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Kavacha & Son: Garden

INFORMAL FLOWER GARDEN. The informal flower garden requires less maintenance care than the formal flower garden. It is not so essential that the masses of plants and the outline of walks should be as carefully defined. There is no garden, not even the wild garden, that does not require constant attention for the best results. The same questions of maintenance apply to the informal garden in the same way that they do to the maintenance of perennials and annuals. The MAINTENANCE only point which the author wishes to make clear is that from the very informal nature of the garden the question of maintenance cost is not as great as the maintenance cost of the formal garden. Rock GARDEN. Many persons labour under the impression that the rock garden does not require constant attention. To successfully develop a rock garden planting requires more thorough knowledge of plants than the development of the refined flower garden or the informal garden. The reason for this is that those plants which succeed in the rock garden development are much more uncommon than the plants which succeed in other types of gardens and less opportunity is afforded for intelligent study of their habits of growth and flowering characteristics. The rock garden, like the wild garden, is often thought of as a garden in which plants enter into a competition for "the survival of the fittest." Quite to the contrary, intelligent maintenance must be applied in order to eventually develop the plan as originally intended. Most of the plants adapted to the rock garden are the dwarf, slow-growing types which continue to become larger from year to year. They must be kept within bounds by intelligent pruning which will not destroy their effect. Occasionally many plants are introduced into the rock garden planting which require much more attention on account of the water which is necessary for their normal growth. A rock garden is not a garden from which flowers are to be picked. The period of bloom is usually the period when the plant is most valuable for its effect in the garden and the flowers should not be removed at that time.

CUTTING GARDEN. The cutting garden is perhaps the most simple garden and the easiest garden to maintain. The only problem of such a garden is to provide easy access to plants placed in definite rows with sufficient space for easy cultivation. In a garden of this kind plants are permitted their freedom of growth and the object is to feed them heavily with fertilizer in order to produce the most desirable flowers which are to be cut at a time when the plants are at their height of bloom. The problem of maintenance is one of supplying sufficient fertilizer to keep the flowers growing vigorously, of cultivating them frequently, and watering freely.

ROSE GARDEN. The object of the average rose garden is to produce an abundance of bloom and to produce large individual flowers. The rose garden for the best success of the plants requires careful maintenance. The hybrid roses, which are usually grafted stock, revert quickly to the original type if suckers are allowed to develop and not kept within control. The rose garden beds should be kept clean of other plants unless provided with English tufted pansies or portulaca. If the rose garden is a part of some formal garden development and the beds are edged with any small hedge or edging plant such as the alyssum, then extreme care should be exercised to be certain that these plants are kept neatly trimmed and within definite bounds. One of the important problems in the maintenance of the rose garden is that of knowing the different types of hybrids and how these plants should be pruned in order to encourage the production of more flowers or of larger flowers. This question is too extensive to be discussed in the short space available, but there are numerous books which discuss at length the development and care of the rose garden. FERTILIZING ROSES. When rose garden beds have been properly prepared by the introduction of plant food in the form of manure, bone, and lime, all that remains to be done in the way of fertilization may be easily attended to by top-dressing from time to time. Liquid manure should never be given in dry weather without first thoroughly wetting the soil with plain water, but it may be used at frequent intervals provided it is not too strong. Dried blood may be used either in water or dry at the rate of one ounce to the square yard during May, June, and July if hoed well into the surface soil. Wood ashes and bone meal in small quantities may be used in a similar manner after growth starts. These dry fertilizers should be used only just before a good rain or should be followed by a thorough soaking with the hose. WALL GARDEN. The wall garden is perhaps one of the most interesting types of gardens. A wall garden should never be attempted unless those responsible for its maintenance feel certain that the proper kind of intelligent maintenance care can be devoted to such a garden. A list of plants which are adapted for producing wall garden effects is small. It is not so much the question of quantity of maintenance as it is the question of the degree of intelligent maintenance which makes for the failure or success of the wall garden. The greatest success is attained with wall garden development when those responsible for its maintenance make it a special point to thor- MAINTENANCE oughly familiarize themselves with the growing habits and the requirements of wall garden plants. If this is not done the garden is very apt to deteriorate into a normal type of garden with a few persistent weeds of various kinds and some of the more common and easily growing annuals like alyssum growing from the crevices of the rocks.

WATER GARDEN. The water garden is the one garden which requires less attention than any other garden when it is once correctly developed. The main problem is that of keeping a supply of water which is in no degree stagnant and in knowing the requirements for the fertilizing of aquatic plants to produce the best development. (See Page 220).