The Flower Garden

by Ida D. Bennett

I have grown the Salvia splendens—the usual height of which is about two and a half feet—to a uniform height of five feet in a bed of marsh earth, with a supply of water from a pipe, keeping it constantly moist. They will do well in the hottest situation if well supplied with water, and even better in partial shade—the foliage being a deeper green and the colour of the blossoms richer and more velvety than when exposed to full sunlight. For years I have grown them around a twelve-foot bed of Ricinus and Cannas, and notice that the plants are always much finer on the north side.

Try them as a border to a bed of Cannas or Ricinus, edging them with white Sweet Alyssum or dwarf Ageratum. They root readily in wet sand in a warm situation, and if a house-plant is available it may be used for cuttings instead of sowing seed.

Seed may be saved without injury to the plants as it ripens, and must be gathered before the flowers entirely fade. The corolla or lip of the flower falls out, leaving four white seeds an eighth of an inch long at the base of the calyx, which remains fresh until the seeds have ripened, when they may be shaken out. By going over the plants daily one soon saves a fine lot of seed, which may be depended upon to germinate. The Salvia seed germinates in about five days. But less vigorous seed will continue to appear for two or three weeks after sowing, and the soil should not be disturbed until all have had time to appear. They require considerable heat to germinate freely, and when this is supplied will give very satisfactory returns. Bonfire, Clara Bedman, and S. splendens are the best of the scarlet-flowered variety. The white-flowered Salvias would be desirable if the blossoms were more closely massed on the spray; as it is they are too scattered to have any value. S. patens, however, when brought to perfection is magnificent, the individual flowers being double the size of the scarlet and of the most wonderful shade of blue. It is seldom seen, but should have a place in every garden, as it is a colour rare among flowers, the nearest approach to it being the Monkshood. It is a tender perennial, but may be wintered in a warm, dry cellar, dying down to the ground usually, but starting up from the root in the spring.

Sweet Alyssum and Golden Saxatile are both desirable for edging or for rockwork, and may either be sown in the open ground where they are to remain, or in a seed-bed and transplanted.

Sweet-peas

So much has been written on this subject that the culture of Sweet-peas might, without much exaggeration, be called a cult. Though blooming with its head in the sun, the Sweet-pea loves to plunge its roots deep in the cool, moist earth, and the seed should be planted as early in the spring as the ground can be worked, or, better yet, in the fall. This late fall planting has much to recommend it, as there is more leisure and the work is apt to be better done than in the hurried days of spring when everything seems to call for immediate attention.

The seed should be planted deep in two rows a foot apart, running, if possible, north and south, that the plants may receive the maximum amount of sunshine. Placed in this way, they receive both morning and afternoon sun. A strip of wire netting five feet high should be stretched between the rows and securely fastened to stout posts driven into the ground. Six-foot netting is even better than five, as the Sweet-pea loves to climb, and blooms better if not thwarted. Dig on each side of the netting, as close as may be without breaking the space between, a trench a foot or eighteen inches deep and as wide as is necessary to work conveniently. Place in the bottom about six inches, when trodden down, of old, well-rotted cow manure, fill in about six inches of the removed soil, making it fine and mellow; sow the seed and cover with two or three inches of soil and press firmly down. If planted in the fall protect with several inches of rough manure, removing it in the spring that the soil may get the benefit of the sun’s warmth. When the plants are two or three inches high thin to six inches apart in the rows, and draw up part of the soil removed from the trench. Add more as the plants grow until it is all banked up against them, leaving a slight trench between the ridges and the surface of the ground.

The wire should come close to the ground that the plants may have support from the start. Do not water until necessary, then sufficient water should be poured into the trench to thoroughly soak the ground at the bottom of the roots, but do not turn it on the foliage or stems. Thorough and frequent cultivation should be given during the blooming season. Should it become necessary to shower the foliage during dusty weather it would better be done early in the morning or sufficiently early in the evening to allow the foliage to dry before the chill of night. This guards against the blight and mildew, so prevalent in Sweet-pea culture.

When for any reason it is not convenient to cultivate frequently, a mulch of lawn clippings will keep the ground about the vines cool and moist. To insure freedom of bloom all faded flowers should be removed each day. If the flowers are cut as fast as they open the quality will be improved. Under no circumstances should seed be allowed to form, as the ripening of the seed is fatal to the flowers.

There is such a bewildering variety of Sweet-peas that any suggestion of choice is impossible, but usually the special collections put up by seedsmen will prove more satisfactory than those of one’s own choosing, if one is unfamiliar with the names of the varieties.