Hardy chrysanthemums, dahlias, lilies and other perennials are now on display everywhere and the riot of fall color is ravishing in our gardens and parks. It is now time to plan and plant for bloom during the winter and spring seasons.
Zinnias and marigolds are past their prime and should be pulled out to allow room for the later-blooming flowers. Hardy perennials planted in seed flats in August are now ready to be planted in permanent positions. These include the hardy dianthus of many kinds, including carnations and Dianthus barbatus, or sweet william, which lasts only one blooming season.
Columbines are suited to shaded borders and are most attractive used with creeping Phlox divaricata or P. subulata or the lovely blue Phlox canadensis. The hardy ageratum, eupatorium, self-sows so freely that it is often necessary to thin it out to make room for other plantings. The annual ageratum also has a tendency toward this habit.
Stock of the Giant Imperial strain gives delightful color tones and pleasing fragrance. Seeds of this along with those of Hartweg lupines should he planted where they are to flower, since they do not bear transplanting well.
Other Annuals that should be put in now include the beautiful annual larkspur. This is so free-flowering that it quickly makes wonderful backgrounds to hide the wireless outdoor speakers and fills out bare places between taller shrubs. Thin larkspur plants as they crowd. Centaureas take up so much room that they may well be omitted from small gardens unless they are placed in a secluded border for cutting. They are also heavy feeders.
Phlox Drummondi, which is easy to grow, makes a good bulb bed cover. provided it is planted in self colors and not in a mixture. The pure snowy white, the soft creamy yellow, the delicate heliotrope and deep blue-violet, the shades of pink and rose are very attractive and make solid masses of color harmony if used correctly. The white, heliotrope and violet tones are especially good with the gold of hemerocallis.
For Edgings we have a fine list of plantings from seed sown now. Baby blue-eyes, Nemophila menziesi ( insignis). is always much admired, as is the dainty Virginian stock; both of these germinate and bloom almost as soon as they are sown. The dwarf snapdragon, Linaria maroccana Fairy Bouquet, is a charming little flower for any place where a low growth is needed.
Baby’s-Breath is a “must” for our suring flower shows. Be sure to use the best seeds you can buy. Ask for Gypsophila paniculata Covent Garden Market strain. Sow gypsophila right over the sowings of other annuals, then rake all in at once. When they bloom just pull out the whole gypsonhila plants; that’s all the thinning you’ll have to do.
Camassias provide slender spikes of soft vinkish lavender bloom that grow from year to year. They are also good with hemerocallis. Eremurus, the !oxtail lily, is wonderful for an accent or background planting, hut unfortunately, like the peony, it prefers a colder clime and grows better in the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina than it does farther south.
Roses are coming into radiant flower, with the tea roses of this season the finest of the year. Take out the dead canes, spray, fertilize and water freely. The result will he an amazing number of the finest blooms on the hybrid teas as well as floribundas and polyanthus. Rose stocks are low, so get your order in for any new roses you need and can use this fall so as to be ready to plant them late in November.
Camellia sasannua Blush Pink is covered with its delicate blooms this month and the carmine Daikagura is also flowering freely. These two always begin the camellia glory. We surely trust that the severe winter of 1950 will not have a return performance this year.
Asters, chrysanthemums, roses, white crinum lilies and varied daylilies make colorful garden pictures. The fragrance of the Assam tea plant is like a breath of heaven. This is the bohea, the true tea plant from China. It is a very desirable shrub with single white flowers and many yellow stamens. Also attractive are the tea olives, Osmanthus fragrans and 0. fortunei, oleanders, Eleagnus pungens and the loquat, Eriobotrya japonica. These will give unfailing bloom and fragrance through the late fall and early winter. The aroma of these evergreen shrubs is truly enthralling.
We’ve just scratched the surface looking at the topic of wireless outdoor speakers. Visit us for lots of free information at http://www.plant-care.com/wireless-outdoor-speakers.html.
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