Lily Strains Comments Abound

When applied to lilies, the word “strain” has evoked considerable comment from people accustomed to the term only in connection with flowers grown quickly from seed, such as annuals and certain perennials. Actually, the growing, selecting and introduction of a closely related group of plants is new only in its application to lilies. In short, a strain of hybrids, such as the Fiesta, Golden Chalice, or Olympic Hybrids, is the final result of hundreds of crosses among the various types.

When the seedlings flower, the hybridizer immediately discards all undesirable individuals, such as plants that are not an improvement over the parents. With the now greatly reduced number, the grower is faced with the problem of final selection, and this usually involves the virtually impossible task of picking the best three or four from among hundreds of outstanding specimens.

It was at this point that we broke away from traditional horticultural practices, (sort of like the artificial grass not being really horticulture) – and decided that, since each remaining plant was of each excellence, the entire group would be introduced as a strain of closely related plants, all of similar habit and form and possessed of a nice range of colors. Not only does this method of introduction result in immediate presentation of the new lilies to gardening America at a modest price, but it also permits the grower to constantly improve the strain by pollinating only the very best specimens each year and thus annually to advance the quality of the entire group.

Some of these strains are:

Bellingham Hybrids – This is essentially a continuation of the inter-crossing of lilies originally developed by Dr. Griffith. The group is most valuable to the gardener because it combines the lovely colors and graceful forms of native American species with the ease of culture and handling of hybrids. These lilies are particularly outstanding for cut flower purposes and for naturalizing.

Centifoliiim Olympic Hybrids – Already available in quantity, these are a major improvement over L. regale. They flower later and are characterized by much larger, well-placed flowers varying in form from the long funnel-type trumpet to wide, bowl-shaped flowers resembling the shape of L. auratum. The attractive cream, yellow and wine shading has been intensified and, in many instances, the entire flower is flushed with color. A recent break has produced large centifolium flowers deeply stained fuchsia pink. Another form, scheduled for early introduction, has dark orange and apricot throats. The latter are among the latest flowering types of the trumpet class, coming into bloom about the same time as L. henryi.

Why Fertilizers For A Cane Fruit Plant Must Not Be Used At The Early Stages?

Soil preparation should be thorough when the home gardener grows their own fruit and, if necessary, started a year or two in advance of planting, particularly if perennial weeds must be eliminated and the soil improved. When stable manure is not available, turning under a heavy growth of clover or alfalfa is an excellent preparation for the berry plantation. In well-managed gardens, where crops have been grown regularly and the soil maintained in a high state of fertility, no special soil improvement is necessary before planting berries.

Early planting is essential if the plants are to get off to a good start. The soil should be fitted as soon as dry enough, and the plants set immediately while the weather is cool and the soil moist. Late plantings often encounter hot dry weather and fail or do poorly the first season. A properly-set plant is as deep in the soil as it grew in the nursery and firm enough to resist a strong tug.

Fertilizers should not be used at planting time and preferably not the first year with the cane fruits. On soils of low fertility, a light application may be used after the plants are well established, but in view of the tendency of amateurs to use too much, only light applications should be made. The strawberry ground may be fertilized at planting time with a complete fertilizer, 10-10-10 or a similar formula, at the rate of one pound to 100 square feet.

Summer care of the strawberries consists of regular cultivation and hoeing, spacing the runners about six inches apart and removing the surplus after the row is filled out to a width of 18 inches. The ever-bearing strawberries sometimes perform much better if mulched with sawdust.

The brambles, currants, gooseberries and blueberries may be mulched. Sawdust is an especially good mulch for blueberries. Cultivation, if practiced, should be shallow. Nitrogen is most apt to be the best fertilizer. For the blueberries sulfate of amtnonia is best, but ammonium nitrate may be used, and is suitable for the other fruits. In small gardens complete fertilizers will do very well for most fruits.

The Colorful Indoor Window Gardens

Like hundreds of other plant lovers, spend many happy days in their flower garden. But, always when the last chrysanthemum had been cut down by killing frost there was the dreary time, between late fall and spring, when all growing things were withered and no flower bloomed.

After one of these ruthless frosts, which snuffed all color from the world and made it sad, Mrs. Preston decided to build a winter window garden in her home.

Since then she has had twelve months of color. A scarlet amaryllis, almost hidden by the foliage of an Easter lily, glows in the window. A novelty in gloxinias, called Lady Slipper, blooms year after year in the same pot with only a short rest period between flowering. Several potted geraniums bloom in their sea son and two of them (Nutmeg and Rose) have fragrant, spicy leaves which add greatly to their desirability and lend an interest even when the plants are no longer in bloom.

A Gloriosa lily, with strange flowers, has climbed 6 feet to the top of the window to crown it with its gold and crimson beauty. There are orchids, some of which bloom during the winter holidays to furnish corsages for friends.

“I used to grow gardenias in my window,” says Mrs. Preston. “Now I have something new. It’s called Fleur d’Amour. It looks like a gardenia, doesn’t it?” she said, pointing to a plant with shining leaves and white gardenia-like flowers. “It has a gardenia-like fragrance, too, that I find captivating.”

The most prized plants in Mrs. Preston’s winter garden, however, are her African violets. It would be difficult for anyone to find a more colorful collection. Some are the usual ones bought at nurseries but quite a number are those Mrs. Preston has raised from seed.

One of her seedlings, grown-up, was mentioned in a magazine that gave the plant special mention for being outstanding in foliage and bicolored blossoms. Many of the other violets were also grown from seed. On the second shelf, near the curtain, is one of several doubles. There are also a number of singles, red, pink and white.

The window garden faces the east and south. It affords abundant light all day. The rack on which the violet plants on the right are seen was constructed so as to give perfect drainage. Underneath the rack is a galvanized iron, water-tight pan filled with cinders. It absorbs any surplus water accidentally spilled in watering. This pan is always moist and so acts as a humidifier to offset the too dry atmosphere frequently found in our modern homes.

Scented Geraniums – How To Root Them

Home gardeners find that rooting scented-leaved geraniums is not always easy. Often they have a favorite plant they want to propagate and after several attempts meet with failure. Among the many kinds, some root very easily, while others are very tricky.

Of the popular scented-leaved geraniums, the lemon-scented and the rose-scented varieties root easily and quickly under common propagating methods.

The lemon-scented (Pelargonium crispum) is a small stemmed plant, with tiny crinkled leaves, which requires considerably more water than most geraniums. Take cuttings about 3-3/4 inches long and trim off all leaves from the bottom up to 1-1/4 inches. Make a clean cut beneath an eye, dip the end into 3X rooting powder and insert the cuttings in clean sand, deep enough so that the lower leaves do not touch the sand. Shade until signs of growth are evident. Then remove shade and keep plants a little drier.

Oak-leaved varieties (Pelargonium quercifolium) are not too difficult. Take tender cuttings, but if they are hardened, root them under drier conditions. A 1X rooting powder is best. Practically all hardy and easy-to-root as well are the flowering scented varieties, none of which demand anything beyond normal cultural conditions. Here again water well, and allow the sand to become rather dry, but not arid, before watering again.

Spice-scented and fruit-scented varieties vary considerably in their needs, but here is how some of the more familiar kinds should be handled.

Use Rooting Powder

Cuttings from the nutmeg geranium (Pelargonium fragrans) and its varieties are made from the heaviest wood available and dipped in a No. 1 or No. 2 rooting powder. These are dependable rooters, but it is best to leave them in the sand for three or four months until the tuberous-type roots have formed.

Apple-scented geraniums (Pelargonium odoratissimum) are propagated from the very short joints which radiate from the main stem and then potted directly into 2-1/2″ pots filled with good soil. They will invariably lose all their leaves, but will fill out with new growth. So it is a must to know why there are brown tips on plants.

Ginger-scented, lemon-balm and almond-scented are all very easy to root under ordinary conditions.

Gooseberry-leaved geranium (Pelargonium grossularioides) is another very small-wooded variety which should he well shaded and given a little more than the usual amount of water, especially after the first week or two in sand.

Mint-scented varieties (Pelargonium tomentosam) including Peppermint, Pungent Peppermint and Joy Lucile require only the usual practices given cuttings.

Rose Winter Preparation

November brings with it shorter days for work and longer nights for rest and sleep. Blustery winds are snatching the last of the gaily colored leaves from drowsy trees; slanting rains put a stop to the merriment of dancing leaves and flatten them into a charming mosaic carpet; cold strengthens his grip on fainting summer.

To keep the plumber from reaching deep down in your pocket, better shut off and drain all irrigating systems and other exposed water lines, if the job has not already been taken care of. In the basement, turn off the water to the outside foundation faucets. Open the faucets outside to permit proper drainage.

Rose Chores

This is the proper time to prepare roses to withstand the rigors of winter. The best agent to protect the stems of the hybrid teas from drying out and to prevent rapid alternate freezing and thawing has been found to be the earth itself. The plants should be practically buried to a depth of six to eight inches by using the soil in the bed around the plants or by the addition of other soil brought in. If the plants have been spaced too closely to permit mounding without exposure of roots, some loose, mellow soil should be added. Frequently, additional soil can be borrowed from a nearby shrub bed.

Tie the tops of the individual plants together with strips of cloth before beginning the mounding operations. This allows more room for working among the rose plants and will prevent the tops from becoming unruly when buffeted by winter winds.

After the rose bushes have been mounded, a 12- to 15-inch mulch of hay or straw should be applied over the bed. This double protection keeps the soil warmer in the fall until really severe weather arrives. The mulch also aids in preventing the soil from warming up too soon in the spring. New growth thus held back frequently escapes the late freeze injury occurring to unmulched plants. Some local gardeners have successfully wintered their roses by mulching them with an eight- to ten-inch layer of wood shavings (about one bushel per plant). The shavings are removed in the spring and broadcast on the shrubbery beds.

Standard or tree roses should be bent over and covered with soil. If the stems are too stiff to be bent over without danger of breaking, dig up the roses carefully, lay them on the ground and cover completely with several inches of good, loose soil. Dig up the plants and reset them next spring.

The roses should not be pruned this time of year but any unusually long canes should be cut back to the average height.

Young climbing roses may be removed from trellises, pegged to the ground and covered with soil, leaves, hay or straw. Older plants with stiff, entwining canes may be wrapped in straw held in place with burlap. It is difficult to get an overcoat that will fit the strong growing roses on fences or walls, consequently we simply wish them the best of luck during the winter season. But unlike growing roses, we can still give dracaena fragrans massangeana an indoor care.

Roses may be set out during this month, provided good, strong dormant plants can be obtained. Few roses are available here in the fall, since they arc brought in from growers on the West Coast or in Texas and do not arrive until early spring. Roses planted now should be watered thoroughly, pruned back to about 12 inches, mounded with soil eight to ten inches high, and mulched with hay or straw.

Coldframe Evergreen Cuttings

One wonderful use of a section of a cold frame is growing your own evergreen cuttings. Take out about four inches of soil and put in a mixture of equal parts of sand and peat moss. Make cuttings of the tips of branches of the past season’s growth of evergreens, put them an inch deep, half inch apart in a row, two inches between rows in the sand and peat in the frame.

This works beautifully for all the different varieties of yew and for most of the junipers, and arbor-vitaes. I doubt if it will work for you for pines, spruces, hemlocks, and firs. Try some of the broad-leafed evergreens such as boxwood, being sure to get cuttings from hardy strains in your locality. Also try fire-thorn, the evergreen wintercreeper (Euonymus), and evergreen barberry. But I doubt if you will find it will work for rhododendrons, mountain laurel, and leucothoe.

If you need some evergreen ground covers – now (November) is a wonderful time to put in all the cuttings you will need of Japanese spurge, of any hardy interesting strains of the evergreen English ivy that you can find and of the many varieties of the creeping types of wintercreeper (Euonymus) used for ground covers. As for me, i have added ground covers around my norfolk island pine and a beautiful landscape was created.

Half the fun is to tuck in a few cuttings of this and that and the other thing just to see if it works. Soak the cuttings well after you put them in, being careful not to let them dry out from the time you take them off the plant until you get them into the cold frame.

Tack a piece of muslin on the inside of your cold frame sash to shade them and then fasten the sash on so it won’t blow off. After things freeze up, cover the cuttings – after thoroughly watering them – with a piece of gunny sack and fill in the top of the frame with leaves. The gunny sack is merely to make it easy to lift them out in the spring. Don’t expect any of them to be rooted before May and some like the boxwood may not root until late summer. I will tell you later what to do with them after they root. But the big thing is that they do not dry out anytime between now and when they are rooted and taken out of the frame. This is just one more use of a cold frame.

Landscape Is Determine By The Family

Your family is, perhaps, the chief personal factor in determining what kind of garden you should have. A young couple with no children, or perhaps just one or two, should be able to estimate their future requirements and they should plan their garden accordingly. On the other hand, if the children have grown beyond the sandbox stage, are about to marry, or are married and have established their own homes, a different kind of garden will be in order. Whatever the circumstances, your family and your way of life will have a direct bearing on the nature and design of your garden.

Besides the size and age of your family, you will have to analyze the kind of life you and your family lead. If you like to entertain large groups of friends in the garden, the outdoor living area will dominate the property. But if you do not entertain, extensively, you can reduce this area to devote more space to a larger vegetable or cut flower garden. The extent of the area devoted to vegetables might well be affected by your budget. Growing your own small fruits, bush fruits, and a variety of vegetables can substantially cut your grocery bills.

You will also have to decide what facilities your garden should have for family comfort. In the northern section of the country, where the summers are neither long nor hot, it is a good idea to design the planting of majestic palm so that maximum sunlight will come into the garden. Farther south, and to the southwest, shade is a prime consideration and should be provided for by your plan wherever possible. In the central prairie states or the Texas Panhandle, where the wind is very strong, the arrangement of windbreaks, either large or small, will be an important consideration.

For those who live in a crowded residential area close to business and industrial sections one of the important items will be adequate screening of your property for privacy. It is also good to plant majestic to have a division for your property.

Finally, you should make provision for the sports you and your children enjoy. An area for badminton, basketball, frisbee, or the like, will add immeasurably to the family’s enjoyment of the garden. This will, of course, dictate in part the layout of your garden.

Winter Color Planting

Though chrysanthemums and dahlias are making a brave showing, this month is really the windup of the gardening year in the West. It is evident that summer’s wear and tear have taken their toll.

Planting for winter color – Where the weather is mild enough, the coastal areas from Seattle south to San Diego, set out lots of bedding plants to insure color in December and the first few months of next year.

For this planting pansies rate head and shoulders above all others; violas are a close second, and fairy primroses (Primula malacoides) come third. After these three come Iceland poppies, calendulas, nemesias, winter stocks and snapdragons.

It is still possible to grow some of these plants from seed, but it would be safer to depend upon nursery-grown plants, which will have sixty days to get established before the days get shorter and the soil turns cooler. Space the bedding plants far enough apart so that tulips, daffodils and hyacinths can be planted among them next month.

Sowing vegetables for winter eating ” September planted vegetable gardens literally take care of themselves once fall rain starts. Some dependable crops you can put in are radishes, turnips, Swiss chard, carrots, onions, endive, parsley, winter peas, spinach, broccoli and other members of the cabbage family.

Making new geraniums from old ” Most big commercial growers start new geraniums from cuttings taken in September. Non-flowering shoots which are thick, stocky and short jointed are best for cuttings. Old woody, lanky stems will not produce strong plants. The cuttings should be about 3 inches long. Dip them in hormone powder to hasten rooting and start them in pots or flats of moist, coarse river sand.

Cuttings of carnation, coleus, penstemon and zonale geranium can be taken now.

Sowing sweet peas – Plant seeds of one of the giant multiflora strains, so that you can enjoy the improved race of giant sweet peas. With only average culture, they will produce as many as five or six huge blooms on 18-inch stems.

Winter sweet peas will succeed where the soil drains well and stays warm, even during the rainy months. Treat the seeds with captan or a similar seed protectant as a precaution against fungus diseases and you can also put bug zappers to protect your plants and let the bug zappers do there work.

Caring for the lawn – Attach a grass catcher to the lawnmower to pick up the clippings and also weed seeds. A light fertilizer application plus deep watering will help put your lawn in good condition for the winter.

Fall A Diving Time For Landscape Plants

Too many gardeners are puzzled by seemingly contradictory directions regarding the proper time for the planting and dividing of perennials. They are led to understand that some perennials are best planted in the spring and others in the fall. But how can they distinguish them so as to re-member which are which? The more they read about them, the greater appears to become the confusion. And, especially if they read English gardening books on the subject, they are likely not only to be confused but to be led into serious errors.

This last statement, which may sound unpleasant to many ears, is actually based on the crux of the whole problem. Certainly no one in his right senses would imply that our cousins across the great water, who are justly famous for their gardening skill, do not know what they are talking about. However, the directions which they give, based on generations of experience, apply to England. In most parts of North America, however, very different climatic conditions prevail, and therefore. English practices when applied here must be modified accordingly.

The same fact holds true if one compares different sections of the United States. Not infrequently it is found that a procedure which is very successful in one part of the country leads to complete failure and loss of plants in another.

At this point, perhaps, the whole problem seems almost hopeless of solution. However, it’s by no means as grim as that. Indeed, all that is needed to clear up the mystery is to carefully consider a few fundamental facts governing the lives of plants.

The Life Rhythm of Plants

All plants, including those which grace our gardens during summer, show a definite rhythm of growth. But it’s rare that this rhythm can be represented by a simple curve, rising continuously from spring to summer and then falling off continuously from summer to autumn. Usually there is at least one distinct dip of variable length in the curve, followed by a rise, before winter closes in and causes the sharp and final drop in the curve. This more or less complete rest period, followed by a resumption of growth, especially root growth, which is represented by the drop and then the rise in the curve, is of the greatest significance.

It is during this period of rest that many plants may be moved and divided most safely, and it is up to the gardener to observe when the opportune moment has come. Different types of plants, naturally, behave in different ways. Certain early spring flowers, such as trillium and bloodroot as well as daffodils, tulips, the small anemones, and so on, wither and die down completely during early or late summer. These should be moved as soon as the leaves have turned brown”neither sooner, since the leaves are needed to store up reserves in the bulbs, tubers or rhizomes, nor much later, since two or three weeks after the plants have gone to rest most of them resume root growth even if they do not at once produce new leaves above the surface.

Some other plants, such as pulmonaria, primula, african violets, iris, Phlox subulata, etc., only remain at a standstill for one to three weeks after their flowers have faded before they once more begin producing new leaves and roots. These plants, therefore, should be transplanted and divided immediately after flowering. However, care of African Violets should be regularly done.

Still another group, to which the peony belongs, finish their growth after flowering and then retain their leaves without further development until the end of summer. These, from all outward appearances, present a simple smooth curve of growth; but this does not hold true if their root development is considered. During the latter part of summer, their roots are almost inactive, but, at the time their leaves begin to wither, root growth is resumed before winter closes in and checks it once more. These, therefore, are the plants which, under all circumstances, are most safely transplanted and divided during September.

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Tips For Fall Tree Moving

During September, narcissus and many of the small flowering bulbs, such as snowdrop, crocus, grape hyacinth, and so on, should be planted. If you plan to naturalize daffodils, plant the bulbs in drifts. Make the holes at least 5 inches deep with a grub hoe or spade; then place a bulb in each hole, replace the soil and sod, and tamp it down with your feet.

Small bulbs are more easily planted if a light crowbar is used to make the holes. First make all the holes, or all the holes in one section, 6 to 9 inches deep. Have on hand some finely screened good soil to which bonemeal has been added”a 5-inch potful to each bushel of soil. Partly fill the holes with this soil and then tamp it down with a stick until the hole is 3 or 4 inches deep. Place a bulb in each hole and then cover with more screened soil and pack it down.

For lilies to be planted in the garden, make the holes 6 to 8 inches deep and put in a handful of sand. The bulb should rest on this sand. There are many lilies suited to fall planting. To name a few: regale, henryi, tigrinum, hansoni, auratum, speciosum rubrum, speciosum album and, of course, the favorite candidum or Madonna lily. If lilies arrive too late for fall planting, I pot them up and plunge them in a coldframe for planting the following spring.

Tree Moving

All evergreens and all deciduous trees and shrubs, with the exception of magnolias, can be moved now. The magnolias move best in the spring while in flower.

Begin tree moving by digging a trench around the tree or shrub, the distance from the trench to the tree being governed by the size of the tree and the amount of fibrous root to be considered. Dig the trench to the bottom of the root system, which will be anywhere from 12 to 18 inches down; then dig underneath to cut away as many tap roots as possible.

By using a garden fork the ball can be reduced in size without injuring the outer roots. Next the ball should be bound in burlap to protect it while in the process of moving. Most deciduous trees up to 4 inches in caliper can be moved without a ball, but with as many roots as possible. When moved without a ball it pays to cut the tree top back at least one-third to one-half.

When planting, with or without a ball, be sure to use plenty of water to puddle the soil around the roots, and water frequently and generously until frost takes over. Tall trees require staking after being moved, as a rule with wire and three stakes. Old pieces of hose on the wire where it goes around the tree will prevent injury. After putting the wires on the tree, drive in the stakes to tighten the wires. If the tree is small, a stake driven in alongside and tied, not too tightly, to the tree with soft string will do the trick. Too tight a tie will cut the tree.

If the new location does not provide good soil it is well to move in some good soil for around the roots. It will help give the tree a good start.

Preparations against frost. In late September frost is quite a problem. Better get all the tender pot and tub plants moved in to a frostproof building. The hydrangea plants, however, ripen better if they have a light frost before being stored: To make certain of having early flowering chrysanthemums cover them with burlap. In some favored places, near salt water or within the limits of a large city, it is possible to flower chysanthemums without protection, but if your garden lies in a valley that is a frost pocket, as mine does, covering must be quite thorough.

Lawns. When the grass in the new lawn is 3 to 4 inches high, go over it with a light mower, ordinary lawn sprinkler systems or even underground lawn sprinkler systems, and cut it back to about 1-1/2 inches. If it is not cut it mats and starts to rot.

Harvesting potatoes. All potatoes should be dug this month for storage. After digging, lay them out in a dry, dark, airy place for two or three days to dry them out, and to allow the skins to harden. After this put them; in the storage bin. It should be about 40 degrees. Do not expose them to much light at any time or they will turn green and will not be edible.

Gladiolus. Lift the gladiolus corms when the tops turn yellow, and allow the tops to ripen before cutting them off. An airy shed it best for this job. When the tops are dry, cut off the stem but leave on the sheath that is over the bulb. Store the bulbs in a cool airy cellar and during the winter give them a thorough dusting with an insecticide to kill any hibernating thrips.

Winter cover crop. As each section of the garden becomes vacant, dig it over and sow a crop of winter rye. Rye puts life into the soil. It has a strong fibrous root system that binds light soil and breaks down heavy soil, and it is an excellent soil conditioner.

If rye is not to be sown, then clean out the old crops, dig over the section and leave it in as rough a condition as possible so that the winter frost and snow can penetrate and help condition the soil.

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