The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-09-07
THE NASTURTlUM.


How It Can Be Made to Flourish in Any
Garden.
People who wish to be odd or exclusive
in their flower gardens, as in everything
else, may say the nasturtium is ton common.
So are pure air and sunshine common, but
we love them none the less for that
Last summer l had some beautiful holly
hooks, which attracted large numbers
of bees. These bees were also drawn to
the nasturtiumS, carrying the pollen from
che plant 10 another and giving me in the
last half OF the season the most beautiful
varieties OF the flowers that ever saw. In
deed this part of the garden was such a
source OF pleasure, and | learned so much
about the flower, that wanted every one to
have nasturtlum bed and to understand
how to get the best results from it. The
flowers wera, in .iil s.4.si",,s east west
nor,l- and south, and they did we'll eye.y
where. People told me they would not do
well if the soil were too rich, but this was
after they had been planted in very rich
earth, and [ found as the season went on
that those in the richest soil did the best.
My neighbor is devoted to flowers and has
the greatest success with them, and l am
indebted to her for much of the pleasure
and pride OF which my garden is the source.
As soon as the frost was out of the
ground and the weather seemed settled, a
narrow bed beside fence and another be-
side the piazza were spaded, and then thor
with manure 10 the fall, earth and manure
being thoroughly mixed. Some small plants
which had been raised in the house were
set out close to the fence and piazza and
about twenty inches apart These plants
grew rapidly and began to blossom in
week or two In line with these plants
seeds were sown about five inches
apart and one inch deep. These
seeds and plants were for climbing.
A few seeds of the dwarf nastur-
tium were planted in the front part uf the
Jed, but not enough to shade the climbing
plants, as all flowers do better for having
the sun shine on the ground at their roots
The plants were well watered, and, when
they began to run, were fastened for support
to the fence and piazza. The method of fas-
tening was this Old kid gloves were cut
into strips about one-thIrd Of an inch wide
and two inches long; the strip of kid was
brought around the vine and firmly fastened
TO the support with one small tack. the loop
being loose enough to allow the vine to
grow. As the vines grew, the new pats,
OF course, had to be fastened to the support
and this was done about once or twice
week. The leaves we're large and
strong, but my neighboT, who had greater
experience than !, told me to take off at
leaS. half of them, else there would not be
many flowers. At first would not consent
to this, for after years OF city life, where it
had been almost impossible to make any
kind of plant grow IN sunless back
yard, 1t seemed wrong to deprive the vines
of single leaf. However, l found that
while the vines were luXurant there were
few blossoms. Then | yielded and took off
the leaves, sometimes bushel at q
time, which made the plants put out
strong shoots il all directions and blossom
freely. They continued TO grow and BIOS
som until tile frost killed them, some of
them rising to height OF twelve feet.-Maria
Parloa in Good Housekeeping.