SPRING FLOWERING BULBS.—When crocus, hyacinths, narcissus, tulips,
have done flowering, let the seed stalks be cut down, as the ripening
of the seed severely taxes and exhausts the powers of a plant. Some
persons are accustomed, after the bulbs have flowered, to cut off the
tops, as if to do the most mischief possible. The success of the next
year’s flowering will depend very much on the care given to your beds
now. Many bulbs, as the tulip, form entirely new bulbs; and others, as
the hyacinth, form the flower bud for the next season. The _leaf_ is
the indispensable means of doing this; in it are perfected the juices
which are returned and deposited in the root. If the bed is left to be
choked with weeds, and your bulbs robbed of nutriment, or if the soil
is left compact, or if there is too much moisture, or on the other
hand, too little, the bud or bulb for the next year will be weakened.
A very deep bed, or a sandy soil, will sufficiently prevent the
effects of too much water.
The surface should be mellowed by the hand, and thoroughly weeded. The
_most_ careful cultivators raise their bulbs every year. The _careful_
at least every third year. The _careless_ let them alone and wonder,
from year to year, why their bulbs do so poorly—“The moles must eat
them, or, worms probably injure them;” but the worst worm in a
flower-garden is careless indolence. When bulbs are raised, it should
not be done until the leaves are dry.
GLADIOLUS.—We are surprised that this fine soldier-like plant is not
more extensively employed to adorn gardens, yards, and lawns. A few
varieties only are found in our gardens. Great attention has been
given in Europe, especially in Belgium, to raising new varieties, and
many magnificent kinds are now found in European collections which, so
far as we know, are not to be had for love or money in America. The
bulb, or rather corm,[17] increases very rapidly, and by a little
attention one may obtain from a few, a very large supply. They may be
planted with good effect in rows, in clumps, and in beds, but not
singly. A sandy loam, well mixed with leaf-mold, is their delight. We
usually remove the top soil, and then take out and reject about twelve
inches of the subsoil, making in all about twenty inches depth; return
the top earth, together with enough compost of leaf-mold, sand, and
thoroughly decayed manure, to fill it; plant about four inches deep,
measuring from the top of the corm. When your plants are growing,
examine every day; if you see a sawdust-like matter about them, they
need attention. On searching, a perforation will be found in the stem.
With a penknife slit the stem down from the hole until you reach the
worm which caused the mischief. If this course is not properly
pursued, you will lose stem and root. With a thin strip of bass
matting, or a bit of green ribbon, the stem may be tied and fastened
to a rod for support. In door-yards, and in the scanty grounds of city
yards, clumps of ten or fifteen gladioli would have a very beautiful
appearance, especially if different varieties, instead of being mixed,
should be planted in separate but contiguous patches.
TUBEROSE.—The beauty of its pure, white florets, but especially the
delightful odor of this fragrant flower, has rendered it a favorite
wherever it is known. It is very tender to frost, and must not be
planted out until about the first of May. It is to be treated like the
gladiolus. Its effect is heightened by being put in a half shade,
where its pure white is relieved by a green background. The flower
stem rises from two to three feet and requires a rod to sustain it.
The fragrance is so powerful that a few plants will, at evening, scent
a whole garden; a circumstance well known to owners of pleasure
gardens, who render their grounds very delightful by dispersing these,
and other odoriferous flowers, in various parts of their grounds, thus
loading the dewy evening air with delicious perfume. They may be
planted in tea-inch pots and sunk in the ground until they have begun
to blossom, when the pots may be raised and conveyed to the parlor or
veranda. A single plant will sometimes make a room disagreeable by its
excessive odor.
The roots are imported to England from Italy, as that climate is too
humid and cool too perfect them for flowering. But, in our soil and
climate, we have found no difficulty in raising, from off-sets, the
finest possible bulbs. No yard or garden should be without tuberoses.
PLANTS IN POTS.—It is better when one has ground at hand, to turn out
plants which have been housed through the winter into the open garden.
Roses, geraniums, azaleas, cape jasmins, fuchsias, etc., will be
wonderfully invigorated by such treatment. The tea and Bengal roses
can hardly be brought to perfection in pots, and those who have only
seen the penurious growth and diminished and sparse blossoms in the
parlor have no idea of the beauty of these roses. We usually excavate
a place two feet square and two feet deep for each rose, filling it
with sandy loam very highly enriched with leaf-mold and decayed
manure. The trouble will be repaid four fold; for nature has never
made a plant that forgets to be grateful for attention.
In turning out plants, put the left hand in such a way upon the top as
that the stem shall come between the second and third finger, then
invert the pot and give the bottom of it two or three sharp raps, when
the pot will come off. If the plant is in a lively, growing state, and
the outside of the ball of earth is covered with fine, white, new
roots, it will be best to put the ball into the ground without
disturbing the roots at all. But if the plant is not growing, the
earth may be carefully worked out from the roots with the hands,
taking care to break the fibres as little as possible. Spread out the
roots as much as possible in every direction, and cover with fine
earth.
Rose bushes will need attention soon, as worms and bugs begin their
depredations. When the number of bushes is limited, hand-picking every
day or two is best. For a large collection one must resort to more
general methods. Drench your shrubs, which aphides and worms infest,
with soapsuds, made of two pounds of _whale-oil_ soap to fifteen
gallons of water. This is by far the most efficacious—the only
efficacious—course for destroying insects.
As flower-seeds come up, see that they are well weeded, and if
crowded, thin them out. We would recommend the cultivation of some
old-fashioned flowers. Nothing is more showy than a bed of poppies of
mixed colors. Holyhocks are becoming very great favorites, and we saw
recently flowers as magnificent, and as well worth having, as any
dahlia. The varieties of lupine should be sought for, and for those
who have seen nothing but the white and blue lupines we make an
extract from Mrs. Loudon’s “Companion to the Flower Garden”—an
admirable work, which, though professedly written for ladies, may be
used with profit by everybody who cultivates a garden.
“LUPINUS.—_Leguminosæ._—The Lupine. A genus of herbaceous annuals and
perennials which contain some of our most beautiful border flowers:
yellow, blue, white, and pink lupines are among the oldest border
annuals; _L. nanus_ is a beautiful little annual, with dark blue
flowers, a native of California, and requiring the usual treatment of
California annuals. _L. mutabilis_ and _Cruicshankii_ are splendid
plants, growing to the height of four or five feet, and branching like
miniature trees. _L. Polyphyllus_ and its varieties are perennials,
and they are splendid and vigorous-growing plants, with spikes of
flowers from one foot to eighteen inches in length; _L. nootkatensis_
is a handsome dwarf perennial, and _L. arboreus_, when trained against
a wall, will attain six feet in height, and in sheltered situations it
will grow with equal vigor trained as a bush tied to a stake; _L.
latifolius_ is a perennial from California, with very long spikes of
blue flowers. All the species will thrive in common garden soil; the
annuals are propagated by seed sown in February or March, and the
perennials by division of the roots.”
[17] Bulbs are of two kinds: those which have a number of
coats, or skins, one within the other, like the hyacinth,
which are called tunicated bulbs; those which consist of a
number of scales, only attached to the base, like the lily;
but what are called corms, are only a solid mass of feculent
matter, and which modern botanists do not allow to be bulbs,
but call underground stems. Corms do not require taking up
so often as bulbs; and when they are intended to remain for
several years in the ground, they should be planted from
four to six inches deep at first; as every year a new corm
will form above the old one; and thus, if planted too near
the surface, the corm, in a few years, will be pushed out of
the ground.—_Loudon._