February 1930- Better Homes & Gardens Articles
Along the Garden Path
Several months ago perhaps you read in The Atlantic Monthly Prof. James
E. Boyle’s statement that a mother plant louse “who
lays her eggs the first of April becomes the progenitor of 12 generations
by the middle of August. She produces 41 young in one generation. Therefore,
by the middle of August, if all the mother-aphid descendants should live,
there would be alive at one time some 560 quadrillion aphids! Or, to state
it more exactly, 564,087,257,509,154,652 aphids. And they would weigh about
eight times as much as all the human inhabitants of this globe.
“This shows rather strikingly what one mother aphid can do
in four and one-half months, if she has plenty of food and no enemies.
We must also remember the size of the insect’s appetite –
especially when in the larva stage. Familiar examples of the larva are
the maggots – children of the common house fly – and
the caterpillars, grub worms, and so on, children of the butterflies and
moths which play like fairies in the sunlight or moonlight. The sole business
of the larva is to eat and grow. And so we find that the caterpillar of
the common Polyphemus moth consumes, in about 56 days, 86,000 times his
original weight. This is rather terrifying!
“Still the balance has been maintained, thus far.”
Spraying, fumigation, drouth, and natural enemies control insects. It
is the lady bugs which eat thousands of plant lice each day.
I was amused to receive a letter of Nell Griffith Wilson, Kenwood, California,
who asks: “Did it ever occur to you that children have their
growing season at the same time that plants have? We discovered this when
we kept measurements on our kitchen wall for several years to see how much
our two girls were growing. It happened that the first measurement was
made in August and the second in February. The record showed, over a period
of several years, that each of them grew sometimes as much as 2 ½
inches from February to August, or during the spring and summer season,
while during the winter period, they would grow little more than ½
inch. And so this experience shows that sunshine and warmth are as conducive
to growth in children as they are to plants.”
I had landed in Seattle in an airplane – it was my first flying
experience. I had traveled in view of the snow-capped peaks Mounts Hood,
Rainier, and St. Helens. My hosts met me at the landing ground, and I was
rushed to a luncheon which was to precede a garden-club meeting. As soon
as I entered the room, I was greeted with literally scores of attractive
flower arrangement, but nothing compared with the quantities of Viola Jersey
Gem. I immediately wrote Mr. Weston, the originator of this viola, and
said: “I have today seen more Viola Jersey Gems than you have.
There must be bushels of flowers upon the tables here.”
“You know as well as I do,” began one of the editors,
“that it’s fun to take your pipe and go to the garden
in the evening to watch the beans germinate. Plants grow at night. The
crooked arms raise the soil, and before you know it, the beans have germinated
before your eyes.”
“No,” said I, “I have never watched a
bean germinate, but one of the first cold evenings last fall I came to
a garden where the buds of the evening primroses were having a time of
it. The air was so chilly that I had to assist the primroses with a match.
The warmth of a burning match actually opened the buds right before my
eyes.”
In the most authoritative book, by Alex Laurie and J. B. Edmond, “Fertilizers
for Greenhouse and Garden Crops,” the writers say: “Plants
may actually starve in the presence of the very elements they require,
because these elements are in a form in which plants cannot absorb them.
All the inorganic materials which enter the plant enter as liquids and
are not usable in solid form. Hence, nutrient materials may be designated
as quickly available, slowly available, and sometimes ‘hopelessly
unavailable.’”
This is a lesson to all gardeners. Fertilizers should be used which
have a large percentage of available nitrogen, potash, and phosphorus.
Have you brought milkweed pods indoors and watched them develop day
by day? At first they are spindle-shaped pods, cracking along one line
like the pods of columbine or larkspur. When they crack open they reveal
the folded parachutes, which soon open in the warm dry air of the home.
Gradually the downy, soft, spiny follicles roll back to reveal the smooth,
satiny lining. They are only weeds, of course, but our interest in them
transforms them into objects of beauty.
I have visited a number of state garden-club meetings recently, and
I find that many of them have provided four committees which are not usually
included in the list: a labeling committee (greater interest always centers
on the unlabeled flowers); a committee to think of the pictorial effect
in the show; another that will work up a large display of unusual things;
a committee for the children’s department; and one to insure
educational features, with displays of insects, diseases, tools, and garden
practices.
Nancy wrote: “The skies are iron gray today, and are shedding
tears now and then, but many unlovely objects are glorified –
nothing is prettier than an ice-covered rubbish burner, and a fence of
plain chicken netting jus just one piece of delicate lace.” It
is the ability to see beauty in common objects which has characterized
most great artists.
Some day I shall have a sundial, and on its face I want to carve Tempus
fugit. To you it will mean “Time flies,” but to me
it recalls the remark of a Scotchman who thought that it was the name of
the maker of many sundials and remarked, “The auld fella couldna
make one that wud keep time by necht [night].”
Many persons have written to us to ask about Junior Garden Clubs. They
can be organized any month of the year. Each boy or girl who accomplishes
the first five projects is entitled to a charming garden notebook. Why
not organize the boys and girls of your neighborhood? – Editor.
--Better Homes and Gardens, February, 1930
The Roving Gardener
Harry R. O'Brien
This month may well be dedicated to ordering seeds. I like to give plenty
of time to it, making out my lists early, reading up on new things I order,
and getting my orders off so that all seeds will be on hand by the time
spring comes. Some firms give a discount for early ordering, too.
Vegetable seeds and annuals I order from a local firm. The bulk of my
perennial seeds I order from one or more of the reliable American firms.
I like to get a few things from England, especially delphiniums, pyrethrums,
and gaillardias. Then each year I try a few rare rock-garden things that
are difficult to get in this country. My seed from these I get from Switzerland.
There is no duty on flower seeds, and they come thru in three or four weeks.
Illustration Caption: The Transvaal-daisy (Gerbera), popular in greenhouses
and in California, has a wide range of lovely pastel tints –
ecru, orange, vermillion, and golden scarlet
The story of where flower seeds come from is a fascinating one. The
great bulk of our annuals are now grown in California, where a big industry
has sprung up. Germany, too, produces a large amount of seed, especially
of annuals and of florist plants. Perennial sees come from all over the
world, especially those of rock-garden plants. There are a number of firms
that make a specialty of handling these rarer seeds. From two or three
men you can get seeds of rare Rocky Mountain alpines. An Ohio seedsman
was a pioneer in handling rare seeds in this country. There are two or
three of our important seed firms that now carry a large line of rare alpines
and two or three English firms do also. The greatest firm in the world
for alpine seeds is in Switzerland. There is a country preacher in England
who has built up an international business in rare seeds.
Often these rare alpine seeds have to be collected by natives who make
trips into wild mountain country for the purpose. The entire world seed
crop of some alpines consists of only a few ounces annually, so don’t
think you are cheated if you get only a few seeds in your packet. Sometimes
the collector gets sick or has an accident and the seed will be off the
market, or the crop may fail, but the fact won’t be known until
long after seed catalogs are printed. Sometimes the collector is unreliable
– and your seed may turn out to be something else.
What a story of some of the seed packets could tell us, if they could
only talk!
Illustration Caption: A lath screen is superior to any other method
of shading inasmuch as each part of a frame receives alternately sun and
shade.
Illustration Caption: The rockspray (Cotoneaster horizontalis) has branches
which are arranged like the bones of a fish. The tiny leaves, scarlet fruits,
and informal habit hint many uses.
This is the season when we enjoy evergreens most, when deciduous shrubs
and trees are bare. Don’t forget the broadleaf evergreens for
these are just as attractive as those with needles and cones. Of these,
the rhododendrons have been the most popular in recent years. But there
are other sorts that ought to be grown more. For instance, there is the
Cotoneaster family, most of which belong in the evergreen class. These,
in general, resemble the Japanese Barberry. Two of the best of these are
Cotoneaster horizontalis and the rockspray (Cotoneaster microphylla). Both
of these are dwarf, spreading over the ground in sprays, and are especially
suited to rock-garden planting, tho they will do elsewhere. The rockspray
is more dwarf and the leaves are smaller. Of the upright forms, one of
the best is the Diels Cotoneaster. All three have red berries that persist
thru most of the winter. Seldom cataloged, but one of the best sorts, is
known as Cotoneaster racemiflora variety soongarica, an upright shrub noted
for its profusion of showy white flowers as well as the size and quantity
of fruits.
Another choice broadleaf evergreen is the Leatherleaf Viburnum (Viburnum
rhytidophyllum). This is a native of Western China and is as yet rare.
Not many nurseries carry it. It has large, longish, thick, wrinkled leaves
of olive-green color that persist all winter. From a distance in winter,
the shrub resembles a rhododendron. The leaves stay fresh until along in
February and do not drop off until after the new leaves have come in the
spring.
One of the longest-blooming perennials for outdoor growing in southern
California is the Gerbera, or Transvaal-daisy. This can now be obtained
in many shades of red, orange, and yellow. The secret of its growth is
in planting absolutely fresh seed. The seedlings should be left in the
seedframe for about four months. Then a season in a nursery-bed is necessary
to develop a strong plant suitable for the border. It can be divided readily.
Gerberas are grown in the East as greenhouse plants.
If one has the urge to do garden work in February, one job is to look
over your tools, and if you failed to do it earlier, polish them clean
with emery paper and give them a coat of oil. A mixture of old crankcase
oil and kerosene, applied with a paint brush, will protect them from rust.
(Continued on page 118)
Illustration Caption: The Leatherleave Viburnum, Viburnum rhytidophyllum,
has dark-green, wrinkled leaves which are evergreen. It is hardy except
in the most northern and cold climates.
--Better Homes and Gardens, February, 1930
New Perennials
J. G. Bacher
