Part 29

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Nowadays "tropical effects" are greatly admired. We have but few plants that adapt themselves to this phase of gardening. Canna, Caladium, Ricinus, Coleus, "Golden Feather" Pyrethrum and the gray Centaurea cover pretty nearly the entire list. But by varying the combinations that can be made with them the amateur can produce many new and pleasing effects, thus avoiding the monotony which results from simply copying the beds that we see year after year in the public parks, from whose likeness to each other we get the impression that no other combination can be made. Study out new arrangements for yourself. Plant them, group them, use them as backgrounds for flowering plants, mass them in open spaces in the border. Do not get the idea that they must always be used by themselves. Cannas, because of the great variety of color in their foliage, can be made attractive when used alone, but the others depend upon combination with other plants for the contrast which brings out and emphasizes their attractive features.

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Speaking of new arrangements reminds me to say that the amateur gardener ought always to plan for original effects if he or she would get out of gardening all the pleasure there is in it. It may seem almost necessary for the beginner to copy the ideas of others in the arrangement of the garden, to a considerable extent, but he should not get into the slavish habit of doing so. Hazlitt says: "Originality implies independence of opinion. It consists in seeing for one's self." That's it, exactly. Study your plants. Find out their possibilities. And then plan arrangements of your own for next season. Have an opinion of your own, and be independent enough to attempt its carrying out. Don't be afraid of yourself. Originate! Originate! Originate!

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When you invest your money in a fine plant you do it for the pleasure of yourself and family. When a neighbor comes along and admires it, and asks you to divide it with her, don't let yourself be frightened into doing so from regard of what she may say or think if you refuse. Tell her where she can get a plant like it, but don't spoil your own plant for anybody.

I am well aware that advice of this kind may seem selfish, but it is not. There's no good reason why my neighbor should not get his plants in the same way I got mine. I buy with the idea of beautifying my home with them, and this I cannot do so long as I yield to everybody's request for a slip or a root.

I have in mind a woman who, some years ago, invested in a rare variety of Peony. When her plant came into bloom her friends admired it so much that they all declared they must have a "toe" of it. The poor woman hated terribly to disturb her plant, for she was quite sure what the result would be, having had considerable experience with Peonies, but she lacked the courage to say no, and the consequence was that she gave a root to the first applicant, and that made it impossible for her to refuse the second one and those who came after, and from that time to this she has kept giving away "toes," and her plant is a poor little thing to-day, not much larger than when it was first planted, while plants grown from it are large and fine. She wouldn't mind it so much if her friends were willing to divide their plants with their friends, but they will not do this "for fear of spoiling them." Instead, they send their friends to her. This is a fact, and I presume it can be duplicated in almost every neighborhood.

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The flower-loving person is, as a general thing, a very generous person, and he takes delight in dividing his plants with others when he can do so without injuring them. He is glad to do this because of his love for flowers, and the pleasure it affords him to get others interested in them and their culture. But there is such a thing as being overgenerous. Our motto should be, "Home's garden first, my neighbor's garden afterward."

It is generally thoughtlessness which prompts people to ask us to divide our choice plants with them. If we were to be frank with them, and tell them why we do not care to do this, they would readily understand the situation, and, instead of blaming us for our refusal, they would blame themselves for having been so thoughtlessly selfish as to have made the request.

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The question is often asked:

"Why can't we save our own flower-seeds? Aren't the plants we grow just as healthy as those of the seedsmen we patronize year after year? Ought not the seed from them to be just as good as that we buy?"

Just as good, no doubt, in one sense, and not as good, in another. We grow our plants for their flowers. The seedsmen grow theirs for their seed, and in order to secure the very best article they give their plants care and culture that ours are not likely to get. Their methods are calculated to result in constant improvement. Ours tend in the other direction. The person who grows plants year after year from home-grown seed will almost invariably tell you that her plants "seem to be running out."

The remedy for this state of things is to get fresh seed, each year, from the men who understand how to grow it to perfection.

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One ought always to keep his shrubs and choice plants labelled so that no mistake can be made as to variety. We may be on speaking terms with the whole Smith family, but we never feel really acquainted with them until we know which is John, or Susan, or William. It ought to be so in our friendship with our plants. Who that loves Roses would be content to speak of La France, and Madame Plantier, and Captain Christy simply as Roses? We must be on such intimate terms with them that each one has a personality of its own for us. Then we know them, and not till then.

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The best label to make use of is a zinc one, because it is almost everlasting, while a wooden one is short lived, and whatever is written on it soon becomes indistinct.

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In attaching any label to a plant, be careful not to twist the wire with which you attach it so tightly that it will cut into the branch. As the branch grows the wire will shut off the circulation of the plant's life-blood through that branch, and the result will be disastrous to that portion of the plant.

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Different varieties of perennials ought to be kept track of quite as much as in the case of shrubs. As the old stalks die away and are cut off each season, there is no part of the plant to which a label can be attached with any permanence. There are iron sockets on the market into which the piece of wood bearing the name of the variety can be inserted. An all-wool label would speedily decay in contact with the soil.

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Sometimes we get very amusing letters from parties "in search of information." Not long ago a woman sent me a leaf from her Boston Fern, calling my attention to the "bugs" on the lower side of it, and asking how she could get rid of them. How did I suppose they contrived to arrange themselves with such regularity? A little careful investigation would have shown her that the rows of "bugs" were seed-spores. If anything about your plants puzzles you, use your eyes and your intelligence, and endeavor to find out the "whys and wherefores" for yourself. You will enjoy doing this when you once get into the habit of it. Information that comes to us through our own efforts is always appreciated much more than that which comes to us second-hand. Make a practice of personal investigation in order to get at a solution of the problems that will constantly confront you in gardening operations.

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In answer to another correspondent who asked me to recommend some thoroughly reliable fertilizer, I advised "old cow-manure." Back came a letter, saying I had neglected to state how old the cow ought to be!