The Flower Garden

by Ida D. Bennett

With the trowel make a hole deep enough to receive the roots without crowding, place the plant, fill the hole with water, and when that has partly disappeared press the earth firmly about the roots. Work the surface earth fine and smooth about the plant, taking care that it is perfectly dry. If, after setting the bed, wet spots appear, go over them carefully with dry earth. Do not cover or protect in any way; far more plants are lost by so-called protection than by any other form of mismanagement. If the planting has been done properly the roots will keep cool and damp—the mulch of earth preventing evaporation. This being the case, the tops will take care of themselves if sun and air have free access and the wind can sweep across them. Planting, as it is usually done—with the surface left wet, and the air shut away from the top—causes the water to evaporate rapidly in the hot air, and the plant is literally cooked to death. The water applied to the roots at planting will usually last for several days. The condition of the soil may be ascertained by removing a portion of the surface. If the earth underneath is found to be drying out too much make a hole on one side of the plant and fill it with water as before, carefully replacing the mulch of dry earth. Should it rain before the plants have become established the earth must be worked over as soon as it begins to dry that the moisture may be retained. If these directions are carefully carried out the tenderest plants may be transplanted in the hottest sun without injury. Occasionally a plant will wilt from exposure before planting, but it will be all right the next day—unless it was really injured before being placed in the ground. I repeat the caution to lift no more plants at one time than may be set in the ground before they wilt; to form a fine mulch of dry earth over the soil; to cover plants in no way, and to use no water on the surface for a few days until they have become established, which they will indicate by spreading out their leaves and making ready to grow. This method of planting should be followed in moving plants from one part of the garden to another, in resetting clumps of perennials, in bedding out house-plants and those received by mail. Where these last have had part or all of the soil removed it will greatly benefit them to set them in pots until these are filled with roots.

It is desirable that young plants should be kept growing vigorously all the time, and frequent shifting is necessary. Whenever the earth becomes full of roots, or the ball of earth is covered with a network of roots, the plant should be shifted into a pot a size larger.

“Shifting” means changing the plant to a pot a size larger without disturbing the ball of earth, while “repotting” properly means an entire renewal of the soil, the same sized crock being sometimes used. Shifting may be done at any time, even though the plant be in full bloom, while repotting should be done when the plant is dormant, as it is likely to cause the buds to blast and the foliage to droop. Plants less than a year old are better shifted than repotted—especially such as have neither bloomed nor shown any decided tendency to rest. After blooming and resting, if they are in as large a pot as you care to handle, they may be repotted in fresh soil, care being taken not to injure the roots, while dead roots should be removed with the shears. When a plant has outgrown its pot and it is inexpedient to give it a larger one—especially if it is not making a very vigorous top growth, part of the roots may be removed by running a knife down on two sides of the plant, which should not be disturbed afterward until the roots begin to grow anew, say, in three or four weeks, when it may be repotted with good rich soil.

SIFTING LOAM THROUGH A SIEVE

In shifting plants turn them out of the pot without disturbing the ball of earth. This may be done by placing the hand over the pot, reversing it and giving it a sharp tap on the edge of the table, which will loosen it. Sometimes, when a plant has become pot bound, it will stick to the sides of the pot, when a stick inserted in the drainage hole against the stone in the bottom will usually loosen it. Having removed the plant from the pot, take out the old drainage material carefully, place in a pot a size or two larger an inch or two of broken charcoal covered with a little sphagnum moss to prevent the earth working into the drainage and clogging it. Fill in as much earth as the difference in the size of pot seems to require, working it well up around the sides with the trowel; press the old pot into this to make a hole the proper size and shape; place the plant, press the earth around it, and add more if needed. Water well and return to its place on the shelf or in the sand-box.

In potting some plants will require to have the soil pressed much more firmly around the roots than others. Those which make a soft growth, such as Impatiens sultana, various Primulas, Cinerarias, and most tuberous plants, like Begonias and Gloxinias, may be potted rather loosely, that is, with the earth pressed down lightly. Geraniums should be potted much more firmly, while such hard-wooded plants as Roses, Hibiscus, Otaheite Orange and Fuchsias, should be potted very hard indeed. Many failures in plant growing may be traced to neglect of this rule.

Cuttings of common house-plants are so easily rooted that it seems almost superfluous to give directions for handling them. Geraniums, Petunias, Coleus, and the like will rarely fail to root if stuck in the ground by the side of the plant; they will do still better if placed in the sand-box. On the whole I prefer to set them in small pots of earth plunged in the sand-box and kept moist, as by this method they do not suffer the shock of disturbance when ready to pot off.

A word about the selection of cuttings will not be amiss, as failure to choose wisely often results in the loss of the cutting, or in a poor or straggly plant. Quick, tender growths are not suitable for cuttings, except in the case of the Chinese Hibiscus, where the extreme tips are used for rooting; hard or woody growths are equally undesirable. The part where the new wood begins to harden and will break with a snap is best. No cutting should be over two or three inches long. The little, stubby side branches on Geraniums are best, and as soon as growth begins these should be pinched back to within an inch of the ground, or to the lowest buds on the stalks; this insures a stocky plant, branching close to the ground. Heliotropes do not root readily and should be started in wet sand in full sunshine and covered with a glass, which should be lifted occasionally to allow the surplus moisture to pass off, or in a bottle of water hung in a sunny window. Rose cuttings are so easily and so quickly rooted in the sand-box that it seems a waste of time to try any other way. In cutting Roses for bouquets, during summer, one should be generous with stems, cutting down to a robust leaf-bud in the axil of a leaf. After the Roses have faded the stems may be used for cuttings, dividing them into as many lengths as the buds allow, leaving two or three buds to a cutting. By this method one may have a large number of young Rose plants with little trouble and no expense. Coleus cuttings are quickly rooted by putting them in a glass dish filled with water and set in a warm place. If in the fall it is desired to save choice varieties growing on the lawn, large cuttings may be taken of the finest plants. Grouped together in a bowl, they are sightly and root readily. As the plants begin to grow they are likely to lose their large leaves—the new growths starting at the axils of these push them off—injuring the appearance of the plant. They should be potted off as soon as possible, the tops pinched out, and the plant encouraged to grow vigorously. To this end a warm, even temperature is necessary, sudden chills being fatal.

Gloxinias may be started in the sand-box by laying a leaf flat on the sand, in partial shade, covering the stem end with the sand. A callus will soon form, followed presently by a bulb. This may be as large as a hazel-nut before top growth begins. When tiny leaves appear the plant may be lifted and potted and grown until it blooms. It is not necessary to rest Gloxinias—either from seeds or cuttings—before they have bloomed. Begonias and Achimenes are rooted in the same way. Umbrella-plants are started by placing face down in a dish of water in the sun. Rubber and any other hard-wooded plants may be rooted by making an incision in the under side of a branch near a leaf, at a point where the wood has begun to harden, and wrapping the wound in a quantity of sphagnum moss, kept constantly wet. A thread should be tied to the branch on the side farthest from the main stalk and attached to a limb above to hold the cut slightly open that it may quickly become calloused. After a time roots will make their appearance through the moss, when the branch may be removed and potted. A method sometimes employed, when it is desired to save the crown of a plant which has a leggy or unshapely undergrowth, is to partly sever the stem at the point at which it is desired to root the plant, cutting out a wedge-shaped piece and packing with sphagnum moss. Or a small flower-pot, divided in halves, may be fitted around the cut, the bottom of the pot resting on a lower limb or other support, and filled with earth or sand kept constantly moist.