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EVERY LADY ic
ADDRESSED TQ THE
INDUSTRIOUS AND ECONOMICAL.
CONTAINING
SIMPLE AND PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS
FOR
CULTIVATING PLANTS AND FLOWERS
IN THE GARDEN AND IN ROOMS.
a % ee
_. ~° BY LOUISA JOHNSON.
“ m 9 J
Revised from the Fourteenth Lona Fidition, and Adapted to the
USE OF AMERICAN LADIES.
NEW YORK:
C. M. SAXTON, BARKER & CO., 25 PARK ROW.
SAN FRANCISCO: H. H. BANCROFT & CO.
1860, Se
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| UPIBOWER\ GARDENER ~
{ wave been induced to compile this little work from hearing many of my
companions regret that no single book contained a sufficiently condensed ang
general account of the business of a Flower Garden. “ We require,” they
said, “a work in a small compass, which will enable us to become our own
gardener; we wish to know how to set about everything owrse/ves, without
expense, without being deluged with Latin words and technical terms, and
without being obliged to pick our way through multiplied publications, re-
dolent of descriptions, and not always particularly lucid. We require a
practical work, telling us of useful flowers, simple modes of rearing them,
simply expressed, and free from lists of plants and roots which require ex-
pensive methods of preservation. Some of us have gardens, but we cannot
afford a gardener; we like flowers, but we cannot attempt to take more
than common pains to raise them. We require to know the hardiest flowers,
and to comprehend the general business of the garden, undisturbed by fear
of failure, and at the most economical scale of expense. Who will write us
such a book ?”?
vi PREFACE.
I have endeavored to meet their views; and my plan of Floriculture may
be carried into effect by any lady who can command the services of an old
man, a woman, or a stout boy. In the present Edition, the publishers have
added a paper on Winpow GarpDeENING, written by Mr. M’Intosh—and
another on Domestic GREENHOUSES, an apparatus by which a small collec-
tion of exotics may be given in great perfection, and by a process which
any lady may superintend with much gratification. In every other respect
the work is the result of my own experience, and I dedicate it to all of wy
own sex who delight in flowers, and yet cannot allow themselves te enter
isto great expense in their cultivation.
LOUISA IOHNSUN.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I,
INTRODUCTION.
Pleasures of Gardening—How conducive to health—EKarly taste for
Gardening in England—Pleasure-gardens at [Theobaids—Garden-
Ral aN ANT ck OS ac a. 5 aa pice so tb o.guale Ww a.ehd arardein sia apace’
CHAPTER II.
GENERAI REMARKS.
Situation for a Flower-garden—On improving the Soil—Aspect and
choice of Flowers— Monthly Roses—Rustic Stages—Garden Tools
and Working Dress—India-rubber Shoes indispensable ..........
CHAPTER III.
LAYING OUT.
Arrangement of Plants—Root-houses—A nnuals—Biennials—Perennials
—Planting out Beds—Amelioration of Soils—Monthly Lists of
Flowers—Destructive habits of Hares and Rabbits—Snails, Ear-
wigs, Mildew and Blight—Neatness and order indispensable ina
well-kept Garden—Spring Plants—List of Perennials..... paahine
‘4 .
CHAPTER IV.
BULBS AND PERENNIALS.
lransplanting Bulbs—Advantage of Salt Manures—Best arrangement
for choice Bulbs—Select Lists—Fibrous-rooted Flowers-—Biennials
—Their Propagation—Protection necessary....sseesseeee eee
CHAPTER V
ANNUALS,
Sowing and gathering Seed—Training and trimming Plants—List of
MPMNMNELNU RL ee asi nia sh 10G. 8 ae Ininl'e/ ciate erases ulm 9) ba S winis: ines sia o"ave) # vig erate wiaralnte
1a
18
36
54
vill CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
ROSES AND JASMINES.
Poetry of Flowers--Varieties of Roses—Pyramids—Climbing Varieties
Insects injurious to the Rose—List of Roses—Luxuriant appearance
of the Jasmine—Devices for displaying its beauty ..+-..eeseeees
CHAPTER VII.
SHRUBS AND EVERGREENS.
On Planting—Distance between each—Various modes of Propagating—
List of best Garden Sorts—Pruning......sceceecccscessccceces
CHAPTER VIII.
ON HOUSE AND WINDOW GARDENING.
Plants proper for Window Culture—Treatment of House Plants—Mode
of Supply—Bulbs in Glasses—Nosegays and cut Flowers—Diseases
of Plants...cccsssesccccecces aid aleidinnspuia sin ialetl so mayan neg Gye tages
CHAPTER IX.
DOMESTIC GREENHOUSES.
form of Apparatus—Preparing the Soil—Draining—Principles c¢ the
Invention—Situation of Plants eeeeceeereereseone eeeeeo eeeestceee
CHAPTER X.
MONTHLY NOTICES.
63
69
76
Recapitulation of Work to be done in each Month ..-ceeceree cee + 102
)
LADIES #LOWER GARDENEK.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
=a) has been well remarked that a garden affords the purest of
human pleasures. The study of Nature is interesting in all
€) her manifold combinations: in her wildest attitudes, and in
her artful graces. The mind is amused, charmed, and astonished
in turn, with contemplating her inexhaustible display; and we wor-
ship the God who created such pure and simple blessings for his -
creatures. These blessings are open to all degrees and conditious
of men. Nature is not a boon bestowed upon the high-born, or
purchased by the wealthy at a kingly price. The poor, the blind,
the halt, and the diseased, enjoy her beauty, and derive benert
from her study. Every cottager enjoys the little garden which
furnishes his table with comforts, and his mind with orateful feel-
ings, if that mind is susceptible of religious impressions. He
contemplates the gracious Providence which has bestowed such
means of enjoyment upon him, as the Father whose all-seeing
eye provides for the lowliest of his children ; and who has placed
the “ purest of human pleasures ” within the reach of all whe are
not too blind to behold his mercy. With this blessed view before
his mental sight, the cottager cultivates his little homestead. The
flowers and fruits of the earth bud, bloom, and decay in their
season; byt Nature again performs her deputed mission, and
1*
10 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
spring succeeds the dreary winter with renewed beauty and two- —
fold increase. Health accompanies simple and natural pleasures.
The culture of the ground affords a vast and interminable field of
observation, in which the mind ranges with singular pleasure,
though the body travels not. It surrounds home witn an un-
ceasing interest; domestic scenes become endeared to the eye
and mind; worldly cares recede; and we may truly say—
“ For us kind Nature wakes her genial power,
Suckles each herb, and spreads out every flower!
Annual for us, the grape, the rose, renew
The juice nectarious, and the balmy dew:
For us, the mine a thousand treasures brings;
For us, health gushes from a thousand springs.”
Eth. ep. 1. ver. 129.
The taste for gardening in England began to display itself in
the reign of Edward IJI., in whose time the first work on the
subject was composed by Walter de Henly. Flower-gardening
followed slowly in its train. The learned Linacre, who died in
1524, introduced the damask rose from Italy into England. King
James I. of Scotland, when a prisoner in Windsor Castle, thus
describes its “most faire”? garden :—
“Now was there maide fast by the towris wall,
A garden faire, and in the corneris set
An herbere green, with wandis eng and small
Railit about, and so with treeis set
Was all the place, and hawthorn hedges knet,
That lyfe was now, walking, there forbye, e
That might within scarce any wight espie,
So thick the bowis and the leves grene
Bercandit all, the alleyes all that there were;
And myddis every herbere might be sene
The scharpe grene swete junipere
Growing so fair, with branches hére and there,
That, as it seymt to a lyfe without,
The bowis spred the herbere all about.”
The Quair.
Henry VIII. ordered the formation of his garden at Nonsuch
about the year 1509, and Leland says it was a “ Nonpareil.”
ud
\?
INTRODUCTION. ll
Hentyner assures us of its perfect beauty, describing one ol its
marble basins as being set round with “lilac trees, which trees
bear no fruit, but only a pleasant smell.”
The pleasure-gardens at Theobalds, the seat of Lord Burleigh,
were unique, acc)rding to the report of Lyson. In it were nine
knots exquisitely made, one of which was set forth in likeness of
the king’s arms. “One might walk two myle in the walks before
he came to an end.”
Queen Elizabeth was extremely fond of flowers, and her taste
ever influenced that of her court. Gilliflowers, carnations, tulips,
Provence and musk roses, were brought to England in her reign.
William III. loved a pleasaunce or pleasure-garden; but he
introduced the Dutch fashion of laying them out, which is still
horrible in our eyes. His Queen superintended in person all her
arrangements in the flower-garden,—an amusement particularly
delightful to her. In those days, “ knottes and mazes” were no
longer the pride of a parterre, with a due allowance of “ pleasant
and fair fishponds.”
Queen Anne remodeled the gardens at Kensington, and did
away with the Dutch inventions. Hampton Court was also laid
out in a more perfect state in her reign, under the direction of
Wise.
Since that period, flower-gardening has progressed rapidly ;
and the amusement of floriculture has become the dominant pas-
sion of the ladies of Great Britain. It is a passion most blessed
in its effects, considered as an amusement or a benefit. Nothing
humanizes and adorns .the female mind more surely than a taste
_ for omamental gardening. It compels the reason to act, and the
judgment to observe; it is favorable to meditation of the most
serious kind ; it exercises the fancy in harmless and elegant occu-
pation, and braces the system by its healthful tendency. GENERAL REMARKS.
>)’ the laying out of a garden, the soil and situation must be
considered as much as the nature of the ground will admit.
Let no lady, however, despair of being able to raise fine flow-
ers upon any soil, providing the sun is not too much excluded, for
the rays of the sun are the vital principle of existence to all vege-
tation. The too powerful rays can be warded off by the arts of in-
vention, but we have yet no substitute for that glorious orb. Unless
its warm and forcing influence is allowed to extend over the surface
of the garden, all flowers wither, languish, and die. Sun and air
are the Jungs and heart of flowers. A lady will be rewarded for
hor trouble in making her parterre in the country; but in large
towns, under the influence of coal smoke, shade, and gloom, her
lot will be constant disappointment. She can only hope to keep
a few consumptive geraniums languishing through the summer
months, to die in October, and show the desolating view of rows
of pots containing blackened and dusty stems.
Many soils which are harsh or arid, are susceptible of improve-
ment by a little pains. Thus, a stiff élay, by digging well and
leaving it to become pulverized by the action of the frost, and
then mixing plenty of ashes with it, becomes a fine mould, which
I have ever found most excellent for all flowers of the hardier
kind. The black soil is the richest in itself, and requires no assist-
ance beyond changing it about a foot in depth every three years,
us a flower garden requires renewing, if a lady expects a succes-
14 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
sion of handsome flowers. The ground should be well dug the
latter end of September or October, or even in November, and if
the soil is not sufficiently fine, let it be dug over a second or third
time, and neatly raked with a very fine-toothed rake.
Stony ground requires riddling well, and great care must be
taken to keep it neat by picking up the little stones which con-
stantly force themselves to the surface after rains. Nothing is so
unbecoming as weeds and stones in parterres, where the eye seeks
flowers and neatness.
Almost every plant loves sand ; and if that can be procured, it
enriches and nourishes the soil, especially for bulbs, pinks, carna-
tions, auriculas, hyacinths, &c. Let it be mixed in the proportion
of a third part to the whole.
If the dead leaves are swept into a mound every autumn, and
the soap suds, brine, &c., of the house be thrown upon it, the
mass will quickly decompose, and become available the following
year. It makes an admirable compost for auriculas, &c., mixed
with garden or other mould. |
If the ground be a gravelly soil, the flower-garden should not
slope, for stony ground requires all the moisture you can give it,
while the sloping situation would increase the heat and dryness.
A moist earth, on the contrary, would be improved by being
sloped towards the east or west.
The south is not so proper for flowers, as a glaring sun withers
the tender flowers ; but the north must be carefully avoided, and
shut out by a laurel hedge, a wall, or any rural fence garnished
with hardy creepers, or monthly roses, which make a gay and
agreeable defense. Monthly roses are invaluable as auxiliaries of
all kinds. They will grow in any soil, and bloom through the
winter months, always giving a delicate fragrance, and smiling ~
even in the snow. Monthly roses will ever be the florist’s de.
light: they are the hardiest, most delicate-looking, and greenest-
GENERAL REMARKS. 15
leaved of garden productions ; they give no t:. uble, and speedily
form a beautiful screen against any offensive object. No flower
garden should exist without abundance of monthly roses,
It has often been a disputed point whether flower gardens
should be intersected with gravel walks or with grass_ plots.
This must be left entirely to the taste and means of the party
forming a garden. Lawn is as wet and melancholy in the winter
months, as it is beautiful and desirable in summer ; and it requires
great care and attention in mowing and rolling, and trimming
round the border. Gravel walks have this advantage: the first
trouble is the last. They will only require an old woman’s or a
child’s assistance in keeping them free from weeds; and a lady
has not the same fears of taking cold, or getting wet in her feet,
during the rains of autumn and spring.
Many females are unequal to the fatigue of bending down to
flowers, and particularly object to the stooping posture. In this
case, ingenuity alone is required to raise the flowers to a conve-
nient height; and, by so doing, to increase the beauty and _pic-
- turesyue appearance of the garden. Old barrels cut in half, tubs,
pails, d&c., neatly painted outside, or adorned with rural orna-
ments, and raised upon feet neatly carved, or mounds of earth,
stand in lieu of richer materials, such as vases, parapet walls, and
other expensive devices, which ornament the gardens of the
wealthy. I have seen these humble materials shaped into forms
as pleasing to the eye, and even more consonant to our damp
climate, than marble vases. » They never look green from time,
and are renewed at a very trifling expense. A few pounds of
nails, and the unbarked thinnings from fir plantations, are the
sole requisites towards forming any device which a tasteful fancy
can dictate ; and a little green paint adds beauty and durability
when the bark falls from the wood it protects. I have seen fir
balls nailed on to these forns in tasteful patterns; and creepers
16 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
being allowed to fall gracefully over the brims, give a remark.
ably pleasing and varied appearance to the parterre.
Where mould is not easily to be procured—as, for instance, in
towns—the tubs or receptacles may be half filled with any kind
of rubble, only space must be left to allow of two feet of fine
nould at the top, which is quite sufficient for bulbous roots,
reepers, &c. These receptacles have one powerful advantage
ever ground plots; they can be moved under sheds, or into out- ~
houses, during the heavy rains or frosts of winter; and thereby
enable a lady to preserve the more delicate flowers, which would -
deteriorate by constant exposure to inclement weather.
A lady requires peculiar tools for her light work. She should
possess & light spade; two rakes, one with very fine teeth, and
the other a size larger, for cleaning the walks when they are
raked, and for raking the larger stones from the garden borders.
A light garden fork is very necessary to také up bulbous or other
roots with, as the spade would wound and injure them, whereas
they pass safely through the interstices of the fork or prong. A
watering-pot is dispensable, and a hoe. Two trowels' are like-
wise necessary ; one should be a tolerable size, to transplant pe-
rennial and biennial flower roots; the other should be pointed
and small, to transplant the more delicate roots of anemones,
bulbs, d&e.
The pruning-knife must be always sharp, and, in shape, it
should bend a little inwards, to facilitate cutting away straggling
or dead shoots, branches, &c. The “avroncator,” lately so much
i request, is an admirable instrument; but it is expensive, anu
of most importance in shrubberies, where heavy branches are to
be cut away. The Sieur Louis d’Auxerre, who wrote a work
upon gardening in 1706, has a sketch of the avroncator of the
present day, which he designates as caterpillar shears.
A light pair of shears, kept always in good order, is necessar¥
GENERAL REMARRS. 17
to keep privet or laurel hedges properly clipped ; and a stout
deep basket must be deposited in the tool-shed, to contain the
weeds and clippings. ‘These are the only tools absolutely essen-
tial to a lady’s garden. JI have seen a great variety decorating
the wall of an amateur tool-house, but they must have been in-
tended for show, not for use. A real artiste, In whatever pro-
fession she may engage, will only encumber herself with essen-
tials. All else is superfluous.
I have reserved two especially necessary recommendations to the
last, being comforts independent of the tool-house. Every lady
should be furnished with a gardening apron, composed of stout
Holland, with ample pockets to contain her pruning- knife, a small
stout hammer, a ball of string, and a few nails and snippings of
cloth. Have nothing to do with scissors; they are excellent in
the work-room, but dangerous in a flower garden, as they wrench
and wound the stems of flowers. The knife cuts slanting,
which is the proper way of taking eff slips; and the knife is
sufficient for all the purposes of a flower garden, even for cutting
string. <
The second article which [ pronounce to be indispensable is a
pair of India rubber shoes, or the wooden high-heeled shoes
called “sabots” by the French. In these protections, a lady
may indulge her passion for flowers at all seasons, without risk
of rheumatism or chills, providing it does not actually rain or
snow: and the cheering influence of the fresh air, combined with
a favorite amusement, must ever operate beneficially on the "wind
and body in every season of the year.
18 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
CHAPTER III.
ON LAYING OUT.
=" AA are many modes of adorning a small piece of ground,
Ss so as to contain gay flowers and plants, and appear double its
real size. By covering every wall or palisade with monthly
roses and creepers of every kind, no space is lost, and unsightly ob-
jects even contribute to the general effect of a “Plaisaunce.” The
larger flowers, such as hollyhocks, sunflowers, &c., look to the
best advantage as a back ground, either planted in clumps, or
arranged singly. Scarlet lychnis, campanula, or any second-
sized flowers, may range themselves below, and so in graduated
order, till the eye reposes upon a foreground of pansies, auriculas,
polyanthuses, and innumerable humbler beauties. Thus all are
seen in their order, and present a mass of superb coloring to the
observer, none interfering with the other. The hollyhock does
not shroud the lowly pansy from displaying its bright tints of yel-
low and purple; neither can the sturdy and gaudy sunflower hide
the modest double violet or smartly clad anemone from observa-
tion. Each flower is by this mode of planting distinctly seen,
and each contributes its beauty and its scent, by receiving the
beams of the sun in equal proportions.
If the trunk of a tree stands tolerably free. from deep over-
shadowing branches, twine the creeping rose, the late honey-
suckle, or the everlasting pea round its stem, that every inch of
ground may become available. The tall naked stem of the
young ash looks well festooned with roses and honeysuckles
ON LAYING OUT. 1g
Wherever creeping flowering plants can live, let them adcrn every
nook and corner, stem, wall, and post; they are elegant in ap-
pearance, and many of them, particularly clematis, are delicious
in fragrant scent.
If flowers are planted in round or square plots, the same rule
applies in arranging them. The tallest must be placed in the
center, but I recommend a lady to banish sunflowers and _ holly:
hocks from her plots, and consign them to broad borders agains.
a wall, or in clumps of three and three, as a screen against the
north, or against any unsightly object. Their large roots draw
so much nourishment from the ground, that the lesser plants suf-
fer, and the soil becomes quickly exhausted. Like gluttons, they
should feed alone, or their companions will languish in starvation,,
and become impoverished. The wren cannot feed with the vul-
ture.
The south end or corner of a moderate flower garden should
be fixed upon for the erection of a root house, which is not an
expensive undertaking, and which forms a picturesque as well as
a most useful appendage to a lady’s parterre. Thinnings of
plantations, which are everywhere procured at a very moderate
charge, rudely shaped and nailed into any fancied form, may
supply all that is needful to the little inclosure ; and a thatch of
straw, rushes, or heather, will prove a sure defense to the roof
and back. ‘There, a lady may display her taste by the beauty of
the flowers which she may train through the rural frame-work.
There, the moss-rose, the jessamine, the honeysuckle, the convol-
vulus, and many other bright and beautiful flowers, may escape
and cluster around her, as she receives rest and shelter within
their graceful lattice-work. There, also, may be deposited the
implements of her vocation ; and during the severe weather, its
warm precincts will protect the finer kinds of carnations, piiks,
2 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
auriculds, d&c., which do not bear the heavy rains, or frosts of
lengthened duration, without injuring the plant.
Flowers are divided into three classes :—annuals, biennials,
and perennials.
Annuals are those flowers which are raised from seeds alone, in
the spring, and which die in the autumn. They are again divi-
ded into three classes :—the tender and more curious kinds; the
less tender or hardier kinds; and the hardiest and common kinds.
Biennials are those flowers which are produced by seed, bloom
the second year, and remain two years in perfection, after which
they gradually dwindle and die away.
Some sorts, however, of the biennials, afford a continuation of
plants by offsets, slips, and cuttings of the tops, and by layers
and pipings, so that, though the parent flower dies, the species
are perpetuated, particularly to continue curious double-flowered
kinds, as for instance, double rockets, by root offsets, and cuttings
of the young flower-stalks ; double wallflowers by slips of the
small top shoots ; double sweet-williams by layers and pipings ;
and carnations by layers.
Perennials are those flowers which continue many years, and
are propagated by root offsets, suckers, parting roots, d&e., as
will be more fully particularised under the head of Perennials.
It has been a debated point among florists whether plots or
baskets should be devoted each to a particular variety of flower,
or receive flowers of different kinds, flowering at separate seasons.
Thus, many ladies set apart one plot of ground for anemones only
—another plot receives only pansies, and so or. There is much
to be said on both sides the question. .
If a plot of ground is devoted to one variety of flower only,
you can give it the appropriate mould, and amuse your eye with
its expanse of bright coloring. Nothing is more beautiful than
a bed of pansies, or a bed of the bright and glowing scarlet ver-
——_
ON LAYING OUT. 2)
bina ; nothing can exceed the gay and flaunty ‘ints of a bed of
tulips, or the rich hues of the lilac and the white petunia.
Ay
LIST OF BULBOUS AND TUBEROUS-ROOTED FLOWERS.
Amaryllis, comprising the autumnal | Erythroniwm, Jens canis, or dog’s
yellow Narcissus
Spring ditto
Crocus vernus, or spring-flowering
crocus
Common yellow-
Large yellow
Yellow, with black stripes
White
White, with blue stripes
Blue, with white stripes
Deep blue
Light blue
White, with purple bottom
Scotch, or black and white striped
Cream-colored
Autumnal flowering Crocus, of the
following varieties :— .
True saffron crocus, with bluis:
flower, and golden stigma, which
is the saffron
Common autumnal crocus, with
deep blue flowers
With light blue flowers
Many-flowered
Snowdrop, the small spring flowering
Common single
Double
Leucojwm, or great summer snowdrop
Great summer snowdrop with an-
gular stalk: a foot high, and
two or three flowers in each
sheath
Taller great snowdrop, with many
flowers
Ornithogalum, or Star of Bethlehem
Great white pyramidal, with nar-
row leaves
White, with broadsword-shaped
leaves spreading on the ground
Yellow :
Pyrenean, with whitish green
flowers
Star of Naples, with hanging
flowers
Umbellated, producing its flowers
in umbels, or spreading dunches,
at the top of the stalk
Low ye low umbellated
tooth
Round-leaved, with red flowers
Same, with white flowers
The same, ye!low
Long narrow-leaved, with purple
and with white flowers
Grape hyacinth
Purple
Blue
White
Musk hyacinth
White
Ash-colored
Blue feathered hyacinth
Purple
Musky, or sweet-scented, with ful}
purple flowers
The same, with large purple and
yellow flowers
Great African Muscaria, with sul-
phur-colored flower
Fritillaria checkered tulip
Early purple, variegated, or check-
eredswith white
Black, checkered with yellow spots
Yellow, checkered with purple
Dark purple, with yellow spots,
and flowers growing in an um-
bel
Persian lily, with tall stalks, and
dark purple flowers growing in
a pyramid
Branching Persian lily
Corona Imperialis, crown imperial, a
species of Fritillaria »
Common red
Common yellow
Yellow-striped
Sulphur-colored
Large-flowering
Double of each variety
Crown upon crown, vr with two
whorls of flowers
Triple crown upon crown, or with
three tiers of flowers one above
another
Gold-striped leaved
Silver-striped leaved
42
Tulip, early dwarf tulip
Tall, or most common tulip
Early, yellow and red striped
White and red striped
White and purple striped
White and rose striped
Tall, or late-flowering, with white
bottoms, striped with brown
White bottoms, striped with violet
or black brown
White bottoms, striped with red
or vermilion :
Yellow bottoms, striped with dif-
ferent colors, called Bizarres
Double Tulip, yellow and red
White and red
Gladiolus, corn flag, or sword lily,
common, with sword-shaped
leaves, and a reddish purple
flower ranged on one side of the
stalk
The same, with white flowers
Italian with reddish flowers ranged
on both sides of the stalk
The same, with white flowers
. Great red of Byzantium
Narrow grassy-leaved, and a flesh-
colored flower, with channeled,
long, narrow, four-angled leaves,
LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
Persian, with branching stalk, anc
large double flowers of innumer-
able varieties, of which thee are
Very double flowers
Semi, or half double
(The double are most beautiful,
propagated by offsets)
Pancratium, sea daffodil
Common white sea Narcissus, with
many flowers in a sheath, and
tongue-shaped leaves
Sclavonian, with taller stems and
many white flowers, and sword-
shaped leaves
Broad-leaved American, with large
white flowers, eight or ten ina
sheath
Mexican, with two flowers
Ceylon, with one flower
Moly (Allium), species of garlic pro-
ducing flowers
Broad-leaved yellow
Great broad-leaved, with lily
flowers
Broad-leaved, with white flowers
in large round umbels
Smaller white umbellated
Purple
Rose-colored
and two bell-shaped flowers on | Fumaria bulbosa, or bulbous-rooted
the stalk
Great Indian
Anemone, wood anemone, with blue
flowers
White flowers
Red flowers
Double white
Garden Doyble Anemone, with crim-
son flowers
Purple
Red
Blue
White
Red and white striped
Red, white, and purple
Rose and white
Blue, striped with white
Ranunculus, Turkey with a single
stalk, and large double bloo:-
red flower
Yellow-flowered
fumitory
Greater purple
Hollow-rooted
American, with a forked flower
Narcissus, or daffodil, common double
yellow daffodil
Single yellow, with the middle cup
as long as the petals
White, witli yellow cups
Double, with several cups, one
within another
Common white narcissus, with
single flowers
Double white narcissus
Incomparable, or great nonsuch,
with double flowers
With single flowers
Hoop petticoat narcissus, or rushe
leaved daffodil, with the middle
cup larger than the petals, and
very broad at the bim
TUBEROUS-ROOTED FLOWERS.
Daffodil, with white reflexed pe-
tals, and golden cups
White daffodil, with purple cups
Polyanthus Narcissus, having many
small flowers on a stalk, from
the same sheath. Of this are
the following varieties :—
White, with white cups |
Yellow, with yellow cups |
White, with yellow cups
White, with orange cups |
White, with sulphur-colored cups |
Yellow, with orange cups |
Yellow, with sulphur-colored cups
With several intermediate varie-
ties
Autumnal narcissus
sguil, common single
Uarge single
Common double
Double, with large round roots
tiwm, the lily, common white lily
With spotted or striped flowers
With double flowers
With striped leaves
White lily, with hanging or pen-
dent flowers
Common orange lily, with large |
single flowers _
With double flowers
With striped leaves
Fiery, bulb-bearing lily, producing
bulbs at the joints of the stalks
Common narrow-leaved
Great broad-leaved
Many-flowered
Hoary
Martagen lily, sometimes called
Turk’s-cap, from the reflexed
position of their flower-leaves.
There are many varieties, and
which differ from the other sorts
of lilies in having the petals of
their flowers reflexed, or turned
backward. The varieties are—
Common red martagon, with very
narrow sparsed leaves, or such
|
|
~_
48
Double white
White spotted
Scarlet, with broad sparsed leaves
Bright red, many-flowered, or pom
pony, with short, grassy, sparsea
leaves
Reddish hairy martagon, with
leaves growing in whorls round
the stalk
Great yellow, with pyramidal
flowers, spotted
Purple, with dark spots, and broad
leaves in whorls round the stalk,
or most common Turk’s-cap
White spotted Turk’s-cap
Canada martagon, with yellowish
large flowers spotted, and leaves
in whorls
Campscatense martagon,
erect bell-shaped flowers
Philadelphia martagon, with two
erect bright purple flowers
Squills, sea onion, or lily hyacinth,
common lily hyacinth, with a
lily root and blue flower
Peruvian, or broad-leaved hyacinth
of Peru, with blue flowers
With white flowers
Early white starry hyacinth
Blue
Autumnal starry hyacinth
Larger starry blue hyacinth of By-
zantium
Purple star-flower of Peru
Italian blue-spiked star-flower
Asphodel lily, African blue, with a
tuberous root
Tuberose, or Indian tuberous hyacinth.
It produces a small stem three
or four feet high, adorned with
many white flowers of great fra-
grance.
The varieties are,—
Fine double tuberose
Single tuberose
Small-flowered
Striped-leaved
with
ra
as grow without order all over | [ris bulbosa, or bulbous Iris, Persian
the flowex-stalk
Double martagon
hite
with three erect blue petals
called standards, and three re-
flexed petals called falls, which
44
ar= variegated, called Persian
bulbous iris, with a variegated
flower
Common narrow-leaved bulbous
iris, with a blue flower
White
Yellow
Blue, with white falls ,
Blue, with yellow falls
Greater broad-leaved bulbous iris,
with a deep blue flower
Bright purple
Deep purple
Variegated
Great, with broad and almost plain
or flat leaves, with blue flowers |
Purple
Of the above there are many in- |
termediate varieties
Hyacinth, eastern, with large flowers.
Of these there are many varie-
ties, and of which there are in- |
numerable intermediate shades |
or tints of color
Of double sorts there are,—
Blues
Purple blues
Agatha blues
Whites
Whites, with yellow eyes
Whites, with red eyes
Whites, with violet or purple
eyes
Whites, with rose-colored eyes
Whites, with scarlet eyes
Reds
Incarnate, flesh or rose-colored
Of single sorts there are—
Blues, of various shades, as
above
Whites
Reds
Rose-colored
With many intermediate shades
or varieties
(Muscaria) , or musk hyacinth
Ash-colored
White
Qbsolete purple
Greater yellow Afriean
_ Grape hyacinth
|
|
LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
Monstrous flowering, or blue-fea-
thered hyacinth
Comosed, or tufted purple hyacinth
Amethystine blue hyacinth
Nodding, spiked, red hyacinth
Non-script small English hyacinth,
or harebells, of the following
varieties :—
Common blue flowers arranged on
one side of the stalk
White
Bell-shaped blue hyacinth, with
flowers on every side of the
stalk
Bell-shaped peach-colored, with
flowers on one side of the stalk
These are very hardy, propagating
by offsets
Hyacinth, with a pale purple
flower
Colchicums in variety
Leentice, lion’s leaf, largest yellow
with single foot-stalks to the
leaves
Smaller pale yellow, with branched
foot-stalks to the teaves
Cyclamen, sow-bread, European, or
common autumn-fiowering, with
a purple flower, and angular
heart-shaped leaves
The same, with a black flower
The same, with white flowers
Red spring-flowering, with heart-
shaped leaves, marbled with
white
Entire white, sweet-smelling
Purple winter-flowering, with
plain or circular shining green
leaves
Purple round-leaved autumn-flow-
ering
Small, or anemone-rooted, with
flesh-colored flowers appearing
in autumn: these plants have
large, round, sclid roots; the
flowers and leaves rise immedi«
ately from the root
FIBROUS-ROOTED FLOWERS. 45
Corona Regalis, or royal crown; re- | Aconite, the winter
quires shelter in the winter Sisyrinchium
AURICULA, RANUNCULUS, ANEMONE.
These early and beautiful flowers deserve peculia: notice, for
ao garden looks well without them, and their bright tints delight
the eye and mind. The commonest kinds are handsome and use-
ful in small clumps, and a little care and trouble will raise superb
varieties
The Auricula loves a soil composed of kitchen-garden mould,
sand, and cow-dung, well mixed together; they also like a cool
situation. The seed should be sown in September, and when
sown give it a gentle watering. By sowing the seed in pots or
boxes, you can remove them from heavy rains, &c., without
trouble, and shelter them in the outhouses or tool-house. ‘The
seed seldom appears under six months, and it has been sometimes
a twelvemonth producing itself, therefore be not in despair, but
remain patient ; these freaks of nature cannot be accounted for.
When they flower, you must single out the plants which bear
the finest and most choice blooms, and transplant them into pots
filled with the compost above described. The common sorts
may be planted in the borders, to remain out and shift for them-
selves. By keeping the fine auriculas in pots, you preserve them
through the winter easily, for heavy rains and cutting winds do
them harm. You can sink them in their pots during summer ir
the flower-beds, but let them be sheltered during the winter, if
you wish to preserve the blooms uninjured.
Auriculas multiply also by suckers, which grow on their roots.
Take off these in February, and plunge them into pots of the
mould they like best, to root freely. They will do so in two
months. Auriculas should not be too much watered, as it makes
them look sickly, and the leaves become yellow. When you pot
46 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENEK.
the auriculas, sink them up to their leaves in the soil, but do not
press the mould round the plant, as the flowers bloom finest when
the roots touch the sides of the flower pot.
The auricula is esteemed fine that has a low stem, a stalk pro-
portioned to the flower, the eye well opened, and always dry.
The glossy, the velvet, and the streaked auriculas are the most
admired. The stalk should be decked with many flower-bells, to
be handsome and healthy.
Take care to pull off all dead leaves round the plant at all
times, that it may appear neat and clean. Neatness is favorable
to its perfect growth, as well as decorating it to the eye.
The Ranunculus does not like being mixed up with other
flowers, and from this “aristocratic principle” it is always planted
in separate knots
This flower loves sun and warmth. The root must be planted
in September, to bloom early in the summer, and it delights in
a rich, moist soil, well dug, and raked soft and fine. When you
plant them in beds or pots, they must be sunk two inches deep,
and dibble the hole with a round, not pointed, dibble. Place the
roots four or five inches apart, in the warmest situation in your
garden. By planting ranunculuses in pots, you can more easily
place them in warm situations, and withdraw them from heavy
rains. ‘The more room you give these roots the finer they will
grow and blow. If your plots will allow of so doing, let the
roots be planted six or seven inches apart. The flowers will
repay your care. When ranunculuses in pots have flowered, re-
move them from the August rains, or take up the roots, to re-
plant in September.
The Ranuncultis with the double white flower must not be
taken up until September, when it should be taken up y-uekly
its roots parted, and replanted immediately.
ANEMCNES. 47
The Yellow Ranunculus with the rue leaf, prefers being potted
to being planted in beds.
The Ranunculus propagates by seed as well as offsets. Sow
the seed as you do that of the auricula.
The most admired ranunculuses are the white, the golden
yellow, the pale yellow, the citron-colored, and the brown red.
The red is the least esteemed. The yellow ranunculus speckled
with red, is handsome,—also the rose-color with white inside.
Great varieties are obtained by seed.
The Anemones love a light soil, composed of kitchen-garden
mould, and sand, and leaf mould, well mixed, and sifted fine. It
should, if possible, be composed a year before it is used; the
lighter it is the better for anemones.
The seed should be sown in September. The single flowers
alone bear seed, which is fit to gather when it appears ready to
fly away with the first gust of wind. As soon as the seed is ‘
lodged, and raked smoothly into its fine, light bed, strew the bed
over with straw or matting, and give it a good watering. In
three weeks the seed will begin to rise, when the straw may be
removed. The young plants will flower in the following April.
When the roots are to be planted in September, sink them
about three inches deep, and six inches apart, that they may
come up strong and flower well. Make a hole in the ground for
them with your finger, and set them upon the broadest side,
with the slit downwards.
Those anemones planted in September will flower in March
and April, and the roots planted in May flower in autumn, but
the flowers are never so fine.
When anemones have done flowering, it requires some care in
taking up the roots, in order to part and put them by till the
time for replanting arrives. The roots or flaps are so small and
difficult to distinguish. that the earth should be taken up and
48 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
laid upon a sieve to be sifted, when the flaps will alone remain
behind, or the earth may be deposited upon an open newspaper
or sloth, and well rubbed with the hand to feel for the minute
dark-colored flaps, which may easily escape observation.
The beauty of this flower consists in its thickness and roundness,
especially when the great leaves are a little above the thickness
of the tuft.
Choose your seed from the finest single anemone, with a broad,
round leaf.
The remaining tuberous-rooted flowers are very hardy.
BIENNIALS.
Biennial flowers, as the name implies, are plants that exist
only two years. They are propagated by seed, rising the first
year, and flowering the second. If they continue another year,
they are sickly and languid. The double biennials may be con-
tinued by cuttings and slips of the tops, as well as by layers and
pipings, though the parent flower dies—but they are not so fine.
A lady should have a space of ground allotted to biennial seed-
lings, so that a fresh succession of plants may be ready to supply
the place of those which die away. he seeds should be sown
every spring in light, well-dug earth; the young plants should
be kept very clean, and some inches apart from each other; and
they must be finally transplanted in autumn into the beds where
they are intended to remain.
But there is a great uncertainty as to raising the double flowers,
therefore it is better to make sure of those you approve by per-
petuating them as long as you can, by any root offsets they may
throw off,—by pipings, cuttings, or by layers, as before noticed
t subjoin a list of the principal and useful biennials.
HARDY BIENNIALS.
49
LIST OF HARDY BIENNIALS.
Canzerbury Bells
Brie-flowers
White
Purple
Pyramidal
Carnation. All the varieties, some-
what biennial-perennial.
Clary, Purple-topped
Red-topped
Colutea, AXthiopian
French Honeysuckle
Red
White
Globe Thistle
Hollyhocks. Somewhat biennial-per-
ennial ; all the varieties ; always
by seed
Lunaria, Moonwort or Honesty
Mallow (Tree)
Red, white-bordered
Party-colored
Variegated
Painted Lady
Double of each
Mule, or Mongrel Sweet-william,
or Mule Pink
Tree Mallow (Lavatera arborea)
Tree Primrose
Night Stock
Poppy, Yellow-horned (Chelidoniwum
glaucum)
Rocket, Dame’s violet
Single white
Double white
Double purple
Single purple
Rose Campion
Red
White
Scabius, double
Dark purple-flowered
Dark-red
White
Starry purple-flowered
Starry white
Jagged-leaved starry
Stock Gilliflower
Brompton
Queen
Twickenham
Sweet-william
Common upright tall yellow
Small-flowered
Wall-flower
Yellow-flowered
Bloody
White
Double of each
Petunia
White
Lilac
When you make your seedling-bed or nursery, cover it over
with straw, or fern, or matting, during frost ; and to prevent the
birds pecking up the seeds, it is requisite to protect the bed by
strewing light boughs of thorn bushes over it, or fixing a net
upon sticks as a covering, till the plants appear. If cats, dogs
or poultry intrude into the flower garden, it is in vain to hope for
enjoyment.
Sow your biennial seeds in March, April,or May. I recom-
_mend May, because the young plantg in that month germ and.
3
50 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
vegetate quickly, surely, and without requiring defunses from the
frost.- Plant them out in October, with a ball of earth to each
root, where they are to remain.
The Stock Gilliflowers in particular, having long, naked roots, ,
must be planted out very young, otherwise they do not succeed
well.
Honesty is a very early, rich-flowering biennial, which requires
no care; they shed their seed, rise, and flower without any assist-
ance, in profusion. The only trouble is to weed it out of the
beds, that they may not stand in the way of other flowers.
Canterbury Bells are handsome flowers, and will bloom a long
time, if you cut off the bells as they decay.
The deep crimson Sweet-williams are most esteemed ; though
every variety looks well.
Sweet-williams may be increased by layers and cuttings, which
is the only sure way of securing the sorts you like; for you may |
sow seed every year, and not one in a thousand will reward you
by coming up double.
Carnations are the pride of a garden, and deserve great care
and attention. The common sorts, which are planted in borders,
should have a good rich earth about them, and be treated like
the pink; but the finer serts should always be potted, to protect
and shelter the plant from hares, rabbits, heavy rains, and severe
frost in the winter. Refresh the top of the pots with new soil iu
June, and keep the plants free from decayed leaves. Gently stir
the earth round each plant occasionally; and as plants in pots
require more water than if placed in the ground, let the carna-
tions be gently moistened about every other day during dry wea-
ther. Let the watering take place in the evening ; ao flower will
endure being watered during the heat oi a summer’s day. Car-
nations love sand and salt in proper proportions. The brine which
is deposited upon the compost heap will answer every purpnse
*
HOLLYHOCKS. 51
of salts, (if it be regularly carried out), without adding coramon
salt: but let this be particularly attended to. The cook should
. deposit her pickle and brine to good purpose upon the compost
heap, instead of splashing it down in front of her kitchen door.
Let each plant be well staked, and neatly tied to its supporter ;
and do not allow two buds to grow side by side upon the same
stem, for one will weaken the other. Pinch off the smaller bud.
Varnations love warmth; therefore give them a sunny aspect to
blow in. The seedling plants may be treated: like young pinks,
but this difference must be observed—pinks love shade, and car-
nations love warmth. A bed of carnations is a beautiful object.
The pots can always be sunk in a border or bed in fine weather.
Carnations may be layered, or piped, or slipped for propagation.
Water your carnations in pots once a week with lime water, if
they appear drooping, for this proceeds from a worm at the root;
but the brine will destroy all insects quickly, when poured upon
the compost heap.
In propagating double Wall-flowers, take slips of the young
shoots of the head: this will perpetuate the double property and
color of the flower, from which they were slipped. In saving
seed for wall-flowers, choose the single flowers, which have five
petals or flower leaves. Double flowers have no seed. — ?
Water the slips, and keep them shady and moist: they will
root by September.
Plant your Hollyhocks in eve or October, where they
are to remain. Hollyhocks are a noble flower, and they love a
strong soil. Let a succession of these flower plants be attended
to in the biennial seed-bed. Keep them some inches apart from
each other in the seedling-bed, for they form large straggling
roots. The hollyhock looks well in clumps of three, at a good
distance apart, in large gardens or shrubberics, but théy are
some what too overgrown for smaller parterres.
©
52 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
Be particular in gathering your seeds ona fine, dry day, and
put each sort in a separate brown paper bag till yea require
them. ‘The very finest seedlings are, after all, those which spring
near the mother plant from self-sown seed, therefore, when you
weed or dig your flower borders, be careful not to disturb any
seedlings which may have sprung up. They always make strong,
fine blooming plants.
Take care of, your double-flowering plants in winter. The
double wall-flower is hardy enough to exist in the borders, but
the other double biennials deserve to be sheltered, for double
flowers are very handsome, and heavy rains, snow, or severe frost,
injures them. ‘Take cuttings every year from them.
The Night Stock is tolerably hardy if sheltered during the
frost by ashes or litter. The sweetness after night-fall must
recommend it to all the lovers of fragrant flowers.
PROPAGATING BIENNIALS,
Every young lady must become acquainted with the manner
of operating upon plants, to preserve the finer sorts, whivh they
may wish to perpetuate. Raising from seed is slow, but it pro-
duces infinite variety. You, however, rarely see the same flower
produced twice from seed; therefore you must propagate the
biennial and perennial flowers by layers, slips, pipings, and cut-
tings, if you wish to preserve any particular sorts.
To effect layers, prepare some rich, light earth, a parcel of
small hooked sticks, or little pegs, and a sharp penknife. .
Now clear the ground about the plant you are going to layer; _
stir the surface weil with your trowel, and put a sufficient quan-
tity of the prepared mould round the plant as will raise the sur-
face to a convenient height for receiving the layer.
Cut off the top of each shoot with your knife, about twc inches,
PROPAGATING BIENNIALS. 53
and pull off ihe lower leaves; then fix upon a joint about the
middle of the shoot, and, y'acing your knife under it, slit the
shoot from that joint, rather more than half way up, towards the
joint above it. 24
Now make an opening in the earth, and lay the stem, and slit
or gashed shoot, into it, and peg it down; taking care to raise
the head of the shoot as upright as you can, that it may grow
shapely ; then cover it with the new mould, and press the mould
gently round it. Do this by each shoot till the plant is layered—
that is, till every shoot is laid down. They must be watered
often in dry weather, but moderately, not to disturb or wash
away the soil round the layers. In six weeks’ time, each gashed
or slit shoot will have rooted, and become a distinct plant. They
may be taken away from the old parent stem in September, and
dug up with a ball of earth round each root, to be transplanted
into the plots or borders where they are to remain.
Carnations, pinks, sweet-williams, double wall-flowers, &c., are
the flowers most deserving of layers.
Piping, which belongs almost exclusively to carnations and
pinks, is a most expeditious mode of raising young plants.
Take off the upper and young part of each shoot, close below
a joint, with a sharp knife, and cut each off at the third joint, or
little knob ; then cut the top leaves down pretty short, and take
off the lower and discolored ones. When you have piped in this
way as many as you require, let them stand a week in a tumbler
of water, which greatly facilitates their doing well. Indeed, I
never failed in any pipings, slips, or cuttings, which I allowed to
soak and swell in water previous to planting. When you plant
the pipings, let the ground be nicely dug, and raked very fine ;
dibble no hole, but gently thrust each piping half way down into
the soft earth, slightly pressing the earth round each, to fix it in
the bed. Water them often if the weather is dry, but moder-
54 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
ately, just to keep them moist ; and shade them from the hot sun
in the day. If pipings are covered with a hand-glass, they root
earlier, by three weeks, than those which are exposed.
Lawing, piping, and slipping, are done in June and July. The
plants will be well rooted, and fit to plant out, in October.
The operation of slipping is easy. Tear the top shoots of the
plant to be so propagated, gently from their sockets; hold the
shoot between your finger and thumb, as near the socket as you
can, and it will tear as easily and neatly as you carve the wing »
of poultry or game. Place the slips in water for a few days
previous to planting them, like pipings. They will root in six
weeks or two months, if kept shady and moist.
Cuttings must be made of shoots of the last year’s growth of
roses, honeysuckles, &c., and planted in February. Choose the
strong shoots, and do not cut them less than six inches long.
Cut them with your knife in a slanting direction. Plant them in
a shady place, each cutting half way in the ground, which should
be cleaned, and well dug and raked, to receive them. Cuttings
made in February will root well by October.
Cuttings of flower stalks, such as scarlet lychnis, should be
done in May, June, and July. Take cuttings from the youngest
flower stems, and plant them carefully in nice mould, like pip-
ings. These flower cuttings should be in lengths of four joints
each. Covering them with a hand-glass raises them very quickly.
They root in two months.
Where hand-glasses are not to form any part of a lady’s
arrangements, oil-papered frames are equally useful. I have
seen very economical and useful frames made of bamboo, in the
form of hand-glasses, covered neatly with glazed white cotton or
linen, or horn paper, made by a lady with great celerity and in-
genuity ; and her cuttings and pipings succeeded under them
admirahly.. Whatever shelters cuttings and pipings from the
PROTECTION FOR CUTTINGS. 55
rays of the sun effects a material purpose. Linen is the best
shelter in the world from heat, but oiled or horn paper resists
rain better.
Dr. Priestley 's of opinion that salt water is very efficacious for
cuttings, if they are placed in it for a few days previous to plant-
ing. He remarks that it is a custom with the importers of exotic
plants to dip cuttings in ‘Salt and water, otherwise they would
perish on the passage. .
56 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
CHAPTER V.
te
ANNUALS.
Gi sn as I have observed before, are flowers that
SG
rise, bloom, and die in the same year; and must there-
fore be raised from seed every year. |
The first class of annuals, being very -delicate, and requiring
great care, with the constant assistance of glass frames, I shall
not even name, since they do not enter into. the nature of my
work.
I proceed to the second class, which are hardier than the
above, though they should be raised in a warm border, and
be covered with a hand-glass, if you wish them to flower in good
time. ¢
The ten weeks’ Stocks will grow, if sown in a warm border,
towards the end of March, and should be afterwards transplant-
ed; but if brought up in a hot-bed, they will flower a month or
six weeks earlier.
The China-aster, Chrysanthemum, white and purple Sultan,
African and French Marigolds, Persicarias, &c., will grow well in
a warm border of natural earth, if sown in April; but they also
flower a month earlier if they are assisted by a hot-bed or glass.
These annuals must be all planted out when tolerably strong, into
the spots where they are destined to remain in the borders, tak-
ing care to allow to each plant plenty of space, that they may
not crowd each other. The China-aster branches into many
stems and flowers, therefore they may be planted singly, or not
ANNUALS. 57
less than six inches apart. The July flowers, or more commonly
called gilliflowers, become expansive as they increase. They
should not be crowded together; three in a group are quite
sufficient, and they should be six inches apart. The same may
be said of the stock varieties.
I have ever found the hardy annuals grow finest by Allowing
them to become self-sown. They flower some weeks earlier, and
invariably produce larger and brighter flowers.
When gathering my flower seeds in August and September, I
allow one half to remain sprinkled over the borders; and the
young plants never fail appearing healthy and strong above
ground in March and April, the months appropriated to sowing
the seed. Thus, my Lavateras, Larkspurs, &c., are in beautiful
blow, while the second crop, or seeds sown in spring, are but
showing their green heads above the surface. 1 weed away the
superfluous self-sown plants to my taste ; but the birds take care
that no one shall be encumbered with a superfluity. I have by
this means a first and second crop of the same ennuals, but the
crop of self-sown are far superior. They are up before the heats
come on, to dry the earth, and dwindle the flower.
Dig the ground weil with your trowel, and rake it very fine,
before you put in the seeds in spring. Annuals love a light,
friable soil. Ail the hardy kinds may be sown in March, each
sort in little separate patches, as follows :—
Draw a little earth off the top to one side, then sprinkle in the
seed, not too plentifully, and cover it again with the drawn-off
earth. Half an inch is sufficient depth for small seed. The
larger kind, such as sweet-peas, lupins, &c., must be sown an
_inch in depth. When the plants have been up some time, thin
them well. The more space you have, the finer the plants will
rise.
. The hardy annuals will not bear transplanting: they must be
3%
58 _ LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
left to flourish where they are sown. The large kinds, such as
the lavatera or mallow, should only be sown in groups of three
plants together. The lupin tribe should not exceed five plants in
a group. The Convolvulus, also, requires four or five plants only
ina group. Water the patches in dryyweather moderately, and
he careful never to use pump water. If you have no soft water,
a tub should be placed in the garden to receive rain water; and
if, as in towns, pump water must be chiefly used, let it remain a
day or two in the tub, to soften in the air and sunshine.
The first week in April is the safest period for sowing annuals,
as the cutting winds have ceased by that time, and frost is not so
much to be apprehended. ‘The soft rains, also, fall in warm
showers, to give life and germ to seeds and plants, and they
appear in a shorter space of time.
Those ladies who live in the vicinity of nursery gardens have a
great advantage over the more remote flower-fanciers. They can
be supplied, at a trifling expense, with all the tender annuals
from hot-beds, either in pots, or drawn ready for immediate
transplanting.
If you do’not raise your own seed, be careful how you pur-
chase your stock, and of whom you receive it. ° Many seedsmen
sell the refuse of many years’ stock to their youthful customers,
and produce great disappointment. There is one way of ascer-
taining the goodness of the seed, which will not deceive. Pre-
vious to sowing, plunge your lupin, sunflower, d&c., seeds into a
tumbler of water: the good seed will sink, while the light and
useless part remains floating on the surface.
If you grow your own seed, exchange it every two years with
your neighbors. Seeds love change of soil: they degenerate,
f repeatedly grown and sown upon the same spot,, particularly
sweet-peas.
Sweet-peas should be pui into the ground early in March, for
ANNUALS. 59
they will bear the wind and weather. Make a circle rcund a
pole, or some object to which they may cling as they rise; and
put the peas an inch deep, having soaked them previously in
water well saturated with arsenic, to guard them from the depre-
dations of birds and mice. Add an outer circle of peas every
month, so that a continual bloom may appear. The circle first
sown will ripen and pod for seed in the center, while the outer
vines will continue flowering till late in the autumn: When you
have gathered a sufficient number of ripe pods, cut away all the
pods which may afterwards form With your knife. This strength-
ens the vines, and throws all their vigor into repeated blooms.
Be very careful to throw away the arsenic water upon your
heap of compost, and do not put that powerful poison into any
thing which may be used afterwards in the house. Soak the
peas in a flower-pot saucer which is never required for any other
purpose, and keep it on a shelf in the tool-house, covered up.
Three or four hours’ soaking will be sufficient. If the wind and
frosts be powerful and continued, shelter the peas through March,
by covering them with straw or matting every evening.
I have got sweet-peas into very early blow by bringing them
up in pots in-doors, and transplanting them carefully in April,
without disturbing the roots. In doing this, push your finger
gently through the orifice at the bottom of the flower-pot, and
raise its contents “bodily.” Then place the ball of earth and
plants into a hole troweled out to receive it ; cover it round gently,
and, if the weather is dry, water it moderately.
Ten-weeks’ Stock is a very pretty annual, and continues a long
time in bloom. Mignionette is the sweetest of all perfumes, and
should be sown in September for early blowing, and again in
March for a later crop. It is always more perfumy and healthy,
if dug into the ground in autumn to sow itself. Venus’ Looking-
glass is a very pret/y, delicate flower. Indeed, every annual is
60 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
lovely ; and the different varieties give a gay and rich appearance
to the flower garden during the three summer months.
The Clarkias are very: pretty annuals, with a hundred other
varieties lately introduced, and which are all specified in Mrs.
Loudon’s new work upon annuals. My plan is, to give a general
idea of their treatment only, under the classification of hardy
annuals, or those annuals which may be nurtured without a hot-
bed.
Keep your annuals from looking wild and disorderly in a
garden by allotting the smaller kinds their separate patches of
ground ; and trim the larger annuals from branching among other
flowers. For instance, cut away the lower branches of the China-
aster, the African marigold, &c., and train the plent erect and
neatly to a slight rod or stick; cut away the flowers as they
droop, reserving one or two of the finest blooms only for seed:
and let each plant look clean and neat in its own order. By
cutting away flowers as they droop, the plant retains vigor
enough to continue throwing out fresh flowers for a long period.
SECOND, OR LESS TENDER CLASS OF ANNUALS.
African Marigold, the orange White
Yellow Red
Straw-colored Indian Pink, double
Double of each Single
Double-quilled Large imperial
French Marigold, the striped Alkekengi
The yellow Palma Christi, the common
Sweet-scented Tall red-stalked
China-aster, the double Smaller green-leaved
Double purple Smallest
Double white Tobacco, long-leaved Virginia
Double-striped Broad-leaved
Marvel of Peru, the red striped Branching perennial
Yellow-striped Love Apple, with red fruit
Long-tubed With yellow fruit
Chrysanthemum, the double white Gourds, the round smooth orange
Double yellow Rock, or warted
Double-quilled Pear-shaped yellow
Suet Sultan, the yellow Pear-shaped striped
ae
ANNUALS.
Stone colored
Bottle Gourd, some very large, from
two or three to five or six feet
long, and of various shapes
Momordica Balsamina
Persicaria
Indian Corn, the tall Dwarf
Nolana prostrata, blue
Convolvulus, scarlet-flowered
Yellow Balsam, or Touch-me-not
Capsicum, long red podded
Long yellow-podded —
Red. short, thick, roundish podded
With heart-shaped pods
With cherry-shaped fruit, red
Cherry-shaped fruit, yellow
Basil, the common, or sweet-scented
Bush basil
61
Zinnia, red
, Yellow
| Amaranthus
| Tree Amaranthus
Prince’s feather amaranthus
Love-lies-bleeding amaranthus
Cannacorus, yellow
d
e
Chinese Hollyhock, the variegated
Ten-week Stock .Guilliflower
The double red
Double white
Double purple
White Ten-week Stock, with a wall-
. flower leaf
With double and single flowers
The double of this sort makes a
pretty appearance
The following are hardy annuals, requiring no assistance of
artificial heat, but should all be sown in the place where it is
designed they shall flower :—
Adonis Flower, or Flos Adonis, the | Convolvulus, major
red-flowering
The yellow
Candytuft, the large
Purple
White
Larkspur, the double rose
Double-branched
Large double blue
Double white
Lupins, the rose
Large blue
Small blue
Yellow
White
Scarlet
Marbled
Sunflower, the tall double
Double dwarf
Lavatera, red
White
Poppy, the double tall striped car-
nation
' Dwarf-striped
Double corn poppy
Horned poppy
Minor
Striped
White
Scarlet
Ketmia bladder
Starry Scabius «
Hawkweed, the yellow
Purple, or red
Spanish
Carthamus tinctorius, “or saffron
flower
Nasturtium, the larg
Small ~' /
Cerinthe major, or great Honey-wort
Tangier Pea
Sweet Pea, the painted lady
The purple
White
Scarlet
Winged Pea
Crowned Pea
Nigella, or devil in a bus® the long
blue, or Spanish
The white
Oriental mallow, cazleg
62
Venetian mallow
Lobel’s Catchfly, white and red
Arbiscus
Pimpernel
Dwarf Lychnis
Venus’s Navel-wort
Venus’s Looking-glass
Virginian Stock
Strawberry Spinach
Noli me tangere, or Touch-me-not
Heart’s Ease
Snari Plant
Large ditto
Caterpillar Plant
Hedgehog Plant :
Antirrhinum, snap-dragon, :he annual
Nolana, blue
Cyanus, or corn-bottle, th2 red
White
Blue
Roman Nettle
Belvidere, or summer cypress
tzarden, or common, Marigold, the
common single
Deuble orange
LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
Double lemon-colored
Double lemon-colored ranunculus
marigold
Innual Cape Marigold, with a violet
and white flower
Mignionette, or reseda, the sweet-
scented
The upright
Xeranthemum, or eternal flower, red
and white :
Purple Clary
Purple Jacobea
Dracocephalum, the purple
Blue
Capnoides, or bastard fumitory
Ten-week Stock Gilliflowers, in variety
Persicaria '
Tobacco Plant
Long-leaved,
Round-leaved
Indian Corn
Amethystea
Globe Thistle
Clarkias
ROSES AND JASMINES. 63
CHAPTER VI.
ROSES AND JASMINES.
HESE most deliciéus, most elegant flowers—in themselves
oe a garden—are worthy of a chaptgr devoted exclusively
/ to their culture. What cottage exists without its roses
twined around the doorway, or blooming up its pathway ?
What is sentiment without its roses? What other flower illus-
trates the beauty and excellence of a loved one ?—
“Oh! my love is like the red, red rose,
That sweetly blows in June.”
Every gentle feeling, every exquisite thought, every delicate
allusion, is embodied in the rose. It is absurd to say the rose by
any other name “ would smell as sweet.” It is not so. Poetry,
painting, and music, have deified the rose. Call it “ nettle,” and
we should cast it from our hands in disgust.
There are innumerable varieties of roses, from the cottage rose
to the fairy rose, whose buds are scarcely so large as the bells of
the lily of the valley. Mrs. Gore mentions some hundreds of
sorts, but such a catalogue is too mighty to insert in my little
work. I will name only the well-known hardy kinds, and refer
my reader to Mrs. Gore herself for the complete collection. Seed
yields such inexhaustible varieties, that a new list will be required
every ten years.
The Damask rose is very useful from its properties, as well as
its beauty and hardihood. Rose-water is distilled from this
bright, thickly-blowing flower
~
64 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
The Cabbage rosesis the most beautiful, as well as the most
fragrant of roses. All others are varieties of roses, but this grand
flower is the “rose itself.”
It throws out suckers plentifully for propagating its kind ; and
every two or three years, the root of each bush will part into
separate plants. Cut the roots slanting with a sharp knife as
you diyide them. A very small bit of root is sufficient for a rose-
bush, as they are hardy in their nature. Do not move roses
oftener than you can help: they delight in being stationary for
years.
In pruning roses of every description, which should be effected
in January, shorten all the shoots to nine inches only, and cut
away all the old*wood, which becomes useless after two or three
years’ growth. ‘This treatment insures fine flowers.
Roses love a good soil, as, indeed, what flower does not?
Fresh mould applied to them every two or three years, or
manure dug round them annually, preserves them in constant
vigor and beauty.
Shoots of rose-bushes laid down and pegged like layers, only
without gashing, when the flowers are in bloom, will root and
become plants in the autumn. Pinch off their buds, that they
may throw their strength into their roots.
Roses are often observed ta change their color, which effect
proceeds chiefly from bad soil. When this occurs, manure the _
root of the bush or plant. A clay soil, well dressed with ashes,
is the best of all soils for the hardy roses.
Moss roses love a cool soil and a cool aspect. They soon fade
in a hot sun.
A pyramid of climbing roses is a beautiful object in a garden.
Iron or wooden stakes, twelve feet in height, gradually approach-
ing each other, till they meet at the top, with climbing roses
trained up their sides, is a pleasing and easily constructed orna-
¢
ae Sa
~~
ROSES AND JASMINES. 65
‘ment. Fancy and taste may range at will in inventing forms to
ornament the parterre with roses. Beds of roses, raised pyramid-
ally, have a splendid effect. When the flowers die away in the
autumn, the mass may be clipped again into form, with the
garden shears, as you would clip a laurel hedge.
Standard roses, which are so much in fashion at this time, and
which always remind one of a housemaid’s long broom for sweep-
ing cobwebs, are beyond a lady’s own management, as budding
is a troublesome business, and very ei fails. I will not,
therefore, touch upon that subject.
The double yellow rose is very elegant. It requires a western
aspect, and even prefers north and east, but a warm aspect in-
jures its beauty. It loves a good substantial soil, and will not
bear much cutting or removing. Let it alone in its glory, only
pruning away the old scraggy wood occasionally, to strengthen
the plant.
The monthly rose is also a lover of the north and east. It
blooms through the autumn and winter, has an evergreen leaf,
and loves a stromag soil. It must be propagated by cuttings, and
parting the roots, as it never throws up suckers. Prune away
the old wood, and make cuttings in June, July, and August, of
the branches you clear away. Plant the cuttings in loose, moist
_ earth, and do not let them bud till the following year. Let the
cuttings be sunk two joints in the earth, leaving only one exposed.
The monthly rose climbs, or creeps.
The Austrian briar, or rose, will not flower if exposed to the
south. It bears a rich mass of flowers, yellow outside, and deep
red within. Give it an eastern or western aspect.
The perpetual, or “four-season” rose, requires a rich soil.
The flower buds appearing in June or July should be pinched
off, and in winter the plant may be pruned as closely as its
Fa
>
66 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
hardier companions. Place the four-season rose in a sheltered
situation from winds.
Among the hardy climbing roses, the Ayrshire rose is the most
useful. Its foliage is rich, and it covers fences, walls, &c., with
astonishing rapidity. It flowers in July, Place it in a warm
situation, and it will extend thirty feet in one season.
Lady Banks’s yellow rose is a pretty climber, and flowers early
in all situations. So does the Hosa sempervirens.
Climbing roses will grow luxuriantly under the shade of trees,
and form a mass of fragrant underwood in shrubberies. They
grow with surprising vigor if allowed to remain prostrate. Plant
these thinly, and lay in the most vigorous shoots, by pegging
them down into the ground. This process increases the plants
rapidly, and gives the gayest possible effect.
The Rosa hybrida multiflora is a hardy and rapidly growing
rose. It flowers also from June to September. So does the red
and crimson Boursault, and the Rosa Russeliana.
Roses are subject to the green fly, which disfigures their beauty,
particularly the white roses. An excellent remedy*for this annoy-
ance is effected by moistening the plant, and then dusting it over
with equal portions of sulphur and tobacco dust.
The following list of roses will not prove beyond a lady’s man.
agement, being hardy, and requiring only pruning every Japuary,
and giving them a good soil. ‘ Prune the white rose-trees very
eparingly, as they do not love the knife :—
=
Roses, early cinnamon Single Ditto
Double yellow Dutch hundred-leaved
Single yellow Blush ditto
Red monthly Blush Belgic
White monthly Red ditto
‘Double white Marbled
Moss Provence Large royal
Common Proven 3 York and Lancaster
Double velvet Red damask
’
ot \
ROSES AND JASMINES. 67
Blusb ditto
Austrian, with flowers having one
side red and the other yellow
White damask
Austrian yellow
Double musk
Royal virgin |
Rosa mundi, 7. e., rose of the world,
or striped red rose |
Virgin, or thornless
Common red
Burnet leaved
Scotch, the dwarf
Striped Scoteh
Apple-bearing
Single American
Rose of Meux
Pennsylvanian
Frankfort ' Red cluster
Cluster blush Burgundy rose
Maiden blush Perpetual, or four-season
HARDY CLIMBING ROSES.
Rosa sempervirens, three sorts
Rose ruga
Red Boursault
Crimson ditto
Lady Banks’ yellow rose
The Ayrshire rose
Double ditto
Rose hybrida multiflora
Rose Clair
Rosa Russeliana
Reversa elegans
JASMINES.
Jasmines grow in very irregular forms. Perhaps their luxuri-
ant wild appearance constitutes their chief grace. The jasmine
is a beautiful screen in summer, wreathing its festoons through
trellis-work ; and it appears to me that Nature presents not, in
our colder climes, a more fragrant and beautiful bouquet than a
mixture of roses and jasmines.
The common jasmine is hardy, and loves a good soil, by which
term I mean kitchen garden soil. Trench round the stem occa-
sionally to lighten the earth, and it will grow very freely. Put
litter round the jasmine in severe frost; and if a very rigorous
season destroy the branches, the root will be saved, and its shoots
in the spring will soon replace the loss. If they shoot out with
displeasing irregularity and confusion, take off the least healthy
looking branches, and cut away those which grow rumpled, for
they only consume the juices of the plant to no purpose. The
common jasmine is propagated by Jayers and slips,
68 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
The Arabian jasmine is very fragrant, but it does nct endure
cold, or much heat, therefore an eastern aspect suits it best. If
the Arabian jasmine is grown in a large pot or box, it could
be placed under cover during frost in the winter months; but do
not place it in a green-house, which would be in the other ex-
treme again.
The yellow jasmine may be treated like the common jasmine.
[t is not very fragrant, but it forms an elegant variety.
I have seen very fanciful and beautiful devices invented to dis-
play the beauty of the jasmine. Their shoots grow so rapidly
and luxuriantly, that if the plant is allowed to luxuriate, it will
soon cover any frame-work with its drooping beauty. The jas-
mine loves to hang downwards; and I have admired inventive
little arbors, where the plant has been trained up behind them,
and the branches allowed to fall over their front in the richest
profusion, curtained back like the entrance of a tent. ‘The effect,
during their time of flowering, was remarkably elegant.
When you prune the jasmine, cut the branches to an eye or
bud, just by the place from which they sprout, and that in such
a manner, that the head when trimmed, should resemble the head
of a willow. This method makes them throw out abundance of
branches and fine flowers.
Give fresh soil to the jasmine every two years, or they will
gradually become weakened in their blooms. The secret of hay-
ing fine flowers is in keeping up the soil to a regular degree of
strength, as the human frame languishes under change of diet,
and becomes weakened for want. of food. Thus it is with animate
and inanimate nature. !
EVERGREEN SHRUBS. , 69
CHAPTER VII.
ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS AND EVERGREENS.
>) SHALL speak now of the ornamental shrubs which de-
corate a flower garden, and which a lady may superintend
< herself, if her own physical powers are not equal to the
fatigue of planting. A laborer, or a stout active girl, may act
under her orders, and do all that is necessary to be done, in
removing or planting flowering shrubs and evergreens.
In planting flowering shrubs, be very particular to plant them
at such distances that each plant may have plenty of room to
grow, and strike out their roots and branches freely. If shrubs
are crowded together, they become stunted in growth, and lanky
in form.
If you are forming a clump, or even a plantation, let each
shrub be planted six feet apart from its neighbor: but if you
wish to plant roses, syringas, honeysuckles, lilacs, &c., in your
flower borders, they should be from twelve to fifteen feet distant
from each other, so as not to interfere with the flowers growing
below them.
Do not plant tall shrubs promiscuously among low-growing
ones. Let the taller shrubs form the back-grounds, that each
shrub may be distinctly seen. The shrubs should be trained up
with single stems, and they shou'd' be pruned every year,
taking up the suckers, and removing disorderly branches.
By allowing each shrub plenty of room, it will form a hand-
some head, and throw out vigorous shoots. You will also have
70 : “LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER:
space to dig between the shrubs, and the sun and air can Veneiit
them.
Some of the more beautiful evergreens look extremely well
dotted about the grounds singly or in clumps, but be very parti-
cular in planting your shrubs.
For instance, when you wish to transplant or plant a shrub,
dig a circular hole sufficiently large to receive the roots of the
plant, which must be laid neatly down, while some person holds
the shrub in its proper position, straight and upright. Cut away
any dead or damaged roots ; then break the earth well with your
spade, and throw it into the hole, shaking the plant gently, just
to let the earth fall close in among the roots. When it is well
filled up, tread the earth gently round the shrub to fix it, but do
not stamp it, as I have seen people do.
But if you can take up shrubs with a ball of earth round their’
roots, they do not feel the operation, and their leaves do not
droop. Water each shrub after planting: give each of them a
good soaking, and let each plant have a stake to support it dur-.
ing the winter.
October is the autumn month for transplanting shrubs, and
February and March are the spring months. I always prefer the
autumn transplanting, as the rains and showers are so fructifying.
March is the last month for transplanting evergreens.
Laurustinus, Phillyreas, and Laurel, are excellent shrubs to
plant near buildings, or to hide a wall. They are evergreen
summer and winter, very hardy, and quick growing.
The Pyracantha is an elegant shrub, with its clusters of red
berries ; and it looks gay during the autumn ana winter.
The Arbutus, or strawberry tree, is loaded with its strawber-
ries in August, September ind October. ‘This is a beautiful
shrub, placed singly on a lawn, kept to one single clean stem,
abd a fine branching head. ;
~
-,
-
EVERGREEN SHRUBS. val
Portugal laurels are beautiful: their deep green leaves, and
scented feathery flowers, make them an important shrub in all
gardens.
It has been ascertained by the late severe winter, that ever-
greens are extremely hardy, and will bear any severity of frost.
All those evergreens considered most tender, such as Portugal
laurels, rhododendrons, &c., were observed to brave the frost un-
hurt, which were placed in high unsheltered places, or facing the
east and north. It was observed, also, that those evergreens
were destroyed whose aspect was south and west, and which lay
in warm and sheltered situations. The cause was this. The
shrubs did not suffer which were not subject to alternations of
heat and cold ; while those which lay in warm situations, being
thawed by the sun’s rays during the day, could not endure the
sudden chill of returning frost at night.
Plant your evergreens, therefore, fearlessly in exposed situa-
tions ; and care only, in severe winters, for those which are likely
to be thawed and frozen again twice in twenty-four hours.
Rhododendrons are very beautiful shrubs, and grow into trees,
if the soil agrees with them. They love a bog soil. :
The Camelia japonica is considered a green-house plant, but it
becomes hardy, like the laurel, if care is taken to shelter it for a
few winters, when it gradually adapts itself to the climate. This
is troublesome, perhaps, as most things are, to indolent people ;
but the trouble is well repaid by the beautiful flowers of the
japonicas, its dark leaves, and delicate scent.
The gum Cistus is a handsome evergreen, and looks well any-
where and everywhere. Some straw litter spread round their
roots in winter is a great protection.
All evergreens of a hard-wooded nature are pr Rae rapidly
by layers in June or July. This is the method :—Dig round the
tree or shrub, and bend down the pliable branches; lay them
72 ' LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
into the earth, and secure them there with hooked or forked
sticks. Lay down all the young shoots on each branch, and
cover tnem with earth about five inches deep, leaving the tops
out about two, three, or four inches above ground, according to
their different lengths. If these branches are laid in June or
July, they will root by Michaelmas; but if they are laid in
October, they will be a twelvemonth rooting.
"The layers of Alaternuses and Phillyreas will sometimes be
two years rooting, if done so late as October ; therefore lay down
your shoots, if possible, in June. Let the shoots which are lay-
ered be those of the last summer’s growth.
You may propagate shrubs also from cuttings in February and
October. Let strong shoots be chosen, of last summer’s growth:
choose them from nine to fifteen inches long, and, if you can, take
about two inches of old wood with the shoots at their base. Trim
off the lower leaves, place the cuttings half way in the ground,
and plant them in a shady border to root. Do this in February,
in preference to October, as everything roots earlier from spring
operations. You may also plant cuttings in June, but keep them —
moist and shady.
October is a good month for taking up suckers of lilacs, roses,
&c., and for all sorts of transplanting in its varieties. It is also
the month to transplant the layers of such shrubs as were laid in
the previous October.
I subjoin a list of hardy deciduous shrubs and evergreens, not
too tall to admit into a moderately sized flower garden :—
DECIDUOUS SHRUBS OF LESSER GROWTH.
Arbutus, Strawberry tree Almond, common
Common White-flowering
Double-flowering ~ Early dwarf, single flowe1
Red-flowering Double dwarf
Eastern, 01 Andrachne Althea frutex, striped
EVERGREEN SHRUBS. o
Red
White
Blue
Purple
Pheasant’s eye
. fndromeda, striped
Evergreen
Jzalea, with red flowers
White
Berberry, common, red fruit
Stoneless, red fruit
White fruit
Bladder-nut, three-leaved
Five-leaved
Broom, the Spanish
Double-flowering
Yellow Portugal
White Portugal
Lucca
Bramble, double-flowering
American upright
White-fruited ¢
Dwarf
Thornless
Chionanthus,Fringe, or Snowdrop tree
Candleberry Myrtle, broad-leaved
Long-leaved
Fern-leaved
Oak-leaved
Cherry, double- blossomed
Cornelian
Dwarf Canada
Currant, with gold and silver-“iotch-
ed leaves
With gooseberry leaves
Pennsylvanian
Dogwood, the common
Virginia
Great-flowering
Newfoundland
Empetrum, black-berried heath
Guelder Rose, common
Double, or snowball
Carolina
Gold-blotched leaf
Cxrrant-leaved
Hydrangea, white-flowering
Honeysuckle, early red Italian
Early white Dutch
Late Dutch
Late red
| Long-blowing
Large scarlet trumpet .
_ Small trumpet
| Oak-leaved
| Early white Italian
| Early red Italian
| Ivy, deciduous, or Virginian creeper
| Jasmine, the common white
' Common yellow Italian
| Gold-striped leaved
- Silver-striped leaved
_ Lilac, blue
| White
| Purple, or Scotch |
| Persian, with cut leaves
Persian, white-flowered
Persian, blue-flowere
Lonicera, upright Honeysuckle
Red-berried
Blue-berried
Virginian
Tartarian
Mezereon, white
Early red
Late red
Purple
Mespilus, spring-flowering
Lady Hardwick’s shrub
Peach, double- flowering
Privet, common
Silver-striped
Yellow-blotched leaves
Ptelea, or American Shrub Trefoil
Pomegranate, single-flowering
Double
Robinia, or false Acacia
Common
Yellow-flowered
Scarlet-flowered, or rose acacia
Caragana
Rhamnus, or Buckthoni
Common
Sea buckthorn
Yellow-berried
Creeping evergreen
Raspberry, double-tiow ing
Virginian sweet-flowering
Rose, in every Variety
Spirea frutex, common red
' Scarlet
| White
4
74 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
Sumach, scarlet Smilax, broad-leavez
Large downy Blotched-leaved
_ White Tulip Tree
Virginia Tamarisk, the Frer-$
Elm-leaved German
Myrtle-leaved Viburnum, or Wayiarer
Carolina Common
Syringa, common Stripe-leaved
Dwarf double-flowerin American broad-leaved
Scorpion Senna Maple-leaved
EVERGREENS.
Alaternas, common Canada &
Blotched-leaved Jasmine, evergreen
Jagged-leaved, plain Pyracantha ~
Ditto, striped Ivy, common
Silver-striped Striped-leaved
Geld-striped Virginian
Cistus, or Rock Rose Trish, or quick-growing
Gum Cistus, with spotted flowers | Honeysuckle, evergreen
With plain white flowers Rose, the evergreen .
Purple sage-leaved Rhododendron, dwarf Rose Bay
Male Portugal Kalmia, olive-leaved
Bay-leaved gum Broad-leaved
With hairy willow leaves Thyme-leaved
Black poplar-leaved Coronilla, narrow-leaved
Waved-leaved ’ Broad-leaved
Purple, or true Gum Cistus of | Magnolia, laurel-leavel
Crete, with other varieties Lesser bay-leaved
Jytisus, Neapolitan Arbor Vite, common
Canary China
Siberian and Tartarian American
Laurustinus, common Cypress, common upright
Broad, or shining-leaved Male spreading
Rough-leaved Bignonia, the evergreen
Oval-leaved Widow Wail
Bay, broad-leaved Locust of Montpelier
Narrow-leaved | Medicago, Moon Trefoil
Phillyrea, the true | Stonecrop Shrub
Broad-leaved Ragwort, the sea
Privet-leaved Holly, the common
Prickly-leaved Carolina broad-leaved
Olive-leaved Yellow-berried
uold-edged ’ Many varieties
Silver-edged Laurels, common
Rosemary edged, Portugal
Juniper, common Alexandrian 9
Swedish | Oak, lex, or evergreen
Sclavonian : Kermes, or scarlet-beariny
EVERGREEN SHRUBS. 75
Gramuntian, holly-leaved Wormwood, lavender-leaved
Carolina live Spurge, or wood laurel
Germander, shrubby, of Crete Kneeholm, or Butcher’s Broom
Euonymus, evergreen Virginia Horse-tail, shrubby
Virginia Groundsel Tree
In pruning shrubs, be careful to cut out the long rambling
shoots of the last summer’s growth, which disfigures their appear-
ance. Cut away, also, branches of shrubs which interlace each
other, that every shrub may stand clear and well-defined. Take
away their suckers, and let each shrub be kept to a single stem,
as I have before observed.
76 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
CHAPTER VI.
ON HOUSE AND WINDOW GARDENING.
(BY MR. CHARLES MACKINTOSH.)
SHE culture of flowering and sweet-scented plants, as ornas
ments in human dwellings, has been practiced from such
remote antiquity that no one can name the date of its
origin. House plants are also a kind of ornaments which all the
labors of the most refined art can never exceed or even reach;
and hence in the most refined and luxurious states of society,
flowers maintain a high place among the leading ornaments ; and
the assembly-rooms of beauty and fashion, and the banqueting-
halls of the noble and the great, would look tame and barren
without those most beautiful and most appropriate decorums.
Farther, it is one of the great merits of these lovely produc-
tions of nature, that they ure for the humble as well as for the
high. The humblest window io the most obscure and crowded
court of a city may have its Hlower-pot; and they who are cut
off by occupation or other circumstances from the free range of
growing nature, may still command a little vegetable kingdom of
their own in a few well-selected and carefully-attended flowers.
A species of ornament, which is in its own nature so pleasing
and so innocent, which requires far less labor and expense than
many other ornaments of very inferior value, and which adapts itself
to every imaginable class of society, is surely worthy of the study,
the encouragement, and the care of all who seek happiness to
themselves, or wish to promote the happiness of others,
HOUSE PI ANTS. 77
That there isno want of love for such plants is evident from
the places in which they appear; but the kind and state of the
plants very g nerally show that there is a great want of know-
ledge, both in their selection and their management. In order
to contribute a little to the supplying of this defect, we propose
to offer a very brief compendium of what the French and Ger-
mans call “ Window Gardening ;” and in order to render what
we state as clear as possible, we shall divide it into several heads,
or points. :
PLANTS PROPER FOR WINDOW CULTURE.
As the situation of these plants is different from what they
occupy in their natural state, it becomes necessary to select such
as are capable of accommodating themselves to circumstances ;
and as the unfavorable circumstances of house plants are chiefly
want of free and pure air, and of light, and in those species which
are accustomed io long seasons of repose in the winter, to uniform
temperature, these circumstances must be kept in mind in the
selection. Rooms, especially in crowded cities, are the most
unnatural, and, on that account, the very worst situations in
which plants can be placed ; and therefore, if healthy plants and
an abundance of bloom are sought for, variety must be sacrificed.
Plants which will continue healthy for a long time in the con-
fined air of rooms, are generally’ those which have a peculiar
surface, or texture in the foliage: such are many of the Aloes,
Cactuses, Mesembryanthemums, among what are called succulent
plants ; and, in a higher temperature, some of the curious Z’pi-
phyte, or the natural order Orchidew. We recollect once seeing
a very interesting collection of more than two hundred species,
growing in a high state of perfection, in the house of an amateur
of succulent plants, living in the Grand Sablon at Brussels. The
78 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER. ~
room containing them was fitted up much in the same way as an
ordinary library, with abundance of light shelves round the walls,
and a large table in the middle of the room, on which were placed
the pots containing the plants. At night, the room was lighted
up by an elegant glass lamp, and it was heated by one of those
ornamental stoves which are socommon on the Continent. Alto-
gether, it had a very handsome appearance.
The Chinese are very attentive to the house culture of many
of the orchideous epiphyte, and thereby greatly increase the
beauty and the fragrance of their apartments; they have them
in ornamental vases and baskets, and even suspended in the air,
where they last for many years and flower beautifully. Some of
them continue in flower for many months, and diffuse the most
delightful fragrance during the night.*
The reason why the succulent and epiphytous plants answer
so well for house culture is, that their winter is one of drought
and not of cold, and that the latter especially have little, and
some of them no mould at the roots in their natural situations.
But there has been hitherto a prejudice against, or at all events
an ignorance of, and want of attention to, the culture of succu-
lent plants in this country. This is unwise; for many of them
are exceedingly beautiful, highly fragrant, and better adapted for
house culture than any plants whatever. They are singularly
curious and varied in their structures; and, generally speaking,
they require less light, air, and moisture, than other plants.
Next. to them, in point of eligibility for house culture, may be
reckoned such plants as have coriaceous leaves, that is, have their
leaves firm, and with a smooth and compact epidermis,—such as
oranges, pittosporums, myrtles, and others of similar texture ;
these are found to have organs much better adapted to confined
_ * Renanthera coccinea is one of the finest of these, and was first tlowered
in this sountry by the author of this paper.
HOUSE PLANTS. 79
air than plants which have the leaves small or of delicate texture.
Some tribes, as the heaths, the Hipacridew, and the whole race of
pinnate leaved and papilionaceous flowered plants, are wholly
unfit for house culture.
TREATMENT OF HOUSE PLANTS.
Water, heat, air, and light, are the four essential stimulants to
plants ; water, heat, and air, to promote growth; and light to
render that growth perfect.
Water, heat, and air, man can command at his pleasure by
artificial means; but over light, as an element of the perfect
growth of plants, we have less control. To be beneficial to plants,
light must come directly from the sun; and therefore the plants
should be so placed, as that it may act upon them with as little
as possible of that refraction and decomposition which it suffers
when it passes obliquely through glass, or any other medium
except the air. Plants grown in the open air, and with such free
exposure to the light as their habits require, not only develop all
their parts in their proper form, but their leaves, flowers, and
fruits, have their natural colors, odors, and flavors. Plants ex-
cluded from light have not their natural color, odor, nor flavor,
they make little or no charcoal in the woody part, the leaves are
not green, and if they do flower and fruit, which is rarely the
case, the flowers are pale and scentless, and the fruit is insipid,
This has been proved by many experiments, of which the blanch-
ing of celery and endive by earthing up, and that of a cabbage
g, are familiar instances. A
=>?
by the natural process of heartin
geranium placed in a dark room becomes first pale, then spotted,
and ultimately white; and if brought to the light it again ac-
quires its color
If plants kept in the dark are selena to the action of hydrogen
gas, they retain their green color, though how this gas acts has
80 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
not been ascertained. Some flowers, too, such as the crocus and
tulip, are colored though grown in the dark.
Light seems to be fully as essential to plants as air or heat, and
while it acié beneficially on the upper surfaces of the leaves, it
appears to be injurious to the under surfaces, at least of some
plants ; for in whatever way a plant is placed, it contrives to turn
the upper surfaces of its leaves to the light. Professor Lindley
is, we believe, making some experiments on this subject.
Plants in rooms turn not only their leaves, but their branches
to the window at which the light enters, and a plant may, by
turning it at intervals, be made to bend successively to all sides;
but such bendings weaken the plant, agd thus it is an excessive
or unnatural action. This turning of the plant to the light is
always of course in proportion to the brightness of that light as
compared with the other sides of the plant. Flowers, too, open
their petals to the light, and close them in the dark, or in some
cases, as in that of the crocus, when a cloud passes over the sun.
The same flower, and also some others, will open their petals to
the light of a lamp or candle, and close them again when that is
withdrawn.
It follows as a necessary consequence, that in rooms, plants
should be placed as near the window as possible, that the win-
dows should have a south exposure, and that they should be as
seldom as possible shaded with blinds or otherwise. If paced
at a distance from the windows, plants should be frequenily
changed, and to place them permanently on tables or man el-
shelves is bad management. ;
Air is as necessary to the health of plants as light ; but air san
find its way where light cannot, and therefore it requires less cere
from the cultivator. If the air is too close, opening the door and
windows produces a change, the warm air escaping at top, and
ecid air coming in below ; but on opening the windows of a warm
‘
~
HOUSE PLANTS. 81
room in cold wea:her, care must be taken not to chill the plants
by leaving them in the cold current.
The heat of ordinary dwelling-houses is quite enough for such
plants as we would recommend for general culture in rooms, only,
in very cold weather, the plants should be removed a little further
from the wirdows. The blinds and shutters are usually a suffi-
cient protection during the night ; and we may remark that plants
in rooms are more frequently killed by too much heat than by too
much cold. :
Spring and autumn are the times of the year at which window
plants require the greatest attentien. It is usual to have the
plants outside the windows even during the night in the summer
season, and kept in the house both night and day in the winter
season. In the intermediate seasons of spring and autumn the
plants are frequently placed in their summer situation during the
day, and it is desirable that then they should be placed in their
winter situation during the night. Our climate is so variable at
those seasons, that we not only have summer during the day, and
winter during the night, but whole days of summer and winter
alternating with each other. Sometimes we have warmer days in
April than in May or June, and occasionally we have more severe
frosts in the beginning of September, than any which occur again
till November is nearly over. Now it is not the absolute heat or
cold, but the rapidity of the transition from one to the other
which is injurious to plants, and therefore it is absolutely necessary
for all such as would have their house plants in the perfection of
beauty, to attend to those circumstances. This is more especially
necessary in towns, where the people are much less interested in
the changes of the weather, and therefore much less observant of
them than they are in the country; and we have no doubt that
more plants are destroyed from want of attention to those varia-
ble periods of the year than from any other cause. It is a safe
82, LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
rule to trust no plant less hardy than a common Geranium cut-
side the window all night, earlier than about the twentieth of
June, or later than the first of September. No doubt there are
many nights before the first of these times, and after the latter,
during which the plants might remain in the open air without
injury. There is, however, no knowing what a night may bring
forth at those inconstant seasons, and therefore the safe plan is
not to leave the plants to chance.
When, as often happens, plants get slightly injured by rost,
cold water should be sprinkled on them before the sun reaches
them, and this sprinkling ought to be continued as long as any
appearance of frost remains on the foliage.
Water is often very. injudiciously applied to plants in rooms,
and the evil arises from falling into the opposite extremes of too
much and too little. Fear of spoiling the carpet, forgetfulness,
and sometimes a dread of injuring the plant, are the chief causes
of an under supply of water. On the other hand, many have a
notion that such plants should be watered every day, or at stated
periods, without inquiring whether it be necessary or not. Saucers
or pans are often placed under flower-pots to prevent the water,
which escapes, from soiling the apartment, but in these cases the
saucers should be partly filled with gravel, to prevent the roots
from being soaked with water, or the water which lodges in the
saucer should be removed.
Fanciful and elegant baskets of wire or wicker-work, and plant-
tables are, perhaps, preferable to common stages. The baskets
should have a pan, of zinc, copper, or other metal, and over this
a bottom pierced with holes, or a grating of wire, on which the
pots are to be placed. The pan is generally about an inch deep,
and has a plug or other contrivance by which the surplus water
may be drawn. Plant-tables can be constructed in the same man-
ner, ard admit of an endless variety of forms, according to the
HOUSE PLANTS. 83
taste of the owner. In either of these the pots may be wholly
concealed by green moss, or cut paper, so that nothing but the
plants themselves may appear.
Water is as essential to the whole plant as itgs to the roots, be-
cause they are liable to collect dirt, and thereby to be injured;
they should, therefore, be frequently washed over with a syringe
having a rose to it, and in order to perform this operation pro-
perly, the plants must generally be removed t) some other apart-
ment where they should remain till they are dry. In winter this
operation must be performed in mild weather only; it should be
done in an apartment not colder than that in which the plants
usually stand, and the water should be about milk warm. When
the plants are in baskets or on tables, they can be removed and
washed without deranging their order. Plants which have large
and leathery Jeaves, such as oranges, pittosporums, camellias, and
myrtles, may be washed with a sponge, or if very foul they may
be washed with soap, and the soap carefully removed by pure
water. Loose dust may be removed by a pair of bellows. At-
tention to cleanliness greatly increases the vigor of the plant.
House plants are greatly benefited by being placed out of
doors in the summer months, especially during gentle showers .
and such as have no other convenience may advantageously place
them outside the windows. They may also be syringed and
washed in this position, and if the owner is not in possession of
one, a common watering-pot, held high, so that the water may
fall on the plant with considerable force, is a tolerable substitute.
. Plants respire by their leaves, as animals do by their breathing
apparatus, and it is on this account that keeping the leaves clean
is so very essential to the health of plants. Indeed, the dust
which collects on them, and interrupts their respiration, is one of
the greatest evils which can befall plants, especially in rooms and
on balconies in towns. The respiring pores are generally large
84 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
in proportion as the leaves are so; and this is one of the reasons
why delicate-leaved plants are not so well adapted for house cule
ture as those which have the leaves larger and firmer.
Light has also a considerable effect in promoting the healthy
action of leaves, and many plants fold up their leaves in the dark,
or even when the sky is lowering? This, though it has no resem-
blance to sleep in animals, has been called the sleep of plants,
and the curious reader may find an interesting notice of it in the -
«“ Amoenitates Academice”’ of Linnzeus.
THE SUPPLY OF HOUSE PLANTS.
+
There are many ways of doing this; but to those who have
the opportunity, and choose to be at the expense, there is, per-
haps, none better than that of contracting for the year with some
skilfull and respectable nurseryman ; in this case the plants will
be attended by the contractor, and kept in the best condition.
Much pleasure is, however, sacrificed by those who adopt this
mode, inasmuch as the chief enjoyment of plants arises from the
feeling that they are the nurslings of our own care; and it is
astonishing how strongly the judicious treatment of plants leads
to judicious management in all other matters.
Plants, except such as are novelties and sought only by the
curious, may always be had at moderate prices from respectable
growers. Covent Garden furnishes an abundant supply for Lon-
don, and those who are not so particular may have them of the
hawkers. In dealing with these people, some care is however
necessary ; very many of the plants which they offer for sale are
thrown away or stolen, and in both cases they are taken up with-
out any regard to the preservation of the roots, and thus there is
a considerable chance against their suecess. Those injured plants
are made to look healthy for a little time by means of an over
HOUSE PLANTS. 85
supply of water, but they soon languish in the possession of the
purchasers.
Another very hazardous mode of purchasing plants is at those
sales which are very frequently got up in the spring and autumn.
At these, purchasers have no security that the plant is healthy,
or that it is what it professes to be, and thus they often pay a
higher price for a worthless article in a diseased state, than a re-
gular nurseryman would charge them for a good plant in the
finest condition. Such a nurseryman has always character at
stake, but the other parties, generally speaking, have none.
MANAGEMENT OF BULBS IN GLASSES.
This is a favorite mode of house culture, and the bulbs best
adapted for it are hyacinths, polyanthus-narcissus, Van Thol, and
other tulips, crocus, Persian iris, narcissus, colchicum, Guernsey
lily, jonquil, and others.
Spring-flowering bulbs are usually purchased in September,
and the autumnal ones in July and August, and the largest and
best-formed bulbs should be chosen; an abundant supply may
be obtained at little cost at the seed-shops and nurseries. To be
blown in winter or spring, the bulbs are placed in water in Octo-
ber, and so on in succession till February or March; and for
autumn and early winter, they are placed in the water in August
and September. Dark-colored glasses are the best, as they pre-'
vent the light from decomposing the roots of the plants. Rain
water is preferable to any other, and it should be changed fre-
quently, not less than once every third or fourth day, to prevent
its getting putrid; and in performing this operation care must be
taken both in withdrawing and in replacing the roots. This is
necessary only till the flowers have expanded ; for after this the
plants may be left undisturbed until the flowers have decayed.
$6 LADIES FLOWER GARDENER.
The water which is supplied must not be colder than that which
is withdrawn, or than the general temperature of the apartment.
Much heat is not necessary for such plants, because they flower
better the more slowly their vegetation proceeds. Chimney-
pieces and other warm situations are not nearly so well adapted
for those bulbs as stages near ‘ the window, or the window-sill
itself,
A better mode of growing those bulbs than the common mode
in glasses, would be in a table with a deep pan, and a wire grat-
ing on the top. This might be placed about nine inches from the
bottom of the pan, and the roots arranged on it, the taller ones
in the center, and those of more lowly growth towards the sides.
The water in the pan might be drawn off by a plug, and iresh
water supplied, without in the least disturbing the plants.
Bulbs may also be grown in fine white sand, kept constantly
moistened, and in this way very beautiful blooms may be obtained.
~
NOSEGAYS AND CUT FLOWERS.
Though these are very acceptable to most persons, there are
few’ who rightly understand the art of keeping them long in a
fresh state, or of reviving them when they have faded. It is
true, that when a flower or branch is cut off from its parent plant,
its support is thereby destroyed; but still some flowers may be
kept in great beauty for a much longer period than others, and
many for a far longer time than is generally done, or even sup;
posed possible.
For this purpose, flowers should be gathered early in the
morning, but not till the dew be nearly dried off them, They
should be placed in a flat basket, or on a tray, so as not to press
upon and crush each other; and they should be neatly cut, and
not mangled or bruised. When thus gathered, they should be
HOUSE PLANTS. 87
covered with a sheet of paper, and immediately conveyed to the
apartment where they are to be used, if that apartment be near
at hand. But if they are tc be sent to any distance, they should
be placed in tin cases, such as botanists use when collecting spe-
cimens. We have sent flowers, in such cases, for several hundred
miles, and found most of them in good condition at the end of a
journey of three or four days’ continuance. In this way the
Dutch florists send specimens of their finest flowers not only to
England, but to more distant parts of continental Europe. Our
own florists send to the metropolis, for competition at exhibitions,
flowers from Cornwall, from the north of England and from Scot-
land, and they arrive without the least decay. They are placed
in wooden or tin boxes, having an internal arrangement of small
phials, fixed under a covering of tin or wood, perforated with
holes, just large enough to admit the stalks of the flowers, the
ends of which are placed in the water of the phials, and in this
way they are conveyed with perfect safety.
Flowers should not be cut during sunshine, or kept saiitoaad to
the solar influence; neither should they be collected in large
bundles and tied tightly together, as this invariably hastens their
decay. When in the room where they are to remain, the ends
of the stalks should be cut clean across with a very sharp knife
(never with scissors), by which means the tubes through which
they draw the water are left open, so that the water ascends
freely, which it will not do if the tubes of the stems are bruised
or lacerated. An endless variety of ornamental vessels are used
for the reception of such flowers, and they are all equally well
adapted: for the purpose, so that the stalks are inserted in pure
water. This water ought to be changed every day, or once in
two days at the furthest, and a thin slice should be cleanly cut
off from the end of each stalk every time the water is removed,
which will occasion fresh action and re‘ive the flowers. Water,
88 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
about milk warm, or containing a small quantity of cam phor, will
sometimes revive decayed flowers. The best method of applying
this, is to have the camphor dissolved in spirits of wine, for which
the common camphorated spirits of the druggists’ shops will be
quite sufficient ; and to add a drop or two of this for every half
ounce of water. A glass-shade is also useful in preserving flowers ;
and cut flowers ought always to be shaded during the night, and’
indeed at all times when they are not purposely exhibited. The
following are some of the genera of plants the flowers of which
remain longest after being cut:—G@naphalium, Astelma, Heli
chrysum, Phenocoma, Aphelexis, and others, which the French
have designated “immortal flowers,” from remaining unchanged
by decay, hold the first rank. Next to these come the whole
natural order, Proteacee, many of Graminee, several of Crucifere,
several in Rhamneace, several in Cassuvie—the genus Acacia in
Leguminose, all Calycanthacee, most of Myrtacew, most of Dip-
sacece, several of Composite, most of Hricew—the genera Laven-
dula, Sideritis and Phlomis, in Labiate, all Orobanchee, all
Plumbaginee, all Amaranthacee, many of Orchideaw, Strelitzia,
and Heliconia in Musacee.
INSECTS AND DISEASES OF HOUSE PLANTS.
Plants in rooms, especially geraniums and roses, are very liable
to be attacked by aphides. These may be easily removed by
tobacco smoke or tobacco water; and where the smell is not
offensive, smoke blown from a common tobacco pipe is as effec-
tual as any other method. Camphorated water may be used by
those who dislike the smell of tobacco. Mildew, occasionally,
though rarely, attacks house plants. It appears like a white
powder, and is supposed to consist of minute fungi; but these
fungi are not the original disease, but its consequences, and thei
HOUSE PLANTS. 89
appearance shows that the plant has been in impure air or other.
wise improperly treated. Sulphur or camphor will effectually
remove this mildew; and a scaly insect of the coccus tribe, whick
appears occasionally on oranges, camellias, and similar plants,
may be removed by a sponge and water.
Many persons have a dislike to plants in houses as being un-
healthy ; and as this dislike is in a great measure groundless, we
may notice it.. Dr. Priestley was the first to show that the leaves
of plants absorb carbonic acid gas by their upper surfaces, and
give out oxygen by their under ones, thereby tending to purify
the air in as far as animal life is concerned ; because carbonic acid
gas Is pernicious to animals, and oxygen is what that life acquires,
lt is in the light, however, that these operations are carried on ;
for in the dark, plants give out carbon; and this may be one
reason why plants grown in the dark have little or no charcoal in
their substance. It does not appear, however, that any of the
scentless products given out by plants are injurious to human
beings ; because those who live among accumulated plants are
not less healthy than others ; though many persons feel dislike
and even pain from the odors of particular plants, in a way not
very easily accounted for.
On the Continent in general, and in Dorks and Germany in
particular, flowers of all sorts, but particularly the most fragrant,
are admitted into the saloons, chambers, and even bed rooms of
people of all classes; and they, rather than complain of any ill
effects arising from their presence, complain more of the difficulty
of procuring them in sufficient abundance. The flowers most in
demand for the chambers of the French and Germans are, oranges,
jasmine, carnations, honey-suckle, mignonette, olive, rocket, rose,
violet, wall-flower, rosemary, stock, lavender, savory, oleander,
hyacinth, lilac, syringa, heliotrope, narcissus, d&c., all sweet-smell.
90 LADIES’ FLOWER 3ARDENER.
ing flowers; and these they indulge in to a very considerable
extent.
We may safely conclude, then, that plants admitted into rooms
to the extent that they are in general, can produce no effect in-
jurious to the health of persons in general, but, on the contrary,
will afford amusement to the mind and exercise to the body, both
of which are so necessary towards the enjoyment of good health.
The mind will be agreeably exercised in contemplating the beaut:
of the flowers, but more so still if the study of their respectiv:
parts, natures and structures, in a botanical or physiological point
of view, be at the same time attended to. An agreeable and
rational exercise will be provided for the body, if the proprietor,
particularly if of the softer sex, take the entire management of hv
little Window Garden into her own hands.
DOMESTIC GREENHO™SES. 9}
CHAPTER IX.
DOMESTIC GREENHOUSES.*
2%) EFORE entering on a description of this apparatus, the
ey, 4 circumstances under which it was discovered may be
: briefly adverted to. Mr. Ward, the gentleman to whom
we are indebted for the discovery, is a surgeon, residing in Well-
close Square, London. From his earliest youth Mr. Ward has
been attached to botanical pursuits ; but living in a densely popu-
lated neighborhood, surrounded with manufactories, and enve-
loped in the smoke of London in its very worst form, he had been
compelled to give up the cultivation of plants, until the following
simple incident seemed to point out a mode by which he could
follow his favorite amusement with some degree of success. He
had buried the chrysalis of a sphinx in some moist mould, which
was inclosed in a glass bottle covered with a top. In watching
the bottle from day to day, he observed that when exposed to
the warmth of the sun the moisture rose from the mould, and
became condensed on the inner surface of the glass, and again
fell back upon the mould during the night, thus keeping up a
continual moisture in the atmosphere within the glass; he also ob-
served about a week prior to the final change of the insect, a
seedling fern and grass appear on the surface of the mould.
After having secured the insect, Mr. Ward set himself to observe
* The materials for this paper are chiefly from Chambers’s Edinburgh
Journal, with some slight additions from Mr. Ellis’s paper read to the Bo-
tanical Society of Edinburgh.
92 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
the development of these plants in this confined situation. He
placed the bottle outside the window of his study, where the
plants continued for several years to exhibit a healthy vegetation,
suggesting at the same time further experiments, which have led
to a most extraordinary. result, when we consider, that by this
simple application of the laws of nature as regards atmosphere,
the most forbidding local circumstances may be overcome, and
that any person, whether inhabiting the most humble or the most
splendid dwelling, provided it be freely exposed for a few hours
every day to the sun’s light, has it in his power to rear and cul-
tivate a miscellaneous collection of plants, to enjoy the beauty of
their appearance, and to watch their progress through all the
stages of their growth, at an expense so insignificant as to be
within the means of every man even in very moderate circum-
stances.
To do this he must provide an apparatus consisting of a box,
a stand, and a glass roof, of a size according to his desires and
means. We shall suppose one is wanted of a small size to stand
ia a window in an apartment of limited dimensions, The stand,
we will suppose, is one foot ten inches in height, the box whic
is to contain the mould eight inches and a half, and the glass
frame one foot seven inches and a half ;—in all four feet two in-
DOMESTIC GREENHOUSES. 93
cnes in heignt wy ehree feet in length and a foot and a half in
breath. If eleganse is aimed at, the box should be made of
mahogany, and su; ported on four legs, furnished with movable
castors ; the box which is to contain the soil, eight and a half in-
ches in height, should be made of well-seasoned St. Dominge
mahogany, steeped in Kyan’s composition, for a fortnight; the
sides, one and a quarter inches thick, mitered and dove-tailed. to-
gether at the corners. The bottom of the box should be Hon-
duras mahogany, one inch thick, formed of numerous small pieces,
nu
det DA
CUE at Timm
ae
NN
SUAS ET Hos 4 0
framed and flush-paneled, and arranged so as best to resist the
yielding of the wood. To give it greater strength, two cross
pieces or ties stretch from side to side at equal distance from
each other; these are dove-tailed on each side, thus dividing the
box into three compartments, but leaving open spaces under the
94 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
ties and holes through their centers to permit the moisture to per:
colate freely through the whole of the mould. The bottom being
properly fitted, the sides are fixed to it with brgss nails—no iron
being used in any part. When completed and filled with plants,
the apparatus appears something like the cut on p. 98.
At the upper edge of the box a groove is sunk to receive the
lower edge of the glass roof which rests securely in it. This
groove is lined with brass; its inner lip is one sixteenth of an
inch lower than the outer, and at each end is a notch one fifth of
an inch only above the bottom of the groove to allow the con-
densed moisture which trickles down the inside of the glass to
flow back into the mould.
The frame-work cover of which we have now to speak is made
of brass, with a door on one side, made to fit close. The glass
used for it may be of flattened crown-glass; that for the door
should be plate-glass. The panes must be fitted in the frames
with great care, and with a putty specially made for the purpose,
which should, when dry, receive three coats of paint. Along the
top of the roof, hooks or brass rods may be placed, from which
small pots may be suspended. The whole of the frame-work
should be well fitted, and nicely put together, so as to preclude
as far as possible all interchange between the air in the case and
that in the room.
We now come to the preparation fcr the plants. Lay the
pottom of the box with pieces of broken earthenware, to a depth
of two inches, as an open subsoil. Next, lay a stratum of turfy
loam one inch deep, and fill in the remainder of the space with
soil, composed of equal portions of peat and loam, mixed with
about ore-twentieth part of rough white sand, free from iron
The artificial garden-plot is now ready to receive the plants,
Plant these in the usual manner, and then shower over them, with
a fine rcz2 watering-pot, from three to four gallons of water, till
DOMESTIC GREENHOUSES. 95
the soil be pretty well saturated, and the lijuid begins to run off
by the two openings in the bottom. After draining thus for
twenty-four hours, cork up the holes, place the glass-case on the
box, and the vperation will be finished.
After the first preparation, the plants require little or no care ,
the case need only be opened for the removal of dead leaves, ox
for a little trimming, when required. Plants in open flower-pots
are exposed to the vicissitudes of change of climate, and require
constant watering ; but the plants in these cases seem to be in-
dependent of any change of temperature in the air, and water
themselves. The moisture rises by the sun’s influence from the-
moistened earth, cherishes the leaves of the plants in its aerial
condition, and during the cool of night falls to the earth again
like rain or dew. In this manner there is a constant succession
of rising and falling of moisture, in imitation of the great processes
of nature, daily going on m the fields around us. The plant-case
is a little world in itself, in which vegetation is supported solely —
by the resources originally communicated to it.
Not the least remarkable part in the economy of the case is
the preservation of atmospheric purity. To all who reflect for
the first time on this subject, it will seem incomprehensible how
the plants can possibly thrive and blossom without the occasional
interchange of fresh air with the atmosphere. This certainly does
appear extraordinary, yet it is ascertained by experiment that no
such reinvigoration is requisite. To account for the phenomena,
it will be necessary to explain the constitution of atmospheric air,
and the means adopted by nature for its purification.
Air consists of three gases in close mechanical union—nitrogen,
oxygen and carbonic acid, in the proportion of about 79 of nitro-
gen, 20 oxygen, and 1 of carbonic acid, in 100 parts of pure air.
In this mixed composition, the essential element for the support
of respiration in both animals and plants, and also for combustion,
96 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
is the oxygen, the nitrogen being little else than a diluent tc
modify the strength of the oxygen. It was long believed by men
of science that plants possessed the power of exuding oxygen,
and so formed a prime agent for restoring vitiated air to purity.
Later investigations, however, chiefly by French chemists, have
made it evident that plants have no such power, unless when
placed under the influence of the sun’s rays, or, in other words,
that solar light is the grand cleanser of the atmosphere, and with-
out which both plants and animals languish and die. With
respect to plants in particular, it is ascertained that, while inhaling
oxygen and expiring carbonic acid, their leaves possess the
remarkable property, in conjunction with the sun’s light, of
re-transforming the carbonic acid into oxygen. At night, when
the light of day has departed, the expired carbonic acid may be
detected in the neighborhood of plants; and hence one cause of
injury to health by breathing night air; but when the morning
sun again bursts upon the scene, a great chemical process com-
mences in the atmosphere—the carbonic acid is decomposed,
oxygen is evolved, and all nature rejoices in a recreation of its
appropriate nourishment.
A question will here readily occur—what species of plants are
best adapted for these domestic greenhouses? We are fortu-
nate'y enabled to answer this inquiry by referring to a learned
paper on the subject by Mr. Ellis, which was read to the Botani-
cal Society of Edinburgh, January 13, 1839, and afterwards
published in the Gardener’s Magazine, and also as a separate
pamphlet. According to this gentleman’s statement, the plants
most suitable are “those which partake largely of a cellular
structure, and possess a succulent character, and especially those
which have fleshy leaves ; whilst, on the contrary, the continued
humidity is unfavorable to the development of flowers of most
exogenous plants, except such as naturally grow in moist and
shady situations.” Plants, therefore, which have to grow and
DOMESTIC GREENHOUSES. 97
bloom in cavernous and moist situations, or in moist and warm
climates, are best adapted for these cases. However, within this
class of vegetables there are many beautiful and highly luxuriant
plants, which it would afford no small pleasure to contemplate.
The following is a list of plants from various countries, which
were set in a box, under Mr. Ellis’s directions, and examined from
nine to twelve months afterwards :
BOTANICAL NAMES. COUNTRY. REMARKS.
Chamz’rops humilis Italy, Sicily, Spain Increased 1-4th its original
size
Centiana verna England Flowered, but no difference
in size
Adiantum Capillus Yeneris England Increased 1-8th
Primula farinosa Scotland Flowered; atmosphere ra-
ther damp for it
Primula scotica Scotland Flowered; atmosphere ra-
ther damp for it
Verbascum Mycont Scotland Increased 1-8th .
-Androsace villosa Scotland Flowered ; not very healthy
Chamz'rops Palmetto Carolina Increased 1-3d
Dionz’a Muscipula Carolina Made 1-8th
Sarracenia purpurea Carolina Increased 4 times its origi-
nal size ‘
Epige’a repens Carolina Increased one-half
Testudinaria elephantipes | Cape of Good Hope Made a shoot 10 inches long
A'loe retusa Cape of Good Hope Made 1-3rd, showing flower
Rhododendron chrysanthum Siberia Increased one-half [spikes
Chamecistus Austria Increased 1-3d
Cycas revoluta China Increased 1-8th*
Nepenthes distillatoria © Ceylon Increased 2-3ds
Cypripedium venustum in- Nepal Increased 1-5th
signe Nepal Increased 1-4th
Agave geminiflora Mexico Increased 1-3d
*Goodyera discolor Mexico No perceptible difference
*fEchinocactus multiplex Mexico Increased one-half
*peruviana Mexico Increased one-half
myriacantha Mexico Increased one-half
* formosa Mexico Increased 1-3d
O'ttoni Mexico Increased 1-4th
candida Mexico Increased one-half
Epiphyllum truncatum Brazil Increased 2-3ds
Cereus flagelliformis Peru Increased one-half
Lycopodium stoloniferum Cuba Very luxuriant
Those marked thus * are growing in fancy pots, and suspended from
the roof of the plant-case.
i)
98 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
The alternate action of vitiation and purification is emphatically
described as follows by Mr. Ellis, in the pamphlet before us :—
“ Under a bright sunshine, the two processes by which carbonic
acid is alternately formed and decomposed go on simultaneously ;
and their necessary operation, in-as far as regards the condition
of the air, is that of counteracting each other. Hence, though
both may be continually exercised in favorable circumstances, the
effects of neither on the atmosphere can be ascertained by ordi
nary means; and, consequently, though, in the experiments of
De Saussure with common air, the production and decompesition
of carbonic acid by plants in sunshine must have been continually
going on, yet, in all the analysis which he made, the air was
found unchanged, either in purity or volume ; in other words, the
processes of formation and decomposition of this acid gas exactly
counterbalanced each other.
“Of the two processes which have now been described (con-
tinues our authority), each may be considered as in its nature and
purpose quite distinct from the other; hence their efforts may be
readily distinguished ; neither do they necessarily interfere, when
actually working together. The first or deteriorating process, in.
which oxygen gas is consumed, goes on at all times and in all
circumstances when vegetation is active. It requires always a
suitable temperature in which to display itself; and when that
temperature falls below a certain point, which is very variable in
regard to different plants, the process is more or less completely
suspended, again to be renewed when the temperature shall re-
turn. This conversion of oxygen into carbonic acid is as neces-
sary to the evolution of the seed as to the growth of the plant,
and is all that is required for germination. But the plant requires
something more; for if light be excluded, vegetation proceeds
imperfectly, and the plant does not then acquire its proper color
and other active properties which it ought to have. The chief
DOMESTIC GREENHOUSES. 99
organs by whiza the consumption of oxygen gas is effected are
the leaves; and its purpose, in great part at Ivast, seems to be
that of producing some necessary change in the sap during its
transmission through those organs, on its way from the vessels of
the wood to those of the inner bark, whereby it may be rendered
fit for the purposes of nutrition and growth. In its nature and
object, therefore, as well as in the specific change which it pro-
duces in the air, this process closely resembles the function of
respiration in animals, and may thus with propriety be deemed a
physiological process. The second, or purifying process, in which
oxygen gas is evolved, differs in all respects from that which has
just been described. It is in a great measure independent of
temperature ; at least it proceeds in temperatures too low to sup-
port vegetation, provided light be present—an agent not required
for germination, nor essential to vegetable development. The
organs by which this process acts on the air are, as before, the
leaves ; not, however, by changing the qualities of the sap in the
vessels of those organs, but by producing changes in the chromule,
or colorable matter, in their cells, to which it imparts color and
other active properties. In doing this, it does not convert the
_ oxygen gas of the air into carbonic acid, but, by decomposing that
acid gas, restores to the air the identical portion of oxygen of
_ which the former process had deprived it. The former process,
carried on by the agency of the oxygen gas of the air, was essen-
tial to living action, and affected the well-being of the whole
plant; that exercised by the agency of light is not necessary to
life, is local, not general in its operation, and is capable of pro-
ceeding in circumstances and under conditions incompatible -vith
living action. By withdrawing the air altogether, or depriving it
of oxygen gas, vegetation soon ceases through the whole plant;
but the exclusion of light from any part of the plant affects that
, part only; and even the total exclusion of that agent only de-
100 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
prives the plant of certain: properties necessary to its perfection,
but not essential ‘o its life. These differences in the processes by
which oxygen gas is alternately consumed and evolved, during
the vegetation of plants in sunshine, are so manifest, both in their
nature and effects, as to satisfy the ascription of a name to the
latter process distinct from that given to the former. It might,
perhaps, be denominated the chemical process, in contradistine-
tion to that named. physiological.
«It would contribute much, we think, to simplify our inquiries
concerning vegetation, to bear in mind these distinctions ; to con-
sider the one process as accomplished by the agency of the air,
and essential to the life and growth of the plant; the other, as
subordinate, depending on the agency of light, and though neces-
sary to the perfection of vegetation, yet not essential to its exist-
ence. In this manner each process may be followed out sepa-
rately, both in regard to its immediate effects and remoter con-
sequences, without clashing with the other; and the apparently
discordant and even contradictory phenomena which on a first
view they seem to exhibit, may be reconciled, and considered, not
less in theory than in fact, as conspiring together to form one
harmonious and perfect wnole.”’
After these explanations, little need be added respecting the
supply of pure air to domestic greenhouses. The deterioration
of the atmosphere in the case is daily counteracted by an oppo-
site process of purification, so that amidst the vicissitudes of per-
petual change, the air is maintained in a state of nearly uniform
composition and purity, and serves over and over again for all the _
purposes of vegetation. It may, however, be stated, to prevent
misconception, that the more pure the air of the apartment, the
plants will have the better chance of thriving, because there must
necessarily be an interchange to some extent betwixt the air of
the room and the case, in consequence of the daily expansion
DOMESTIC GREENHOUSES. 161
from heat, and nightly condensation from cold. This interchange
will be effected by the minute crevices in the apparatus, and
therefore requires no special provision.
102 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
7
CHAPTER X.
MONTHLY NOTICES.
(per RECAPITULATION of the work which each month
S$ lp presents to the gardener’s notice will be useful. By
C occasionally glancing over the Monthly Notices, the me-
mory is refreshed ; and it will be found that even the three winter
months allow the young gardener no remission from labor.
There is something to be done in every week in the year—some-
thing to be attended to, which amuses the mind, interests the
imagination, and benefits the general tone of mental and physical
health.
JANUARY.
Let your /awn and grass. walks be kept neat and smooth, by
rolling, this month ; and if any part of the grounds require fresh
turf, this is the season for cutting and laying it down. If you
live in the neighborhood of a common, that is the best ground
for cutting turf, as the herbage is short, and free from nettles,
docks, &c. Lay it down firm and even, allowing for the sinking.
of the newly-laid earth, about an inch or two. Roll it well, after
having laid down the turf.
Keep the gravel walks also from weeds and moss, and roll
them in dry weather. If you attempt to roll gravel in wet wea-
ther, the gravel clings to the roller.
Dig the clumps or spots where you mean to plant evergreens,
in February and March, that the ground may be trenched in
MONTHLY NOTICES. 103
readiness. The frost of this month will render sig a Aa earth
more friable, and the snow will enrich it. *
If the weather is very settled and mild, you may still plant
out hardy deciduous shrubs, such as sweetbriars, double
bramble, double-blossomed cherry, dwarf almond, jasmines,
honeysuckles, roses, lilacs, laburnums, guelder rose, Spirea frutex,
mezereons, &c. Transplant each shrub with a good ball of earth
round its roots.
Prune flowering shrubs now, where they require it, with a
sharp knife, not with shears. When I say “ flowering shrubs,”
I do not mean shrubs in flower, but shrubs that do flower.
Transplant suckers from the hardy flowering shrubs, if they
have not been done before. Take them up with good roots, and
support them neatly with stakes.
Cuttings of young shoots of hardy deciduous shrubs may be
planted in mild weather, to root, and form good plants in the
autumn. Layers may be also formed..
Protect all the choicer kinds of flowering shrubs, and all cut-
tings of every kind, from severe frosts, by spreading litter over
them.
Plant tulips now—always providing the weather is mild—to
blow late in the year; but they will not be so handsome as those
-which were planted again in September and October.
Plant any ranunculuses, anemones, &c., you may have out of
the ground, to come in late blowing ; but, like the tulips, they
will not bear such fine blooms. Protect everything from severe
weather, as well as you can, this month, particularly your choicer
sorts of bulbs, and tuberous-rooted perennials.
FEBRUARY,
February is the first spring month, and the parterre will begin
to make gradual approaches to gaiety and life. The anemones,
104 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
hepaticas, dvc., will now bud and flower, if the weather is genial ;
and the crocus and snowdrop will put forth their blooms to meet
the sun on his returning march.
About the end of this month, you may begin foi sow the hardy
annuals. I prefer April, but it may not be ccnvenient always to
‘wait so long ; therefore sow now the seeds of hawkweed, lavatera,
Venus’s looking-glass, Venus’s navelwort, candytuft, larkspurs,
lupines, convolvulus, flos Adonis, dwarf lychnis, nigelia, annual
sunflowers, &c. :
This month, you may plant and transplant, fearlessly, all hardy,
fibrous-rooted flowering perennials and biennials, such as saxifrage,
gentianella, hepaticas, violets, primroses of all sorts, polyanthuses,
double daisies, thrift, d&sc.; rose camipions, rockets, campanulas,
sweet-williams, hollyhocks, scarlet lychnis, carnations, pinks,
monk’s-hood, perennial asters and sunflowers, &c.
Plant cuttings of roses, honeysuckles, and jasmines.
If the weather is mild, you may transplant many kinds of
evergreen shrubs, such as phillyreas, alaternuses, laurels, laurus-
tinus, pyracanthas, cistuses, d&c. Let there be a ball of earth
round their roots, when you take them out of the ground.
If box edging is required, plant it now; water it, and the plants
will soon root. |
Dig the borders, carefully and lightly, with your garden fork ;
make the garden look neat, and free from weeds; clear away —
dead leaves ; sweep the lawn and walks; and let spring advance
in its proper order.
MARCH.
Now plant away. Evergreens cannot be moved at a better
period. Deciduous flowering shrubs may also be still planted,
such as Althea frutex, syringas, roses, honeysuckles, mezereons,
MONTHLY NOTICES. 105
sumach, laburaums, lilacs, jasmines, candleberry myrtles, guelder
roses, &c.
Where the borders require filling up, the following plants may
still be moved, but do it early in this month :—
Lycknises, campanulas, Canterbury bells, tree primroses,
rockets, sweet-williams, wallflowers, columbines, monk’s-hood,
rose campions, perennial asters and sunflowers, foxgloves, &e.
Sow perennial and biennial flower seeds about the last week
in this month. Stake your hyacinths, when’the flower stems are
tall.
Plant out layered carnations of last year, into the places where
they ought to remain.
Give fresh earth to any plants in pots, such as carnations, pinks,
auriculas, double sweet-williams, double stock gillyflowers, rock-
ets, &.
Sow annuals of all hardy kinds.
Transplant any hardy roses, which you may wish should blow
late in the year.
Plant box, for edgings, still; and roll the lawn and grass walks.
Transplant any tenderer kinds of annuals which you may have
been at the pains of raising in, or procuring from, a hot-bed.
Keep the garden quite free from weeds and dead leaves,
APRIL.
Now place sticks to every plant or stalk requiring support.
Fix the sticks, or light iron rods, firmly in the ground; and tie
the stems to each stick neatly, in two or three places.
Some evergreens may yet be removed, as laurels, laurustinus,
Portugal laurel, cistuses, arbutus, magnolias, pyracanthas, &e.
Propagate auriculas, by slipping off their suckers and offsets,
this month.
5*
106 ‘LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
Sow carnation and polyanthus seeds still. Sow, also, perennial
and biennial seeds. |
Where any perennial or biennial fibrous-rooted flowers are
wanted, transplant them only in the first week of this month, and
they must have each a good ball of earth attached to them; but
this work should be completed in February, or March at farthest.
Every sort of annual may now be sown.
Take care of your hyacinths, tulips, ranunculuses, and ane-
mones now, for they will be hastening into bloom.
Place your auriculas, hyacinths, &c., which may be in pots, in
a sheltered place, during heavy rains or winds; and shelter those
flowers which are in the borders as well as you can. Trim them
from dead leaves.
Keep your lawn and grass walks nicely mown and rolled, and
your borders free from weeds and rubbish.
MAY.
Propagate perennial fibrous-rooted plants by cuttings.
Propagate double wall-flowers by slips of the young shoots of
the head.
Sow annuals for succession; such as sweet-peas, nasturtiums,
lavatera, lupines, flos Adonis, d&c.
Take up those hyacinths, tulips, &¢. which have done flower-
ing, and dry them in the shade to put away.
Weeds grow quickly now: hoe them up wherever you see
them. Support all flowers with sticks ; train them upright. Clear
away all the dead leaves from your carnations, and gently stir
the earth round them with your’smallest trowel.
Look round the borders now, and take off irregular shoots.
MONTHLY NOTICES. 107
JUNE.
Propagate carnations by layers and pipings. Propagate double
sweet-williams and pinks by layers and cuttings, or slips.
Propagate perennial fibrous-rooted plants by cuttings of the
stalks.
Transplant the large annuals from the seedling bed to the
places where they are to remain. Let this be done in showery
weather, if possible.
Take up all bulbs, ranunculuses, and anemone roots, dzc., as the
flowers and leaves decay.
Water the delicate plants, if the weather proves dry: give a
moderate watering every evening, but never in the heat of the
day.
Sow yet some hardy annuals, such as ten-week stocks, virgin
stock, &e.
Plant out China-asters, Chinese Boll hooks ten-week stocks,
large convolvolus, &e., but let each root have a ball of earth
round it.
Examine the perennial and biennial plants, to cut off all dead,
broken, or decaying shoots. ‘Trim the African and French mari-
golds from their lower straggling shoots, that they may present a
neat, upright appearance. Trim the chrysanthemums, which are
apt to branch too near the root, and stake them neatly.
Plant out carnations and pink seedlings into their proper places,
- Keep everything just moderately moist, if there is a long
drought in this month.
IULY.
You may lay carnations and double sweet-williams still; but
let it be done before the end of the second week in this month.
Propagate pinks by slips and pipings +
108 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
Transplant the seedling auriculas which were sown last year,
as also the seedling polyanthus.
Transplant the perennial and biennial seedlings which were not
done last month, to remain till October.
Take up all bulbs as fast as they decay their leaves. If this
month prove hot and dry, place your potted carnations in a shel-
tered situation, and keep them just moist.
Support flowering shrubs and plants, and cut away decayed
stems. Keep the borders clean. Mow the lawn and grass walks.
Plant autumnal bulbs. '
AUGUST.
You may now begin to propagate some double-flowered and
approved fibrous-rooted plants the end of the month, if they have
done flowering—such, for instance, as the double rose campion,
catchfly, double scarlet lythnis, double rocket, double ragged
robin, bachelor’s. buttons, gentianella, polyanthuses, auriculas, d&c.
Sow auricula and polyanthus seed on a warm, dey day; and
remove carnation layers to some place where they may remain
till October to gain strength.
Sow seeds of bulbs.
Sow anemone and ranunculus seed.
Remove all bulbs which have done flowering.
Cut and*trim edgings of box. Clip holly, yew, and privet
hedges.
Gather flower seeds.
Plant autumnal bulbs, if any are still above ground, such as
colchicums, autumnal narcissus, amaryllis, and autumn crocus.
Trim the flower plants; mow the lawn and grass walks, and
keep every department in neat order,
MONTHLY NOTICES. 109
SEPTEMBER.
Transplant, in eny moist or showery weather this month, the
perennial and biennial seedlings to their proper situations, with a
ball of earth round their roots.
Propagate fibrous-rooted plants.
Prepare the spots where you mean to deposit anemone and
ranunculus roots any time betweén the end of this month and the
2nd of October; and dig all beds and borders which are vacant,
to prepare them also for receiving roots and plants next month.
Transplant ‘peonies, flag irises, monk’s-hood, fraxinella, and
such like plants, to part their roots and remove each root to its
destined position.
Transplant evergreens.
Plant cuttings of honey-suckles, and other shrubs.
Plant hyacinth and tulip roots for early spring bloom.
Plant box by slips or roots. i
Mow grass lawn and walks. Clear away flower siems, and
trim flowering plants.
Sow seeds of bulbous flowers, if not done last month.
OCTOBER.
_ This is a very busy month; for the garden should now be
cleared and arranged for the season.
Transplant all sorts of fibrous-rooted perennial and biennial
plants now where they are intended to remain.
Put ‘the bulbs into the ground again; and_ transplant ie
different layered plants into their respective places.
Prune flowering shrubs of all sorts. Plant and transplant all
hardy deciduous shrubs, and their suckers.
110 LADIES’ FLOWER GARDENER.
Dig up and part the roots of all flowers which require su doing,
and replant them.
Plant cuttings of honeysuckles, laurels, &c.
Take up the roots of dahlias, and put them carefully away till
May.
Trim evergreens.
Plant box edgings; cut away the long, sticky roots, and trim
the tops even. -
Mow grass walks and lawns, and weed gravel walks.
NOVEMBER.
Prepare compost for a new year by raking dead leaves, soil,
sand, &c., in a heap, to turn well over occasionally. Pour the
brine, soap-suds, &c., from the house over it.
Transplant still all hardy kinds of flowering shrubs, suckers, &c.
Clear the borders from dead annuals, leaves, stumps, &e. ;
shelter the choice bulbs and double-flowering plants.
%
DECEMBER.
Take care of every thing. Protect the more delicate roots
from severe frost, by strewing ashes, sand, or litter over them.”
Prune shrubs, and dig between them.
If the weather is open, you may still plant hardy sorts of
flowering shrubs.
%
AcONIIES .. Ke
Alaturnus, Layers of « «.
Amelioration of Soils .. -
Amaryllis ss ee
Annuals ate ae
self-ssown ..”* ate
to sow oe
how to water
when to sow
how totransplant ..
to trim She
List of less tender ..
List of hardy
Ants, to destroy .. oe
Anemone oe
April, List of Perennials for
Monthly Notices of
Arrangement of Shrubs...
of Flowers
Arabian Jasmine .« oe
Arbutus ae re
Arbor Vite ore se
Arsenic Water, to use*..
Aspect for Flowers on
Auriculas ee a
Compost for
Austrian Briar ae
August, Monthly Notice for
List of Perennials for
Avroncator
Ayrshire Rose
"33,34, 45
74
112
Beds, planting ..
Beds of Roses
to make Cuttings of ee
to prune... ee ee
Remarks on _... or a
List of ar oh oe
February, Monthly Notice for .. ia
list of Perennials for a
Fences against Hares and Rabbits ae
Fibrous root, term explained oe
Flowers, Aspect for .. Pe my!
how to arrange 2 eee
Flower Seeds, how to sow ae oe
self-sown, how to treat ee
Fiowering Shrubs, how to plant as
Fly, to destroy the Green .. as
Gardening, remarks on Ae aie
Gardens, notices of old English ae
ee
113
28
54
72
30
34
63
i4
27
72
109
68
14
91
35
52
17
25
31
69.
70
71
72
75
71
74
103
22
24
27
14
18
38
57
69
66
10
10
13
114
Garden, laying outa ..
Soil far; ... ee
Compost for ««
Tools necessary for ...
Working Dress for
Gentian .. af °¢
Gentianella .. es
Gillyflowers Gia as
Goiden Rod .. ae
Gravel Walks
Green Fly, to destroy .
Ground, management of ..
to prepare for Seeds
Gum Cistus
Guernsey Lily ee
Hand-glasses, substitute for ..
Hares, to protect against |
Hepaticas
Herbaceous, term sicplaintal
Hollyhocks
Honesty oe
Honeysuckles, to increase
Hyacinths
Improvement of Soils
Irises -
flag-leaved ..
Iron Rods for Flowers ..
Stakes for Roses
January, Monthly Notice for
list of Perennials for
Jasmines
to increase . :
to renew the Soil for
to prune
devices for training
onquils ..
fuly, Monthly Notice for
List of Perennials for
ee
ee
INDEX.
June, Monthly Notice for .. ee
List of Perennials for .. oe
Knob-rooted Plants oe ee
Ladies’ Garden Tools ee oe
working Dress ee ee
Lawn Re ae oe ee
Laurel * .. ae my ie
Laurel, Portugal sa ee we
Laurestinas mG 3s oe
Layering, when to be done a oe
Layers of Biennials
Rhododendrons qe oe oe
Roses .. 2 oe oe
monthly vs ee oe
Remarks on oe ee
damask ee ee ve
cabbage .. as ee
moss oe ee eo
standard .. ee ee
double yellow .. ee ve
Austrian .. ee oe
perpetual, or four-season ve
Ayrshire ee
Lady Banks ee
climbing ee
soil for oe .. ee
when and how to prune
to layer oe
disease of . ° oe
pyramids aid beds of oe ee
list of . oe ee
Rosa hybrida multiflora o> oe
Rustic stages
advantages of .. o> oe
Salt, observations on oe
water for cuttings
Sand, good effects of
Saxifrage
Seed to sow, when sha fot Perennials
Bulbs eS Ae
ee
66,
26
118° INDEX.
Seed, Biennials .. ce
Annuals ee ee
how to prune ee
when to gather oe
Seedlings, when to remove
Pink and Carnation oe
Seedling-bed, to protect the
September, Monthly Notice for
List of Perennials for
Shrubs, arrangement of oe
how to plant ee
when to transplant oe
to make cuttings of «.
when to take suckers off
to prune .. ee
notices of several oe
list of deciduous ee
evergreen ee oe
Slipping, how ty perform ..
Snails, to destroy a ee
Snowdrops oe ee
Soapsuds, to use ee ee
Soils, improvement of oe
amelioration of . ee
Stages, rustic ae oe
Staking plants 2° aA
Stocks, ten-week Apis
Stock, gilliflower os ek
night oe *y:
Stony ground, to manage oe
Sultan, white and purple ..
Sunflower, everlasting sie
Sweet Peas’ ae Ey,
@ raise early oe
Sweet-williams a4 of
Thrift is ae =
Tools, Ladies’ garden “
Transplant Perennia's and Biennials, when to
ee
ee
ee
ee
ee
e
ee
ee
ee
ee
ee
ee
ee
se
ee
ee
ee
ee
ee
ee
ee
se
co)
-» 48 49
eo. 56
ve 09
oe 52
e 28
ais
oe 49
~. 109
: 24
-- 68
; 70
. ae
e 72
ee 72
e¢ wi)
ve 90
ve 71
we oe
te 54
ee 25
ve 37
14, 26
ee 15
a's eee
oe 15
«SL
-- 56,59
se 90
ae 52
se.) a
nie . 56
oe 34
aS 58
es OU
35, 50, 53
-- 30
e- 16
-- 34
INDEX.
Trees, to ornament the trunks of ..
Tuberous root, term explained oe
rooted Flowers A oe
rooted Flowers and Bulbs, list of ..
Ewlips .. ane oe ee
Vers’ Looking-glass oe ee
Verbena, scarlet ee ee
Violets a oe oe ee
Wall-flowers . os
Window Gardening .. oe oe
ec
119
18
27
36
41
38
39
35
28
Si
76
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ved
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