendations cannot be made without careful analytical tests, and these are rarely necessary for the average lawn. General recommendations for each 1,000 square feet of a typical lawn are as follows: Well-rotted manure, peat-moss, or other forms of humus to build up organic matter content . . . .

1,000 to 2,000 pounds

A complete chemical fertilizer, such as a 5-10-5 or 5-8-6, to augument the plant nutrients

20 to 30 pounds

September Lime to correct acidity . . . .

157 50 pounds hydrated lime or 75 pounds ground limestone

Saving money on lawn seed mixtures is not sound economy. About four pounds of a good mixture is needed for every 1,000 square feet of surface in sowing a new lawn. The details of sowing a new lawn were treated in April, First Week, and directions for raking, rolling, and sowing will not be repeated here. More detailed advice is also available from state colleges of agriculture and from state experiment stations. Renovating Old Lawns. Old lawns are also much improved by a little special attention in September. A liberal supply of nutrients is important not only in renovating a damaged lawn, but also in maintaining a good turf in the best health. A chemical fertilizer mixture with the approximate ratio of 5-10-5 applied at the rate of 20 to 25 pounds to 1,000 square feet is suitable. This can be scattered on dry or worked into the grass in a topdressing of humus or screened compost. Whenever a topdressing is made for a lawn, particular care should be taken to use materials which are not likely to contain weed seeds. Topsoil must usually be avoided for this reason. Organic fertilizers, such as barnyard manure, tankage, dried blood, and bone meal, are not to be recommended highly for lawns due to the fact that they must decay before the nutrients contained become available, and this decomposition can occur only during warm

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weather. Consequently, such sources are more likely to benefit the weeds which are making an effort to gain a foothold in lawns in June and July. T h e turf grasses receive no particular benefits from these organic substances in the cool weather at the end of the season or in early spring. T h e readily available nutrients in commercial fertilizers stimulate the grass when Crab-grass and other annual weeds are absent. Lime need not be added to a lawn every season, nor is spring the best time for application, as is so generally supposed. F i f t y pounds of hydrated lime or 75 to 80 pounds of finely ground limestone for 1,000 square feet makes a sufficient application for most soils to maintain optimum conditions for two or three years. T h i s time of year, when all lawn needs should be uppermost, is the best to add lime, as the autumn rains and winter freezing and thawing distribute it evenly and thoroughly. THIRD

WEEK

Planting Hardy Bulbs. These mid-September days find many gardeners busy with bulb planting. Although the buds for next season's bloom are already formed at the center of each bulb's core, the quality of this bloom depends a great deal on the time when earlyflowering bulbs are planted. Late-planted bulbs may produce blooms, but in some kinds the flowers are never so good as those of early-planted stock. This applies particularly to daffodils, narcissi, crocuses, and the smaller bulbs, though to a lesser degree to tulips.

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159

The innumerable popular varieties of tulips and hyacinths seem so intimately associated with neat borders and geometric designs that many people feel they practically require formal garden treatment. Most other hardy bulbs have been fortunate enough to retain their natural graces, however, and they can be used in many less conventional ways around the home grounds without producing a feeling of incongruity in any environment. Daffodils, snowdrops, scillas, grape-hyacinths, crocuses, and many of the smaller bulbs can be naturalized with success in grass, but in a closely cropped lawn this proves troublesome, as the grass around the bulbs cannot be cut until their foliage has ripened— around the first of June, at the earliest. One of their most effective uses is as an underplanting and in open bays in shrub borders, under trees, and along woodland paths. These uses open up no end of possibilities. As the early bulbs only require moisture when there is an abundance, they are quite content to let the woody plants preempt the whole supply in summer—when the bulbs are resting. Even such selfish, shallow-rooted trees as Norway Maples and beeches are forced to tolerate snowdrops, grape-hyacinths, and scillas, all of which are very lovely, spreading their bands of color underneath in April and May. The general rule for hardy bulbous perennials—and bulbs, of course, are herbaceous perennials—is that root growth starts in the fall and continues to some degree during the winter. Vegetative growth may occur during a comparatively brief period in the spring, as

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with tulips, narcissi, scillas, snowdrops, and all the other popular early-flowering bulbs, or it may extend over a longer space of time, as in the lilies and alliums. Generally they use great quantities of moisture from the autumn through the spring months—when there is plenty of moisture, it should be noted—but most of them are very intolerant of a poorly drained soil. There are some exceptions to this rule—camassias, Atamascolilies, and to some degree, the American Turks-cap and Canada Lilies. Provided with good drainage, most hardy bulbs will thrive in any moderately fertile soil, light or heavy, but good organic matter content and plentiful nutrients produce the most lavish displays. Bulbs should never be planted in direct contact with fertilizer materials. If beds are dug out to accommodate large plantings, a chemical fertilizer can be worked into the soil of the bottom layer on which the bulbs will be set, and the same method can be used on a smaller scale in planting small pockets of bulbs in spade holes, or even with a bulb planter. Chemical fertilizers applied on the surface after planting will be carried down to the roots, but action is much slower and turf and woody plants may take much of the fertility intended for the bulbs. In setting out bulbs, it is better to err in the w a y of deep planting than to put them too shallow. Shallow planting encourages rapid increase, and the blooms may become progressively smaller. In such cases replanting at a greater depth after three or four seasons is advisable. Deep planting tends to retard division, and

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161

individual bulbs grow larger each year and send up splendid flowers. Most of the larger bulbs, such as hyacinths, lilies, tulips, narcissi, planted eight to ten inches deep, remain sound and attain great size, but they increase very slowly. In gardens where tulips fail after a season or two, planting ten inches deep should be tried. Madonna Lilies should be well established and sending up their basal leaves by this time, and as noted earlier, the Nankeen and Chalcedonian Lilies will also be making root growth now. Other early-ripening kinds such as Lilium concolor, L. elegans, and also the Coral and Orangecup Lilies can be obtained from dealers now, and it is best to have them in the ground as soon as possible. Sowing Hardy Annuals. Seeds of many hardy annuals can be put into the soil at this time. Although they make only promising-looking rosettes at the surface, the seedlings send their roots deep into the warm soil, preparing for a great burst of energy next spring. T h e sowings should be made where the plants are to bloom, though thinning and transplanting can be done next April. Among the hardy annuals which can be sown to advantage now for early bloom next season are the following: Calliopsis, annual poppies (especially the Shirley strain), Cornflowers, Chinese Pinks, California-poppies, godetias, gilias, and the two popular annual delphiniums—Field and Rocket Larkspurs. A number of others, including Sweet Peas, may be

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Your Garden This Week

planted next month when they will have an opportunity to make little, if any top growth. FOURTH

WEEK

Bulbs for Indoor Forcing. There should be no delay in preparing a few pots of bulbs for forcing indoors for color during the winter months. The secret of forcing most hardy bulbs inside is to be sure the root systems are well developed before they are brought into the warmth and light. They require from eight to fifteen weeks for adequate root growth in a cool dark place. A cool cellar serves very well if the pans of bulbs are watered and looked at now and then, but burying the pots in a well-drained coldframe or even the open ground where frost will not reach them is even better. Among the daffodils the old favorites, Emperor, Empress, Golden Spur, and King Alfred, are still very satisfactory, and early single and early double tulips seem to give best results. Many of the small hardy bulbs can be forced easily, and they are very gay and cheerful to have for a succession of winter bloom— Glory-of-the-snow, Siberian Squills, winter-aconites, grape-hyacinths, and most of the spring-flowering crocuses. Freesias started in pans or boxes should be in bloom for Christmas. A potting mixture of one part of rich loam and one part of sand suits the needs of freesias, as they need good drainage particularly. About eight corms can be buried in a six-inch pot. These tender

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163

plants are not given the cold treatment necessary for the bulbs noted above, but they should be kept growing in a cool, light room. Freesias should bloom in 10 to 12 weeks. Potting Tender Plants for the Winter Garden. Tender plants that have been growing outdoors in the garden should be lifted with as many of their roots as possible, cut back strongly, and potted in preparation for the winter garden indoors. It is harmful to wait until scented-leafed geraniums (Pelargonium), fuchsias, and Brazilian Glorybush (Tibouchina) are touched with frost before looking after their needs. Lemonverbenas and Rosemary are more hardy, but their transfer to pots, if they have been in the open ground, should be made early enough so they can sit outside in a protected corner for a week or so before having to adapt themselves to indoor conditions all at once. D o not leave any of these outside too long, as a few cold nights will set them back as much as a frost. House plants cannot thrive in too large pots because the soil retains too much water and becomes sour and the roots do not get the amount of air they need. Another point to remember in potting tender plants for use indoors is that pots which have been used before should have a good scrubbing with a brush before filling them again. The hole at the bottom is usually very important in offering a drain for surplus moisture and also to aid air drainage. Place a few pieces of broken crock over it, then a layer of smaller pieces, and finally a little sphagnum moss or other fibrous material to

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keep the soil from sifting down into the drainage chamber created. Pot firmly and carefully, taking pains to sift earth down among the roots. Always leave at least a half inch of space between the soil surface and the rim of the pot to hold water. Harvesting Tender Bulbs and Roots. T h e gardener must soon be thinking about harvesting tender bulbs and roots. Dahlias, gladioli, and cannas need not be dug until they have been ripened by frost, though it is not wise to delay too long if the season is becoming cold and wet. Early-planted gladioli may be quite ripened now, and these will not suffer from digging as soon as it is convenient, but the usual time for this task is probably in early October. Tigridias and Tuberoses, however, are examples of tender subjects which should be lifted at once, before they have been subjected to a sharp frost. This is particularly urgent for Tuberoses, as these lovely plants make their flower buds for next year near the heart of the thick roots, and these buds are rather easily ruined by frosts. Failure to harvest them early enough results in almost sure disappointment. Roots of Tuberoses that flower one year will not do so the next in most northern gardens; it is usually necessary to wait until the third season for the offsets of the original root to come into flower. Tigridia corms and Tuberose roots should be dried and cleaned before they go into permanent winter

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storage in a cool dry cellar or storage room. It is a wise precaution to enclose tigridias in wire netting to be sure they will not be discovered by mice, which hold the corms in highest esteem.

An inspiration

for woodland

gardeners

October First week—Further Attention to Lawns; Banding Trees for Cankerworms; Peach Borers, and Others; Continuing Bulb Planting; Harvesting Gladioli and Tender Plants Second week—Planting Deciduous Trees and Shrubs; Transplanting the Last Perennials; Fall Cleaning in the Garden Third week—Making a Compost Heap; Digging Dahlias; Moving Tropical Aquatics Indoors; Window Boxes; Preparations for Indoor Gardening Fourth week—Fertilizing plying Lime

F

OLLOWING

Trees and Shrubs; Ap-

the activity of the spring and summer

months, October is often regarded as the time when

most work in the garden comes to a standstill, but the warm, h a z y days of Indian summer provide a fine opportunity for doing many garden tasks, especially when next season's display is already being planned. Further

Attention

to Lawns.

N e w l y seeded lawns

that have not germinated evenly can be thickened b y light scatterings of seed over the thin spots. If the weather is dry, new seeding will need to be w a t e r e d — especially when the new grass is under trees, which naturally have first call on soil moisture. A n y type of 167

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sprinkler which makes a fine, mist-like spray will be satisfactory. Care should be taken that the soil is soaked to a good depth, but watering should not be continued so long that washing starts. Early October is usually the most favorable time of the year to apply agricultural lime and fertilizer to an old lawn. Autumn's rains and winter's freezing and thawing carry these substances to a good depth in the soil. Much of the supply of nutrients in an application of commercial fertilizer made at this time will be utilized at once in producing a better turf. During the good growing weather still ahead before hard freezing sets in, fertilizing will do much to repair the injuries of summer's droughts and other troubles. The amounts for these applications have already been recommended in September. If rains have been abundant and the weather warm, it may be necessary to continue cutting the lawn in October. The turf should not be cut short, however, and it should be at least two inches high at the end of the month, when growth will be nearly stopped for the season. A closely clipped lawn is apt to suffer from heaving in winter. Banding Trees for Cankerworms. During seasons when Measuring-worms or Inch-worms (Fall and Spring Cankerworms) are troublesome, tanglefoot bands should be applied to important shade trees early this week, and pains should be taken to keep the bands sticky and effective well into November. Left on through the winter and with tanglefoot renewed next March, these same

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169

bands will protect trees against the egg-laying female moths, which cannot fly, but crawl up the trunks. Peach Borers, and Others. Gardeners who have Peach trees by which they set great store—both orchard varieties and the garden forms from the Orient prized for their lovely flowers—will do well to give them the standard treatment for Peach Tree Borers if there is any possibility of infestation. The moths of this insect lay their eggs in September on the trunks just above the ground, and the larvae hatch in a few days and at once bore into the bark. A large Peach tree may have a surprising number of these brown-headed, white borers working in the outer portion of the trunk and large roots, and unless checked they will girdle the tree in a few years. Flowering Almonds and Flowering Plums are frequently propagated on Peach roots, and they will need watching for the borers. A circular band of paradichlorobenzene ( P D B ) , procurable at drug stores as white crystals, is made on smoothed ground about two inches from the tree, using one-half to one ounce of P D B , depending on the size of the tree. Cover the ring with a cone of soil reaching up six inches or so on the trunk and firm this down with a hoe—the best tool for the operation. The bark of Peaches less than two years old is too tender to be treated with the chemical. As the P D B crystals evaporate, the heavy gas formed is confined in the cone of soil. The fumes penetrate the borer holes in the tree trunk and kill the young larvae

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as they are getting started on their pleasant season of eating. Borers are among the most difficult insect pests to combat, because they are out of reach of the usual insecticides so much of the time. A s soon as the holes they make and the light-colored chewed wood or frass falling out of them are noticed, lose no time in trying a remedy. A flexible wire run into borer holes may succeed in impaling the larvae at their work, but the gardener cannot be sure, in most cases, that the culprits have been killed. Usually a better remedy is to put some carbon bisulphide in an oil can and squirt a few drops of this in the hole and fill the opening with chewing gum. A s carbon bisulphide is highly inflammable and dangerous to have around a building, the commercial nicotine pastes (Borerkil, Bor-Tox) designed to exterminate borers are the best insecticides for combatting the grub stages. In many cases the branches in which borers are working can be cut out at no loss to the garden effect, and similarly, stems of herbaceous plants infested can be cut off and burned. Valuable specimens such as Flowering Dogwoods, cherries, mountain-ashes, and crabapples, after being treated for bad attacks of borers, can be assisted greatly b y careful feeding. Commercial fertilizers can be applied now, either worked into the soil under trees and shrubs or by the crowbar hole method. Continuing Bulb Planting. Bulb planting continues during this week, and the engrossing work progresses

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171

as orders arrive from dealers. Narcissi and the smaller spring-blooming bulbs which need to make extensive root growth in the autumn for best results are much better in the ground in September, though they may still be planted. Early October is ideal for planting tulips, and it should be borne in mind that deep planting is advisable if the bulbs are to be left in the ground for several years. Many gardeners recommend planting tulips eight to ten inches deep, as this usually makes the plantings more permanent. Tulips will not thrive in a soil which is strongly acid, but one around neutral or only slightly acid suits them very well. The bulbs should be planted so that their roots can reach down into rich, moderately heavy soil, but the bulbs themselves should never be in contact with fertilizer. The most popular tulips are probably the Darwins, the large and richly colored blooms on tall stems which give so much splendor to gardens in late May. This noble group is an offshoot from the Common Tulip (Tulipa gesneriana). The Due van Thol Tulips and special groups such as Cottage Tulips, Breeders, Rembrandts, and Parrot or Dragon Tulips are charming and valuable for giving the tulip season an early start and adding greatly to the variety in early-season borders. The more uncommon species of tulips are growing in popularity every season, and many of these are admirable rock garden subjects. Adequate ripening after the foliage matures is essential to the well-being of many of these "botanical" tulips, as they are called. (It would

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be quite stimulating to make a memorandum of the tulips which are not "botanical"—or of any plants, for that matter.) Camassias from western North America are among the bulbous herbaceous perennials which gardens should display more frequently. Growing from two to three feet high, the flower stems may make one think of tall, graceful hyacinths, though the blooms of camassias are much larger and more widely spaced. A planting depth of four to six inches suits these bulbs, and they prefer a fairly heavy loam supplied with abundant moisture. As streamside plants and for grouping at the edges of ponds or pools they are unsurpassed. Camassia cusicki, from Oregon, produces three-foot racemes of pale blue flowers, and C. leichtlini, and C. quamash, both ranging from British Columbia to California, vary from dark blue to white. Hardy lilies can be planted throughout the month, though such late-ripening kinds as the Gold-band Lily, Sargent, Henry, and Showy Lilies may not arrive from dealers until November or even December. In any case, the soil for them should be prepared and ready. T h e importance of furnishing garden lilies sharp drainage can hardly be stressed too much, and repeating this need once more will not be amiss. A light, porous soil containing an abundance of humus suits most of the species. T o insure good drainage close around the lily bulbs, put half a trowelful of clean sand in the bottom of the hole and press the bulb into this. T h e remainder of the sand in the trowel can be put over the bulb.

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173

I t is always advantageous to secure freshly dug lily bulbs from nearby growers whenever possible, so there will be no opportunity for the outer scales of the bulbs to become dried and flabby. A sprinkling of sulphur over lily bulbs and down among the scales of the loosely clustered types before they are planted is a good prophylactic treatment, and is always desirable for imported bulbs. Old plantings of lilies which have grown thick and crowded should be lifted and replanted now. This work is not an item of general concern among gardeners, unfortunately, for it seems only an occasional enthusiast is willing to study their needs and make the members of this wonderful genus so satisfied in cultivation that they multiply plentifully and division becomes necessary. Harvesting Gladioli and Tender Plants. It is easier to dig gladioli now than later, and there is no reason w h y harvesting these corms should be delayed. It is best to choose a bright day and to dig the plants early in the morning so that the roots will have several hours to dry before they are taken indoors. A spading fork is the best tool for lifting gladioli. If every cormel clustered at the base of the larger corms is valuable, place the plants on papers or burlap, as the small cormels frequently become dislodged. After drying outside in the sun and wind for a day, the stems should be cut off close to the corm. Breaking the tops off frequently tears the outer coating of the corms, and it is not recommended. The tops should be

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Y o u r Garden This W e e k

disposed of on the bonfire heap. T h e corms can be taken to a shed, cellar, or any dry place where they can cure for a few weeks. In the curing room, the corms should be spread out on papers, piled not over three or four inches deep. T h e y must be kept out of reach of mice. Some gardeners bring them in piled loosely in flats or boxes, and the clusters of roots and corms can remain in these until cleaning time. (See November, Third Week.) Common Amaryllis (Hippeastrum hybridutn) which have been growing outdoors in their pots during the summer should be launched on their rest period so they will be ready to bloom when warmth and moisture are supplied again in December or later. Whether these popular hybrids of plants growing wild in the American tropics have been sunk in their pots in some opening in the flower border (so doing, the gardener can forget about watering them) or used on a porch or terrace to strengthen the horticultural staging, they can be taken to a corner of the workroom and turned on their sides or stored in the cellar. N o water should be given them, and this enforced rest assists the bulbs to prepare for the spectacular flowers. Tuberoses left in the ground as late as this should be dug with no more delay on account of the likelihood of frost injury to the flower buds. Montbretias, tigridias or shell-flowers, caladiums, cannas, and ismenes or basketflowers are among the other tender plants which should be harvested now. The thickened roots of the ismenes usually grown, Hymenocallis calathina, must be al-

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175

lowed to ripen thoroughly and dry up before they can be removed. This may take a month or more. After drying and cleaning they need to be stored in a dry, cool place in shallow boxes or perforated paper bags. Full precautions must be taken to protect them from mice. SECOND

WEEK

Planting Deciduous Trees and Shrubs. October is a good month to set out or transplant most deciduous hardy shrubs and many deciduous trees. It should be kept in mind, however, that unless the work is done b y experts, moving or planting evergreens should be left until spring. September was the time for moving evergreens late in the season, when they would have ample opportunity to make some root growth before winter sets in. Since deciduous trees and shrubs do not need to make much root growth before cold weather, however, many of them can be set out now. Flowering Dogwoods, Red Maples, Tuliptrees, Sweetgums, beeches, birches, hawthorns, magnolias, and oaks are trees which the amateur is best advised not to attempt moving except in the spring, and shrubs in the same category are Japanese Snowballs, Shrub-althaeas or Roses-of-Sharon, tamarisks, butterflybushes, and sumacs. Among these ornamentals fall moving is likely to result in failure, unless they are moved with a solid ball of earth, perhaps, or with great care. Roses habitually continue active growth so late, especially the Hybrid Teas, that their wood may not be well

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Y o u r Garden This Week

enough ripened yet to make transplanting advisable. T h e y can usually be planted around the end of the month and in November. In areas where winters are severe, plant them in early spring. Gardeners fortunate enough to live near nurseries can have new plants on the ground before they have dried out, and naturally this is very beneficial. Just as in transplanting at other seasons, top growth should be cut back to balance the root system. The usual precautions in working the soil between the roots, tamping it carefully, and watering should be followed. A light mulch of leaves or other material should be added when the earth around them is given its final leveling, in the form of a shallow saucer to retain water. Leaves can be held in place despite the sweeping autumn winds by a scattering of soil over them. Trees or bushes apt to be swayed by wind require staking or guying to hold them in place (see December, First W e e k ) . Swaying back and forth, especially against a collar of frozen ground, will do great harm to trees and tall shrubs. Transplanting the Last Perennials. Except during mild and late seasons, herbaceous perennials in general should not be moved, but the ambitious gardener may be tempted to continue getting his borders in shape as late as possible. Some sturdy kinds like the daylilies (Henterocallis), plantainlilies (Hosta), blazing-stars, snakeroots, and hardy asters may still be replanted, though it is not wise to separate them into small divisions. Small roots have little chance of anchoring them-

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177

selves against the alternate freezing and thawing of winter. Pansies and other violas may still be put out with confidence, as this sturdy group seems able to establish roots very late. Those set out now produce finer flowers than spring transplants. Fall Cleaning in the Garden. While all of this work is going on in the garden at this season, clean-up measures to eliminate sources of plant diseases and insect infestations are very much in order. Remove and burn all debris and plants which have completed their usefulness. The old tops of perennials and roots and tops of annuals are slated for burning. Any weeds that somehow or other have managed to survive and produce seeds should be added to the bonfire. German Irises are among the perennials much benefited by a thorough late-season cleaning, as the leaf-spot fungi and other parasitic organisms can be kept at a minimum by this treatment alone. All browned and spotted leaves should be gathered up or pulled off and burned. Several peony troubles can be prevented if a few precautions are taken now to destroy the fungous parasites responsible. Peony leaf-blotch, the most generally common of peony diseases, can be controlled very simply, b y cutting the stems at the ground level and burning them. This is the Botrytis fungus which causes much of the blasting of buds and diseased stems and leaves in peonies. It is important to collect and burn all peony tops before frosts kill them, as then the leaves become

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Your Garden This W e e k

brown and brittle and portions of the leaves containing disease spores are likely to become broken off and remain on the ground, ready to cause reinfection next spring. Despite the fact that for years many gardeners have permitted the tops of herbaceous plants to remain through the winter as protection, this practice is now strongly discouraged. The old tops are very apt to harbor disease organisms and the resting stages of insect pests. T h e best treatment is to remove and burn old stems, leaves, and all refuse as soon as its usefulness is finished. Winter protection in the form of a mulch should not be applied yet. Mulching is best delayed until the ground has frozen. (See November, Fourth Week, and December, Second Week.) THIRD

WEEK

In woodlands and meadows organic matter is returned to the soil by the falling of leaves and stems. T h e gradually accumulated layer of these materials is always changing—new deposits keep building up the top, and bacteria cause decomposition in the middle and bottom strata, which become broken down into leafmold or humus and merge into the topsoil. T h e root systems of many plants develop very near the surface so they can gain the most benefit from this layer of humus. Around the home grounds much of this natural return of humus and nutrients is prevented, as the gar-

October

179

dener burns fallen branches and rakes up leaves to keep his domain neat and attractive. Grass clippings, it is true, usually fall back over the roots of the turf, and make a valuable contribution to the well-being of the lawn. Yet, with all the publicity that has been given this very obvious factor in lawn care, many people who have lawns of Kentucky Bluegrass and mixed grasses continue to collect the clippings. Bent lawns, however, are so close and fine that the clippings from them should be collected, but bent lawns are coddled and nurtured with repeated topdressings and they are attempted only rarely by home gardeners. Making a Compost Heap. Now that the tree leaves are falling and waves of them are collecting in bays in shrubbery plantings and along walls and fence's, every real gardener should be starting a new compost heap. All garden refuse which does not contain stages of insect pests or diseases may be collected in one spot where it will be out of the way and yet convenient to reach, and left to break down into humus. A hole or pit is preferable for a small compost pile, as the material will be kept more moist and will decompose sooner. Larger quantities can be built up in rectangular piles four or five feet high and about the same width, and of any convenient length. It is well to have them shaded, as hot sunlight dries the top and sides and halts the action of the beneficial bacteria which are bringing about decomposition. T w o or three concrete-walled bins, open at the top and at one end, make a fine layout for composting, and in the home garden it is often possible to

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construct such bins behind the garage or barn at one side of a small area that may be used as a workyard. Making the compost pile itself is very simple. Leaves, twigs, parings and trimmings from the kitchen, and any clean waste material can be made into layers about one foot thick and alternated with a light scattering of soil. It is beneficial to scatter between each layer a small amount of a complete chemical fertilizer, and if the compost will not be used around azaleas, rhododendrons, and other acid-loving plants, hydrated lime or wood ashes can be added. Some gardeners boast of two compost piles—-one in which oak and beech leaves and small branches are made into humus for acid-loving plants, the other in which leaves of maples, apples, and other trees and refuse from the kitchen and garden are composted with ashes from the fireplace and a scattering of any chemical fertilizer available. Weeds which have succeeded in maturing seeds and all material which is suspected of harboring organisms of plant diseases and harmful insects should go to the bonfire heap rather than to the compost. After burning, however, the bonfire ashes can be used. Decomposition does not go on in a compost pile unless the material is moist, nor to any extent in cold weather. If autumn rains are not sufficient, use the hose to be sure the compost is thoroughly wet. When the pile is being finished, add a top layer of soil to keep leaves from blowing away during the winter. Turning a compost pile two or three times during the season greatly shortens the period before it can be used,

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and mixes in the material from the edges, where bacterial action is slower. There is no reason for turning this autumn's compost pile before next April. One or two later turnings, perhaps on wet afternoons when other plans have come to nothing, and plentiful watering when the pile dries out in July and August should make the material ready to use for planting next September and October. The coarse, partially decomposed compost available even the following summer is valuable for many purposes and serves to mix in holes and beds being prepared for new plantings. By the second December it makes one of the best mulch materials for shrubs and herbaceous perennials. If fine leafmold for seedpan mixtures and such uses is required, the compost needs to be left for three years, unless some of the new ways of greatly hastening decomposition are employed. Digging Dahlias. The cool days and frosty nights that mid-October usually brings are associated with digging dahlia roots in the many gardens where these flowers are popular. It is generally considered best to wait four or five days or a week after a sharp frost before harvesting dahlias, in order to permit as much as possible of the food in the stems to be transferred to the roots. The tops are first cut off an inch or two above the ground, and the label bearing the name of the variety is wired securely to the stub. The root mass is then lifted out of the ground as easily as possible by working a spading fork completely around each clump, at a dis-

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tance of about one foot from the stalk. T w o persons can do the digging better than one. A s the clumps are lifted out of the ground, invert them so that water remaining in the stems can drain away. It is advisable to leave some soil on the roots, as it holds them together and lessens the danger of injury in handling. However, if the soil is heavy, it should be removed, since it might retain too much moisture and encourage decay. After remaining out in the sun for a few hours, the roots should be moved under cover in a dry, airy place to dry for a week or so before storing. A cool, dry room with a temperature around 4 0 ° to 5 0 ° is ideal for storing dahlia roots. Needless to say, frost should never reach them. A cellar with a dirt floor where potatoes and other vegetables are kept successfully will be satisfactory for storing dahlias without any packing material. The roots should be inspected carefully before storing them, and diseased or broken parts should be cut away. Dusting all cuts with sulphur is a good precaution. T h e narrowed connecting portions of the thickened tuberous roots should not be twisted or bent, as these will be useless if separated from the central crown bearing the eyes from which growth will start next spring. When storage in a heated cellar is necessary, sand and peat-moss are among the packing materials much used, and some gardeners coat the clumps with a mixture of paraffin and beeswax. D r y peat-moss is particularly good for the average home gardener, as it prevents

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the thickened roots from drying out better than most storage materials. T h e roots can also be packed in sand in deep boxes which have been lined with newspapers. About three inches of sand should be added over the tops of the clumps, and if much sand runs down between the roots when it dries out a little, add more as needed. Since sand will lose considerable moisture, in a dry cellar it is necessary to cover the boxes with paper. Moving Tropical Aquatics Indoors. Tender waterlilies and other aquatics which will not take well to the cold weather ahead should be removed from the garden pool and disposed of according to their requirements. Decorative as they are for three or four months in the summer, tender aquatics are not used so much as formerly ; home gardeners seem more inclined to give their attention to plants which can get along from one end of the season to the other without elaborate and exacting care. This seems a very characteristic and very gratifying trend in modern gardening. If the pool does not need to be drained in late N o vember or early December to insure it against ice damage, hardy waterlilies can be left as they are. Should there not be at least 15 inches of water over the boxes in which the lilies are growing, however, in areas where ice may form down to this depth it will be best to remove them as outlined in November, Fourth Week. A s long as frost does not reach them, hardy waterlilies will be safe. Tender or tropical waterlilies can be distinguished from the hardy varieties almost without exception b y

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the way they bear their flowers. Those of the hardy kinds float on the water, while the tropical bear theirs on stout stems above the surface a few inches. These exotics require much pampering. The best procedure is to lift the boxes in which they are growing and let them ripen off gradually in tanks of water indoors. This may take some time, but eventually tubers should be formed, and when the leaves and stems fall away, the tubers can be lifted, cleaned, and stored in moist sand until it is time to plant them again next spring. It is much less trouble, and probably less expensive as well, for the owner of a small pool to buy new plants of tropical waterlilies every year. Window Boxes. Now that flowers grown in window boxes during the summer have made their last stand, it may be well to decide what will be done with the boxes, rather than let them slowly subside into forlorn barrenness. If they are removable, it is probably best to take them down, empty the soil on the compost pile, and then clean and paint the outside. Unless they are to be filled with evergreen material, store them until next spring. On the other hand, small branches of evergreens stuck deeply into the soil in the boxes can be arranged to make a very pleasing effect, and if the soil is saturated with water now and then, they may keep fresh for months. Branches pruned from pines, arborvitae, spruces, yews, bayberries, rhododendrons, evergreen barberries, and such materials serve to good advantage. When the summer inhabitants of window boxes are removed, one frequently sees the boxes filled with coni-

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fers from lining-out rows in nurseries. Even with English I v y to embellish the front of the box, the picture created makes one think of a miniature fragment of a typical foundation planting, and it becomes questionable at once on this score. A sympathetic gardener wonders if the poor little trees are encouraged by the grandeur of their position to combat the rigors of winter. T h e y can only temporarily, and as the weeks go by the miniature landscape trimming grows more and more dried and burned. Such decorations may be well suited to buildings in cities, but not to private residences which have real front yards and even a small space for plantings. Preparations for Indoor Gardening. Soil for repotting house plants, preparing seed flats, and other work during the winter should be brought inside or stored where it will not be frozen when needed. It is quite disheartening when the first surge of gardening ardor in late February or March (certain to be brought on by a visit to a flower show) is caught up short by the discovery that for the seeds one is so eager to start there is no soil available except the frozen clods outside. T o be sure, we are now urged to use sand for raising seedlings, but even this medium should be planned ahead of time. The well-equipped garden workroom, or even a modest potting bench in the cellar, should have separate boxes or bins of sturdy construction to hold garden loam, sand, leafmold, peat-moss, and perhaps other ma-

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terials. These should be filled up now before there is danger of frost hindering the task. T o maintain a succession of bloom for the winter garden indoors, plant a few more pots of tulips, hyacinths, narcissi, and possibly some of the smaller bulbous plants such as spring crocuses, grape-hyacinths, and snowdrops. When well rooted, these bulbs for forcing can be brought in and started at intervals of three weeks. Freesias to follow the first lot started last month can be potted up every three weeks. T h e y like a temperature around 65° and the sunniest window available. Support freesias in each pot with three slender bamboo stakes and loops of green thread connecting them. FOURTH

WEEK

Fertilizing Trees and Shrubs. Whenever the gardener has leisure time hanging heavy on his hands, it is a good plan to consider fertilizing shrubs and trees needing this encouragement. A complete chemical fertilizer— almost surely one high in nitrogen will be most beneficial—can be applied broadcast through shrub plantings and around small trees. Large trees may be fed b y pouring a mixture of fertilizer and topsoil or humus into crowbar holes driven 18 inches to two feet deep and two or three feet apart in circles around the tree trunks. Most of the active feeding roots of many shade trees will be in the soil under the outer half of the spread of the branches, and the fertilizer will do most good if put in holes in this general area. If rains are not forthcoming, generous watering after

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fertilizing starts the concentrated nutrients in a chemical fertilizer at once on their way to the feeding root hairs. Some artificial watering as soon as fertilizer is scattered on the surface is advisable anyway, as it dissolves most of the particles and carries the nutrients into the ground; the first rain might be a heavy downpour which would wash much of the application away if the ground is not perfectly level. Applying Lime. These weeks are also ideal for applying lime, whenever it is needed. Actually, autumn is a better season for liming lawns and soils in general than early spring, when by tradition gardeners have a strong urge to scatter lime lavishly and indiscriminately, as though it were a panacea for all the ills the garden might be exposed to later in the season. Autumn rains and the frost action of winter carry lime into the soil and hasten its effect. Either hydrated lime or ground limestone can be applied now to good advantage, when it is known that lime is needed. Finely ground limestone, slower to react and persisting longer than hydrated lime, is especially advisable for sandy soils, and an average amount to use is seven or eight pounds for 100 square feet. Hydrated or "agricultural" lime, at the rate of four or five pounds per 100 square feet, is more beneficial for soils of the clay type. The exact amount of lime required depends, naturally, on the amount of acidity that has to be neutralized. A soil test is desirable to indicate whether or not lime is needed.

A wild garden of varied

conditions

November First week—Transplanting Shrubs; Setting Out and Protecting Roses; Concluding Bulb Planting; Pruning Shrubs; Care of Trees Second week—Transplanting a Few Last Perennials ; Cleaning Flower Borders; Dormant Spraying Third week—Cleaning Gladiolus Corms; Protecting Chrysanthemums; Sowing Sweet Peas and California Annuals; Some Thoughts to House Plants Fourth week—Looking After the Pool; Rodent Protection; Lawn Protection November Flowers in the Garden Herbs Shrubs Abelia grandiflora Glossy Abelia Aster tataricus Tatarian Aster Chrysanthemum arcticum Arctic Chrysanthemum Korean Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum coreanum Common Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum hortorum Nippon Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum nipponicum Siberian Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum sibiricum Common Meadowsaffron Colchicum autumnale Colchicum bornmuelleri Colchicum speciosum 189

190

Your Garden T h i s W e e k Caspian Crocus

Crocus caspicus Crocus longiflorus Crocus speciosus globosus

Thorny Elaeagnus Darley Heath Gaillardia Common Witchhazel Christmas-rose Japanese Honeysuckle Marie Pavic Rose Mermaid Rose Roulett Rose Autumn-daffodil Gorse Tufted Pansy Sweet Violet

Elaeagnus pungens Erica darleyensis Gaillardia aristata

M

Hamamelis Helleborus

virginiana niger

Lonicera japonica Rosa, Marie Pavic Rosa bracteata, Mermaid Rosa chinensis rouletti Sternbergia lutea Ulex europaeus Viola cornuta Viola odorata

UCH of the planting work usually scheduled for the latter part of October can be continued into November, particularly if the weather stays mild. These are ideal weeks for catching up loose ends in garden operations, and many jobs which have been left undone through the season can be attended to now. Naturally, the weather will determine just how much of this can be managed, and the practical difficulties of adhering to anything like a set garden routine year in, year out are emphasized by our subservience to the weather gods. T h e beginner must be urged to regard this outline of garden work as an account of what may be done. Early frosts, a cold week early in the month, heavy au-

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tumn rains, and perhaps surprisingly mild weather may necessitate rearranging much of the plan. Transplanting Shrubs. M a n y deciduous shrubs can still be set out, especially in areas where the winters are mild and in gardens where the lay of the land or established plantings will offer protection from severe winter winds. Shrubs about which there is any question, however, should be left until next April, and this would mean buddleias, bluebeards (Caryopteris), brooms (Cytisus, Genista), firethorns (Pyracantha), tamarisks, and Vitex. Sumacs, hawthorns, stephanandras, Roses-of-Sharon, Japanese Snowballs, and Common Sweetshrubs should not be moved now. Nor should the amateur attempt to set out coniferous or broad-leaved evergreens of any size, as the early autumn season for handling these has now been passed for several weeks. This work should be deferred until spring. With their equipment for handling large balls of earth around the roots of plants, nurserymen will continue to move evergreens, perhaps all winter long, but this is very different from an amateur's trying it. Setting Out and Protecting Roses. N o w is the best time to plant roses in areas of fairly mild winters. When extensive plantings of roses are being made, it is advisable to have the holes or beds thoroughly prepared in October, or even in the summer if opportunity presents. Unless the location is naturally favorable and the soil very fertile, trenching to a depth of two feet is advisable for nearly all roses. Some of the wild roses, however, and certainly the cherished dwarfs, such as Roulett

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Rose and the Lawrencianas, are much too exuberant when treated with this lavishness. Ground prepared for roses should be very well drained, and later disappointment and greater expense will be saved if drains of agricultural tile and crushed stone or gravel are put in under the two feet depth of prepared soil where the drainage is not good. Sod, ashes, and strawy manure can be mixed with soil for the bottom portion of the bed, and in the upper half compost, cow manure, and more ashes can be used to supplement the natural topsoil. A bed prepared two feet deep should be left about three inches higher than the surface around it to provide for settling. Some gardeners make a practice of replanting at this season all roses set out from pots the previous spring, as this is a fine opportunity to straighten out the roots. Roses grown in pots or other containers usually have malformed root systems which may prevent the plants from amounting to anything. Replanting these is a precautionary measure from which there is nothing to lose. Budded and grafted roses should be planted with the union covered with about two inches of soil, a protection against injury at this vital point. Some time can be saved by mounding up the soil from eight to ten inches high around newly set bush roses, as then they will not require further attention. It is well to leave the canes of climbers and pillar roses on the ground for the winter. In northern gardens they will need covering with soil or some other protection. Cones of soil can be pulled up around the stems of all roses as soon as there is an

November

193 opportunity. Supplemented by a mulch of leaves or straw next month, this gives Hybrid Teas and most garden roses ample protection. If black-spot has managed to persist in spite of the gardener's fungicides, care taken to rake up and burn all fallen leaves around rose plantings will be repaid next year. Concluding Bulb Planting. All the spring-blooming bulbs can still be put in the ground, though narcissi and daffodils will not be able to make as strong root growth as when they are planted in September or early October. Deep planting is advisable for tulips unless they are to be lifted every summer. Many of the complaints about them in home gardens can be eliminated by setting the bulbs eight or ten inches deep. Now that boundary plantings containing hawthorns, dogwoods, shadbushes, honeysuckles, and viburnums are losing their leaves, possibilities of new pictures for spring may come to mind as the shadowy spaces become light again. Under the spreading branches of such shrubs and small trees, masses of squills, bluebells, snowdrops, and Glory-of-the-snow make a lovely display in early spring. These plans can be executed right away, and the gardener will find himself dreaming already of the beauty spring will bring forth. Hardy lilies should be planted as soon as they arrive, and thick clumps of the late-ripening kinds in the garden can be lifted and replanted as soon as the growth starts to turn brown. Lilies can be planted considerably deeper than instructions used to specify.

194 Your Garden This Week Pruning Shrubs. This is an ideal time for any of the pruning which is usually done later in the winter (see February, Fourth Week). In November and early December there are sure to be fine days when a good portion of this work can be done. Actually, the weather now is usually so much better for pruning than what may be encountered in late February and March that it is sound economy to slate pruning work for autumn. Practically all shrubs except those which bloom before the first week of June can be put in shape now, and if some sacrificed flowers are no great consideration, do necessary pruning in forsythias, honeysuckles, spireas, and viburnums. Think twice before pruning any ericaceous plants, and remember that French Hydrangeas have their flower buds for next summer pointing the tips of their branches. Late autumn is recommended as the best time for pruning grapes, and hardy climbing roses may be pruned and tied. All of this work accomplished now relieves the rush of garden activities in early spring, when the schedule is entirely at the mercy of the weather. Care of Trees. Broken and dead or dying branches of trees should be cut as nearly flush as possible to the main branch or trunk. Cuts over half an inch in diameter should be painted with white lead or asphalt paint. Most hardware stores carry these paints suitable for tree wounds. It is advisable to go over large wounds first with a coat of shellac to prevent checking. Cavity work in trees should be done by a specialist who has had good training in this very specialized type

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of tree work. Rather than let shade trees on a home property suffer irreparable damage from decay when the services of an expert cannot be afforded, the property owner can do the trees a great deal of good if he attends to them himself as best he can. The cost will be small and well within the means of even a modest garden budget. The home gardener need not feel he is incompetent to do this work, as sympathy for the tree and a knowledge of its needs are important assets, and he can learn something about the treatment of cavities, get the necessary tools, and do the work with increasing skill. First, all diseased wood must be cut out of the cavity. Two or three chisels with rounded blades and a small mallet for driving them are the tools required in this surgical work. Tree cavities usually extend much farther up and down the heartwood than is apparent from the hole in the bark. The rotten wood should be cut out and the sound tissue underneath it smoothed off without making the opening of the cavity any larger than necessary. If the opening has to be cut larger, do this at the bottom rather than at the top or sides. It is important that the inside of the cavity be drained adequately so that moisture will not accumulate and start more decay. Sometimes the opening can be narrowed to a V-shaped trough which will drain the interior. When the cavity is deep, however, a hole must be bored from the outside on an upward slant to the bottom of the cavity. To keep this hole open so that water will always be drained away from the inside, it is best to fit it with

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a proper length of three-quarter- or one-inch iron pipe. This pipe should project slightly beyond the bark so that it will not be closed by growth of the tree. A solution of copper sulphate or mercuric chloride should be used to wash out the cleaned cavity and the drainage hole as an antiseptic treatment. T h e last important step in cavity treatment, after the diseased wood has been removed and drainage made certain, is to paint the surface of the sound tissue so that it is protected from moisture, insects, and diseases. It should first be painted with shellac, and when this has dried, with the tree dressing paint. Following these three steps carefully provides in almost every case the best possible treatment for cavities in trees. It is rarely beneficial to fill a cavity with any substance, as this permits decay to set in behind the filling and spread unseen and unchecked. A cavity kept dry, open to sunlight and air, properly covered with paint, and cleaned of leaves is usually the best precaution against further decay and damage to the tree. Generous use of commercial fertilizer will probably do more to keep most trees healthy and strong and to assist them to combat decay organisms than even skilled surgical work. Naturally, attention to pruning and cavities and fertilizing should go hand in hand, but fertilizing is most important. When even the noblest old trees are in such critical condition that they cannot be preserved except b y a great outlay, do all you can for them, by all means, but

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start young trees of the same or better kinds to take their places. Bracing is a part of tree care that is very important in most large and tall trees. When streets, sidewalks, and houses are overhung by large trees, careful bracing so that the heavy branches will not have to withstand undue strain during windstorms is as vital for the safety of people as it is desirable for the health of the tree. This essential work should be done by an expert. SECOND

WEEK

Transplanting a Few Last Perennials. Lilies-of-thevalley are apt to be neglected in gardens once they are established, and they are neither transplanted nor furnished with rich fare as often as their well-being requires. In fertile soil, on the other hand, the everspreading masses of fibrous roots and rootstocks claim so much space that they may be contemplated with resentment whenever the lovely flowers or the rarer cinnabar red fruits are not on hand to enhance the picture. Transplanting and thinning every five or six years are necessary to insure good bloom in many situations, and this is a good time for the work. When cleaning out and replanting a large bed would take more time than can be spared, square "sods" can be cut every foot or so with a spade and lifted out. The hollowed-out portions of the resulting checkerboard should be filled in with compost. T h e whole planting will benefit from an inchdeep dressing of fine manure. The flower buds for next

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May are already formed, of course, and the topdressing will insure large stems of bloom and handsome leafage. If thinning or transplanting Lilies-of-the-valley is deferred until there have been several frosts, possibly until early December, crowns with plump, stubby buds (indicating flower buds) can be forced indoors. These can also be sorted out while the transplanting is being done in November and heeled in until they can be potted up and eventually started into growth in December or early January. Each crown should have strong roots. Directions for treating the crowns for forcing are given in December. A flower border in which astilbes have been luxuriating can also make a contribution of these featheryflowered plants for the winter garden indoors. Divisions can be placed in suitable pots in a light, porous soil and stored in a coldframe or in any dark place where the temperature stays low. They are usually started into growth in December, and flowers are produced in 10 to 15 weeks. In keeping with their requirements in the garden outdoors, abundant moisture is necessary for astilbes indoors, and it is advisable to set the pots in saucers kept filled with water. This is an ideal time to transplant hardy ferns. Even though ripened and brown, in some species enough of the fronds will remain to make identification more certain. It is no secret that humus is the key to success with nearly all the common ferns, yet it is given all too meagerly. Save yourself disappointment and the condemnation of the conservation-minded by not attempt-

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ing the Walking-leaf and the other alkaline lovers unless you can furnish the proper inducements. Think twice before planting even a small root of Bracken. Cleaning Flower Borders. Perhaps most important of all the tasks around the home grounds for October and November is cleaning flower borders. Both annual and perennial borders should be gone over quite carefully. In the former a few verbenas, snapdragons, and alyssums may be holding forth promise of continued bloom, and the tender-hearted gardener may leave this brave rear guard to make what display it can. Actually, however, annual flowers should be pulled up, along with the sly pieces of Crab-grass and Galinsoga which are discovered hiding under them, and added to the bonfire heap. Particularly should China Asters and all other kinds very susceptible to serious diseases be gathered and burned. Herbaceous perennials should never be allowed to go into the winter mulched with their own tops. This is one of the surest and most obvious ways to carry over to next season a great many of the border's worst troubles — n o t only insect pests galore, but also such diseases as hollyhock rust, mildews, Botrytis blights (including blight of peonies), crown rot and leaf-spots of irises, yellows on asters, daisies, and other composites. The tops of all these should be cut back to the ground level (or just below it in the case of peonies) and packed into a tight basket or box. This should be transported to the bonfire and there emptied carefully of all its contents.

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Y o u r Garden This Week

Moths of Iris Borer have probably laid their eggs on the leaves of irises in the border in late summer, and all dried leaves as well as partially browned ones should be collected and added to the pungent bonfire. For bad infestations, letting a quick fire sweep over the iris beds will clean up the dead leaves any autumn day when they are crisp and dry. T o o hot a fire is apt to injure the buds for next year, and this must be guarded against by leaving just enough tree leaves or other dry material over the area to be burned to furnish a light store of fuel for the blaze. Stems of lilies, dahlias, hollyhocks, perennial asters, sunflowers, and other flowers with hollow stalks should be destroyed, as this removes the winter resting places of many serious pests. Corn stubble burned or plowed under before December i will eradicate European Corn Borers. Actually, it is the worst kind of investment to leave tops of garden flowers to mulch the beds over winter, as a majority of insect and disease troubles in the average garden will be perpetuated for next season b y this mistaken indulgence. Where protection is needed, clean mulches can be applied in December or later—after the ground has frozen an inch or more. Mulching materials are not needed yet, but it is wise to start assembling them to have sufficient stores in readiness. Among the best are coarse peat-moss, branches of conifers, leaves of oaks and beeches, salt hay and R y e and Wheat straw (threshed). Branches of oaks re-

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moved in pruning, with the leaves dried on them, are fine for mulching. Dormant Spraying. Many troublesome insect pests of trees and shrubs pass the winter as adults or as eggs on the twigs and branches or around the buds. Now that deciduous woody plants have shed their leaves, for the most part, a stronger spray material can be used than can be applied without injury when foliage is on the plants. Dormant sprays are much cheaper than the contact poisons which must be resorted to in the growing season. Furthermore, the pests and their eggs are easily reached at this season, and there is sure to be ideal weather for applying a dormant spray in November. Rainy weather and even late cold snaps as well as the usual press of work in late March and April may result in the spring clean-up or delayed dormant spray being applied so late that the opening buds are injured— or it may be omitted altogether (March, Fourth Week). With aphids, red mites, scale insects, and related pests as prevalent as they are, omitting a dormant spray entirely is likely to be a serious mistake. Practically all deciduous trees and shrubs can be sprayed as soon as their leaves are off. Miscible oil sprays can be used for many ornamentals; until they have been tried more completely, the similar oil emulsion sprays should be used with caution. Nut trees, maples, beeches, some lindens, and the junipers with long needles are frequently injured by oil sprays. On the whole, lime-sulphur makes the safest dormant spray for ornamentals for the home gardener to use. Care must be

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Y o u r Garden This Week

taken that lime-sulphur does not get on painted buildings, however, as it causes considerable discoloration. Shrubs and small trees can be sprayed effectively with one of the hand-operated pressure sprayers, but companies equipped to do the work should be hired to spray extensive shrub plantings and large trees. THIRD

WEEK

Cleaning Gladiolus Corms. Gladioli dug in October are now cured and ready for cleaning when the first rainy day comes along. About an inch of the old stem may be left above the corms, and soil, roots, and loosened scales should be removed and burned. Delay gives such diseases as scab and hard rot as well as Gladiolus Thrips opportunity to do considerable damage. If these have been a serious problem, give the corms a bath in mercuric chloride solution, eight tablets in a gallon of water ( i to 1,000). As this chemical is a deadly poison and also corrodes metal, it should be used with great care and the solution should be made in a wooden bucket or an enameled pail. A f t e r immersion in the solution for 30 minutes at the very least—the corms may be left in the bath overnight without any damage—remove the corms and spread them out in a light and airy place to dry. T h e next day they can be sorted according to size and put in paper bags or in shallow boxes for winter storage. If the mercuric chloride treatment was not used, a simpler though less thorough one can be resorted to for control-

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ling Gladiolus Thrips. Over each 100 corms sprinkle about an ounce of naphthalene flakes, and keep at a temperature around 65° for four or five weeks. Corms in trays or boxes need to be covered with papers to confine the fumes of the naphthalene. Gladiolus corms require winter storage in a cool, dry place where there is no danger of frost. Protecting Chrysanthemums. If the hardiness of chrysanthemum varieties is in doubt, it is advisable to lift one clump of each and plant them in a coldframe for the winter. This should be done as soon as the display of blooms is over, so that the roots will have an opportunity to make a little growth, at least. Best results are obtained with many of the modern chrysanthemums when they are replanted every spring, and the clumps safeguarded in the frame will be a reserve to draw on and convenient for plant gifts and exchanges, even though the original colonies come through the winter. The plants in the frames should be kept on the dry side, and it is well to keep them from growing soft by giving them plenty of air. March is the most dangerous month for chrysanthemums in the open ground—as March is for most plants of doubtful hardiness. Place twigs and small branches over them, then boughs of evergreens or roofing paper, and peg or weight them down. The paper has the great advantage of keeping the crowns dry, but it should be held up high enough so that air can circulate over the soil surface. A heavy, wet soil often proves a greater hazard to plants in the garden in winter than extreme

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Your Garden This Week

frost. Asphalt paper for winter protection is valuable for any herbaceous perennials planted late. Unfortunately, it does not enhance the appearance of the garden. Sowing Sweet Peas and California Annuals. Sweet Peas are one of the annual flowers which fare poorly during the heat of midsummer, and they invariably do better in the cooler weather earlier in the season or after the warmth of July and August. Except in regions where the winters are very severe, sowing Sweet Peas in the autumn can be recommended, as it insures a very early start in the spring. A fine season of blooms can be enjoyed before the hot days arrive. One method is to sow the seeds two inches deep in a well prepared bed or trench. As always for Sweet Peas, the ground should be deeply dug and heavily fertilized to encourage root development downward into cool soil, away from the warmer upper layers. Planted in early November, the young plants should be up just before heavy frosts come. Another method is to sow just before hard frosts are expected, perhaps at the end of the month, and then the young plants will not push up until next spring. Ample protection is required over winter, whichever method is followed. Nail two boards together as a roof to cover the trench and over this place burlap or some mulch material. Autumn-planted Sweet Peas can furnish flowers even before the middle of May, and there will be ample time to enjoy a good crop of blooms before weather unfavorable for them comes. Some gardeners also sow Sweet Peas in two-inch

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pots in the coldframe at this time. These are set out in the latter part of April. It is also a good plan to sow seeds of a number of annual flowers just before the ground freezes, and this is particularly recommended for the brilliant group known as California annuals, including godetias, gilias, clarkias, and California-poppies. They should have a well-drained soil, light and sweet. They germinate in early spring—even while the thermometer is still low —and they then have an opportunity to get well established and make a good account of themselves before hot weather arrives to blast their delicate growth. Rarely do these California annuals come through typical July and August weather in many sections unless they can be grown in a cool part of the garden; yet, they need abundant sunlight. Sometimes a bed which receives shade in the middle of the day and sun in the morning and late afternoon can be provided. Candytuft, Sweet Alyssums, Calendulas, Annual Poppies, morning-glories, cornflowers, and snapdragons can be sown now. Some Thoughts to House Plants. As work outdoors becomes restricted, the gardener may well direct more attention to house plants and the garden indoors. It has been noted earlier that the best time for repotting house plants and lifting them from the open ground is not just before hard frost comes; they cannot be expected to continue growth and make attractive displays indoors immediately after replanting. Repotting is best done in May and June, and those which are put out in the

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open ground for the summer should be lifted in September. Sunny kitchen windows used to produce wondrous geraniums in the old days, when moist warmth w a s characteristic of kitchens, but modern homes do not have this happy atmosphere to offer, and many house plants have to be replaced by fresh ones after two months or so. Frequent spraying with water is a great boon to all house plants except the cacti and succulents, and the devices to maintain a higher and more healthful humidity are beneficial. Having a winter garden in a small attached greenhouse opening from a living room or in a bay window outfitted so that frequent syringing will cause no harm to the paint and furnishings proves the best treatment when many plants are grown indoors. T h e artistic effect of large specimens of house plants —particularly woody subjects—can be improved if some small plant is used as a groundcover to conceal the soil. Corsican Nettle is a dainty low plant with fragile creeping stems and delicate leaves, and it will content itself in almost any soil, in sunlight or in shade. This plant (Helxine soleiroli) is also known as B a b y clover, and it will survive in a moist protected crevice outdoors in the rock garden most winters when the mercury does not fall much below freezing. The dry air of living rooms in winter makes house plants more susceptible to insect attacks, and damage from various kinds of scale insects, mealy bugs, and aphids must be guarded against all the time. A n y of the

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contact sprays recommended for these pests should prove effective if used regularly according to directions. Scale insects and mealy bugs are difficult to kill because their bodies are coated with hardened or waxy coverings which protect them from the spray material. Once scale insects are fully grown, the sprays required to kill them would also injure the plants, so it is important that they be controlled in the juvenile stages. Four or five applications at intervals of about a week of contact sprays containing considerable soap—especially nicotine or pyrethrum preparations—are effective in killing young scale insects. Ferns which are badly infested with these or with mealy bugs should be cut back to the crown and started over again, unless the plants are very choice and sprays are attempted first. Plants should be syringed or washed with water an hour or two after being sprayed with fairly concentrated soap solutions. After infestations of insects are cleaned up by thorough and persistent spraying, feeding for a few weeks will do much to help plants recover and grow luxuriantly again. Repotting in a slightly larger pot if the roots are pot-bound, the addition of fertilizers, spraying with water to keep the foliage clean and soft, and judicious watering to keep the soil evenly moist help house plants outgrow insect injuries. FOURTH

WEEK

Looking After the Pool. Garden pools of masonry construction usually need to be drained before there is

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any danger of heavy freezing. Pools with sloping sides which would give ice no means of exerting pressure against the walls do not have to be drained. This type of masonry pool is becoming more and more popular, in keeping with the strong trend towards informal backyard gardens, and its advantages in easier care commend it particularly. Goldfish can be left in such a pool all winter. Even during severe winters, if the ice is broken every few days to permit the water to take up fresh oxygen, they should come through safely. M u d in the bottom of a small pool helps them greatly. As hardy waterlilies require a foot or a foot and a half of water over their crowns, they will be safe from freezing most seasons in regions where not more than a five- to eight-inch thickness of ice is expected. In natural ponds and pools which do not need to be drained, they do not require any particular consideration at this season. Most garden pools are formal ones with vertical sides, however, and these must be protected against the pressure of a thick layer of ice when the mercury drops well below freezing. Draining them is the easiest and neatest w a y of doing this. When the pool is drained, some means of preventing the " h a r d y " waterlilies and other aquatic plants from the severities of the season is necessary. When lilies are grown in boxes or tubs resting on the floor of a concrete pool, after the water has been drained out the pool can be filled with leaves and covered with canvas or building paper supported at a sufficient angle to act as a roof and drain water off to the

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sides. In large pools the boxes can be collected in one corner and packed with leaves or cornstalks and given a waterproof covering, and the drain, of course, should be left open. All waterlilies are liable to injury from mice when they are kept out of water over winter, and where these rodents are abundant it is advisable to inclose the boxes in a fine mesh wire. It is difficult to carry tropical waterlilies through the winter unless a greenhouse is available, for their growing season is far from completed when the first frost kills their leaves and buds. When ripened off slowly in a greenhouse or light, warm cellarway or corridor they will develop the tubers which carry them through the dry season in their native tropics. T h e tubers should be stored in moist sand until it is time to start them into growth in the spring. Some gardeners manage to keep them by storing the boxes containing the roots in the cellar and keeping them moist during the winter. Actually, this does not parallel very closely the receding water level and the gradual ripening of growth and the production of tubers which is their natural life pattern along tropical streams. Rodent Protection. Young fruit trees, crabapples, nut trees, and any others liable to be girdled by mice can be protected by tying cylinders of quarter-inch mesh wire or wire netting around the trunks. These collars should be pressed into the earth for an inch or so, and it is wise to have them at least 18 inches high. This will make damage from rabbits unlikely, also. Building paper is sometimes used to protect young trees, but it is

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not so satisfactory as wire; if mice do get inside, they will have a snug stronghold for the winter. Some shrubs are seriously damaged by rabbits, and in some districts young plantings of cotoneasters, crabapples, and of brooms and other shrubs of the Pea Family are apt to be gnawed badly during the winter months. It is not attractive nor easy to protect these favored plants in wire enclosures, and a comparatively cheap and quick protection is spraying the plantings with lime-sulphur. A spray of nicotine sulphate every two or three weeks is also effective. This may not seem a very easy solution, but it is better than losing the plants, and established specimens of more size are not so likely to be injured. It is still too early in many sections to apply mulches to herbaceous perennials and shrub plantings which are slated to have them. Early protection of this type offers special inducements to field mice for their winter quarters, and too early protection tends to prevent plants from ripening as they should—it is really coddling them too much. Lawn Protection. Winter mulches for the lawn are both unnecessary and unattractive and they are usually harmful. A mulch applied in mistaken kindness to a lawn often shuts out light and air to such a degree that the turf is suffocated in spots, and it offers a fine shelter for many insect pests. The courageous scattering of barnyard manure, odoriferous and spotty throughout the winter, can be relegated to the long list of garden

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practices which did more harm than good. Properly fertilized and limed, a lawn can endure our coldest winters without damage (September, Second Week).

The garden in winter

December First Week—Attention to Recently Planted Trees; Protecting Rhododendrons and Conifers; Last Work in Flower Borders; Weeding; Labeling; Forcing Bulbs Second Week—Winter Mulches; Mulching the Rock Garden; Mulching Herbaceous Borders; Attention to House Plants Third Week—Cleaning Tools and Equipment; Averting Snow Damage; Mice and Rabbits; Correspondence Fourth Week—The Christmas Tree December Herbs Shrubs

Flowers in the

Winter Heath Darley Heath Japanese Witchhazel Christmas-rose Winter Honeysuckle Common Gorse

D

Garden

Crocus laevigatus Crocus longiflorus Erica carnea Erica darleyensis Hamamelis japonica Hetteborus niger Lonicera fragrantissima Ulex europaeus

ECEMBER is not a month in which gardening activities are at a standstill. A gardener always finds t h a t certain precautions for the welfare of his plants 213

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still have to be taken, and there is the fascinating hobby of indoor gardening to occupy one's spare moments when pruning, mulching, and soil preparation are impossible. Ending the fervid rush of work to do and things to see in the summer and early autumn, November marked the beginning of a more leisurely and contemplative portion of the calendar when another side of the gardener's nature can be expanded. It may be that the mellow days of Indian summer set the changes afoot, and at any rate, December sees the new regime accepted and enjoyed. There are no superb masses of color in the border, but there is a patch of blue-green moss under the azaleas, where the grass ends, and a flat clump of Shortia, with some crinkled leaves purplish and some rich green, sits staunchly at its farther margin just before the woodierns make their lacey cover. There are no caterpillars, no lace-bugs we must dash out and assail with the spray-gun, but some time when we are going that way, it would make a nice picture looking through the Scarlet Oak if we cut out that one unbendingly righteous branch and opened the vista to the hill beyond. Attention to Recently Planted Trees. Recently planted trees need to be supported firmly so they will not be bent over by the wind. Those up to ten feet or so can be held b y a two-inch by three-inch stake driven beside them, fastened b y a stout band of canvas or doubled burlap strip nailed to the top of the stake. T h e loop of material should be twisted before it is nailed, so that the tree trunk cannot rub against the

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stake. Wire enclosed in a length of old garden hose also serves. Larger trees need three supporting guys of a wire sufficiently strong. T h e wires should be run through loops of garden hose and fastened moderately high up in the trunk, and the ground end should be anchored by a stone or chunk of wood (in short, a "dead man") buried two or three feet deep. Turnbuckles in the guys permit adjustment, if the wires need to be kept in place several seasons. Large trees must be given ample opportunity to become firmly anchored before the guys are removed. Wrapping the trunks of newly planted trees with spirals of burlap bands or paper bandage made for the purpose offers a great protection against burning and other winter injuries. Sizeable trees should have the wrapping left on through the second winter. This trunk protection is important for such comparatively thinbarked trees as beeches, magnolias, Pin Oaks, American Hollies, Red Maples, Tuliptrees, and Apples. Protecting Rhododendrons and Conifers. In many gardens rhododendrons need special protection, which should be provided now. The types recommended for northern gardens should always be able to withstand zero temperature, but many times these hardy shrubs are planted in such an unsuitable environment that special care is necessary. Sympathetically planted, hardy rhododendrons require no more care than average shrubs, and it is only the specialist growing somewhat

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tender kinds who has to furnish protection from winter winds and sunlight. In situations where drying winds cause burning, rhododendrons and coniferous evergreens can be protected by wooden screens. Small plants can be protected from sun and wind by pushing branches of pines in the soil around them on the exposed sides. When the ends of the pine branches are stuck firmly into the ground, a piece of twine tying a few twigs together at the top makes this an easy and effective shelter—and one which is not unsightly. All small evergreens can be protected in this manner, so long as the supply of pine boughs lasts. In addition to their need for an acid, leaf mold soil, rhododendrons and azaleas do best when their shallow roots are insulated by a generous mulch. Peat-moss, oak leaves, pine needles, and acid compost are good mulches for these ericaceous plants, and a mixture of any or all of these is good. T o maintain the mulch as a four- to six-inch layer, an addition may be needed now before freezing weather sets in. If the autumn season has been dry, it is also vital that rhododendron plantings be given a thorough watering before the ground freezes. T h e hose should be allowed to run at low pressure for some time under each rhododendron where the soil is at all dry. Coniferous evergreens should be given the same treatment. With this task finished (if the season has made it necessary) the garden hose can be coiled up, tied to prevent its slipping into a serpentine tangle, and stored

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for the winter. Fountains, water pipes, and connections accessible to freezing should be turned off and drained without delay, as expensive repairs of this nature make great inroads into gardening funds. In many sections it will be necessary to take these precautions earlier. Last Work in Flower Borders. B y this time the last items in orders of lily bulbs have arrived, and these late-ripening kinds should be planted at once. These bulbs require such deep planting that frost will rarely reach them except in gardens considerably north of the 42nd parallel. Nevertheless, as they have to make considerable root growth before spring, it is best to mulch them as soon as hard freezing settles down. T h e planting of these bulbs gives an opportunity for the last inspection of flower borders before they are mulched for the winter. If any of the perennials with evergreen leaves have depressions around them, these hollows should be filled in with topsoil to prevent water settling around the crowns and causing injury. Weeding. A n y old tops missed in the November clean-up should be gathered now and burned. T h e last weeds to catch the gardener's eye should be accorded the same uncompromising fate. A little immigrant possessing most enviable sturdiness, but with disconcerting w a y s of spreading, is Common Groundsel, of the Senecio or ragwort clan. Along with such pests as Common Chickweed and Sheep Sorrel or Sour-grass, this one continues to flower and grow all winter unless pulled up whenever one sees it. Any time is open season for routing these weeds, and there are no restrictions either for

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Curled Dock, Common and English Plantains, Dandelion, and Ground-ivy in lawns. When the gardener has nothing to do, and mellow afternoons call him outdoors on winter week-ends, he should take along the appointed screwdriver or asparagus-knife and rid a portion of lawn from such ramping invaders as these. This mild diversion can be continued throughout the winter. Labeling. In these last critical inspections of plantings, make note of new labels needed and of any that need replacing. Even though an honest resolution is made to keep complete and accurate maps of all plantings, or just of the plantings in which the species and varieties may be forgotten, when we turn to the sketches complacently and trustingly months later, these records have a disconcerting w a y of failing to give the precise information we need. A wise gardener often refuses to burden his memory with the exact identities of plants beyond a certain point, and some kind of lasting label is a great boon, too, for less ardent members of the family and for guests. Until new plantings of bulbs have made what is fondly hoped will be an indelible impression next spring, their precise locations and names are hard to keep in mind. Lead pencil writing on painted wooden l a b e l s — about the io-inch size—will mark them for several months. These labels may be broken and lost, of course, so the map of these plantings should be made without undue delay. Forcing Bulbs. Some of the bulbs potted up earlier which have been in storage can be brought into mod-

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erate light and warmth to start top growth. A n y of the pots showing white roots at the drainage hole are ready. A t first they should be kept cool—around 50°—and it is best to cover the tops with inverted flower pots. When the leaves are five or six inches high, remove the shade and take the pots to a sunny window. Reducing the temperature prolongs the season of bloom, and this is advisable after the flowers are well opened—about three weeks after bringing them out for hyacinths and single early tulips and longer for most other bulbs. Amaryllis bulbs can also be started now, and some of them will make enough root growth to anchor the large bulbs firmly. Others make very little root growth now, and in a few weeks when the flower stem develops, staking is required for support. Amaryllis which were sunk in their pots in some out of the way corner and have been enjoying a complete rest period for the past two months in the garage or cellar should be dry and well ripened by this time. These can be started now. It is best to bring on a few at a time so that their rich blooms can be enjoyed over a long period. T h e top inch or so of soil around the bulbs can be scraped out and replaced b y a compost with a pinch of fertilizer added. Applications of liquid manure can be given every four or five days to promote strong growth and large flowers. SECOND

WEEK

Winter Mulches. If mid-December brings settled freezing weather, it is the signal for gardeners to put

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the protecting mulches around plants requiring them. A summer mulch is used to conserve moisture and to make cultivation unnecessary, and while a winter mulch frequently proves valuable in holding moisture, its principal benefit is as an insulating material. Depending on the type of material used to make the mulch, this layer varying from half an inch to several inches in depth retards the penetration of frost, and once frost does penetrate the mulch retains it. A mulch prevents a great deal of the alternating freezing and thawing of the soil with consequent heaving of many plants during the temperature fluctuations so typical of much of our winter weather. The natural mulch and the one most readily at hand in most gardens in the late autumn is the store of fallen leaves from trees. Many times leaves lodge around shrubs and over the crowns of herbaceous perennials, making a splendid mulch which, by all means, should be left, but as the whole surface of borders is rarely covered evenly, more leaves or some other mulch will be needed to cover the bare spots. The leaves of such trees as oaks, beeches, hickories, lindens, and some maples make good mulches, as they curl up as they dry and permit air to pass through to the soil beneath. On the other hand, leaves of poplars and Norway Maples are not suitable, as they are apt to remain flat and often they become plastered together with moisture. Then they make a sealing layer which excludes air and light completely, and as far as many herbaceous plants are concerned, such a mulch is fatal.

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In addition to being light and porous enough to let some air and light have access to the plants and the soil, a good mulch material should be inexpensive and easily applied. It should stay in place well, and it should be as attractive as possible—or perhaps, no more unattractive than necessary—and it should be easy to dispose of in the spring. Compost, pine needles, peatmoss, tanbark, branches of evergreen trees, and salt hay are the best mulching materials, in addition to the leaves of deciduous trees. Leaves which have been in the compost pile for a year or so make a very fine mulch—a two-inch layer for herbaceous borders and perhaps three inches around shrubs and newly planted trees. A compost mulch can be worked into the ground the following spring, and it adds to the fertility and improves the physical condition of the soil. This is particularly helpful for heavy soils which have too much clay in their make-up. A mulch of compost stays in place better than almost any other kind, and it is one of the best supplements for a natural covering of leaves which needs to be held in place and somewhat thickened here and there to protect beds evenly. Pine needles by themselves or mixed with oak leaves or compost make a perfect mulch for azaleas, rhododendrons, andromedas, leucothoes, blueberries, and other acid-loving shrubs. Many coniferous evergreens—particularly cryptomerias, firs, spruces, Atlas Cedars, and old specimens of all kinds of conifers—are benefited by a deep layer of this kind of mulch. From five to ten

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inches can be spread over the area covered by the branches, as this is about the same as the extent of the roots. Peat-moss is especially good for mulching borders near the house or driveway which need to be kept trim and attractive even in winter. T h e cost of this material is moderate, and a single bale bought from a local nurseryman or dealer will cover a large area. A peat-moss mulch should be from an inch and a half to three inches thick for most plants requiring protection. For plants liking an acid soil or for those indifferent to soil reaction, peat is a very easy mulch, as it can be merely left in place or worked into the soil the next spring. A little more added will make an adequate summer mulch. For lime-loving plants, however, peat-moss cannot be recommended generally, as it contributes too much acidity. This reaction can be counteracted by a light dressing of agricultural lime or ground limestone in the spring. A simple test to learn the p H ratio in plantings of roses, clematis, peonies, anemones, delphiniums, Oenotheras, and other lime-loving plants will show if this has to be considered. If baled peat is to be used in the garden, for mulching or for any other purpose, much trouble will be saved if it is purchased months ahead of time and allowed to stand out in a corner of the workyard (if the garden boasts such a luxury) or in any out of the w a y corner where the bale can absorb water to its very core. Then too, if a bale of peat is kept on hand long enough, much of the acid properties will leach way. When well

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saturated with moisture, the bale crumbles when the wires are snapped, and the peat can be handled with great ease. A little foresight will save much time and labor needed to break up and shred the tightly compressed chunks of a dry bale of peat. Mulching the Rock Garden. A perfect mulch for rock and alpine gardens and for herbaceous borders near the house which are a part of the winter outlook from windows or along frequently used walks is one made of branches of conifers. Pine boughs are especially good, and firs and spruces do very well. Rather than trim plantings of these evergreens in spring or summer, save the necessary pruning until mid-December, and the branches removed can serve as a very helpful protection to saxifrages, choice pinks, and other exacting rock plants. Mulching the rock garden can be done equally well early in January, and the greens can serve first as holiday decorations if they are needed. Their leaves usually drop badly if they are kept indoors for several days, however. Salt hay and straw make good mulches for the rock garden. They are inexpensive, clean, easily applied, and a moderate covering of them is light and porous. Salt hay is grass cut from salt meadows, and it is one of the best protections for choice alpines, which are given ideal winter insurance when a four- or five-inch spreading of salt hay is applied on top of a layer of snow. Snow, of course, is the perfect mulch for alpines, and salt hay helps to keep the snow. Straw and salt hay need to be shaken apart thoroughly with a fork as they

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are spread over plants, and it is necessary to hold them in place with branches or wire. T h e y do not make a particularly attractive winter picture out of a garden. Early mulching, in the rock garden particularly, is a great mistake. It may betray choice plants into late growth, and cold weather is likely to wipe them out, and fully as disastrous, it offers warm inducements to mice for their winter residence. For these reasons, it is usually best to defer covering any rock plants which actually require it until late this month or early in January. A s for the alpines which do not require protection, don't mulch them. T h e y get no such pampering in their native abodes. Mulching Herbaceous Borders. This will be a suitable time in many sections for applying mulches to shrubs and herbaceous borders, particularly in areas having winters like those in northern New Jersey, Connecticut, and around N e w Y o r k City. As a general rule, mulch when the ground is frozen about two inches deep. B y this time our rodent acquaintances will have ensconced themselves elsewhere, and a suitable thickness of the mulch material used will help to keep dhe ground frozen. Should the cold become unduly severe, it is wise to add more mulch to any plants apt to suffer. In the perennial border such subjects for special care are Redhotpokers (Kniphofia uvaria), Summer-hyacinths (Galtonia), Azure Sage, Cape Figwort, Peruvian-lilies (Alstroemeria), incarvilleas, chrysanthemums, and delphiniums. Three or four inches of leached coal ashes

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spread over the crowns will give fine protection and insure good drainage. Attention to House Plants. Do not water or spray house plants so late in the day that they remain wet at night. Watering is best done in the morning. Keep a careful watch, especially on the undersurfaces of the leaves, for the beginnings of insect colonies. Regular spraying or dusting with a contact insecticide is the best insurance against aphids, spider mites, and mealy bugs. When the temperature drops rapidly on freezing nights, protect house plants in window enclosures by drawing the shades or by placing papers between the plants and the glass. Lily-of-the-valley crowns saved out from transplanting in the borders outdoors can be started now. They are planted with the buds just coming through the surface in moss, fiber, or sand. Ten crowns go nicely in a 6-inch pot. They must be watered regularly and generously, and spraying to keep the atmosphere moist around the growing plants is very important. A warm cellar room where the air can be kept moist, underneath a greenhouse bench, or any dark place where the temperature is fairly high (75° is considered ideal in greenhouse culture) will prove satisfactory. The pots should never lack for moisture, and it may be well to sink them in boxes of peat-moss or soil to prevent drying out when frequent sprayings cannot be given. They should not be brought into the light until the leaves are fully developed. Grown in a temperature around 75 0

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and furnished with abundant moisture, the flowers will be out a little more than twenty days after planting. Push back or prop up the sash on the coldframe every day when the sun is out. T h e plants inside need ventilation, and unless the frame walls have some cracks and crevices they may need to be reminded of the cold outside so that proper ripening will take place. THIRD

WEEK

Cleaning Tools and Equipment. Now that the season's outdoor work is so nearly at an end many garden tools will be used no more for several months. T h e y should be cleaned carefully, and metal parts will benefit from a thin coating of oil. Every time after using, tools should be cleaned and put in their proper place. T h e y may be kept on pegs on the wall of the workroom, if the garden has such a valuable adjunct, or on the walls of the garage. It is desirable that some provision be made for tools to hang, so they will not take space on the floor and soon get to tumbling over one another, as seems inevitable. Lawn mower and spraying apparatus need a thorough cleaning and oiling. T h e mower should be sharpened and put in readiness for use next spring. A f t e r it is certain there is no water in it, garden hose can be rolled in small, easily handled coils and tied. T h e coils of hose can also be hung out of the w a y on pegs. Old washers will probably need replacing with new ones. Averting Snow Damage. Inspecting the garden and

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all plantings around the home property after a heavy snow is always advisable. M a n y plants may need to have their branches released of their burden, and this can be done easily and quickly with a wooden rake or an old broom. Jar the stems of shrubs at the base to dislodge snow masses resting on the top. A f t e r a heavy storm it is a good safeguard to pack the snow around the trunks of apples, pears, peaches, and other things apt to be girdled by mice. This simple precaution may prevent injury entirely, as mice usually work under the snow. Mice and Rabbits. Naphthalene flakes are a repellent for mice to a certain degree, but poisoned bait is the best method for getting rid of small rodents. Oats, wheat, corn, or even lily bulb scales treated with arsenic or strychnine may be used in suitable bait stations. Sections of pipe, bottles, and tin cans—all about two inches in diameter—are suitable. Larger containers are not safe, as the bait may be reached by domestic animals or birds. T h e container should be placed on a slant so that the bait will remain dry and keep its poisoning qualities. A spray of lime-sulphur makes a good repellent to keep rabbits away from young trees. Cylinders of fine wire, building paper or any waterproof paper, tied around tree trunks and reaching to a height of two feet, is perhaps the surest protection from rabbits. Correspondence. As a prelude or a subtle accompaniment to addressing Christmas cards, send postcards asking for copies of the seed and plant catalogues you

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wish to be sure of receiving. A number of nursery catalogues contain more practical and definite information about some ornamental plants than do some encyclopedias. A few of the well-tried but unusual shrubs and vines may give some plantings you have been doubtful about just the distinction and variety needed. FOURTH

WEEK

The Christmas Tree. Christmas trees can be kept fresh and attractive indoors if they are given the simple treatment usually furnished as a matter of course to other plants cut and brought into the house. A fresh cut should be made at the base of the trunk to expose clean and healthy cells, and with a knife or a hatchet remove strips of bark and wood from the lower six or eight inches of the trunk. This furnishes more absorbing area. Keep the tree standing in a pail of water all the time, but do not take it into a warm room until needed for the holiday decorations. Sand or gravel may be poured in around the trunk to hold it more firmly, and some people put about three cupfuls of sugar in the water, as this solution seems to have a marked preserving effect on the tree. Christmas trees treated in this fashion, as "cut flowers," may last as long as two weeks indoors. Balsam and other kinds of firs make the best cut Christmas trees, as they hold their needles. Spruces and hemlocks drop their needles rather quickly in a warm place. T h e best Christmas tree is a growing one. When

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properly dug and wrapped—the nurseryman calls it "balled and burlaped"—a small conifer can be kept indoors for a few days with no harm, and it can be planted after the holidays and serve as a growing Christmas tree in the garden or at one edge of the lawn. Firs make the best living Christmas trees, and White Fir and Veitch Fir are particularly fine, and so is Serbian Spruce. All make feature plants for the grounds outside, contributing interest at once and the promise of majestic beauty in the future (see January, First Week).

Index Abies concolor, 5 Acidity, so Acid-loving plants, 216, 221, 222 Aconites, 148 winter-, 162 African-daisy, 87 Ageratum, 79 Ajuga, i o s Almonds, Flowering, 169 Alpine plants, 223 Alstroemeria, 224 Alyssum, 98, 110, 133 Sweet, 20s Amaryllis, 18, 174, 219 Hardy, 88, 135, 151 House-, 18, 219 Andrómedas, 46, 221 Anemones, n o , 120 Japanese, 148 Annuals, 47, 87, 204 borders, 42, 199 California, 205 for cut flowers, 98 for emergencies, 88, 127 for late bloom, 98 hardy, 47, 161, 205 in pots, 87, 127 perennials treated as, 28 sowing, 79, 87, 98, 122 in open ground, 47, 65, 73, 79 indoors, 26, 29, 43, 47 late, 122, 161 staking, 91, 124 tender, 79, 82 transplanting, 70, 78, 81, 87, uses for late-season, 126

Aphids on house plants, 225 Apples, cedar-apple rust, 44 mice injury, 227 spraying for Tent Caterpillars, 61 thinning branches of, 131 April flowers outdoors, 55 gardening schedule, 55 Aquatic plants, 183 Aquilegia, 110 Arabis, 109, n o Arborvitae, cuttings of, 107 shearing, 107, 125 Arctotis, sowing, 79 Arsenate of lead, 102 for Japanese Beetle grubs, 80 for rodents, 227 Ashes, coal, 224 for compost heaps, 180 for flower borders, 74, 192 wood, 180 Asters, China, 65, 199 hardy, 84, 126, 176 Tatarian, 156 Astilbes, forcing, 197 Atamasco-lilies, 160 Aubrieta, 109 August gardening schedule, 135, 1 S3 Autumn flowers, 189, 213 spraying, 201 Azaleas, 34, 216 red spiders on, 137 Rhododendron Lacebug on, 90 Babyclover, 206 Babysbreath, Annual, 98, 115, 122 230

Index Bachelor-buttons, 87, 122 Balsam Firs, 228 Banding trees, 45, 168 Barberries, 69 Bartonia, 48 Basket-flowers, 174 Bayberry, 69 Bedding plants, 81 Beeches, 76, 159 bulb plantings under, 159 cankerworms on, 45 Beetles, Japanese, 112, 128 traps, 113 Bellflowers, Chinese, 75 Bellis perennis, 139 Bent, Colonial, 59 Biennials, 124, 137, 139 mulching, 109 sowing, 87, 108, 132, 138 Bilsted, 76 Birches, 16, 76 Blazing-stars, 176 Bleedingheart, 150 Plumy, 68 Bluebeards, 191 Blueberries, mulch for, 221 Bluegrass, Kentucky, 59 Bone meal, as lawn fertilizer, 122 for perennial borders, 74 Bordeaux mixture, 104 for Botrytis, 75 Borders, 30, 73, 84 flower, 42, 88 autumn cleaning, 199 management, 105, 126, 199 mulching, 224 places for, 31 succession of bloom, 98, 100 herbaceous, 199, 224 replanting, 148 mulching, 222, 224 shrub, bulb plantings in, 104, 159

231

Borers, 169 Corn, 200 Peach Tree, 169 Botrytis, 104 on Madonna Lilies, 104 on tulips, 104 Boundary plantings, bulbs in, 193 Boxwood, 15, 86 leaf-miners in, 83 protecting, 15 pruning, 86 scale on, 53 Bracing large trees, 197 Bracken, 199 Broadcasting seeds outdoors, 47 Brooms, rabbit injury to, 210 transplanting, 191 Bugs, mealy, 225 Bulbs, 158, 162, 193 digging, 115 forcing, 17, 218 in boundary plantings, 193 in lawns, 86 in shrub plantings, 193 indoors, 162, 218 planting, 158, 160, 170 ripening, 104 tender, 19, 48 under beeches, 159 Burning of evergreens, 153 winter, 215 Butterflybushes, 17s Butterflyweed, 75 Caladiums, 48, 174 Calendulas, 98, 205 California-poppies, 48, 205 Camassias, 160, 172 Campanulas, 108, 109 damping-off treatment for, 29 Candytuft, 98, 205 Cankerworms, 45, 168 Fall, 45

232

Index

Cankerworms, Spring, 45, 79 tree banding to control, 45 Cannas, 164, 174 Canterbury-bells, 109 sowing, 108, 1 3 2 , 138 Cape-marigolds, 48 Cardinal-flowers, 1 3 5 Carnations, hardy, 1 3 3 Caryopteris, 191 Catalogues, 25, 227 Catalpa, Umbrella, 3 1 Caterpillars, 102 Tent, 44, 81, 102 Cavities in trees, 194 Cedar-apples, 44 Cedars, Atlas, 221 Red-, 44 Celastrus, scale on, S3 Centaurea, 98 Cerastium, no Chamaecyparis pisifera, 125 Cherries, borers in, 170 Cornelian-, 34 flowering, 95 spraying for Tent Caterpillars, 61 Chickweed, 217 Chionodoxas, 1 1 5 Christmas-cactus, 6 Christmas trees, 228 living, 4, 228 Chrysanthemum einerariaejolium, 103 Chrysanthemums, 126, 1 3 7 , 224 annual, 48 dividing, 66 mildew on, 137 pinching, 105, 129 planting, 83 sowing, 66 staking, 156 storing over winter, 203 Cimicifuga, 91

Clarkia, 98, 205 Clivia, 18 Clover, B a b y - , 206 White, 59 Colchicum, 105, 140 Coldframes, 24, 43, 46, 78, 226 building, 23 storing chrysanthemums in, 203 watering, 48 Compost, as a lawn dressing, 52 as a mulch, 1 8 1 , 216, 221 for acid-loving plants, 180 heap, building, 68, 179 turning, 68, 180 Conifers, as living Christmas trees, 228 branches as mulch, 223 in the landscape, 1 2 , 107 mulches for, 221 planting, 69 protecting for winter, 15, 46, 215 watering, 216 pruning, 107, 1 2 5 , 223 in winter, 107 red spiders on, 103 snow damage, 227 softwood cuttings of, 107 sprays for mites on, 128 transplanting, 152 wrongly used, 107, 125, 154 Copper-lime dust f o r Botrytis, 75 Copper oxide for damping-off, 29 Coreopsis, 136 Corms, storing tender, 48 Cornflowers, 48, 87, 98 Cosmos, sowing, 65 Cotoneasters, planting, 64 rabbit injury to, 219 Crabapples, borers in, 170 protecting from rodents, 209 rabbit injury to, 2 1 0 Tent Caterpillars on, 61

Index Crab-grass, 101, 121, 142 in flower borders, 142 in lawn topdressings, 52 Crinum, 18 Crocuses, fall-blooming, 130, 140 in lawns, 105 time of planting, 158 Crowbar hole fertilizing, 186 Crucifers, damping-off treatment for, 29 Cryptomerias, 221 Cultivation, 84, 96, 124 Cuttings, dahlia, 99 hardwood, 20 softwood, 108, 133 Cytisus, 191 Daffodils, for forcing, 162 replanting, 115 time of planting, 158 Dahlias, 99, 124, 134, 164 digging, 164, 181 fertilizing, 100 leaf-hoppers on, 134 mildew on, 137 pinching, 110, 124, 134 planting, 92, 99 sowing, 47, 66 staking, IOO storing, 20, 48, 182 Daisies, African-, 87 English, 108, 132, 139 Michaelmas-, 126, 148 Shasta, 72 yellows on, 199 Dames-rocket, 124, 137 Dandelions, 218 Daphne, February, 34 Daylilies, 176 December flowers outdoors, 213, 217 gardening schedule, 213

233

Decorations, greens for, 223 Delphiniums, annual, 98, 161 mites on, 79, 103 saving seed of, 133 sowing, 142 staking, 106 transplanting, 148 Derris insecticides, 103, 129 Deutzias, pruning, 116, 117 Dianthus, no chinensis, 139 sowing, 133, 139 Dicentra spectabilis, 150 Dimorphotheca, 79 Diseases, 79, 104, 128 black-spot of roses, 65, 89, 104 Botrytis blights, 75 Botrytis on peonies, 152 cankers of roses, 65 carrying over winter, 199 cedar-apple rust, 44 damping-off, 28 Dutch elm disease, 102 leaf-blight, Mountain-laurel, 90 leaf-spots of iris, 128 mildew, 137, 155 on roses, 65, 104 peony leaf-blotch, 177 root rot of irises, 127 rust on Hollyhocks, 137 sanitation for, 177 soft rot of irises, 114 weather favorable for, 101 yellows, 199 Dock, Curled, 218 Dogs, spraying to repel, 90 Dogwoods, Flowering, 34 borers in, 170 transplanting, 16, 76 Kousa, 34 osier, scale insects on, 53 Driveways, planning, 32 Dutch elm disease, 102

234

Index

Edgings, 68 Elm disease, defense against, 102 Elms, Elm-leaf Beetles on, 102 Equipment, care of, 226 spraying, 226 watering, 216 Eremurus, spring protection, 68 Ericaceous plants, 216, 221 pruning, 194 Euonymus radicans, dormant sprays for, 60 Euonymus, scale insects on, S3> 60, 90 Evergreens, broad-leaved, 152 transplanting, 152 inappropriately used, 154 injured by oil sprays, 54, 60 protecting in winter, 15, 46 snow damage, 226 transplanting, 152, 191 water-loss during winter, 153 winter injury of, 153 February flowers outdoors, 22 gardening schedule, 22 Ferns, as house plants, 207 Bracken, 198 for edging, 68 planting, 198 Walking-leaf, 198 Fertilizers, 50, 157 applications, so, 84 by crowbar hole method, 117 watering in, 186 for amaryllis, 219 for bulbs, 160 for compost heaps, 180 for lawns, 156, 168 for perennial borders, 74 for shrubs, 186 for trees, 186 to offset borer damage, 170

Figwort, Cape, 224 Firethorns, 69, 191 Firs, as Christmas trees, 228 mulch for, 221 transplanting, 154 Veitch, 229 White, S, 229 Fleecevine, China, 32 Flower borders, 31, 109, 124, 135, 217 annual, 42 fertilizing, 74 liming, 74 planning, 136 Flowers, biennial, 132, 138 late-season, 87, 126 loss in pruning, 34 outdoors, April, 55 autumn, 189, 213 December, 213, 217 February, 22 January, 3 March, 37 November, 189 winter, 3, 22, 37 Foliage plants, 8 Forcing, bulbs, 162, 218 Lily-of-the-valley, 225 Forget-me-nots, sowing, 132, 139 Formaldehyde, for damping-off, 28, 61 seeds injured by, 29 Forsythias, 10 pruning, 34, 107, 116, 194 Fountains, 217 Four-o'clocks, 79 Foxgloves, 109, 124, 137 sowing, 108, 132 Freesias, 162 forcing, 18, 186 Front yard picture, 30 Fuchsias, 163 Fungi—See Diseases

Index Gaillardias, 72, 136 Galax, 68 Galinsoga, 199 Galtonia, 224 Garage and driveway, locating, 32 Garden axis, 39 Garden, enclosure, 32, 42 furnishings, 42 maps, 218 planning, 32, 39, 136 Gardening, indoors, 17, 185 schedule, 4, 38 winter, 29, 185 Gardens, formal, 39 naturalistic, 39, 101 bulbs for, 159 rambler roses in, 131 rock, mulching, 223 seasonal, 136 Gay-feathers, 149 Genista, 191 Gentians, 148 Geraniums, scented-leaved, 163 Gilias, 161, 205 Gladioli, cleaning, 202 harvesting, 164, 172 planting, 72, 83, ioo, 124 storing over winter, 19 thrips on, 138 Glorybush, Brazilian, 163 Glory-of-the-snow, forcing, 162 Godetias, 161, 205 Golden-glow, aphids on, 137 Goldenrods, 148 Goldfish, 208 Grafting, 49 Granite chips for alpines, 110 Grape-hyacinths, u s , 159 for forcing indoors, 162 in lawns, 105 Grapes, pruning, 194

235

Grass—See Lawns naturalizing bulbs in, 159 Sour-, 217 Greens for winter decorations, 184 Groundcovers, 159 for bulb plantings, 105 for potted plants, 206 Ground-ivy, 218 Groundsel, Common, 217 Gypsophilas, annual, 87, 122 Hawthorns, 191 cedar-apple rust on, 44 sprays for Tent Caterpillars, 61 Hay, salt, 223 Hedges, trimming, 106 Heleniums, 72, 84 Helianthus, Miss Mellish, 156 Helxine soleiroli, 206 Hemerocallis, 176 Hemlocks, 107 as Christmas trees, 228 Herbaceous borders, 105, 141 cultivating, 73, 84 replanting, 148 perennials, 73, 84, 148 dividing, 66, 70 early-season, 133 evergreen, 217 for special care, 224 hardy bulbs, 115, 158 late-blooming, 126, 148 mulching, 46, 199, 200, 210 sowing, 47, 73, 87, 97 staking, 91, 106, 124 tender, 164 transplanting, 77, 81, 126, 148, 176 Hesperis matronalis, 124 Hickories, cankerworms on, 45 oil spray injury to, 54, 61 Hippeastrum, 18, 219 hybridum, 174

236

Index

Holly, American, 16 Hollyhocks, 137 mites on, 79 rust on, 137 sowing, 108, 138 H o m e grounds, 30 planning, 29, 39 Honeysuckles, bush, 34, 107 Winter, 10 Horsechestnut, C o m m o n , 12 Hosta, lit Hotbeds, 25 House plants, 8, 163, 205, 225 insects and diseases, 9 Hunnemannia, 48 Hyacinths, 159 forcing, 219 Grape-, 159 Summer-, 224 Hydrangeas, 34 French or Garden, 34, 35, 194 Oakleaved, 35 Hymenocallis calathina, 174 Impatiens, 79 Incarvilleas, 75, 224 Inch-worms, 45, 168 Index of plant notes, 26 Insects, 79, 102, 128, 177 aphids, 83, 103, 137 borers, 169 B o x w o o d Leaf-miner, 83 cankerworms, 45, 168 carrying over winter, 199 dormant sprays for, 53, 201 Eastern T e n t Caterpillars, 81, 102 Elm-leaf Beetles, 102 E u o n y m u s Scale, 90 European Corn Borers, 200 European Pine-shoot M o t h , 103, h i Fall Cankerworms, 45

Insects, Four-lined Plantbug, 103 Four-lined Plantbug, 103 Gladiolus Thrips, 138, 202 Inch-worms, 45, 168 Iris Borers, 113, 200 Japanese Beetles, 80, 112, 12S repellents, 89 traps for, 113 Juniper Scale, 90 leaf-hoppers, 103, 134 mealy bugs, 225 measuring-worms, 168 mites, 79 on house plants, 206, 225 Oyster-shell Scale, 90 Peach Tree Borers, 169 Pine-needle Scale, 90 Rhododendron Lacebug, 90, 103, 129 root-knot nematodes on peonies, 152 Rose Stem Borer, 62 Rose Stem Girdler, 62 scale, sprays for, 53, 60, 103 Scurfy Scale, 90 snout-beetles, 84 Spring Cankerworms, 45 T e n t Caterpillars, 44, 61 weather favorable for, 101 Insecticides, 102 contact, 83, 103 for house plant sprays, 9 Iris pumila, 113 Irises, 95, 113, 141 bearded, 128 lime dressings for, 128 replanting, 127 borers in, 113, 199 German, 113, 177 dividing, 72 Japanese, 128, 141 leaf spots on, 128 root rot of, 127

Index Irises, sanitation for, 128 Siberian, 141 soft rot of, 114 transplanting, 113 I v y , English, 185 Ground-, 218 Ismenes, 174 January flowers outdoors, 3 gardening schedule, 3 Jasmine, Winter, 10, 34 July gardening schedule, 119 June gardening schedule, 95 Junipers, cedar-apple rust on, 44 cuttings of, 107 injury from oil sprays, 54 scale insects on, 90 shearing, 107, 125 Kttiphofia, 135 uvaria, 224 Labeling, 218 Landscape design, 10 Landscape planning, 29, 39, 193 boundary plantings, 193 bulb plantings in lawns, 105 flower borders, 136 Lantanas, 28 Larkspurs, annual, 48, 98 Field, 161 Rocket, 87, 161, 122 Laurel, Mountain-, 106 Lavatera, starting, 79 L a w n mower, care of, 226 Lawns, Bent, 179 bulb plantings in, 105 clippings, as mulch, 97 Crab-grass in, 101, 121, 144 fertilizing, 122 new, 58 old, Si to eliminate Crab-grass, 122 lime for, 51, 158

2 37

Lawns, mowing, 81, 86, 101, 122, 168 naturalizing bulbs in, 159 new, 57, 156, 167 fertilizing, 58 old, 157 fertilizing, 51 liming, 51 patching, 81 preparing soil for, 57, 144 renovating, 157 seed, 58 sowing, 57, 81 temporary, 60 topdressing, 52, 122, 157 to kill Japanese Beetles, 80 under Norway Maples, 131 watering, 121, 167 weeding, 218 in winter, 49 winter protection, 210 Leaves as a mulch, 199, 220 Lemon-verbenas, 163 Leucocoryne, 18 Leucojums, replanting, 115 Leucotkoe, mulch for, 221 Liatris, using in borders, 149 Lilacs, mildew on, 137 pruning, 34, 106 scale on, 53 Lilies, American Turks-cap, 160 Atamasco-, 160 Botrytis on, 75, 89 Canada, 160 Chalcedonian, 150 Coral, 161 early-ripening, 161 Gold-band, 172 late-ripening, 172, 217 Madonna, 130, 150 spraying for Botrytis, mulching, 217 Nankeen, 130, 150

104

238

Index

Lilies, of-the-valley, 68, 197 forcing, 197, 225 Orangecup, 161 Peruvian-, 224 planting, 217 in spring, 64 Scarlet Turks-cap, 150 staking, 106 Lilium candidum, 150 chalcedonicum, 150 concolor, 161 elegans, 161 testaceum, 150 Lime, 52, 74, 187 for flower borders, 74 for lawns, 52, 156, 158 hydrated, 52, 187 in wood ashes, 74 -loving plants, 222 alpine, n o mulching, 120, 222 oystershell, 74 to counteract acid mulches, 222 Limestone, 52, 58 chips for alpines, n o Lime-sulphur for dormant sprays, S3, 65, 201 for rodent protection, 210 for scale insects, 53, 103 to repel rabbits, 227 Linarias, 48, 87 Lupines, annual, 48 Lychnis, using in borders, 149 Lycoris squamigera, 88, 151 Magnolias, 16, 34 planting, 76 Maintenance, 101, 119, 128 bulb plantings, 115 flower border, 88, 124, 126, 136, 141, 147 mulching, 219 removing faded flowers, 106

Maintenance, front yard, 30 garden pool, 183 herbaceous perennials, 105 late-season, 155 shrubs, 106, 194 fertilizing, 186 staking, 91, 124 summer, 119 trees, 186, 194 fertilizing, 186 watering, 120 Manure as a lawn fertilizer, 122 as a lawn mulch, 210 as organic matter, 58 Maples, Norway, 159 bulb plantings under, 159 leaves as mulch, 220 thinning branches of, 131 Red, 175 Sugar, 12 oil spray injury, 54, 61 Maps, garden, 218 March flowers outdoors, 37 gardening schedule, 37 protection for special subjects, 46 Marigolds, Cape-, 48 May gardening schedule, 77 Meadow-saffrons, 105 ordering, 130, 140 Mealy bugs, 225 Measuring-worms, 168 Mercuric chloride, for Gladiolus Thrips, 202 for soft rot of irises, 114 for tree wounds, 196 Mice injury, 14, 20, 224, 227 to tigridias, 165 to waterlilies, 209 Michaelmas-daisies, 66 Mignonette, 48, 87, 98 starting, 79, 98, 122 with irises, 115

Index

239

Mushroom soil, for lawns, 52 for organic matter, 58 Mustard Family, damping-off treatment for, 29

Mildew, 104 Mist-flower, 148 dividing, 66 Mites, spider, 79, 128, 137 on house plants, 225 plants susceptible to, 103 poisons for, 103, 109, 129 Mockoranges, 34, 107, 1 1 6 , 1 1 7 Moisture, for house plants, 205 loss by evergreens, 153 relation to mulches, 220 requirements of bulbs, 159 Moneywort, 105 Monkshoods, 106 Montbretias, 46, 174 planting, 73 starting in coldframes, 73 Mountain-ashes, borers in, 170 Mountain-laurel, 106 leaf-blight on, 90 Moving—See Transplanting Mulberry, Weeping, 31 Mulches, 67, 136, 219 dust, 124 early, 210, 224 for alpine gardens, 1 1 0 for bulbous plants, 46 for evergreens, 154 for herbaceous perennials, 46 for rock gardens, 14, 1 1 0 for trees and shrubs, 176 forking in, 66 loosening, 46 materials for, 200 of leaves, 154 permanent, 67 removing, 66 snow, 4, 223 soil, 96, 124 summer, 96, 119, 136

Oak leaves, as a mulch, 216 Oaks, cankerworms on, 45 Pin, training as street trees, 132 white, planting, 76 October gardening schedule, 161 Oenotheras, n o dividing, 72 Oil sprays, 53, 201 for scale insects, 53, 60, 103 summer, 138 Orders, for bulbs, 129 for late plantings, 140 for lilies, 130 seed, 26, 130 Organic matter, 178 for lawns, 58, 144, 156 replacing, 50 sources, 58 Oxalis, 18

of peat-moss, 96 winter, 216, 219 Mulleins, sowing, 108

Paint for tree wounds, 132 Pansies, 132

Naphthalene, as mice repellent, 227 for Gladiolus Thrips, 19, 203 Narcissi, Paperwhite, 19 replanting, 1 1 5 time of planting, 158 Nematodes on peonies, 152 Nettle, Corsican, 206 Nicotine insecticides, 103 to repel dogs, 90 Nierembergias, 28 November flowers, 189, 199 gardening schedule, 189 Nutrients, 50 in organic fertilizers, 157

240

Index

Pansies, Tufted, 1 3 3 Paradichlorobenzene, 169 Paris green for Gladiolus Thrips, 138 Peaches, borers in, 169 mice injury to, 227 Pears, cedar-apple rust on, 44 mice injury to, 227 Peas, Sweet, 46, 1 6 1 , 204 Peat-moss, 58, 96, 97 as a lawn dressing, 52 as a mulch, 216, 222 for bulbs, 46 in summer, 1 1 9 in winter, 216 baled, 222 neutralizing acidity of, 1 2 0 Pelargoniums, 163 Peonies, 1 5 1 Botrytis on, 75, 152 depth of planting, 152 leaf-blotch on, 177 root-knot nematodes on, 152 selecting, 95 Perennials—See Herbaceous Perennials, Bulbs, Trees, Shrubs, Conifers Periwinkle, Madagascar, 28 Peruvian-lilies, 224 Petunias, 127 damping-off treatment for, 29 in pots, 88 Phlox, annual, 48 cutting back, 109 Drummond, 48, 127 Garden, 1 3 5 spider mites on, 79, 103 Pine branches as winter protection, 216 Pine needles as a mulch, 216 Pines, European Pine-shoot Moth on, 103, i n scale insects on, 90

Pines, transplanting, 154 Pinks, Chinese, 1 3 2 , 139 Plans for herbaceous borders, 126 for the home garden, 29, 39 Plantain, 218 Plantainlilies, 176 Planting, 77, 152 bulbs, 159, 170 conifers, 5, 152 dahlias, 99 evergreens, 152 gladioli, 72, 93, 100 shrubs, 154, 175 in active growth, 78 trees, 76, 175 Plants, alkaline-soil, 97 aquatic, 106 labeling, 218 shade-loving, 68 tender, 19, 174 harvesting, 164 potting, 163 storing, 174 Plums, Flowering, 169 Tent Caterpillars on, 61 Poinsettias, 6, 7 Poison, for chewing insects, 1 0 2 for rodents, 227 for soft rot of irises, 1 1 4 for sucking insects, 103 stomach, 102 Pools, 207 goldfish in, 208 starting tender plants in, 106 Poplars, 76 leaves as mulch, 220 scale on, 53 Poppies, 47 annual, 1 6 1 California-, 48, 205 Oriental, 142 Shirley, 1 6 1

Index Portulacas, 48 Pot plants, Christmas, 6, 8 Potash in wood ashes, 74 Pots for house plants, 163 Potting, 163 Primroses, Baby, 19 Fairy, 19 for winter forcing, 19 Primula obconica, 19 Protection—See Mulches for rhododendrons, 215 for small conifers, 6, i s for transplanted subjects, 46 from mice, 227 from rabbits, 209, 227 in March, 46 winter, 14, 215 for boxwoods, 15 for chrysanthemums, 203 for lawns, 210 Pruning, 33, 43, 86 autumn, 194 deciduous shrubs, 33, 43 for formal effect, 117 roses, 130 shrubs, 116 spring, 106 to create vistas, 36 to offset winter injury, 86 trees, 35 winter, 43 Pyracanthas, 191 Pyrethrum insecticides, 103 for leaf-hoppers, 134 Quinces, cedar-apple rust on, 44 Flowering, 10, 34 Rabbit injury, 209, 227 Red copper oxide for damping-off, 29 Redcedars, cedar-apples on, 44

241

Redhot-pokers, 224 Redtop, 59 Repellents for dogs, 90 for Japanese Beetles, 112, 128 for mice, 227 for rabbits, 227 Retinosporas, cuttings of, 107 Sawara, 125 shearing, 107, 125 Rhododendrons, 216 lacebugs on, 90, 129 March protection, 46 winter protection, 215 Ripening, of evergreens, 153 of plants in coldframes, 226 Rock gardens, cutting back plants in, 109 mulching, 14 topdressing, n o Rodents, 209, 227 Roots, of house plants, 8 tender, 19 Rosemary, 163 Roses, 89 black-spot on, 104 clean-up spray for, 65 climbing, 63, 130 fruits of, 131 large-flowered, 63 pruning, 194 winter treatment, 192 dusting, 89 Hybrid Perpetual, pruning, 62 Hybrid Tea, 136 pruning, 44, 61, 64 large-flowered climbing, 63, 131 late-season care, 155 Lawrenciana, 192 -of-Sharon, moving, 175 peat mulches for, 120 pillar, 63 planting, 61, 191

242

Index

Roses, pruning, 61, 65 bush types, 107 ramblers, 130 to eliminate diseases, 65 rambler, 63 pruning, 130 removing winter protection, 62, 64 requiring light pruning, 62, 64 Roulett, 191 Rugosa, pruning, 62 sanitation for, 65 slugs on, 102 soil preparation for, 191 winter protection, 192 Rotenone, 89, 103 as a repellent, 112 Rubbertree, India, 8 Rudbeckias, aphids on, 137 Rye-grass, Domestic, 60 Perennial, 59, 60 Saffron, Meadow-, 105, 140 Sage, Azure, 224 Salpiglossis, 79 Salt hay, 223 Sanitation for irises, 114, 177 for Mountain-laurel, 90 for peonies, 152 for roses, 104 for tulips, 103 in flower borders, 177, 199 in replanting irises, 114 Scabiosa, Sweet, 122 Scale insects, 53, 60, 103 on house plants, 207 Scillas, 159 for forcing indoors, 162 in lawns, 105 replanting, 115 Screens for evergreens, 216 Seed catalogues, 25 mixtures for lawns, 59, 157

Seed order, 26 Seedbeds, 97, 108, 139 for biennials, 108, 133, 139 preparation, Si for a lawn, 156 shade for, 97, 108, 133 summer management, 133, 139 Seeds, covering, 29 starting, 26, 29, 43, 47, 65, 73, 79, 87 herbaceous perennials, 97 Senecio vulgaris, 217 September gardening schedule, 147 Service areas, 31 Shadbushes, planting, 76 Shade for seedbeds, 97, 108, 133 Shearing evergreen conifers, 125 shrubs, 33, 35 Shortia, for edging, 68 Shrubs, bulb plantings with, 159 dormant spraying, 202 early-blooming, 106 fertilizing, 117, 186 for winter forcing, 10 planting, 69, 175 pruning, 33, 35, 106, 116 in autumn, 194 in summer, 116 snow damage, 227 softwood cuttings of, 108 transplanting, 191 Silene, using in borders, 149 Snakeroots, 176 Black, 91 Snapdragons, 88, 20s damping-off treatment for, 29 Snow, as a mulch, 223 damage, 226 packing to prevent mice injury, 227 Snowballs, Common, 60 Japanese, moving, 175, 191

Index Snowdrops, 159 in lawns, 105 Soil, acidity, testing for, 50 compost mulches for, 221 fertility, 67 lime, for various types, 187 moisture, conserving, 96, 119 nutrients, 50 organic matter in, 144 preparation for new lawns, 57, 145, 156 testing, 50, 187 working after rains, 87 Sorrel, Sheep, 217 Sour-grass, 217 Sowing biennials, 132, 138, 139 new lawns, 57 Spiders, red, 79, 128, 137 on house plants, 225 Spireas, pruning, 34, 194 Spraying, 128 apparatus, 226 house plants with water, 8 outdoor plants with water, 120 Sprays, August, 137 clean-up, 53, 60, 65, 201 delayed dormant, 60, 201 dormant, 53, 60, 201 in autumn, 201 for cedar-apple rust, 44 for house plants, 206, 225 for Japanese Beetles, 112, 128 for rodents, 210 for scale insects, 90 for Tent Caterpillars, 61 injury from, 54, 61 repellent, 112 for dogs, 90 for Japanese Beetles, 112 for rabbits, 227 wax, 5 Spring flowers, early, 55 garden display, 95

243

Sprinkling outdoor plants, 120 Spruces, as Christmas trees, 5, 228 Blue, 31 mulch for, 221 Serbian, 229 transplanting, 154 Squills, for forcing indoors, 162 planting, 159 Staking, 91, 106, 124, 156 amaryllis, 219 dahlias, 100 trees, 214 Stephanandras, 191 Stocks, 79 Storage for hardy bulbs, 116 Straw as a mulch, 223 Succession of bloom indoors, 186 Sulphate of iron as a weed poison, So Sulphur dust, 129 as an antiseptic for dahlia roots, 182 in planting lilies, 173 for mildew, 137 for spider mites, 138 Sulphur spray for cedar-apple rust, 44 Sumacs, transplanting, 175, 191 Summer-hyacinth, 224 Sunflowers, annual, 98, 137 Survey, pace, 13 Sweet-fern, planting, 69 Sweetgale, planting, 69 Sweetgums, 175 planting, 76 Sweetshrub, Common, 191 Sweet-syringas, 34, 107, 116, 117 Tankage as a lawn fertilizer, 122 Thinning, 34, 44 branches in trees, 35 Tibouchina, 163

244

Index

Tigridias, harvesting, 164 starting in coldframes, 73 storing over winter, 20 Tools, care of, 21, 226 Topdressing, for alpine plants, n o lawns, 52, 122 to kill Japanese Beetle grubs, 80 Lilies-of-the-valley, 197 of fertilizer, 117 the rock garden, n o Topsoil as lawn dressing, 52, 122 Transplanting, 77, 81, 158 evergreens in winter, 16 hardening plants for, 78, 87 hardy plants in winter, 16 house plants, 205 shrubs, 191 Traps for Japanese Beetles, 113 Trees, 194 banding for cankerworms, 45, 168 bracing, 197 bulb plantings under, 159 care of, 194 cavities, 194 wounds, 194 Christinas, 228 dormant spraying, 201 fertilizing, 117, 186 by crowbar hole method, 117 injured by oil sprays, 54 leaves as a mulch, 220 planting, 76, 175 in spring, 175 pruning, 131 along streets, 131 to improve habit, 35 to thin tops, 131 rabbit injury to, 227 recently transplanted, 214 spraying, 54, 102 staking, 214

Trees, street, pruning, 131 training when young, 132 supporting, 197, 214 thin-barked, 215 thinning the tops of, 131 value in home landscape, 30 wrapping trunks of, 215 Trellises, 31, 32 pruning roses on, 130 Trumpetcreeper, Chinese, 32 Tuberoses, 164 digging, 164, 174 Tulip-fire, 75 Tulipa gesneriana, 171 Tulips, 105, 116, 159, 170 combatting Botrytis (tulip-fire), 103 Common, 171 Darwin, 171 digging, 115 forcing, 219 planting, 158, 161 species, 46, 171 Tuliptrees, 76 planting, 175 Ventilation, coldframe, 48, 70,226 Verbenas, 28 in pots, 88 Lemon-, 163 Moss, 127 with irises, 115 Veronicas, creeping, 105 Viburnums, pruning, 117, 194 Vincas, 28 with bulbs, 105 Violas, 136, 139 cutting back, 109 late plantings, 177 Vistas, creating by winter pruning, 36

Index Walks, 32 Wallflowers, Siberian, 108, 109, 132 Walnuts, oil spray injury on, 54 Watering, 120 coldframes, 48 conifers, 216 equipment, 216, 226 house plants, 205 lawns, 121 rhododendrons, 216 transplanted evergreens, 154 Waterlilies, 183 hardy, 183, 208 tender, 183 tropical, 209 W a x spray, S Weed killers, iron sulphate, 50 Weeds, 96, 119, 199, 217 Crab-grass, 52, 121 in flower borders, 142 in lawns, 49, 157, 218 iron sulphate for killing, 50 Weigelas, pruning, 116 Willow beetles, 102 Window boxes, 184

245

Winter, flowers outdoors, 3, 22, 37 garden indoors, 162, 163 Lilies-of-the-valley for, 197 preparations for, 185 injury, 86 of evergreens, 153 interesting borders for, 136 protection, 215, 219 for boxwoods, 15 for conifers, 15 for evergreens, 215 for recently planted trees, 215 for rhododendrons, 215 for rock gardens, 14 for roses, 192 for trees, 215 for waterlilies, 208 of pine branches, 216 weeding, 218 Woodland, bulb plantings in, 159 Workroom, garden, 185 Yews, pruning, 107 Zinnias, 98 mildew on, 137 sowing, 47, 65