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Temperamental Plants
Some plants are decidedly temperamental in habit and it is difficult to find the soil and location that suit them best. A few of the loveliest of our perennials are found in this group and are worthy of special endeavor. Because the growing of these temperamental plant is a difficult feat, one wants to prove that one is capable of accomplishing it for the sake of personal satisfaction. Any gardener may take considerable pride in the fact that he is the only one in the neighborhood who can grow really fine autumn anemones, for if he meets with unusually good success in this line he is bound to have the admiration and envy of his fellow gardeners. Or, if one has brought some very precious lupine seed back from England and has nursed and petted the whimsical little seedling plants through their first hard summer, and has put them to bed for the winter with extra care and with a prayer in the heart that they may still be there in spring, it is natural to be delighted when at last they reward all one's labors. Surely their blooms mean more to the heart of the gardener than the flowers of some lusty little beggar that has never given a moment's trouble. The thrill of achievement in obtaining perfect blooms of a plant difficult to grow should not, however, blind one to the appreciation of the flower for its own beauty, or make one believe a plant better than it really is simply because of the pains spent on its upbringing.
Autumn Anemones These are among the loveliest of all the autumn flowers. Their graceful form and delicate coloring strike a welcome note in the garden as the season wanes and there even seems to cling about them a memory of spring. They are among the most temperamental of plants and are hard to please when it comes to soil and location. They thrive best in cool, moist, woodsy earth and they seem most happily at home in a partially shaded spot, although sometimes they will run quite contrary to form and settle down contentedly in an open border. The autumn-flowering anemones should always be planted in the spring. It is useless to attempt to move them in the fall.
Anemone japonica is the best-known type and numerous named varieties are offered. Alba is an excellent single white, Whirlwind a double white; but perhaps loveliest of all is Queen Charlotte, bearing semidouble flowers of delicate blush pink. The Japonica group usually reach a height of two to three feet.
Anemone hupehensis is a dwarf-growing variety which has been introduced from China. The flowers are dainty, soft mauve in color, and borne on stems hardly a foot in height. They are particularly delightful for cut-flower arrangement. Iceland Poppies (Papaver Nudicaule) The little Iceland poppy is one of the most charming members of its family. It is shy and needs considerable coaxing if it is to be made to feel permanently at home. It is usually best treated as a biennial, for although it is by rights a perennial it has a peculiar habit of blooming lustily one season and failing entirely to answer the spring roll call the following year. The leaves form a thick little tufted rosette close to the ground and the delicate, lovely flowers are borne on erect, slender stems from eight to ten inches in height. The blooms are white, pale lemon, and deep orange in color, and the plants come into flower early in the season, at about the time the Leedsi narcissus is in bloom. If the seed pods are not allowed to develop, the plants will give scattering bloom throughout the season. The seed should be sown in July and the young plants wintered over in a frame or transplanted to the garden in the autumn. The seed may also be sown indoors very early in the season or directly in the garden.
Lupines (Lupinus Polyphyllus) I do not see why more enthusiasm over lupines is not expressed in the garden world. I can stand before a flaunting peony quite unmoved, but not so before my lupines. They stir something very deep within my gardening soul. Lupines have a reputation for being of rather difficult culture, but, curiously enough, it seems to be coddling that they object to most. They have come to our gardens from the fields and woodlands and are not, as yet, many generations removed from wildlings. They prefer a well-drained, rather sandy soil, and, unlike most other members of the legume family, they have a decided distaste for lime and a positive aversion for fresh animal manures. During the blooming season the plants require an abundance of water. If the flower stalks are removed as soon as the blossoms fade, the plants will flower again and their season of bloom may thus be considerably prolonged. Across the Atlantic, from the hybridizers of England, have come to us within the past few years some new and admirable strains of lupine. Some are sweet-scented and some are of rare and delicate coloring. The Harkness strain of Regal Lupine received the Award of Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society and among these we find several named varieties in exquisite shadings: fawn, pale apricot, and lovely yellows.
Wallflowers in the garden have a quaint charm that is not quite equaled by any of their most stately rivals. Though they perhaps could not be classed as really beautiful flowers, they give the savor of Old World gardens and their pungent fragrance and tawny colorings are very endearing characteristics. Wallflowers are true biennials and must be sown one year to flower the next. The seed should preferably be sown in July and the little seedlings should be twice transplanted before they are finally settled in the cold frames for the winter, in order that they may have good fibrous root systems. The young plants should be pinched back occasionally in order to make them vigorous and stocky. They winter quite happily in cold frames and may be moved to the garden in very early spring as soon as the ground can be worked. Some of the self colors, palest lemon, buttercup-yellow, and deep wine-red are more satisfactory than a general mixture in which so many of the flowers are apt to come streaked and blotched.