Amateur Gardencraft: A Book for the Home-Maker and Garden Lover

by Eben E. Rexford

In planting, make a hole with a blunt stick of the depth desired, and drop the bulb into it. Then cover, and press the soil down firmly.

Just before the ground is likely to freeze, cover the bed with a coarse litter from the barnyard, if obtainable, to a depth of eight or ten inches. If this litter is not to be had, hay or straw will answer very well, if packed down somewhat. Leaves make an excellent covering if one can get enough of them. If they are used, four inches in depth of them will be sufficient. Put evergreen boughs or wire netting over them to prevent their being blown away.

I frequently receive letters from inexperienced bulb-growers, in which the writers express considerable scepticism about the value of such a covering as I have advised above, because, they say, it is not deep enough to keep out the frost, therefore it might as well be dispensed with. Keeping out the frost is not what is aimed at. We expect the soil about the bulbs to freeze. But such a covering as has been advised will prevent the sun from thawing out the frost after it gets into the soil, and this is exactly what we desire. For if the frost can be kept in, after it has taken possession, there will not be that frequent alternation between freezing and thawing which does the harm to the plant. For it is not freezing, understand, that is responsible for the mischief, but the alternation of conditions. These cause a rupture of plant-cells, and that is what does the harm. Keep a comparatively tender plant frozen all winter and allow the frost to be drawn out of it gradually in spring, and it will survive a season of unusual cold. The same plant will be sure to die in a mild season if left exposed to the action of the elements, because of frequent and rapid changes between heat and cold.

Whatever covering is given should be left on the beds as long as possible in spring, because of the severely cold weather we frequently have at the north after we think all danger is over. However, as soon as the plants begin to make much growth, this covering will have to be removed. If a cold night comes along after this has been done spread blankets or carpeting over the beds. Keep them from resting on the tender growth of the plants by driving pegs into the soil a short distance apart, all over the bed. The young plants may not be killed by quite a severe freeze, but they will be injured by it, and injury of any kind should be guarded against at this season, if you want fine flowers.

BED OF WHITE HYACINTHS BORDERED WITH PANSIES

Holland Hyacinths should receive first consideration, because they are less likely to disappoint than any other hardy bulb. There are single and double kinds, both desirable. Personally I prefer the single sorts, as they are less prim and formal than the double varieties, whose flowers are so thickly set along the stalk that individuality of bloom is almost wholly lost sight of. They are, in this respect, like the double Geraniums we use in summer bedding, whose trusses of bloom resemble a ball of color more than anything else, at a little distance, the suggestion of individual bloom being so slight that it seldom receives consideration. However, they do good service where color-effects are considered of more importance than anything else. Single Hyacinths have their flowers more loosely arranged along the stalk, and are therefore more graceful than the double varieties, and their colors are quite as fine. These range from pure white through pale pink and rose, red, scarlet, crimson, blue and charming yellows to dark purple.

Roman Hyacinths are too tender for outdoor culture at the north.

There are several quite distinct varieties of the Tulip. There is an early sort, a medium one, a late one, and the Parrot, which is prized more for its striking combinations of brilliant colors than for its beauty of form or habit. We have single and double varieties in all the classes, all coming in a wide range of both rich and delicate colors. Scarlets, crimsons, and yellows predominate, but the pure whites, the pale rose-colors, and the rich purples are general favorites. Some of the variegated varieties are exceedingly brilliant in their striking color-combinations.