Part 9

It is a mistake to make use of strips of cloth in fastening vines to walls, as so many are in the habit of doing, because the cloth will soon rot, and when a strong wind comes along, or after a heavy rain, the vines will be torn from their places, and generally it will be found impossible to replace them satisfactorily. Cloth and twine may answer well enough for annual vines, with the exception of the Morning Glory, but vines of heavy growth should be fastened with strips of leather passed about the main stalks and nailed to the wall securely. Do not use a small tack, as the weight of the vines will often tear it loose from the wood. Do not make the leather so tight that it will interfere with the circulation of sap in the plant. Allow space for future growth. Some persons use iron staples, but I would not advise them as they are sure to chafe the branches they are used to support.

The question is often asked if vines are not harmful to the walls over which they are trained. I have never found them so. On the contrary, I have found walls that had been covered with vines for years in a better state of preservation than walls on which no vines had ever been trained. The explanation is a simple one: The leaves of the vines act in the capacity of shingles, and shed rain, thus keeping it from getting to the walls of the building.

But I would not advise training vines over the roof, unless it is constructed of slate or some material not injured by dampness, because the moisture will get below the foliage, where the sun cannot get at it, and long-continued dampness will soon bring on decay.

On account of the difficulty of getting at them, vines are never pruned to any great extent, but it would be for the betterment of them if they were gone over every year, and all the oldest branches cut away, or thinned out enough to admit of a free circulation of air. If this were done, the vine would be constantly renewing itself, and most kinds would be good for a lifetime. It really is not such a difficult undertaking as most people imagine, for by the use of an ordinary ladder one can get at most parts of a building, and reach such portions of the vines as need attention most.

THE HARDY BORDER

The most satisfactory garden of flowering plants for small places, all things considered, is one composed of hardy herbaceous perennials and biennials.

This for several reasons:

1st.--Once thoroughly established they are good for an indefinite period.

2d.--It is not necessary to "make garden" annually, as is the case where annuals are depended on.

3d.--They require less care than any other class of plants.

4th.--Requiring less care than other plants, they are admirably adapted to the needs of those who can devote only a limited amount of time to gardening.

5th.--They include some of the most beautiful plants we have.

6th.--By a judicious selection of kinds it is possible to have flowers from them from early in spring till late in fall.

I have no disposition to say disparaging things about the garden of annuals. Annuals are very desirable. Some of them are absolutely indispensable. But they call for a great deal of labor. It is hard work to spade the ground, and make the beds, and sow the seed, and keep the weeds down. This work must be done year after year. But with hardy plants this is not the case. Considerable labor may be called for, the first year, in preparing the ground and setting out the plants, but the most of the work done among them, after that, can be done with the hoe, and it will take so little time to do it that you will wonder how you ever came to think annuals the only plants for the flower-garden of busy people. That this is what a great many persons think is true, but it is because they have not had sufficient experience with hardy plants to fully understand their merits, and the small amount of care they require. A season's experience will convince them of their mistake.

In preparing the ground for the reception of these plants, spade it up to the depth of a foot and a half, at least, and work into it a liberal amount of good manure, or some commercial fertilizer that will take the place of manure from the barnyard or cow-stable. Most perennials and herbaceous plants will do fairly well in a soil of only moderate richness, but they cannot do themselves justice in it. They ought not to be expected to. To secure the best results from them--and you ought to be satisfied with nothing less--feed them well. Give them a good start, at the time of planting, and keep them up to a high standard of vitality by liberal feeding, and they will surprise and delight you with the profusion and beauty of their bloom.

Perennials will not bloom till the second year from seed. Therefore, if you want flowers from them the first season, it will be necessary for you to purchase last season's seedlings from the florist.

In most neighborhoods one can secure enough material to stock the border from friends who have old plants that need to be divided, or by exchanging varieties.

But if you want plants of any particular color, or of a certain variety, you will do well to give your order to a dealer. In most gardens five or six years old the original varieties will either have died out or so deteriorated that the stock you obtain there will be inferior in many respects, therefore not at all satisfactory to one who is inclined to be satisfied with nothing but the best. The "best" is what the dealer will send you if you patronize one who has established a reputation for honesty.

The impression prevails, to a great extent, that perennials bloom only for a very short time in the early part of the season. This is a mistake. If you select your plants with a view to the prolongation of the flowering period, you can have flowers throughout the season from this class of plants. Of course not all of them will bloom at the same time. I would not be understood as meaning that. But what I do mean is--that by choosing for a succession of bloom it is possible to secure kinds whose flowering periods will meet and overlap each other in such a manner that some of them will be in bloom most of the time. Many kinds bloom long before the earliest annuals are ready to begin the work of the season. Others are in their prime at midsummer, and later ones will give flowers until frost comes. If you read up the catalogues and familiarize yourself with the habits of the plants which the dealer offers for sale, you can make a selection that will keep the garden gay from May to November.

On the ordinary home-lot there is not much choice allowed as to the location of the border. It must go to the sides of the lot if it starts in front of the house, or it may be located at the rear of the dwelling. On most grounds it will, after a little, occupy both of these positions, for it will outgrow its early limitations in a few years. You will be constantly adding to it, and thus it comes about that the border that begins on each side of the lot will overflow to the rear.

I would never advise locating it in front of the dwelling. Leave the lawn unbroken there. While there is not much opportunity for "effect" on small grounds, a departure from straight lines can always be made, and formality and primness be avoided to a considerable degree. Let the inner edge of the border curve, as shown in the illustration accompanying this chapter, and the result will be a hundredfold more pleasing than it would be if it were a straight line. Curves are always graceful, and indentations here and there enable you to secure new points of view that add vastly to the general effect. They make the border seem larger than it really is because only a portion of it is seen at the same time, as would not be the case if it were made up of straight rows of plants, with the same width throughout.

By planting low-growing kinds in front, and backing them up with kinds of a taller growth, with the very tallest growers in the rear, the effect of a bank of flowers and foliage can be secured. This the illustration clearly shows.

Shrubbery can be used in connection with perennials with most satisfactory results. This, as the reader will see, was done on the grounds from which the picture was taken. Here we have a combination which cannot fail to afford pleasure. I would not advise any home-maker to confine his border to plants of one class. Use shrubs and perennials together, and scatter annuals here and there, and have bulbs all along the border's edge.

I want to call particular attention to one thing which the picture under consideration emphasizes very forcibly, and that is--the unstudied informality of it. It seems to have planned itself. It is like one of Nature's fence-corner bits of gardening.

For use in the background we have several most excellent plants. The Delphinium--Larkspur--grows to a height of seven or eight feet, in rich soil, sending up a score or more of stout stalks from each strong clump of roots. Two or three feet of the upper part of these stalks will be solid with a mass of flowers of the richest, most intense blue imaginable. I know of no other flower of so deep and striking a shade of this rather rare color in the garden. In order to guard against injury from strong winds, stout stakes should be set about each clump, and wound with wire or substantial cord to prevent the flowering stalks from being broken down. There is a white variety, Chinensis, that is most effective when used in combination with the blue, which you will find catalogued as Delphinium formosum. If several strong clumps are grouped together, the effect will be magnificent when the plants are in full bloom. By cutting away the old stalks as soon as they have developed all their flowers, new ones can be coaxed to grow, and under this treatment the plants can be kept in bloom for many weeks.

"Golden Glow" Rudbeckia is quite as strong a grower as the Delphinium, and a more prolific bloomer does not exist. It will literally cover itself with flowers of the richest golden yellow, resembling in shape and size those of the "decorative" type of Dahlia. This plant is a very strong grower, and so aggressive that it will dispute possession with any plant near it, and on this account it should never be given a place where it can interfere with choice varieties. Let it have its own way and it will crowd out even the grass of the lawn. Its proper place is in the extreme background, well to the rear, where distance will lend enchantment to the view. It must not be inferred from this that it is too coarse a flower to give a front place to. It belongs to the rear simply because of its aggressive qualities, and the intense effect of its strong, all-pervading color. You do not want a flower in the front row that, being given an inch, will straightway insist upon taking an ell. This the Rudbeckia will do, every time, if not promptly checked. It is an exceedingly valuable plant to cut from, as its flowers last for days, and light up a room like a great burst of strong sunshine.

Hollyhocks must have a place in every border. Their stately habit, profusion of bloom, wonderful range and richness of color, and long-continued flowering period make them indispensable and favorites everywhere. They are most effective when grown in large masses or groups. If they are prevented from ripening seed, they will bloom throughout the greater part of the season. The single varieties are of the tallest, stateliest growth, therefore admirably adapted to back rows in the border. The double kinds work in well in front of them. These are the showiest members of the family because their flowers are so thickly set along the stalk that a stronger color-effect is given, but they are really no finer than the single sorts, so far as general effect is concerned. Indeed, I think I prefer the single kinds because the rich and peculiar markings of the individual flower show to much better advantage in them than in the doubles, whose multiplicity of petals hides this very pleasing variegation. But I would not care to go without either kind.

Coreopsis lanceolata is a very charming plant for front rows, especially if it can have a place where it is given the benefit of contrast with a white flower, like the Daisy. In such a location its rich golden yellow comes out brilliantly, and makes a most effective point of color in the border.