Amateur Gardencraft Part 9

The Dahlia will be found one of our very best plants for use in the border where something is needed for a filler. It is very effective as a hedge, and can be used to great advantage to hide a fence. Single specimens are fine for prominent locations on the grounds about the house. In fact, it is a plant that can be made useful anywhere.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CACTUS DAHLIA]

In fall, when our early frosts come, it will be necessary to protect it on cool nights, as it is extremely tender. This can be easily done by setting some stout sticks about the plant and covering it with a sheet.

If tided over the frosty weather that usually comes for two or three nights about the middle of September, it will bloom profusely during the weeks of pleasant weather that almost always follow the early frosts, and then is when it will be enjoyed most.

When the frost has killed its stalks, it should be dug and got ready for winter. Lift the great ma.s.s of roots that will have grown from the little tuber planted at the beginning of the season, and do this without breaking them apart, if possible. Spread them out in the sun. At night cover with a blanket, and next day expose them to sunshine again. Do this for several days in succession until the soil that is lifted with them will crumble away easily. Exposure to sunshine has the effect of relieving them of a good deal of moisture which they contain in great quant.i.ty when first dug, and which ought to be got rid of, in a large degree, before they are stored in the cellar.

The tubers should never be placed on the cellar-bottom, because of the dampness that is generally found there. I spread mine out on shelves of wire netting, suspended four or five feet from the floor. If they show signs of mould I know they are too damp, and elevate the shelves still more, in order to get the tubers into a dryer stratum of air. If they seem to be shrivelling too much, I lower the shelves a little. Cellars differ so much that one can only tell where the right place is by experimenting. Watch your tubers carefully. A little neglect will often result in failure, as mould, once given a chance to secure a foothold, is rapid in its action, and your tubers may be beyond help before you discover that there is anything the matter with them. As soon as you find a mouldy root, throw it out. If left it will speedily communicate its disease to every plant with which it comes in contact. Some persons tell me that they succeed in wintering their Dahlia tubers best by packing them in boxes of perfectly dry sand. If this is done, be sure to elevate the box from the floor of the cellar.

Quite naturally persons have an idea that the best results will be secured by planting out the whole bunch of tubers, in spring. This is a mistake. One good tuber, with an "eye," or growing point, will make a much better plant than the whole bunch set out together.

To sum up the treatment I advise in the cultivation of the Dahlia:

Have the ground very rich.

Have it worked deeply.

Plant single tubers about the first of June.

Furnish a good support.

See that the ground is well supplied with moisture.

There has been a great change of opinion with regard to the Dahlia. We no longer confine ourselves to one type of it. The single varieties, which were despised of old, are now prime favorites--preferred by many to any other kind. The old very double "show" and "fancy" varieties are largely grown, but they share public favor with the "decoratives," the pompones, and the cactus, and, as I have said, the single forms. Which of these forms is most popular it would be hard to say. All of them have enthusiastic champions, and the best thing to do is to try them all.

"Show" Dahlias are those with large and very double flowers of a single color, and those in which the ground color is of a lighter shade than the edges or tips of the petals. The outer petals recurve, as the flower develops, until they meet at the stem, thus giving us a ball-like blossom.

"Fancy" Dahlias are those having striped petals, and those in which the ground color is darker than the edges or tips of the petals. This cla.s.s, as a rule, is very variable, and a plant will often have flowers showing but one color. Sometimes half the flower will be one color, half another.

The Pompone or Liliputian cla.s.s is a miniature edition of the show and fancy sorts, quite as rich in color and perfect in form as either, but of a dwarf habit of growth. This cla.s.s is well adapted to bedding out in summer.

The Cactus Dahlia has long pointed or twisted petals. Most varieties are single, but some are semi-double. This is the cla.s.s that will be likely to find favor with those who admire the ragged j.a.panese Chrysanthemums.

Decorative Dahlias have broad, flat petals, somewhat loosely arranged, and much less formal than those of the show, fancy, or pompone sorts.

Their flowers seldom have more than two rows of petals, and are flat, showing a yellow disc at the centre. As a general thing they are produced on long stalk, a flower to a stalk. This makes them very useful for cutting. They are the most graceful members of the entire Dahlia family, allowing me to be judge.

The single type has but one row of petals. Plants of this cla.s.s are very strong growers, and can be used to advantage in the back rows of the border.

No flower in cultivation to-day has a wider range of color than the Dahlia, and nearly all the colors represented in it are wonderfully rich in tone. From the purest white to the richest crimson, the deepest scarlet, delicate pink and carmine, rich yellow, dark purple, orange and palest primrose,--surely all tastes can find something to please them.

THE GLADIOLUS

One of the most popular flowers of the day is the Gladiolus. All things considered, it is our best summer bloomer. Nothing in the floral world exceeds it in variety and range of color. This color is in some varieties dark and rich in scarlets, crimsons, and purples, in others dainty and delicate in pink, pearly flesh, almost pure white, and softest rose, while the midway sorts are in brilliant carmines, cherry-reds, lilacs, and intermediate tones too numerous to mention.

Nearly all varieties show most magnificent combinations of color that baffle description. Comparatively few varieties are one color throughout.

Most plants in which such a bewildering variety of color is found have a tendency to coa.r.s.eness, but this objection cannot be urged against the Gladiolus. It has all the delicacy of the Orchid. Its habit of growth fits it admirably for use in the border. Its ease of cultivation makes it a favorite with the amateur who has only a limited amount of time to spend among the flowers. It is a plant that any one can grow, and it is a plant that will grow almost anywhere. It is one of the few plants that seem almost able to take care of themselves. Beyond putting the corms in the ground, in spring, and an occasional weeding as the plant develops, very little attention is required.

To secure the best effect from it, the Gladiolus should be planted in ma.s.ses. Single specimens are far less satisfactory. One must see fifty or a hundred plants in a bed ten or fifteen feet long to fully appreciate what it is capable of doing.

The time to plant it is in May, after the soil has become warm. Nothing is gained by earlier planting.

The bed should be spaded to the depth of a foot, at least. Then the soil should be worked over until it is fine and light. A liberal quant.i.ty of some good fertilizer should be added to it. Commercial fertilizers seem to suit it well, but the use of barnyard manure gives excellent results, and I would prefer it, if obtainable.

The corms should be put about four inches below the surface, care being exercised at the time of planting to see that they are right side up.

It is often difficult to decide this matter before sprouting begins, but a little careful examination of the corm will soon enable you to tell where the sprouts will start from, and this will prevent you from getting it wrong-side up. As soon as the plants send up a stalk, some provision should be made for future support. If you prefer to stake the beds, set the stakes in rows about two feet apart. Wire or cord need not be stretched on them until the stalks are half grown. The reason for setting the stakes early in the season is--you know just where the corm is then, but later on you will not be able to tell where the new corms are, and in setting the stakes at random you are quite likely to injure them. When you apply the cord or wire to the stakes, run it lengthwise of the bed, and then across it in order to furnish a sufficient support without obliging the stalks to lean from the perpendicular to get the benefit of it.

For several seasons past, I have made use of a coa.r.s.e-meshed wire netting, placed over the bed, and fastened to stakes about eighteen inches high. The stalks find no difficulty in making their way through the large meshes of the netting, and with a support of this kind they dispose themselves in a natural manner that is far more satisfactory than tying them to stakes, as we often see done. Some kind of a support must be given if we would guard against injury caused by strong winds.

When the flower-stalk is once prostrated it is a difficult matter to get it back in place without breaking it.

If netting is used it need not be placed over the bed before the middle of July. By that time most of the weeds which require attention during the early part of the season will have been disposed of. Putting on the netting at an earlier period would greatly interfere with the proper cultivation of the bed. The soil should be kept light and open until the flower-stalks begin to show their buds.

The flowering-period covers several weeks, beginning in August, and lasting all through September.

The Gladiolus is extremely effective for interior decorative work. It lasts for days after being cut. Indeed, if cut when the first flowers at the base of the spike open, it will continue to develop the buds above until all have become flowers, if the water in which the stalks are placed is changed daily, and a bit of the end of the stalk is cut off each time. For church use no flower excels it except the Lily, and that we can have for only a short time, and quite often not at all.

In late October the plants should be lifted, and spread out in the sunshine to ripen. Do not cut the stalks away until you are ready to store the corms. Then cut off each stalk about two inches from its junction with the corm. When the roots seem well dried out, put them in paper bags containing perfectly dry sawdust or buckwheat sh.e.l.ls, and hang them in a dry place where the frost will not get at them. I would not advise storing them in the cellar, as they generally mould or mildew there.

Most varieties increase quite rapidly. You will find several new corms in fall, taking the place of the old one planted in spring. Often there will be scores of little fellows the size of a pea, cl.u.s.tered about the larger corms. These should be saved, and planted out next spring. Sow them close together in rows, as you would wheat. The following year they will bloom.

So extensively is the Gladiolus grown at the present time that enough to fill a good-sized bed can be bought for a small sum. And in no other way can you invest a little money and be sure of such generous returns. What the Geranium is to the window-garden that the Gladiolus is to the outdoor garden, and one is of as easy culture as the other.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A GARDEN GLIMPSE]

Some of the choicest varieties are sold at a high price. One reason for this is--the finest varieties are slow to increase, and it takes a long time to get much of a stock together. This is why they are so rare, and so expensive. But many of them are well worth all that is asked for them.

You may have a mixed collection of a thousand plants and fail to find a worthless variety among them. Indeed, some of the very finest flowers I have ever had have been grown from collections that cost so little that one hardly expected to find anything but the commonest flowers among them.

LILIES

The Rose, like the Lily, is a general favorite. It has more than once disputed the claim of its rival to the t.i.tle of Queen of Flowers, and though it has never succeeded in taking the place of the latter in the estimation of the average flower-lover, it occupies a position in the floral world that no other flower dare aspire to.

This plant does well only in soils that have the best of drainage.

Water, if allowed to stand about its roots in spring, will soon be the death of it.

Therefore, in planting it be sure to choose a location that is naturally well drained, or provide artificial drainage that will make up for the lack of natural drainage. This is an item you cannot afford to overlook if you want to grow the finest varieties of Lilies in your garden. Some of our native Lilies grow on low lands, and do well there, but none of the choicer kinds would long survive under such conditions. The probabilities are that if we planted them there we would never see anything more of them.

The ideal soil for the Lily seems to be a fine loam. I have grown good ones, however, in a soil containing considerable clay and gravel. This was on a sidehill where drainage was perfect. Had the location been lower, or a level one, very likely the plants would not have done so well.

The bulbs should be put into the ground as early in September as possible.