The hybrids require some care and should be planted in March at a depth of three inches and a distance of nine inches apart in deeply dug, rich, well-drained soil, free from fresh manure. About the second week in September, before the foliage has died down, the corms should be lifted and thoroughly dried off in a freely ventilated shed.
But most brilliant of all the flowers of August are the scarlet Lobelias, L. cardinalis (described by Parkinson), and L. splendens with their varieties. They are not very hardy, but with a little protection during winter can be grown in most well-drained gardens. Moisture during summer is essential, so that a slightly shaded position should be selected.
[THE GARDEN IN AUTUMN]
It is the deciduous trees and shrubs which announce the arrival of autumn. Green leaves take on a colouring of yellow, brown, or red more pronounced than the yellows and reds of spring. As the wind blows, a few of the ripest leaves fall, and one becomes conscious of a feeling of evening, of the end of a play, or of the end of a beautiful poem. If it were but by these autumnal colourings, and by the feelings which the fall of the leaf produces, one would be well repaid for the planting and cultivating of trees and shrubs.
Because the active life of these larger plants is over for a season, however, one need not imagine that the well managed garden is suddenly to become flowerless. Roses and Pentstemons, Potentillas and Phloxes, Sweet-Peas and Nasturtiums, and a host of other summer bloomers still remain and often continue to bear flowers till hard frost pulls down the curtain. But it is not on summer flowers that we need rely, for there are numerous beautiful hardy flowers peculiar to autumn itself. Dahlias, Rudbeckias, Sunflowers, Tritomas, Michaelmas Daisies, Japanese Anemones, Fuchsias and Chrysanthemums are those which immediately rise in the memory.
The common Torch Lily, or Red-hot-Poker, is almost the hardiest of the Tritomas—or Kniphofias, as they are now called—and in a moderately light soil will live year after year with little or no attention. Often, in neglected cottage gardens at about the end of August, a group of these Flame flowers, burning red and glowing yellow, arrest the attention and cheer the landscape. The variety known as grandis is even more effective, often reaching a height of nine feet or even more.
The dark crimson Kniphofia Burchelli is valuable on account of its long blooming period, as also is the orange and scarlet K. Saundersii, but all the kinds are good, though not all are distinct. Considering that it was introduced from the Cape nearly two hundred years ago, it is somewhat curious that the Kniphofia is still comparatively a rare flower.
Although it was mentioned by Hernandez in his History of Mexico, as long ago as 1651, the Dahlia was not introduced into this country until 1789, when Lady Bute brought a plant from Madrid. It is scarcely hardy in heavy soil or in the northern half of England, and it will generally be necessary to lift the roots in late autumn, and, having ripened them in a shed, to store them for the winter in a cool dry place, where the temperature will not fall below freezing point. In the spring, the separate tubers may be planted in deep rich soil; or the roots may in February be placed in a hot bed, and as the young shoots which form are about three and a half inches long, they may be separated together with a small piece of the tuber, and potted in small pots which should be placed in the hot-bed until the young plants are ready to be planted out. The old double kinds are much inferior to the single and cactus varieties. Dahlias compass a very wide range of colour, and there are so many good sorts that each grower may well be left to select for himself. In choosing Cactus Dahlias, it is wise to select kinds in which the flowers stand out well beyond the foliage.