[Illustration: “MY FLOWERS.”]
“A flowery crown will I compose,
I’ll weave the Crocus, weave the Rose;
I’ll weave Narcissus, newly wet,
The Hyacinth and Violet;
The Myrtle shall supply me green,
And Lilies laugh in light between,
That the rich tendrils of my darling’s hair
May burst into their crowning flowers, and light the painted air.”
EVERY WOMAN
HER OWN
Flower Gardener.
A HANDY MANUAL OF
FLOWER GARDENING FOR LADIES.
BY MRS. S. O. JOHNSON.
(“DAISY EYEBRIGHT.”)
FOURTH EDITION.
[Illustration]
NEW YORK:
_HENRY T. WILLIAMS,- - - PUBLISHER._
Office of the Horticulturist.
1874.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and
seventy-one, by HENRY T. WILLIAMS,
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
VAN BENTHUYSEN PRINTING HOUSE,
Stereotypers and Printers,
Albany, N. Y.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE.
The Flower Garden--Its Uses, etc. 5
CHAPTER II.
Construction of Beds--Beds in Lawn--Ribbon Gardening--Rockeries
--Directions for Massing Flowers--Diagrams for laying out Gardens 12
CHAPTER III.
Annuals--Their Culture and Varieties--A List of the Most Desirable
for Amateur Gardeners 18
CHAPTER IV.
Perennials--Biennials--Their Treatment, etc.--Lists of Most
Desirable Varieties 27
CHAPTER V.
Geraniums--Pelargoniums--The Difference between the two Plants--Their
Culture and Varieties--Double Geraniums--The Zonale Geraniums
--The Liliputian Tribe--Lists of Desirables and Novelties 32
CHAPTER VI.
Bedding out Plants--Pansies--Verbenas--Heliotropes--Feverfews, etc. 38
CHAPTER VII.
The Fuchsia 47
CHAPTER VIII.
The Cultivation of the Rose 52
CHAPTER IX.
Ornamental Vines 62
CHAPTER X.
Ornamental Shrubs for Garden and Lawn 69
CHAPTER XI.
The Carnation and Picotee Pinks 73
CHAPTER XII.
Herbaceous Plants--Pæonies--Phloxes--Chrysanthemums--Delphiniums
--and a Select List of Desirable Herbaceous Flowers 77
CHAPTER XIII.
Immortelles, or Everlasting Flowers and Ornamental Grasses--
Acroliniums--Globe Amaranths--Helicrysums--Helipterium Sanfordii
--Rodanthes--Xeranthemums--and a Select List of Grasses, Annual
and Perennial 83
CHAPTER XIV.
Ornamental Foliaged Plants--Coleus--Achyranthus--Caladiums--Silver
Leaved Plants--Cannas, etc.--Tri-colored Geraniums, Gold and Silver
Edged 89
CHAPTER XV.
Summer Flowering Bulbs--Japan Lilies--Gladiolus--Dahlias--Vallota,
etc. 96
CHAPTER XVI.
Spring Flowering Bulbs--Snowdrops--Crocuses--Hyacinths--Tulips--
Daffodils--Jonquils--Narcissus--Polyanthus
Narcissus--Lilies of the Valley, etc. 107
CHAPTER XVII.
Old Fashioned Flowers 119
CHAPTER XVIII.
Vegetables and Hotbeds 122
CHAPTER XIX.
Arrangement of Bouquets, Vases, etc.--Flowers in Churches 132
CHAPTER XX.
General Management of the Garden--The Soil--Selection of Seeds--
Weeding--Watering--Planting out--Pruning, etc.--Saving of Seeds--
Preparing Pots--Taking up and Preserving Flowers in Winter--Sleep
of Flowers--Insects--Cultivate the Beautiful everywhere--Lines of
Mrs. Howitts--Let us Teach our Children to Love Flowers rather than
Fashion 139
CHAPTER I.
THE FLOWER-GARDEN--ITS ROMANCE AND REALITY.
“There’s not a flower can grow upon the earth
Without a flower upon the spiritual side;
All that we see is pattern of what shall be in the mount,
Related royally, and built up to eterne significance.
There’s nothing small;
No lily, muffled hum of summer bee,
But finds its coupling in the spinning stars;
No pebble at your feet but proves a sphere;
No chaffinch but implies a cherubim;
Earth is full of heaven,
And every common bush a-fire with God.”
A beautiful garden, tastefully laid out, and well kept, is a certain
evidence of taste, refinement and culture. It makes a lowly cottage
attractive, and lends a charm to the stateliest palace.
An English writer, lately visiting our country, writes:
“I can conceive of nothing more dreary than to live in the country and
have no garden. To have no garden is to take the poetry, and nearly all
the charms away from country life. To have a garden, is to have many
friends continually near.
“What a difference between what Mr. Carlyle calls an ‘umbrageous man’s
rest, in which a king might wish to sit and smoke, and call it his,’
with its roses, and honeysuckles, and fuchsias clambering in through
the very windows in crowds, and the dreary, arid prospect around
thousands of American houses!”
This hardly seems a fair criticism upon our homes. Having been an
enthusiastic lover of flowers from childhood, and having cultivated
them ever since the use of the hands was learned, I cannot recognize
its truth;--have never known of many such houses, as he describes. Yet
many American writers will declare that slender porticos, fanciful
verandas, sculptured gables, and deep bay windows are often seen in
this country, without a vestige of a flower or climbing vine about
them; while in England, the poorest laborer’s cot is a bower of
greenery; and his little plat of flowers, often vies with that of his
employer.
It is not always wealth or art that gives to English homes their beauty
and picturesqueness, but it is the attention of their inmates, to the
cultivation of the “_Green things of the earth_.”
It is not the latticed casement nor the high gable that attracts the
notice of the traveler, but the brilliant flowers and the trailing
vines that drape and embower them.
American women live in-doors too much, and thus sacrifice their health
and spirits. They cultivate neuralgia, dyspepsia, and all their
attendant ills--rather than the beautiful and glorious flowers which
God has scattered so abundantly all over the world.
This little pamphlet is written for the purpose of coaxing them to come
out into the sunshine, and begging them to
“List to Nature’s teachings.”
A little garden, all one’s own, is a real Eden! Earth possesses no
greater charm; and there is no cosmetic equal to the fresh, sweet
morning air, and the cheerful sunshine.
You can make no investment which will give you such interest; health,
happiness, and pure enjoyment will be the coin in which it is paid; and
the returns are not made semi-annually, but daily.
With what intense delight one watches the first tiny leaves of the
seeds one has planted; and what pleasure one takes in the unfolding of
the first flower! A grand garden cared for by a gardener, can never
give its possessor as much delight as one in which nearly all the work
is done by one’s own hands.
To be sure, Pat O’Shovelem’s aid is needful to prepare the ground, lay
out the beds, and harden the walks; but, gentler, smaller hands can
plant the seeds and roots, can keep down the weeds, tie up, stake,
train, water and prune.
I have little faith in American women becoming farmers,--holding
the plow--wielding the spade or the shovel; but I do know from long
experience, that all the rest of the work can be accomplished by women,
if they possess a love for the beautiful. There lies the trouble; few
of our children are taught to garden; if they possess a natural taste
for the pursuit, sometimes it is gratified, but not always.
Mrs. Japonica and Miss McFlimsey hold up their hands in holy horror at
the very idea of any of their kindred soiling their hands with the work.
“Flora work among her namesakes!” they exclaim; “forbid it all
Japonicadom!”
Yet how much harder do they work at the crowded party or ball! To dance
the “German,” requires quite as much physical strength as to plant a
flower-garden, and rake off the weeds;--but that is the fashion, and
beef tea and stimulants must be resorted to, to sustain the feeble
knees, uplift the nerveless fingers. Women can find strength to
cultivate a garden successfully, if they will commence by degrees. If
their muscles and sinews are not accustomed to the work, they will soon
rebel against it when forced to attend to it for several hours at once.
Garden by degrees, my friends, and cultivate your muscles, with your
plants!
An hour, or even half an hour, is long enough for a commencement, and
the next day extend the time ten minutes, and so on, until you can work
for three, or even six hours in succession.
But take it easy; provide an old piece of carpeting to kneel upon while
planting, or weeding with a fork; and if your knees are not accustomed
to that position, humor them by placing an empty raisin or soap box
upon the carpet, and sit upon that;--and if a cushion would also be
agreeable, cover a small pillow with some dark chintz, and place that
on the box. Now you will have a luxurious seat, and can garden without
a sense of pain; yet _don’t stay too long, nor become too much heated_.
The carpeting protects the skirts from the dampness of the soil, and
should always be used. It can be kept conveniently at hand, with the
box and the cushion.
Of course, flounces, puffs, and furbelows, with their accompanying
upper skirts, are not suitable for such occupations. A dark chintz
dress is the best, for it can go into the wash-tub when it is in
need of cleansing. A woolen bathing dress makes an excellent garden
costume--for skirts are always in the way. If it is admissible on the
beach, where wealth and fashion do congregate, why not in the garden,
surrounding one’s house?
A large shade hat, and a pair of old kid gloves are indispensable.
Rubber gloves are often recommended, but are far too clumsy for the
fingers.
Now, the dress is bespoken, and we must purchase the tools required.
A large three-pronged iron fork, with a short handle, is needful for
loosening the ground, removing plants and uprooting weeds. I should
rather do without a trowel than such a fork. They can be purchased of
all hardware dealers.
A small set of tools, comprising a rake and hoe on one handle, a
trowel, and a spade, are very essential. With their aid much light work
can be accomplished without calling upon Mr. O’Shovelem.
A watering pot, with a large nozzle, and a fine sprinkler, is also
required.
With these implements, _every woman can be her own gardener_--and not
only raise all the flowers she may desire, but also contribute a large
share of the vegetables that are always welcomed at the table, during
both summer and winter.
The cultivation of the soil possesses a wonderful fascination; its very
odor, after a refreshing shower, is inspiring; and as you gather your
flowers, you will also gather improvement in many ways.
“He made them all, and what He designs, can ne’er be deemed unworthy
of our study, and our love.” If we see a pot of flowers in a window,
it gives us respect for the inmates of the dwelling--but if we see a
beauteous garden, “_A brilliant carpet of unnumbered dyes_,” we know
that there is taste and refinement within that home.
On the European continent, women work in the fields with the men, and
become beasts of burden. I hope never to see them thus, in this more
favored land, but I do desire to have them take a daily interval from
the labor and care of the house, and breathe into their hearts the
oxygen and iron contained in the fresh air; taste the balm and the
tonic of the sunlight and the garden.
Every day there is some work to be done, if the garden is well
kept. There is no need of having a “_weeding-day_,” like a
“_washing-day_,”--for the weeds can be kept down, daily. Every morning
dig over one or two beds, according to their size,--and continue the
work until all are cleaned up. Then commence again, and thus prevent
the soil from becoming baked; and let the air and moisture enter the
earth, and nourish the tender roots.
That is my way of gardening. After the beds are made, the walks
prepared, no man’s hand or foot enters the sacred precinct, excepting
to admire, and to receive the flowers.
In the early spring time a half hour may suffice to exhaust the little
strength one possesses, but before October comes, with its autumnal
glories, several hours can be passed in out-door work without much
sense of fatigue.
All the delights of a garden are not comprised in gathering nosegays,
and arranging bouquets, vases or festal garlands;--there is great
enjoyment in watching the vegetating of the seeds; the developing of
the tiny leaves, the forming of the minute buds--and then comes at
last--
“The bright, consummate flower!”
Floriculture has been called the gem of all cultures. Its influence
makes us more courteous, if not more intelligent; and what can we find
in nature so emblematical of bloom, decay, and death?
It has been said that “as domestic floriculture and gardening has
been the inclination of beings, and the choice of philosophers, so it
has been the favorite of public and private men, a pleasure of the
greatest, and the care of the meanest: and indeed an employment and a
possession, for which no man is too high nor too low. Flowers are the
relics of Eden’s bowers.”
And there is no pastime that can give as much pleasure, with so small
an expenditure. Gray, the poet, and also a skillful naturalist, tells
us that the enjoyment of life depends upon “having always something
going forward;” and exclaims: “_Happy are they who can create a
rose-tree, or erect a honeysuckle!_”
It is indeed this very “_having always something going forward_” that
produces the enjoyment experienced by the amateur gardener; the glory
and fragrance of the flowers forming the crowning gratification. There
is a pride--a most pleasing pride--in culling a bouquet for a friend,
from flowers raised by one’s own hand.
The creation of a beautiful object is certainly “_a great fact_,” of
which any of us may be justly and honestly proud.
Few of us possess the talent to transfer and perpetuate on canvas, or
in marble, the glorious hues and forms of nature, but the lowest and
humblest can raise flowers which Solomon, in all his glory, could not
have eclipsed!
Why does not everybody have a _Geranium_, a _Rose_, a _Fuchsia_, or
some other flower in a window, if they do not own land enough to plant
a garden? They are very cheap--next to nothing, if raised from a
cutting, and of small price if purchased from the florist; and there is
companionship in them, as well as grace and beauty.
Charming Leigh Hunt, whom I love to quote, says:
“Flowers sweeten the air, rejoice the eye, link you with nature and
innocence, and are something to love. If they cannot love you in
return, they cannot hate you; cannot utter hateful words even if
neglected; for, though they are all beauty, they possess no vanity; and
living, as they do, to do you good, and afford you pleasure, how can
you neglect them!”
There are few dwellers in the country who are so destitute as not to
be able to indulge in a love for flowers. The garden may be of the
smallest size--a mere tiny circle--and it will often be loved the more
for its smallness, and receive more care and attention.
It will not do to care for it a week, and then neglect it for two
weeks. It demands constant care, daily attendance, waterings, and
weedings.
Nothing destroys its beauty like the noxious weeds that will grow
up, like Jonah’s gourd, if not constantly uprooted. The tenacity of
their life is wonderful; uprooting will not always kill them, and
they will mature their seeds, and prepare for another struggle with
you in an ensuing summer, even when their roots lie withering in
the sun. “What hidden virtue is in these things, that it is granted
to sow themselves with the wind, and to grapple the earth with this
unmitigable stubbornness, and to flourish in spite of obstacles, and
never to suffer blight beneath any sun or shade, but always to mock
their enemies, with the same wicked luxuriance?”
Thus enquires Hawthorne, while sturdily waging a warfare against
them, in the garden of the “Old Manse,” at Concord, Mass., and no
one can “make reply.” Animal manures, though very stimulating to
vegetable life, are the sources whence many of the grassy weeds spring.
Artificial manures do not introduce so many of these pests into the
beds and borders, yet some of them are so highly charged with noxious
exhalations that one dislikes to apply them.
Mineral fertilizers are not open to these objections, and I have found
them preferable to others on that account.
Guano is always beneficial, if not applied in too large quantities.
An iron spoonful of it dug into the ground two or three inches from
the stems of the plants will increase their growth and beauty. A less
quantity should be given to tender annuals, and small plants.
Liquid animal manures are also easily applied, and give to the plant
an immediate stimulant. In pouring it on, avoid touching the leaves
or the stems of the plants, but give the earth a copious supply of
a weak solution. Guano applied in this manner is very beneficial. I
have used all of these with decided success; and always feed my garden
bountifully; and receive in return a bountiful supply of flowers and
vegetables.
Plant with care and skill; water when needful; feed plenty of
nourishment; keep clear from all weeds; tie, stake, prune and cultivate
daily, and you will never regret the small investment required to
commence and continue a garden; but will become more and more enamored
with the occupation; and will yearly increase your stock, and multiply
your labors, and will be ready to say with Thomson, the poet of nature:
“I care not, Fortune, what you me deny,
You cannot rob me of free Nature’s grace;
You cannot shut the windows of the sky,
Through which Aurora shows her brightening face;
You cannot bar my constant feet to trace
The woods and lawns by living streams at eve:
Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace,
And I their toys to the great children leave;
Of fancy, reason, virtue, nought can me bereave.”