A Morning Glory Playhouse
Small service is true service while it lasts.
Of humblest friends, bright creature! scorn not one;
The daisy, by the shadow that it casts,
Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun.
--_Wordsworth._
YOU children love a playhouse, don't you? Yet it isn't always easy to
get one. A morning glory bower, however, is a perfect delight, and very
easy to make. Persuade some big brother to drive a few long stakes in
the ground so as to mark out either a square or a circle, as you prefer.
Then ask him to fasten some heavy cord from the bottom of one stake to
the top of the next nearest, and then across the top, leaving only a
place at one side for an entrance. Soak your morning glory seeds over
night, so that they will germinate more quickly, and then plant them
along the line of the circle or square marked on the ground. As soon as
they begin to grow, train the vines on the cords, and if necessary tie
in a few more strings near the bottom, to help the baby climbers get
started.
The morning glory grows very rapidly, and is justly popular because of
its lovely blossoms which come in the most beautiful shades. And as the
flowers always turn away from the sun, you will find them soon
completely lining the inside of your playhouse.
The most common kind (Convolvulus major,) grows from 15 to 20 ft., and
will do well in almost any location. It costs only five cents per
packet, and will flower all summer. Who could ask more! The rarer kinds
are known as the Japanese Morning Glory, which grows from 30 to 50 ft.,
and has blossoms measuring from 3 to 4 inches across. These range from
snowy white to darkest purple through the pinks, both plain and with all
kinds of variations. They grow and spread very fast, and love a sunny
location.
If you prefer, you can use the trunk of some tree for the center pole of
your playhouse. (Possibly some of you at the opera may have seen
Siegmund draw the magic sword from the big tree-trunk in the center of
his sweetheart's home.) Well, you could attach cords from pegs driven
in a circle around the base, to the tree at any height desired, and
here plant either the scarlet runner or the hyacinth bean.
Still another way is to plant two poles 8 or 10 ft. apart, and have a
stick nailed across the top, like the ridge pole of a tent. Drive pegs
into the ground along each side, in parallel lines 6 or 8 ft. apart, and
tie heavy cords from the pegs on one side to the pegs on the
other,--carried, of course, over the ridgepole. Plant your seeds close
to the pegs, and in a few weeks your vines will form a flower tent. For
this purpose, you might use the climbing nasturtiums or the wild
cucumber vine. Or, if you can save up the fifteen cents necessary, buy
the new cardinal climber, which has clusters of five to seven blossoms
each, of a beautiful cardinal red, from July until late fall. The vine
grows rapidly, and often more than 20 ft. long, so that when it reaches
the ridge-pole, you can let it run over the other side, and make a good
thick roof. The seeds are very hard, however, and so should either be
soaked over night, or slightly nicked with a file.
If you get a firm, strong framework for your playhouse, you might like
to plant a hardy vine that would live through the winter and be ready
for use early next summer without further trouble. In that case, you
could use the Dutchman's pipe, which is a fast growing climber having
peculiar yellow-brown flowers the shape of a pipe. Though these seeds
are only ten cents per packet, the young plants are sold by the
nurserymen for fifty cents apiece: so if you grow them yourself you can
figure out what a valuable little house you will have!
The everlasting pea is a sprawling, quick grower, having many flowers in
a cluster, and blooming in August. It thrives in even the most common
soil, and gets better every year. It comes in white, pink and red, and a
package of the mixed colors can be bought for five cents.
Other things besides vines are good for flower playhouses. Hollyhocks,
planted in a square or a circle, will soon be high enough to screen you
from the curious butcher-boy or the neighbor's maid. While most kinds
are biennials, and so do not bloom until the second summer, you can
either coax a few plants from some grown-up friend that has a lot
already established, or you can buy seed of the new annual variety,
which, if sown in May, will flower in July!
Sunflowers, too, are to be found in several varieties, ranging from 6 to
8 ft. in height, which you could use for a sort of a stockade, a la
Robinson Crusoe. Those having the small blossoms are nice for cutting,
while the old-fashioned kind furnishes good feed for the chickens,--in
which case your plants would be well worth growing for the seed.
It will never do, however, for you simply to get your flower playhouse
started, and then leave it to take care of itself! You must watch the
baby plants as soon as they peep out of the ground, help the vines to
grow in the right direction and water thoroughly whenever there is a dry
spell. Cultivate around the roots every few days, as this breaking up of
the hard crust which forms on top will prevent the moisture from
escaping through the air channels in the soil, and keep the roots moist.
Several times during the season dig in a trowelful of bonemeal around
each plant, and then give a good wetting.
While the hardy vines, after once getting started, bloom every year
without much more attention, the annuals have one advantage,--you can
have a different kind every time. In other words, you would then be able
to give your house a fresh coat of paint,--I should say, flowers--every
summer.