Chapter 9

There has been a great change of opinion with regard to the Dahlia. We no longer confine ourselves to one type of it. The single varieties, which were despised of old, are now prime favorites--preferred by many to any other kind. The old very double "show" and "fancy" varieties are largely grown, but they share public favor with the "decoratives," the pompones, and the cactus, and, as I have said, the single forms. Which of these forms is most popular it would be hard to say. All of them have enthusiastic champions, and the best thing to do is to try them all.

"Show" Dahlias are those with large and very double flowers of a single color, and those in which the ground color is of a lighter shade than the edges or tips of the petals. The outer petals recurve, as the flower develops, until they meet at the stem, thus giving us a ball-like blossom.

"Fancy" Dahlias are those having striped petals, and those in which the ground color is darker than the edges or tips of the petals. This class, as a rule, is very variable, and a plant will often have flowers showing but one color. Sometimes half the flower will be one color, half another.

The Pompone or Liliputian class is a miniature edition of the show and fancy sorts, quite as rich in color and perfect in form as either, but of a dwarf habit of growth. This class is well adapted to bedding out in summer.

The Cactus Dahlia has long pointed or twisted petals. Most varieties are single, but some are semi-double. This is the class that will be likely to find favor with those who admire the ragged Japanese Chrysanthemums.

Decorative Dahlias have broad, flat petals, somewhat loosely arranged, and much less formal than those of the show, fancy, or pompone sorts. Their flowers seldom have more than two rows of petals, and are flat, showing a yellow disc at the centre. As a general thing they are produced on long stalk, a flower to a stalk. This makes them very useful for cutting. They are the most graceful members of the entire Dahlia family, allowing me to be judge.

The single type has but one row of petals. Plants of this class are very strong growers, and can be used to advantage in the back rows of the border.

No flower in cultivation to-day has a wider range of color than the Dahlia, and nearly all the colors represented in it are wonderfully rich in tone. From the purest white to the richest crimson, the deepest scarlet, delicate pink and carmine, rich yellow, dark purple, orange and palest primrose,--surely all tastes can find something to please them.

THE GLADIOLUS

One of the most popular flowers of the day is the Gladiolus. All things considered, it is our best summer bloomer. Nothing in the floral world exceeds it in variety and range of color. This color is in some varieties dark and rich in scarlets, crimsons, and purples, in others dainty and delicate in pink, pearly flesh, almost pure white, and softest rose, while the midway sorts are in brilliant carmines, cherry-reds, lilacs, and intermediate tones too numerous to mention. Nearly all varieties show most magnificent combinations of color that baffle description. Comparatively few varieties are one color throughout.

Most plants in which such a bewildering variety of color is found have a tendency to coarseness, but this objection cannot be urged against the Gladiolus. It has all the delicacy of the Orchid. Its habit of growth fits it admirably for use in the border. Its ease of cultivation makes it a favorite with the amateur who has only a limited amount of time to spend among the flowers. It is a plant that any one can grow, and it is a plant that will grow almost anywhere. It is one of the few plants that seem almost able to take care of themselves. Beyond putting the corms in the ground, in spring, and an occasional weeding as the plant develops, very little attention is required.

To secure the best effect from it, the Gladiolus should be planted in masses. Single specimens are far less satisfactory. One must see fifty or a hundred plants in a bed ten or fifteen feet long to fully appreciate what it is capable of doing.

The time to plant it is in May, after the soil has become warm. Nothing is gained by earlier planting.

The bed should be spaded to the depth of a foot, at least. Then the soil should be worked over until it is fine and light. A liberal quantity of some good fertilizer should be added to it. Commercial fertilizers seem to suit it well, but the use of barnyard manure gives excellent results, and I would prefer it, if obtainable.

The corms should be put about four inches below the surface, care being exercised at the time of planting to see that they are right side up. It is often difficult to decide this matter before sprouting begins, but a little careful examination of the corm will soon enable you to tell where the sprouts will start from, and this will prevent you from getting it wrong-side up. As soon as the plants send up a stalk, some provision should be made for future support. If you prefer to stake the beds, set the stakes in rows about two feet apart. Wire or cord need not be stretched on them until the stalks are half grown. The reason for setting the stakes early in the season is--you know just where the corm is then, but later on you will not be able to tell where the new corms are, and in setting the stakes at random you are quite likely to injure them. When you apply the cord or wire to the stakes, run it lengthwise of the bed, and then across it in order to furnish a sufficient support without obliging the stalks to lean from the perpendicular to get the benefit of it.

For several seasons past, I have made use of a coarse-meshed wire netting, placed over the bed, and fastened to stakes about eighteen inches high. The stalks find no difficulty in making their way through the large meshes of the netting, and with a support of this kind they dispose themselves in a natural manner that is far more satisfactory than tying them to stakes, as we often see done. Some kind of a support must be given if we would guard against injury caused by strong winds. When the flower-stalk is once prostrated it is a difficult matter to get it back in place without breaking it.

If netting is used it need not be placed over the bed before the middle of July. By that time most of the weeds which require attention during the early part of the season will have been disposed of. Putting on the netting at an earlier period would greatly interfere with the proper cultivation of the bed. The soil should be kept light and open until the flower-stalks begin to show their buds.

The flowering-period covers several weeks, beginning in August, and lasting all through September.

The Gladiolus is extremely effective for interior decorative work. It lasts for days after being cut. Indeed, if cut when the first flowers at the base of the spike open, it will continue to develop the buds above until all have become flowers, if the water in which the stalks are placed is changed daily, and a bit of the end of the stalk is cut off each time. For church use no flower excels it except the Lily, and that we can have for only a short time, and quite often not at all.

In late October the plants should be lifted, and spread out in the sunshine to ripen. Do not cut the stalks away until you are ready to store the corms. Then cut off each stalk about two inches from its junction with the corm. When the roots seem well dried out, put them in paper bags containing perfectly dry sawdust or buckwheat shells, and hang them in a dry place where the frost will not get at them. I would not advise storing them in the cellar, as they generally mould or mildew there.

Most varieties increase quite rapidly. You will find several new corms in fall, taking the place of the old one planted in spring. Often there will be scores of little fellows the size of a pea, clustered about the larger corms. These should be saved, and planted out next spring. Sow them close together in rows, as you would wheat. The following year they will bloom.

So extensively is the Gladiolus grown at the present time that enough to fill a good-sized bed can be bought for a small sum. And in no other way can you invest a little money and be sure of such generous returns. What the Geranium is to the window-garden that the Gladiolus is to the outdoor garden, and one is of as easy culture as the other.

Some of the choicest varieties are sold at a high price. One reason for this is--the finest varieties are slow to increase, and it takes a long time to get much of a stock together. This is why they are so rare, and so expensive. But many of them are well worth all that is asked for them.

You may have a mixed collection of a thousand plants and fail to find a worthless variety among them. Indeed, some of the very finest flowers I have ever had have been grown from collections that cost so little that one hardly expected to find anything but the commonest flowers among them.

LILIES

The Rose, like the Lily, is a general favorite. It has more than once disputed the claim of its rival to the title of Queen of Flowers, and though it has never succeeded in taking the place of the latter in the estimation of the average flower-lover, it occupies a position in the floral world that no other flower dare aspire to.

This plant does well only in soils that have the best of drainage. Water, if allowed to stand about its roots in spring, will soon be the death of it.

Therefore, in planting it be sure to choose a location that is naturally well drained, or provide artificial drainage that will make up for the lack of natural drainage. This is an item you cannot afford to overlook if you want to grow the finest varieties of Lilies in your garden. Some of our native Lilies grow on low lands, and do well there, but none of the choicer kinds would long survive under such conditions. The probabilities are that if we planted them there we would never see anything more of them.

The ideal soil for the Lily seems to be a fine loam. I have grown good ones, however, in a soil containing considerable clay and gravel. This was on a sidehill where drainage was perfect. Had the location been lower, or a level one, very likely the plants would not have done so well.

The bulbs should be put into the ground as early in September as possible.

On no account allow the bulbs to be exposed to the air. If you do, they will rapidly part with the moisture stored up in their scales, and this is their life-blood.

It is a good plan to put a handful of clean, coarse sand about each bulb at planting-time.

If barnyard manure is used,--and there is nothing better in the way of fertilizer for any bulb,--be sure that it is old and well rotted. On no account should fresh manure be allowed to come in contact with a Lily. If barnyard manure is not to be had, use bonemeal. Mix it well with the soil before putting the bulbs into it.

Bulbs of ordinary size should be planted about eight inches below the surface. If in groups, about a foot apart.

The best place for Lilies, so far as show goes, is among shrubbery, or in the border.

Below I give a list of the best varieties for general cultivation, with a brief description of each:

_Auratum_ (the Gold-Banded Lily).--Probably the most popular member of the family, though by no means the most beautiful. Flowers white, dotted with crimson, with a gold band running through each petal.

_Speciosum album._--A beautiful pure-white variety. Deliciously fragrant.

_Speciosum rubrum_ (the Crimson-Banded Lily).--Flowers white with a red band down each petal.

_Brownsii._--A splendid variety. Flowers very large, and trumpet-shaped. Chocolate-purple outside, pure white within, with dark brown stamens that contrast finely with the whiteness of the inner part of the petals.

_Tigrinum_ (Tiger Lily).--One of the hardiest of all Lilies. Flowers orange-red, spotted with brownish-black. This will succeed where none of the others will. Should be given a place in all gardens.

_Superbum._--The finest of all our native Lilies. Orange flowers, spotted with purple. Often grows to a height of eight feet, therefore is well adapted to prominent positions in the border.

While the Lily of the Valley is, strictly speaking, _not_ a Lily, it deserves mention here. It is one of the most beautiful flowers we grow, of the purest white, and with the most delightful fragrance, and foliage that admirably sets off the exquisite loveliness of its flowers. No garden that "lives up to its privileges" will be without it. It does best in a shady place. Almost any soil seems to suit it. It is very hardy. It spreads rapidly, sending up a flower-stalk from every "pip." When the ground becomes completely matted with it, it is well to go over the bed and cut out portions here and there. The roots thus cut away can be broken apart and used in the formation of new beds, of which there can hardly be too many. The roots of the old plants will soon fill the places from which these were taken, and the old bed will be all the better for its thinning-out. Coming so early in spring, we appreciate this most beautiful plant more than we do any flower of the later season. And no flower of any time can excel it in daintiness, purity, and sweetness.

PLANTS FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES

Amateur gardeners are always wanting plants for some special purpose, and, for their benefit, I propose to devote this chapter to "special-purpose" information.

"What shall we grow to shade doors and windows? We want something that will grow rapidly. If a flowering vine, all the better, but shade is the all-important consideration."

The best large-growing vine for this purpose, all things considered, is the Wild Cucumber. No other annual vine exceeds it in rapidity of growth. It will grow twenty or twenty-five feet in a season, if given something to support it to that height, therefore it is very useful about the second-story windows, which height few of our annual vines attain. It has very bright-green, pretty foliage, somewhat resembling that of the native Grape, though not so large. About midsummer it comes into bloom. Its flowers are white,--delicate, fringy little things, in spikes, with a very agreeable fragrance, especially in the morning when wet with dew,--and there are so many of them that the vine looks as if drifted over with a fall of snow. The plant has tendrils by which it attaches itself to anything with which it comes in contact, consequently strings, latticework, or wire netting answer equally well for its support. Its tendency is to go straight up, if whatever support is given encourages it to do so, but if you think advisable to divert it from its upward course all you have to do is to stretch strings in whatever direction you want it to grow, and it will follow them. Its flowers are followed by balloon-shaped fruit, covered with prickly spines--little ball-shaped cucumbers, hence the popular name of the plant. When the seeds ripen, the ball or pod bursts open, and the black seeds are shot out with considerable force, often to a distance of twenty feet or more. In this way the plant soon spreads itself all over the garden, and next spring you will have seedling plants by the hundred. It soon becomes a wild plant, and is often seen growing all along the roadside, and never quite so much "at home" as when it finds a thicket of bushes to clamber over. It has one drawback, however, which will be especially noticeable when the plant is domesticated: Its early leaves ripen and fall off while those farther up the vine are in their prime, and remain so until frost comes. But this defect can easily be remedied by growing some tall plant at the base of the vines to hide their nakedness.

Another most excellent vine is the good old Morning Glory, with its blue, purple, violet, pink, carmine, and white flowers produced in such profusion that they literally cover its upper branches during the early part of the day. This is a very satisfactory vine to train about door and window. Do not give it ordinary twine as a support, as the weight of the vines, when well developed, is almost sure to break it down. Stout cord, such as is used in binding grain, is the best thing I know of, as it is rather rough, thus enabling the vine to take hold of it with good effect. This is a rapid grower, and a wonderfully free bloomer, and it will give you flowers throughout the season. It is much showier than the Wild Cucumber, but its foliage lacks the delicacy which characterizes that plant.

Another good vine for covering porches, verandas, and summer-houses, is the Japan Hop. This plant--it is an annual, like the other two of which mention has been made--has foliage of a rich, dark green, broadly and irregularly blotched and marbled with creamy white and pale yellow. It grows rapidly, and gives a dense shade.

"I would like a sort of hedge, or screen, between the flower and the vegetable garden. What plants would you advise for this purpose?"

The Zinnia is an excellent plant where a low hedge is desired. It averages a height of three feet. It is compact and symmetrical in habit, branching quite close to the ground. It is a rapid grower, and of the very easiest culture. It comes into bloom in July, and continues to produce great quantities of flowers, shaped like miniature Dahlias, in red, scarlet, pink, yellow, orange, and white, until frost comes. It makes a most gorgeous show.

Kochia, more commonly known as "Burning Bush" or "Mexican Fire-Plant," is a charming thing all through the season. In summer it is a pleasing green. In fall it turns to a brilliant red, hence its popular names, as given above. Its habit is very compact, and one of great symmetry. If the plants are set about a foot apart, and in two rows,--these rows a foot apart,--you will have a low hedge that will be as smooth as one of Arbor Vitæ after the gardener has given it its annual shearing. When the bush takes on its autumnal coloring it is as showy as a plant can well be, and is always sure of attracting attention, and being greatly admired.

Amaranthus is another very pleasing plant for hedge purposes. It grows to a height of about four feet. Some varieties have a dark, bronze-green foliage, others foliage of a dull, rich Indian-red, while some are yellow-green--quite rare among plants of this class. The flowers, which are small, individually, are thickly set along pendant stems, and give the effect of ropes of chenille. In color they are a dull red, not at all showy in the sense of brilliance, but really charming when seen dropping in great profusion against the richly colored foliage. Our grandmothers grew the original varieties of this plant under the name of "Prince's Plume," "Prince's Feather," or "Love Lies Bleeding." But since the florists have taken it in hand, and greatly improved it, it no longer retains the good old names which always meant something. To secure the best results with this plant, when grown as a hedge or screen, set it in rows about a foot apart, each way, and use some of the dwarf sorts for the front row. Or a flowering plant of contrasting color--like the Nasturtium, or the double yellow Marigold, or the velvety African variety, with flowers of a dark maroon shading to blackish-brown--can be grown at its base, with fine effect.

Sweet Peas make a good screen if given proper support, and planted thickly.

"I would like a large group or bed of ornamental foliaged plants on the lawn, but have grown rather tired of Cannas and Caladiums. What would you suggest? I don't want anything hard to grow."

If very large plants are wanted, I would advise, as best of all, Ricinus, better known, perhaps, as Castor Bean, or Castor Plant. This is an annual of wonderfully vigorous growth. It often reaches a height of ten feet, in good soil, with a corresponding spread of branches. Its leaves are often a yard across, of a dark coppery bronze, with a purplish metallic lustre that makes the plant very striking. The best effect is secured by growing four or five plants in a group. None of the tropical plants that have come into prominence in gardening, during the past ten or twelve years, are nearly as effective as this easily-grown annual, whose seeds sell at five cents a package. For a very prominent location on the lawn or anywhere about the home-grounds no better plant could be selected.

The Amaranthus advised for hedge use makes a very showy circular bed on the lawn when grown in large masses, in the centre, surrounded with flowering plants of a strongly contrasting but harmonious color. The Calliopsis, rich golden-yellow marked with brown, combines charmingly with the dull, deep, rich reds which characterize the foliage and flowers of the most desirable varieties of this too much neglected annual. There are new varieties advertised of rather dwarf habit, with golden-green foliage, that could be used about the red-leaved kinds with fine effect.

"I would like a bed of very brilliant flowers for the front yard. Can't have many, for I haven't time to take care of them, so want those which will give the most show for the least trouble. Would like something so bright that it will _compel_ people to stop and look at it. What shall I get?"

An exceedingly brilliant combination can be made by the use of scarlet Salvia, as the centre of a bed six or eight feet across, with Calliopsis surrounding it. The scarlet and yellow of these two flowers will make the place fairly blaze with color, and they will continue to bloom until frost comes. They require next to no care.

The annual Phlox makes a fine show if proper care is taken in the arrangement of the various colors with a view to contrast. The pale rose variety combines beautifully with the pure whites and pale yellows. A bed of these three colors alone will be found much more satisfactory than one in which a larger number of colors are used. Set each color in a row by itself. Such a bed will "compel" persons to stop and admire it, but they will do it for the sake of its beauty rather than its great brilliance.

Petunias are excellent plants for large beds where a strong show of color is desired. They bloom early, continue through the season, and require very little care.

The Shirley Poppy makes a brave show about the last of July, but after that it soon dies. If it were an all-season bloomer it would be one of our most popular plants for producing a brilliant effect. I would advise using it, and filling the bed in which it grew with other plants, after its flowering period was over. Its rich colors and satiny texture make it a plant that always attracts attention.

Scarlet Geraniums are used a great deal where a strong color-show is desired, but they are not as satisfactory as many other plants because of their ragged look, after a little, unless constantly given care. The first flowers in truss will fade, and their discolored petals will spoil the effect of the flowers that come after them if they are allowed to remain. It is not much of a task to go over the plants and pull out these faded flowers every, day, but we are not likely to do this. I prefer single Geraniums to double ones for garden use, because they drop their old petals, and never take on the ragged appearance which characterizes the ordinary bedding Geranium.

"I would like a low bed--that is, a bed near the path where it will be looked down upon. Tall plants would be out of place there. Tell me of a few of the best kinds for such a location."