The Garden, You, and I

by Mabel Osgood Wright

Name	Tender or Hardy	Colour	Height	Season	Remarks
Aquilegia—Columbine	H.P.*		3 ft.	June	Columbines are among the most graceful and easily raised of hardy plants. They will thrive in open borders, but do better in partial shade, after the habit of our local species, the "Red Bells" of hillsides and rocky wood.
Chrysantha		Golden yellow
Cœrulea		Rich Blue
Glandulosa vera		Blue and white
Canterbury-Bell	H.B.**		2 ft.	June	Old-fashioned plants of decorative value. As with all biennials, the plant dies soon after maturing seed; a new sowing should be made each spring and seedlings transplanted as soon as the old plant dies; this secures strong growth before winter.
Campanula media		Blue, white, pink
Chimney Bell-Flower Campanula pyramadalis	H.P.	Blue	3-4 ft.	Aug. to Oct.	Desirable because of of its late blooming combined with its striking appearance. Should be planted in connection with the tall white hardy phlox.
Coreopsis lanceolata	H.P.	Yellow	1-2 ft.	Summer	A sturdy plant either for massing or as a border to sunny shrubberies. Flowers carried on long stems suitable for cutting.
Candytuft—Iberis	H.P.		1 ft.	Summer	When transplanted from seed bed, plants should be set eight inches apart to make the best effect, given room, they make fine compact bushes. The foliage is evergreen.
Sempervirens		White
Delphinium—Larkspur	H.P. Flowering first year	Blue, all shades	3-7 ft.	June, July, and Oct.	Our most satisfactory blue flower, but like all of this colour should have a setting of white. If plants are cut down to the ground as soon as the blossoms fade, they will give a second crop in October.
D. Grandiflorum Chinensis		White and blue	1-2 ft.	Summer	These flowers have a peculiar brilliancy, and if set in a bed edged by sweet alyssum, are very satisfactory.
Siberian Larkspur
Dianthus plumarius	H.P.		1 ft.	May and June " "	There is nothing more suggestive of the old time gardens of sweet flowers than these fringed pinks. If once established in a well-drained spot, and not harassed, they will sow themselves and last for years. Her Majesty and Lord Lyon are new varieties, and as double as carnations.
Scotch Clove Pink Her Majesty Lord Lyon		Various White Pink
Dianthus Chinensis China Pink	H.P. first year	Var.	6 in.-1 ft.	Summer	Excellent for either bedding or edging. Have an apple fragrance.
Dianthus Heddewigii Japan Pink	H.P. first year	Var.	9 in.-1 ft.	Summer	These summer pinks are not grown in masses as freely as as they deserve. They bloom with all the profusion of annuals without their frailty. For a succession the seed should be sown every year, as the old plants bloom earliest and the new follow them.
Dianthus barbatus Sweet-William	H.P.	Var.	1 ft.	June	An old-time favourite with slightly fragrant blossoms that will keep a week in water when cut. A bed when once established will last a long time if a few of the finest heads of flowers are allowed to go to seed, as with many perennials the younger plants bloom more vigorously than the old.
Digitalis—Foxglove Variety gloxinoides	H.P.	White, pink, purple, light yellow	3 ft.	June	A dignified as well as a poetic flower if given its natural, half-wild surroundings. It will thrive best in partial shade if the soil be good. While if the stalks of seeds are saved and the contents scattered along wild walks or at the edge of woods, surprising results will follow.
Feverfew Chrysanthemum parthenium, double	H.P. first year	White	1-3 ft.	Summer	A very useful, double-flowered white composite, resembling a small chrysanthemum. It should be used freely as a setting for blue, pink, or magenta flowers.
Forget-Me-Not Myosotis alpestris Victoria	H.P.	Blue	1 ft.	Spring and autumn	Well-known flowers that do best in moist borders or places where they can be watered freely. If cut down after first flowering, will bloom again in autumn.
Gaillardia cristata Blanket Flower	H.P. first year	Yellow and red	1 ft.	Until frost	Brilliant and hardy plants for edging shrubbery or in separate beds. Sprawl too much for the mixed border.
Hollyhocks Double and single	H.P.	All colors	4-7 ft.	Summer	Of late years these decorative plants have suffered from a blight that turns the leaves yellow and soon spreads to the stalks. Use great care that the soil be new and well drained, sprinkle powdered sulphur and unslaked lime on surface and dig it in shortly before setting out the seedlings. Also spray young plants well with diluted Bordeaux mixture at intervals before the flowers show colour. A large bed should be given to this flower, with either a wall or hedge as a background, and they should be allowed to seed themselves from the best flowers. Thus a natural and artistic effect is produced unlike the stiff lines of tightly staked plants.
New Hybrid Hollyhock flowers first year from seed		All colors	4 ft.
Honesty Lunaria biennis	H.B.	White to lilac	2 ft.	June	The old English flower of colonial gardens. Should be massed. The silvery moons of its seed vessels make unusual winter bouquets.
Lupins Lupinus polyphyllus	H.P.	Rich blue	3 ft.	June	Good for planting before the white flowering June shrubs. Flowers borne erect upon long spikes. Very difficult to transplant unless the long root is kept intact.
Horsemint Monada didyma-Bee balm or Oswego tea Monada fistulosa	H.P.	Deep red	2-3 ft.	Summer	Sturdy and somewhat coarse plants, their square stems telling the kinship with the familiar mints. Of good decorative effect, should be used as a background in the bed of sweet odours, as especially after a rain they yield the garden a clean fragrance of tonic quality. The bergamot grows wild in many places and is easily transplanted.
Wild Bergamot	H.P.	Lavender	3-6 ft.	Summer
Primula English Field Primrose	H.P.	Primrose yellow	6 in.	May	The beautiful tufted primrose of the English poets. Grows in this country best on moist, grassy banks under high or in partial shade. It has, during the ten years that I have grown it, proved entirely hardy. The seed may be in the ground a year before germinating, but once established the plant cares for itself.
Primula Japonica mixed border	H.P.	Yellows and reds	6 in.-1 ft.	May	The border primrose so freely used in England but rarely seen in everyday gardens here, where I have found it perfectly hardy. Makes a border of rich colour for the May garden. Must be watered freely in hot, dry seasons.
Primula Officinalis Cowslip	H.P.	Yellow	1 ft.	May	The English cowslip, a charming garden flower, but more at home in nooks of grassy banks, like the primrose, or in the open.
Poppy { Iceland poppy { P. nudicale	H.P.	Yellow and white	1 ft.	Early Summer	Poppies are very difficult to transplant, owing to their long, sensitive roots, though it can be done. It is easier, therefore, to sow them thinly where they are to remain and weed them out.
P. orientale	H.P.	Dazzling scarlet	2-3 ft.	June	A gorgeous flower, subject to damping off if heavy rains come when it is in full bloom. Should be used to fill in between white shrubs, as its colour is impossible near any of the pink, purple, or magenta June flowers, and a single plant misplaced will ruin your garden.
Phlox P. paniculata	H.P.	In variety, crimson, purple, salmon, carmine, and white with colored eye	3-4 ft.	July-Oct. Miss Lingard in June	Offshoots of these hardy phloxes may be usually obtained by exchange from some friend, as they increase rapidly. But there is a charm in raising seedlings on the chance of growing a new species. These phloxes are the backbone of the hardy garden from July until frost, while Miss Lingard, a fine white variety, blooms in June to be a setting for the blue larkspurs.
Phlox subulata Moss Pink	H.P.	Pink and white	6 in.		The dwarf phlox that hides its foliage under sheets of pink or white bloom and makes the great mats of colour seen among rock work and on dry banks in parks and public gardens.
Pentstemon European varieties. Mixed	H.P.	Many rich colours	3 ft.	Summer	Very fine border plants, almost as decorative as foxgloves, showing tints of reds through pink, white, blue and white cream, etc.
Pansies in varieties	H.B. flowers first year	Many rich colours	1 ft.	April to Dec.	It is usual to sow pansies in frames during September and October, winter them under cover, and transplant to beds the following spring. If pansies (well soaked previously) are sown in the seed bed in late August or early September, they will be compact little plants by November, when they may be transplanted to their permanent bed or else covered where they stand, protected by leaves between the rows and a few evergreen boughs or a little salt hay over them. If an entire bed is set apart set apart for pansies and only the finest flowers allowed to seed, the bed will keep itself going for several years by merely thinning and adjusting the seedlings.
Day Primrose Œnothera fruticosa	H.P.	Golden yellow	1 ft.	Early summer	A day-flowering member of the evening-primrose family, resembling the golden sundrops of our June meadows. Very fragrant, and if once established, will sow itself.
Evening Primrose Œnothera biennis	H.B.	Yellow	3 ft.	All summer	The exquisitely scented silver-gold flower that unfurls at twilight to give a supper to the hawk moths, upon whom it depends for fertilization. Grows in dry soil and should be used in masses to fill in odd corners.
Violas Tufted Pansy-violets for bedding	H.P.	Purple, yellow, rose, mauve, white	6 in.	April to Oct.	A race of plants closely resembling pansies, that fill an important place in the gardens of Europe, but are as yet little known here, though they are as hardy as the primulas. As a border for shrubs or rose beds they are excellent, but when planted as a bed, should be in partial shade.

* : Hardy Perennial.
** : Hardy Biennial.

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SOME WORTHY ANNUALS

Name	Tender or Hardy	Colour	Height	Remarks
Aster Most reliable varieties— Truffants Victoria Queen Of Market (very early) Comet (quaint and artistic) Emperor Frederick (best white) Hohenzollern (new large flowers.)	H.A.	All shades of blues, purples, and pink up to deep blue, also white.	18 in.-2 ft.	Asters are the standby of the late summer and autumn garden, and for this reason it is better to sow them in the outdoor seed bed than to attempt forcing. They require light, rich soil, mixed with old manure, as fresh manure breeds many aster ills. Two enemies—lice at the root and black goldenrod beetles on the flowers—must be guarded against—the first by digging sulphur powder, unslaked lime, nitrate of soda, or wood ashes into the soil both before sowing the seed and again into the place where they are transplanted; the beetle must be dislodged by careful hand picking. Cover the seeds with half an inch of soil, and in transplanting set the plants from a foot to eighteen inches apart, according to variety.
Sweet Alyssum, Variety Maritimum	H.A.	White, fragrant	1 ft.	A cheerful little mustard-shaped flower borne in short, thick spikes, useful for edgings or to supply the white setting necessary to groups of party-coloured flowers.
Balsam Camellia flowered	T.A.	White, peach, carmine, lavender, rose, scarlet, spotted, and straw	18 in.	A rapid-growing, tender annual from India, and while rather stiff in form of growth, very decorative for the summer borders surrounding a sundial. The flowers, like compact, double roses, are very useful for set table decorations and may be used in many ways.
Calendula—Pot Marigold Calendula officinalis grandiflora Calendula Pongei. fl. pl.	H.A.	Yellow and orange White	1 ft.	Showy flowers for summer beds, not good for cutting, as they grow sleepy indoors and in cloudy weather.
Candytuft Iberis Coronaria Rocket Candytuft	H.A.	White, fine erect form	1 ft.	A sturdy white flower useful for edgings in the same way as sweet alyssum. May be sown in fall for early flowering.
Cornflower Centaurea Centaurea Margaritæ, fragrant Sweet Sultan	H.A.	White	1-2 ft.	One of the most satisfactory of the taller growing annuals, the flowers having some of the qualities of an everlasting, and making fine buttonhole flowers or house bouquets. The Sweet Sultans are delightfully fragrant, and the Cornflower one of the finest of our blue flowers. They should be sown in borders or large beds where they are to bloom and while the Sweet Sultans must be spring sown, the Cornflower if sown in October will bloom in May.
Suaveolens Moschata Cyanus—Emperor William (Rich blue cornflower)		Yellow Purple Deep blue
Cosmos Giant fancy	H.A.	White Pink Maroon	4-8 ft.	A beautiful autumn flower if they are on their best behaviour and bloom on time, but like the little girl with the curl—when they are bad, they are horrid.—They take a great deal of room during a long season which can be often used to better advantage—planted with asters.
Dahlia Single and cactus, mixed varieties	H.H.P.	Various	3-6 ft.	If sown either indoors or in a frame, these Dahlias may be as cheaply raised as any common annual—with the chance of growing many beautiful and new varieties. The roots may be stored in sand in the cellar during winter like other bulbs. I class this seed with annuals from the fact that it must be sown in spring and cannot be left over winter in the hardy bed though it is a half hardy perennial.
Gaillardia, called Blanket Flower from its habit of covering the ground with bloom Gaillardia, picta Lorenziania	H.A.	Red and yellow	1 ft.	Fine daisy-shaped flower for colour-masses or picking. May be sown in in the borders after bulbs have died away, and will and will bloom until hard frost.
Ipomæa	T.A.		10-15 ft.	Our most beautiful annual vines. The common morning glories should be kept from seeding in flower or vegetable gardens, because before you know it the strong tendrils will have twined about vegetables and flowers alike and strangled them.
Ipomæa Ipomæa, Mexicana grandiflora alba—Large white moonflower	T.A.	Satiny white	15 ft.	An early variety of the of the popular moonflower.
Ipomæa, Northern Light	T.A.	Pinkish heliotrope	15 ft.
Imperial Japanese morning-glories	T.A.	White, rose, crimson, all shades of purple	30-40 ft.	One of the most artistic flowers of the modern garden, the seed must be must be sown early, preferably in a hotbed, and extra precautions taken to insure its germination, as the coverings are exceedingly hard. It is best to soak them over night in several changes of warm water or else very carefully notch the shell of the seed with a knife. This last performance is rather risky, if the knife slip ever so little, and it is best to trust to the soaking. For those who are in the country only from June to October and have little room for vines, these morning-glories will prove a new experience, for in flower and leaf they present an infinite variety of shape and marking. The flowers are both self-coloured as well as marbled, spotted, striped, margined, and fringed.
Mignonette	H.A.		1-2 ft.	These three species of mignonette I have found perfectly satisfactory. If quantity is desired rather than quality, the seed may be sown thinly where it is to remain. But for specimen stalks to come up to catalogue descriptions, each plant must have individual treatment, like the asters.
Miles Spiral Giant Pyramidal Parson's White		Green and white Green, deep White and buff	18 in. 9 in.
Nasturtiums Tall Make your own mixture by buying the twenty named colours offered and blending them.	H.A.	All shades of reds and yellows, chocolate, pink, and salmon		A showy climbing or trailing plant, useful for outdoor decorations and the clean-smelling flowers being equally valuable for table decorations. Should be either planted on a bank, wall, or in front of a fence, stone or otherwise. If stone, a thick support of peabrush should be given, set slantwise toward the wall. Be careful not to place nasturtiums where you will look over them toward beds containing pink or magenta flowers or where they will form a background for the same, as in spite of some beautiful tints of straw-colour and maroon, the general nasturtium colour is dazzling, uncompromising vermilion-orange.
Phlox Drummondii Best colours in tall flowering class	H.A.		1-1/2 ft.	A thoroughly satisfactory flower for the summer garden, whether sown broadcast to cover beds left empty by spring bulbs or sown in a seed bed and transplanted eight inches to a foot apart, when if the dead flowers are kept well picked off, they will make sturdy, compact bushes.
Alba Coccinea Isabellina Rosea Stella Splendens Atropurpurea		White Scarlet Light yellow Pink Crimson Purple
Drummond Phlox Snowball Chamois Rose Fireball Surprise		White Pink Flame Scarlet edged with white	6-8 ft.	The dwarf varieties make charming edges for hardy rose beds or shrubberies.
Poppies Shirley, the most satisfactory of poppies for outdoor decoration or cutting	H.A.	All shades pinks and reds	1 ft.-18 in.	Poppies are gorgeous flowers, but in our changeable climate, as a class, are too short-lived to pay their way, except in summer gardens where a brief period of bloom suffices, or in a garden so large that there need be no economy of space. Shirley is sown in May and again in August for spring flowering. Even under adverse conditions the Shirley is always dainty and never makes a disagreeable, soppy exhibition after a rainy period like the carnation and peony flowered varieties.
Portulaca Buy the separate colours and mix them yourself, as in the commercial mixtures both scarlet and pink appear in tints that set the teeth on edge	T.A.	Red, white, pink, crimson, yellow	6-8 in.	A most useful "filler" for sunny nooks,—rockwork,— for covering bulb beds, and concealing mishaps and disappointments. Its fat, uninteresting foliage, that makes mats a foot broad and proclaims it first cousin to "pusley," is covered during bright sunshine by a wealth of gay flowers two inches across and of satiny texture. Heat, and plenty of it, is what Portulaca craves, backyards agree with it, also dry banks, and even seashore sand if there is a foothold of loam beneath.
Salvia Splendens—Flowering Sage Bonfire	H.A.	Intense flame	2-2½ ft.	The familiar flower that sends up its spikes of flame from August until frost—should be sown in seed beds and set out from one to two feet apart. Watch out and do not put your salvia where it will come in competition with the crimson-hued hardy phlox tribe. Scarlet geraniums and the crimson rambler rose in conjunction are not more painful.
Sweet Peas, twelve good colours	H.A.	Various	6 ft.	If sweet peas are to be grown in any quantity, they should be sown after the manner of tall garden peas and the colours kept separate. This is a great aid both to their gathering and artistic arrangement.
Apple blossom Black knight Boreatton Coquette Crown jewel		Pink Maroon Deep Crimson Primrose Cream, violet veins
Duke of Clarence Firefly Gorgeous Mrs. Kenyon (very large) King Edward VII Mrs. Dugdale Navy blue Primrose Senator		Claret Dazzling scarlet Orange and rose Primrose-yellow Very fine crimson Best rose-pink Rich dark blue Light yellow White, purple, and maroon striped
Mont Blanc, very early Stella Morse		White Primrose flushed with pink	2 ft.
Sunflowers Henry Wilde Primrose-coloured Cucumerifolius hybridus fl. pl., a fine mixture of new varieties, decorative and good for cutting	H.A.	All shades of yellow	4-8 ft.	Cheerful flowers to line up against fences or at the back of shrubberies, whose seeds, if left to ripen, will secure the company of many birds for your garden through the autumn and early winter.
Single Russian (The Henyard Sunflower), large head heavy with seeds			8 ft.
Verbena Defiance, scarlet bedder Candidissima Auriculæflora, various, with white eye	H.A.		1-1/2 ft.	The best summer-bedding plant that is raised from seed, which must be well soaked before sowing. The mammoth varieties are the most satisfactory, and among them are to be found shaded tints of rose and lavender that have decided perfume.
Mammoth, mixed, large flowers, often fragrant, of many beautiful colours.		Red, white, blue, purple, crimson, pink, striped
Wallflower Paris single annual	H.A.	Gold and brown	1-1/2 ft.	While the most beautiful species of wallflowers are in this climate so tender that they must be wintered in pits or cold frames, this single species, if sown in spring and transplanted, will bloom until Christmas. It is one of the most valuable and characteristic plants of the bed of sweet odours and can be used to fill odd nooks, against stone walls, or the foundation of buildings.
Zinnia (Crabbed age and Youth) Salmon Snowball Sulphur Golden Fireball Rose	H.A.		1-16 in.	Bedding annual, of brilliant colours and vigorous growth. If room is lacking, the dwarf varieties are best unless the soil is very poor. It is best to buy the seed in separate colours, and when transplanting from the seed bed, combine as required. Avoid the purple and magenta shades, they are quite impossible.