File:American homes and gardens (1911) (18154281242).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar81911newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
November, 1911 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 417 And we are proud of our hedges. As the winter winds will be biting and the winter sun at noontimes full of ill will, we will protect the hedgerow by boards along the north and west sides, that the grateful boughs may send forth an abun- dance of verdant foliage in the spring in gratitude for all our pains. The garden pests, insect and fungous nuisances that may have threatened to devastate our few little fruit trees, can now meet some meas- ure of our revenge, for we shall investigate all probable breeding places and destroy the things that have threatened our garden by spraying and otherwise. There may be some of us who would like to try our hand at mushrooms. November is just the sort of a month to begin a mushroom bed. Of course, Amer- ican-grown spawn is the thing for us to try out, and if we buy it of reliable nursery- men and honest seedsmen we may hope to be able to regale ourselves with palatable table morsels throughout the winter. Before the month is over we shall be putting up all of our garden tools regret- fully, but, let us hope, with a sense of satisfaction in all the delights a love for our gardens has yielded us during the
Text Appearing After Image:
This is a type of thatched pigeon- house built in an English cottage garden for white fan-tails, and con- taining a suggestion for anyone contemplating the building of such a little bird-house in our own country the Wood Hyacinth (Scilla fes tales), which last is excellent for naturalizing and closely resembles the more prominent Hyacinth of the bulb beds, though its spikes are more loose and have not so many Bowers. HOUSES FOR THE BIRDS. A READER of American- Homes and GARDENS has written the editor of this department a letter from which the fol- lowing interesting paragraph is quoted, in the belief that it will furnish a suggestion worth while to anyone interested in mak- ing the garden and grounds of his home more attractive. "I have found by experi- ence," writes this correspondent, "that November is an excellent month for setting up bird-houses. The birds, I find, seem to take to a winter-weathered house when they return in the springtime far more readily than they do to a house newly built for them. As I have acres of garden and lawn and am very fond of birds, I cele- brate the arrival of November every year by building a little bird-house with which to surprise my feathered friends when they return the following season. When I place these little bird dwellings high upon their poles I do not forget the proclivities season that has just passed. And as the sun goes down and of Miss Pussy-Cat, and so I drive sharpened spikes into the dusk finds us turning our tired but happy steps toward the pole all around at a height of eight feet from the ground. house and its cozy fireside, we shall remember that the memory of our gardens may still remain with us throughout every day of the winter months to come. We may even bring within doors a vivid reminder of summer's fragrant season by filling our windows with lovely growing things— Geraniums, Ferns, Ivy, Begonias, Smilax, Fuschias, and all the delightful prox- ies for the summer garden. HYACINTH VARIETIES. THE following varieties of Hyacinths may be recommended to the home garden-maker who is inter- ested in the article on Hya- cinths appearing on page 400 of this issue: WHITE: Alba superbissima, Mme. Vanderhoop, La Grandesse, Prince of Waterloo (double), and Baroness Van Thuyl; Pink: Fabri- ola and Norma; Reds: Robert Stieger, Gertrude, Roi des Beiges and Lord Wellington (double); Blue: Leonidas, La Pey- rouse, King of the Blues, Czar Peter, Grand Lilac, Baron Van Thuyl and Charles Dickens (double). La Peyrouse is a very light blue, and the Baron Van Thuyl very dark. Of the yellow varieties, the King of the Yellows and the Ida are among the most satisfactory. The Hyacinths known as Roman Hyacinths are usually sold by color and not by name at the florists, for these Roman Hyacinths are not distinct varieties, but minia- ture species of some of the above. The Cape Hyacinth, with its bell-shaped flowers an inch long, is also fragrant and attractive, and the Grape Hyacinth (Muscari botry-oides), blossoming in April, finds its best variety in the Heavenly Blue, though it is also to be found in white varieties, as is

Note About Images