The weekly Shasta courier., 1873-12-27
Ornamental Gardening. No. 2.

make the ground soft and fit for spading,
and then we can begin to plant seeds,
slips, ETC., in good earnest. 1t is aston
ishing to see how rapidly slips will grow
when they get the full benefit of the
rain. Rose slips, particularly, grow very
fast. We recall beautiful Giant of Bat
tie rose-bush which was set out little
slip early last winter, and which grew
and blossomed in the spring in a way
that was marvellous to contemplate. One
need never buy roses, when slips, which
any friend will give one, will grow so
easily if set out early. A much larger
number of flowers will grow from mere
cuttings in this way than persons gener-
ally suppose, or than those who have
plants for sale will readily admit. The
cases are few in which, with care, slip
does not flourish. A friend once called
our attention to her favorite oleander
bush, from which the children had
broken two or three small branches. She
was about to throw them away, when we
begged permission to take them home,
and try to make them grow. She had
little faith in our success, but assented,
of course, and we hope to see flowers on
the once cast-off branches this coming
season.
1t is a good idea to plant seeds of the
same flower twice during the rainy sea-
son. Then flowers will blossom early in
the summer, and one may have a second
crop when the neighbors' flowers are
dead and gone. 1t is always desirable,
too, in purchasing for a garden, to select
flowers that blossom at different seasons
of the year Thus the Gala lily, the
daffodil. the bridal wreath, and the rose
blossom early, while later come the
fuchsia, larkspur, SALIVA, gladiolus, dah-
liza. and hosts of others.
The geraniums, in countless varieties,
will blossom the year round If trimmed
occasionally. Who that has read Miss
Mitford's Life and Letters-a charming
book, by the way-will ever forget her
passionate love for geraniums, and the
wonderful and rare varieties she pos
sessed. She could talk and write about
them constantly and yet never weary one,
communicating to others in a remarkable
manner the same interest in her pets
which she herself felt. We have always
been glad that in life of unusual toll,
as was hers, supporting by her pen for
years an indolent, selfish, and extrava-
CANT father, and nursing both parents
through a long period of sickness, in
connection with her literary labors, that
she had her geraniums and other flowers
to console and cheer her. when the bur
den of life bore heavily upon her frail
shoulders.
Some persons object to geraniums on
the ground that they are SO common,
and they will spend fifty or a hundred
dollars in buying rare plants for their
gardens, which, when completed, fire.
quently look less beautiful than those of
their neighbors who have never paid a
cent for anything they have. The rea-
son is, either that they select plants
which flower for q brief period and then
lose their foliage, or else those that have
little color, and consequently present a
sameness that is monOtonous. Buy the
rare plants by all means, if you can-no
one can have greater weakness in that
direction than ourselves-but intermix
with them the bright flowers of the gera-
mum and the verbena, and the effect will
be much finer.
Everybody has heard of Wick, the Gel
ebrated florist of Rochester, New York.
He suggests very pretty way to make
Ribbon Beds" and we think all who
try it will be pleased with the result
The plan is to set plants of the same
height and color in a row, several rows
forming the bed. A circle is a pretty
and simple form, and may contain any
number of inner circles which the size
will allow. Plant, then, in the outer
ring flowers which are uniform in color
and which do not grow very high; in
the next circle, flowers of a different
color and somewhat taller, and so on,
the height gradually increasing toward
the centre, where they are highest. We
think this would be more difficult to
accomplish than the plan of taking diff
ferent colors of the same flower, the por-
tulaca or phlox Drummondii, for in
stance. OF course, in this case, the
arrangement of height must be dispensed
with, but this simplifies the object to be
attained so much that it seems as if none
who try it need to fail. No flower is
prettier than the phlox for this purpose,
and the seed in four or five different col
ors can easily be purchased and set out
row within row. 1t is not necessary to
have so many colors, neither is it neces-
sary that circular bed be used. A
diamond shaped bed with but three col
ors, would be very pretty and perfectly
simple This plan of ribbon beds is
very popular in Europe, but seldom seen
in America; and, though we do not be-
| long to that class who like everything
foreign because it is foreign, we think in
this case, by following European exam
pie, we may add much to our pleasure
and to ornamental gardening.
1t is impossible for flowers to grow
successfully where there is too much
shade. People should remember this
when they set out their trees, and not
couple of years there is room for nothing
else. 1t looks out of place, too, to see 8
small front door-yard crowded full OF
trees. One does not expect a forest
grove in a space fifty feet by seventy
five. A few shade trees and a green
lawn, with here and there a rose-bush
hanging over with rich, red roses, or q
mass of geranium all ablaze, seems to us
much more appropriate, while to persons
who prefer, there is the alternative Of
variously shaped beds, neat gravel walks
and flowers of every name and hue
If every one could have hot-house
then the objection to house plants would
fade away. We saw few days ago q
beautiful residence with piazza inclos.
ed on both sides with glass, and having
an outside glass door. We thought il
the most desirable thing we had seen
| much better than havinn a senarata CON.