Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) · Chapter 22Chapter VIII the Growing of the Ornamental Plants—Instructions on Particular Kinds (5)
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The “saucer system,” in which cuttings are inserted in wet sand contained in a saucer an inch or two deep, to be exposed at all times to the full sunshine, is of a similar nature. The essentials are, to give the cuttings the “full sun” and to keep the sand saturated with water.
Whatever method is used, if cuttings are to be transplanted after rooting, it is important to pot them off in small pots as soon as they have a cluster of roots one-half inch or an inch long. Leaving them too long in the sand weakens the cutting.
Smilax of the florists is closely allied to asparagus (it is Asparagus medeoloides of the botanists). While it cannot be recommended for house culture, the ease with which it may be grown and the uses to which the festoons of leaves may be put entitle it to a place in the conservatory or greenhouse.
Seed sown in pots or boxes in January or February, the plants shifted as needed until planted on the bench in August, will grow fine strings of green by the holidays. The temperature should be rather high. The plants should be set on low benches, giving as much room as possible overhead. Green-colored strings should be used for the vines to climb on, the vines frequently syringed to keep down the red spider, which is very destructive to this plant, and liquid manure given as the vines grow. The soil should contain a good proportion of sand and be enriched with well-rotted manure.
After the first strings are cut, a second growth fully as good as the first may be had by cleaning up the plants and top-dressing the soil with rotted manure. Sometimes the old roots are kept three or four years. Slightly shading the house through August will add to the color of the leaves. The odor from a vine of smilax thickly covered with the small flowers is very agreeable.
Stocks.—The Ten-weeks and the biennial or Brompton stocks (species of Matthiola) are found in nearly all old-fashioned gardens. Most gardens are thought to be incomplete without them, and the use of the biennial flowering species as house-plants is increasing.
The Ten-weeks stock is usually grown from seed sown in hotbeds or boxes in March. The seedlings are transplanted several times previous to being planted out in early May. At each transplanting the soil should be made a little richer. The double flowers will be more numerous when the soil is rich.
The biennial species (or Brompton stocks) should be sown the season previous to that in which flowers are wanted, the plants wintered over in a cool house, and grown in the following spring. They may be planted out through the summer and lifted into pots in August or September for winter flowering. These may be increased by cuttings taken from the side shoots; but the sowing of seed is a surer method, and unless an extra fine variety is to be saved, it would be the best one to pursue. Height, 10 to 15 inches.
Sweet pea.—A hardy, tendril-climbing annual, universally prized as an outdoor garden plant; also forced to some extent by florists. On any occasion the sweet pea is in place. A bouquet of shaded colors, with a few sprays of galium or the perennial gypsophila, makes one of the choicest of table decorations.
Deep, mellow soil, early planting, and heavy mulching suit them admirably. It is easy to make soils too rich in nitrogen for sweet peas; in such case, they will run to vine at the expense of flowers.
Sow the seeds as soon as the ground is fit to work in the spring, making a drill 5 inches deep. Sow thickly and cover with 2 inches of earth. When the plants have made 2 or 3 inches’ growth above the earth, fill the drill nearly full, leaving a slight depression in which water may be caught. After the soil is thoroughly soaked with water, a good mulch will hold the moisture. To have the ground ready in early spring, it is a good plan to trench the ground in the fall. The top of the soil then dries out very quickly in spring and is left in good physical condition.
In the middle and southern states the seed may be planted in fall, particularly in lighter soils.
Frequent syringing with clear water will keep off the red spider that often destroys the foliage, and attention to picking the seed pods will lengthen the season of bloom. If the finest flowers are wanted, do not let the plants stand less than 8 to 12 inches apart.
A succession of sowings may be made at intervals through May and June, and a fair fall crop secured if care is taken to water and mulch; but the best results will be secured with the very early planting. When the plants are watered, apply enough to soak the soil, and do not water frequently.
Swainsona.—This plant has been called the winter sweet pea, but the flowers are not fragrant. It makes a very desirable house plant, blooming through the late winter and early spring months. The blossoms, which resemble those of the pea, are borne in long racemes. The foliage is finely cut, resembling small locust leaves, and adds to the beauty of the plant, the whole effect being exceedingly graceful. Swainsona may be grown from seed or cuttings. Cuttings taken in late winter should make blooming plants in summer; these plants may be used for winter bloom, but it is better to raise new plants. Some gardeners cut back old plants to secure new blooming wood; this is desirable if the plants grow more or less permanently in the greenhouse border, but for pots new plants should be grown.
The common swainsona is white-flowered; but there is a good rose-colored variety.
Tuberose (properly tuber-ose, not tube-rose, from its specific name, Polianthes tuberosa).—This plant, with its tall spikes of waxen and fragrant white flowers, is well known in the middle latitudes, but usually requires more heat and a longer season than are commonly present in the most northern states.
The tuberose is a strong feeder, and loves warmth, plenty of water while growing, and a deep, rich, and well-drained soil. The bulbs may be set in the garden or border the last of May or in June, covering them about 1 inch deep. Preparatory to planting, the old dead roots at the base of the bulb should be cut away and the pips or young bulbs about the sides removed. After keeping them till their scars are dried over, these pips may be planted 5 or 6 inches apart in drills, and with good soil and cultivation they will make blooming bulbs for the following year.
Before planting the large bulbs, it may be well to examine the points, to determine whether they are likely to bloom. The tuberose blooms but once. If there is a hard, woody piece of old stem in the midst of the dry scales at the apex of the bulb, it has bloomed, and is of no value except for producing pips. Likewise if, instead of a solid core, there is a brownish, dry cavity extending from the tip down into the middle of the bulb, the heart has rotted or dried up, and the bulb is worthless as far as blooming is concerned.
Bulbs of blooming size set in the border in June flower toward the close of September. They may be made to flower three or four weeks sooner by starting them early in some warm place, where they may be given a temperature of about 60° to 70°. Prepare the bulbs as above, and place them with their tips just above the surface in about 3-or 4-inch pots, in light sandy soil. Water them thoroughly, afterwards sparingly, till the leaves have made considerable growth. These plants may be turned out into the open ground the last of May or in June, and will probably flower in early September.
In the northern states, if planted in the border they will not start into growth until the ground has become thoroughly warm,—usually after the middle of June,—making the season before frost too short for their perfect growth and flower. If any danger of fall frost is feared, they may be lifted into pots or boxes and taken into the house, when they will bloom without a check. As with other bulbs, a sandy soil will suit.
Just before frost dig up the bulbs, cut off the tops to within 2 inches of the apex of the bulb. They may then be placed in shallow boxes and left out in the sun and air for a week or more, to cure. Each evening, if the nights are cold, they should be removed to some room where the temperature will not fall below 40°. When the outer scales have become dry, the remaining soil may be shaken off and the bulbs stored away in shallow boxes for the winter. They keep best in a temperature of 45° to 50°. It should never fall below 40°.
The Dwarf Pearl, originating in 1870, has long been popular, and is still so with many. But others have come to prefer the old, tall kind, the flowers of which, even if not so large, are perfect in form and seem to open better.
Tulips are undoubtedly the most prized of all early spring bulbs. They are hardy and easy to grow. They also bloom well in winter in a sunny climate. The garden bed will last several years if well cared for, but most satisfactory bloom is secured if the old bulbs are taken up every two or three years and replanted, all the inferior ones being cast aside. When the stock begins to run out, buy anew. The old stock, if not entirely spent, may be planted in the shrubbery or perennial borders.
September is the best time for planting tulips, but as the beds are usually occupied at this time, planting is commonly postponed till October of November. For garden culture the single early tulips are the best. There are excellent early double-flowered varieties. Some prefer the double, as their flowers last longer. Late tulips are gorgeous, but occupy the beds too long in the spring. While tulips are hardy, they are benefited by a winter mulch.
In working out design patterns, the utmost care should be used to have the lines and curves uniform, which is only to be secured by marking out the design, and careful planting. Formal planting is, however, by no means necessary for pleasing effects. Borders, lines, and masses of single colors, or groups of mixed colors which harmonize, are always in order and pleasing. Clear colors are preferable to neutral tints. As varieties vary in height and season of blooming, only named varieties should be ordered if uniform bedding effects are desired. See pp. 286 and 345; Fig. 255.
Violet.—While the culture of violets as house-plants rarely proves successful, there is no reason why a good supply may not be had elsewhere through the greater part of the winter and the spring months.
A sheltered location being selected, young plants from runners may be set in August or September. Have the ground fertile and well drained. These plants will make fine crowns by December, and often will bloom before weather sufficiently cold to freeze them.
To have flowers through the winter, it will be necessary to afford some protection. This may best be accomplished by building a frame of boards large enough to cover the plants, making the frame in the same way as for a hotbed, 4 to 6 inches higher at the back than the front. Cover the frame with sash or boards, and as the weather becomes severe, mats or straw should be placed over and around the frame to protect the plants from freezing. Whenever the weather will permit, the covering should be removed and air admitted, but no harm will come if the frames are not disturbed for several weeks. Much sunlight and a high temperature through the middle of winter are to be avoided, for if the plants are stimulated, a shorter period of bloom will result. In April the frame may be removed, the plants yielding the later part of the crop without protection.
Violets belong with the “cool” plants of florists. When well hardened off, considerable frost does not harm them. They should always be kept stocky. Start a new lot from runner-plants each year. They thrive in a temperature of 55° to 65°. Pages 190, 206.
Wax-plant.—The wax-plant, or hoya, is one of the commonest of window-garden plants, and yet it is one that house-gardeners usually have difficulty in flowering. However, it is one of the easiest plants to manage if a person understands its nature.
It is naturally a summer-blooming plant, and should rest in winter. In the winter, keep it just alive in a cool and rather dry place. If the temperature does not go above 50° Fahr., so much the better; neither should it go much lower. In late winter or spring, the plant is brought out to warm temperature, given water, and started into growth. The old flower-stems should not be cut off, since new flowers come from them as well as from the new wood. When it is brought out to be started into growth, it may be repotted, sometimes into a size larger pot, but always with more or less fresh earth. The plant should increase in value each year. In conservatories, it is sometimes planted out in the ground and allowed to run over a wall, in which case it will reach a height of many feet.