CARNATIONS AND PINKS
YOU can grow carnations near London, as they do not mind some smoke and
soot; but they are most particular about soil and situation. A damp,
heavy, wet soil is poison to them, and they do not like a hot, dry one.
They want good plant food, and will do best in a rich loam. The natural
way for Carnations to grow is on a steep slope, with their heads
hanging down. In the Alps, where the single ones are found in a wild
state, their roots are tucked away amongst the rocks, while a mass of
flowers hangs over the edge. The real use of the little green cup from
which the flower springs is to carry off water and keep the centre of
the flower dry and wholesome. Our garden ones do well planted in pots
and boxes, and hanging from window-sills and balconies. We do not often
grow them so in England yet, but you may see splendid displays in the
South of France, in Spain, or in South Germany. Carnations will stand
more wind than most plants; in fact, the most valuable receipt for
Carnation-growing is—‘Give them all the air and sun possible.’ It is
useless to put them in shade, and if you have a wet clay soil you must
dig in a quantity of sand for them, or, better still, mortar rubbish.
Remember, too, that though Clay’s Fertilizer and other patent manures
are useful on dry soils, they do more harm than good on damp ones.
Carnations do not like to come into direct contact with farm or stable
manure, so if you use it you must have it buried at least eighteen
inches. When Carnations are growing in your border they will need
staking, and you can, if you choose, use the spiral stakes that need no
tying. Another good way is to drive two stakes into the ground, about
fifteen inches apart, one on either side of the plant, and a little
in front of it; then tie a piece of thick string across them near the
top and let the flower sprays rest on it. This will keep them off the
ground, and is not as stiff-looking as a bunch tied to a single stick.
There are three ways of increasing your stock of Carnations: by layers,
by pipings or cuttings, and by seed. We will tell you first how to
layer them. If possible, it should be done in July, so that your layers
are well rooted and ready to transplant in September. You must prepare
some finely sifted compost of loam, leaf-mould, and silver sand. A town
child may not be able to get leaf-mould, but you can, at any rate,
buy a little silver sand, sift some of the best soil in the garden,
and mix the two together. This must be placed round the Carnation you
wish to layer, and you must choose those plants which have made good
non-flowering shoots, neither too woody nor too tender and sappy. The
leaves of each shoot must be stripped off at the end proceeding from
the main stalk, leaving about three or four leafy joints above. Then
with a sharp knife you make an upward slit, beginning just below a
joint, and ending halfway through, so as to form a tongue. The shoot
must then be carefully pegged down with a hairpin or a zinc layer pin
in such a way that the cut is left open and the tongue is firmly fixed
in the soil. A little more soil should then be put over the part that
is pegged down, and water given with a fine rose. In a month or so the
layers ought to be rooted, and by the first or second week in September
they should be ready to detach from the parent plant and plant out. It
is a delicate piece of work to make the layer cut, as if you do not go
far enough no roots result, while if you go too far the layer dies.
Nor is it easy to peg down your layer successfully. But it is such an
interesting operation that we think you will probably want to try it.
Cuttings should also be taken in July or August, because the ground is
warm then. One way is to cut the stem square across a joint, remove
all the leaves for at least two inches from the bottom, and plant in
a situation that is shady but not directly under trees. The cuttings
should be inserted at least two inches deep, and in soil that has had
sand well worked into it. They must not be allowed to get quite dry.
Another kind of cutting we will describe from that delightful old
gardening book published by John Murray in 1840, and called, ‘Gardening
for Ladies,’ by Mrs. Loudon. ‘Pipings are cuttings of Pinks and
Carnations, and, indeed, are applicable to all plants having jointed
tubular stems. They are prepared by taking a shoot that has nearly
done growing, and holding the root end of it in one hand, below a pair
of leaves, and with the other pulling the top part above the pair of
leaves, so as to separate it from the root part of the stem at the
socket formed by the axils of the leaves, leaving the part pulled off
with a tubular or pipe-like termination—hence the name of pipings; and
when thus separated they are inserted in finely sifted earth or sand,
and a hand-glass is firmly fixed over them.’
Most gardeners snip off the tips of the outer leaves of pipings and
cuttings, because then they can see more easily when new leaves are
forming.
CARNATIONS FROM SEED.
The most attractive way of increasing your stock of Carnations is to
grow them from seed. In this way you get a great variety, and take a
sporting chance of raising a new specimen. But you _must_ buy your seed
from a first-rate firm. As it is rather expensive, you will wish to
give it every chance, so you must prepare the soil carefully for your
seed-pan or shallow box. Whichever of these you use must have a few
holes in it, then some broken crocks for drainage, and then the compost
made of leaf-mould, loam, and silver sand. This mixture should be moist
when you use it, as then you will not have to water much. The seed of
Carnations is big enough for you to plant one by one with the point
of a knife if you have a little patience. When this is done, take a
little fine soil between your hands and sift it evenly and lightly over
your seeds. Then cover with a glass, and, if you can, place in a frame
or greenhouse. If you have neither, you must make shift with a sunny
window as long as there is danger of frost; but we must warn you that
it is not easy to raise seeds in a room. Even in an unused one they are
likely to be too damp, or too dry, or to grow spindly in their effort
to reach the light. March, April, and May are all months when gardeners
sow Carnation seed, and by the end of May you might set your pan out
of doors if you can keep slugs from it. In ten days or a fortnight
the seedlings should appear, and then you must face the fact that the
biggest and strongest—those about which you feel most triumphant—will
be the single ones, while the poor little weaklings will give you
the best double flowers. All should be pricked off when they have
four real leaves, either into boxes or pans or into the open ground.
If you have raised your seed under glass in March, you must keep your
pricked-out seedlings in a frame or greenhouse till all danger of
frost is over. When you have neither, you must do the best you can
with a room. The important thing is to keep away frost at this early
stage. Be careful, when your Carnations are in the open ground, to keep
away slugs with soot or lime, and look out for Leather-jackets and
Wire-worms, both fatal to Carnations. The Leather-jacket is the larva
of the Daddy-long-legs, and in this state has no legs at all. In spite
of this, they can get along as fast as they wish. They are slaty-brown
in colour, and look like short, fat, lifeless grubs. Wire-worms have
yellow bodies, brown heads, and three pairs of legs behind their head.
Both these pests may be trapped by burying small pieces of raw potato,
carrot, or turnip, beneath the soil, with skewers through to mark where
they are. These traps should be examined every morning. Another way
to catch Leather-jackets, or Chop-worms, is to put pieces of slate,
wood, brick, or turf on the ground, as they creep under such things
for shelter. Rust, Spot, Eel-worm, and the Carnation Maggot are also
enemies that do much damage. The two first are fungi, and the best way
to avoid them is to give your plants sun and air. The Eel-worm produces
a disease called gout, and no remedy is known for it. The Carnation
Maggot can be dug out of the heart of a plant with a needle. We hope we
shall not have discouraged you by telling you a few of the forty-nine
ills the Carnation is heir to. They are not really difficult plants to
keep alive if you can give them plenty of air and the right soil. You
must either increase your own stock every year or buy new ones. The
same plant will go on for several years in favourable conditions, but
you cannot depend on many doing this.
Some of your Carnation seedlings are sure to be single, and they would
look very pretty on a rockery or hanging from a wall or a window-sill.
We have not said anything about the different classes in which florists
divide Carnations and Picotees, because we do not think you need
specialize in this way till you are grown up. Perhaps even then you
will agree with us and admire many a seedling that the hidebound
fancier would consign to the dustheap. The old Clove, that most
attractive of Carnations, will do well on a sandy soil, but dies out in
cold, wet seasons.
PINKS.
For an edging there is nothing to equal a good fringed white Pink. We
have seen the little old-fashioned one doing well in the Pensioners’
Gardens at Chelsea Hospital, and one of the authors has grown masses of
Mrs. Sinkins six miles from Charing Cross. They want an open border and
ordinary well-dug garden soil. In times of drought, and on very hot,
dry soils, they want water from April on until they flower; but in most
districts they look after themselves in this respect. When the clumps
are more than a year old, we have seen a good gardener give each one a
liberal dressing of fresh soil in early spring, so that it should not
feel starved. This was done without disturbing the roots by coaxing
the soil under and amongst the shoots. Pinks can be divided quite early
in the spring, or after flowering, or they can be increased, like
Carnations, by layers, pipings, or cuttings. When you divide plants
always choose showery weather, and dig the hole for each portion of
your plant so deep that the roots are not bruised and crammed. When
gardeners divide Pinks, they replant them deep, and with the leaves
rather bunched together. The habit of the Pink is to spread itself on
the surface of the soil, with its stalks uncomfortably exposed, and in
the course of the summer you will see each clump coming back to its
untidy ways.
We agree with Mrs. Ewing, who said that some gardeners had witchcraft
in their hands, and could make anything grow and flourish. We have seen
one of this kind transplant a Crimson Rambler on a hot July day, and
the Rose liked it. We used to see the same one divide her Pinks, and
make every bit take root and increase. But as you may not be a born
witch or wizard, and as you may find layers, pipings, and cuttings all
difficult operations, we will tell you the easiest way in the world to
increase your Pinks. We came across it in _Gardening Illustrated_,
in one of those little narratives of real personal experience that
make a good gardening paper so useful and interesting. The writer said
that all he did was to _tear_ off strong young shoots with a good heel
or tag attached, trim off the lower leaves, and plant firmly in a
partially shaded situation and in sandy soil. We have tried this plan
ourselves, and have found that every slip we took grew. We take them
when our Pinks have quite done flowering. The following year we plant
them out, and they flower a little, and by the second year they are
good strong clumps. But you will probably not find this way answers if
you have a cold, heavy soil.