Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-06-10
!. The Home Gardener

BY J. w. WELLINGTON.

Aster Culture. from the Indiana Ex-
pertinent Station, Lafayette, that COW
ers aster culture and diseases very
thoroughly.
The following group of 20 gladiolus
varieties received the highest number
Of votes in their respective color
classes In a contest staged by the
Canadian Gladiolus Society: Picardy,
light pink; Minuet, mauve; Wasaga,
apricot; Marmora, ash; Maid OF
Orleans, white; Mrs. Langford, blush
white; Bagdad, smoky; Pelegrina,
violet; Commander Koehl, red: Pre-
mier Henry, blotched pink; Moorish
King, dark red; Hercules, orange and
buff; Pirate, rose shades: Golden
Dream, deep yellow; Pfitzer's Triumph.
salmon yellow; Betty Nuthall, pink
and yellow; DR.. F. E. Bennett, scarlet;
Ave Maria, violet: Charles Dickens,
purple, and Primate, yellow.
Gladiolus varieties differ rather
widely in the number Of days from
planting until bloom and, too, the
temperature under which the corms
passed the Winter has an influence.
In a list of rs kinds published in
Wisconsin Horticulture the days to
bloom ranged from II to 118, but the
greater number of the varieties we're
in the vicinity of IS days. Time be-
comes rather an important factor
when the gardener has plans for COM
peting in some certain gladiolus
show. Strange as 1t may seem, gladi-
olus Wintered over last season in
some gardens where corms were in
advertently left IN the soil 1t would
seem almost certain that the corms
must have been subjected to freezing.
An effective poison bait for ants
may be made by mixing / pound of
sugar, 125 grains of arseriite Of soda
and / quart of water and boiling
until the arsenite has been thorough
ly dissolved. After this tablespoon
full of honey is added. This mixture
is poisonous to people as we'll as ants
and should be carefully guarded. The
material should be portioned out in
small shallow containers set near ant
colonies. The foraging ants carry
the poison back to the nest and ulti-
mately kill the queen and all the in
habitants
| Home gardeners who have a friend
ly attitude toward native plants will
be interested in new book by Edith
A. Roberts and Elsa Rehmann.
American Plants for American
Gardens. The senior author is pro-
lessor of botany at Vassar College.
The Garden Clubs.
IT WAS a pleasure indeed to inspect
= the exhibits at the Spring exhibit
IF C,,k.,
Garden Club, staged June and in
the Somerset School. No local flower
show presents such an array of fine
peonies, due to the presence in the
club OF certain excellent peony grow
ers. However, there were other ex-
cellent features, for example. the ex-
hibit of floral decorations for tables.
Nothing finer has ever been shown in
| this vicinity. Among peonies that
| attracted attention were Cornelia
Shaylor, pink, selected as the finest
peony in the show; Charles McKellep,
red; Walter Faxon, pink; lie Cygne,
white; Avalanche, white; Raoul Des-
sert, pink, and Baroness Shredder,
pale pink. A group of flowers of the
wild peony from the Caucasian Noun
tains Of Asia proved very interesting.
These were exhibited by DR.. Earl
White of Kensington as a part of a
flne non-competitive exhibit. DR..
Howard r. Watkins of Somerset also
entered splendid educational exhibit
OF named varieties. A little late for
iris, there were, nevertheless. many
exhibits. Ethelwyn Dunbar, an orchid
| colored variety of unusual beauty, was
cf O Is "a
pearance. The best rose in the show,
Mrs. Warren Lemon, was worthy and
well qualified to receive this d;stinc-
ton. Altogether, it is certain that
flower lovers who journeyed to Somer-
set felt well repaid for their effort.
General quality somewhat below the
standard of other years. but here and
there some excellent blooms. charac-
terized the 1884 rose show of the Ia
koma Horticultural Club. Undoubted-
ly the ravages Of the bitter Winter
had left their mark. Among excellent
flowers were Luna. a yellow rose ex-
hibited by l.. Voelker and Judged the
best bloom in the show; Editor Mac
Farland, red of unusually vigorous
| growth and marvellous beauty, en-
tered by J. T. Gable; Mrs. Aaron
Ward, yellow tea; Comtesse Vandal, a
| gorgeous new apricot yellow flower,
and Laurent Karle, a very fine full
double red of the type of Francis Scott
Key, displayed by Mr.. Voelker. Per-
hapS the finest collection was that Of
Col. w. H. England, comprising the
following 10 varieties: Ami Quinard,
blaze, Betty Uprichard, Comtesse VAN
dial. Cuba, Editor Mcfarland, E. G.
Hill. Etoile du Hollande, Herbert
Hoover, Joyous Cavalier, Killarney
Queen. Nine. Staechelin, Mary Hart,
Mrs. G. A. Van Rossen, Miss Rowena
Thorn. Paul'S scarlet, talisman and
an unrecorded variety.
A striking feature of the exhibit was
a display of miniatures, which in
cluded 40 separate entries. A nom
competitive vase of Frau Karl
Druschki, pure white roses. entered by
Winn T. Simmons, was the un-
doubted class of the show and gave
satisfactory evidence of the reason
that this variety rates as the finest
white rose.
Woodbridge should be very proud OF
| its garden club. Ever since the clubs
organization four or more years ago
it has been bringing the best in gar
dening to the community. The Spring
exhibition of flowers, fruits and vege-
tables held Monday, June 4, was really
excellent. Rarely does one see such
varied and complete array of garden
products in an amateur show. There
was a fine plate Of black Tartarian
cherries, grown by A. R. Hester; some
excellent Howard II strawberries,
shown by M. c. Wilson, and several
nicely grown vegetables, exhibited
largely by H. J. Clay. In flowers the
rose was dominant in numbers. The
best rose in the show, Mrs. A. r. Bar
raclough, was shown by Mrs. w. H.
Gannaway. Vaterland, deep red,
also from the Gannaway garden, was
superb. The climbing roses, Paul
Scarlet and Dr.. w. Van Fleet, were
conspicuous and beautiful. The peony.
Walter Faxon, selected as the finest
flower in its group, was grown by Mrs.
Sutton Included among other inter-
esting exhibits we're: A vase Of fox