In Northern United States and Canada

Plant deciduous trees and shrubs that are to be set this Fall without delay. Stake any that need support to prevent them being damaged by Winter gales. A mulch placed over the ground around newly planted trees and shrubs is helpful. The first part of November is Tulip planting time. Set the bulbs in deeply prepared, well-drained, fertile soil at even depth.

Now is the time to make hardwood cuttings of a wide variety of deciduous shrubs and some trees. Let the cuttings be pieces of shoots that have grown this year, eight to ten inches long and of healthy, well-ripened wood. After the cuttings are made, tie them in bundles and bury them horizontally outdoors or in a coldframe or cool cellar under six to eight inches of moist sand. In early Spring remove the bundles from the sand, untie them, and plant the cuttings vertically in nursery rows with just their tips showing above the surface.

There is still time to insert cuttings of evergreens, such as Hollies, Boxwood, Yews, English Ivy and Euonymus in a propagating bed of sand and peat moss in a cool greenhouse, but the cuttings should be made before they have been subjected to very severe freezing. Complete without delay the Fall clean-up of the garden. Make sure that everything is shipshape for Winter.

Most of the planting is done in the spring, between the time the frost leaves the ground and the time the leaf buds break on deciduous trees and shrubs. You may plant evergreens a week later as they do not usually start new growth as early as deciduous plants. In the fall, plant evergreens, herbaceous perennials and bulbs before the middle of September. Plant deciduous trees and shrubs a little later, when their leaves are ready to fall.

Care on Arrival

When the shrubs arrive from the nursery, unpack them and report immediately any discrepancy in the order or condition of the stock. If the material cannot be planted immediately, dig a trench and pack the roots close together in it, covering them with earth packed down firmly to exclude air. Evergreens that have the roots tightly balled and burlapped may be stood in the shade and sprinkled with water but not soaked.

Digging and Filling the Holes

If you’re a Northwesterner or a Northern Californian, put those dreaded memories of spring flood conditions behind you. Determine now to make this the year for a topnotch garden with bright flowers, finer shrubs and greener lawns.

Make this a year of changes. Dont be content with the same old flowers of yesteryear. Take a good look at the flower seed stands at your neighborhood seed store and select lots of those brightly colored packets.

One way to prevent your garden from looking just like every other garden in the block is to select some of the less familiar annuals.

The “big three” – petunias, marigolds and zinnias – may be planted heavily, but at the same time be adventurous and try plants such as the exotic bells of Ireland, linaria and nemesia (especially good for covering a bed where spring bulbs are planted), appealing dwarf dahlias, fast-growing cosmos for hedge effects, and mixed gourds for their wonderful harvest of curiously shaped fruits in the fall.

The cool weather annuals such as calendula, sweet alyssum, larkspur and nasturtium, can be sown in the open ground now. The seeds will germinate quickly if the ground is kept moist.

Have you ever stepped across the street from your house and gave it a close examination of what your visitors, guest and those who drive by see when they look at the message your landscape and garden gives? Does your entrance say – Welcome or chaos is happening here?

Driveway and Entrance

Besides presenting an attractive picture of the house, you want to create an atmosphere of welcome for your visitors. This was carried out beautifully in English cottage gardens.

The driveway is the first step, since most people travel by car. The semicircle so popular on large properties wastes a lot of space and seldom gives a good view of the house. It is usually best to have the driveway straight to the garage, if possible, with a wide bay for parking. A driveway should be at least 18 feet wide, to allow cars to pass easily, and the turns should have an inside radius of 18 feet.

The position of the driveway, parking area and a good lawn that are added with peat moss lawn often makes the approach to the house from one side rather than the front. This gives you a chance to have a welcoming, attractive entrance court or patio at the front of the house, as well as a pleasant view from inside.

The smallest garden, no less than the elaborate estate, represents the results of the combination of four basic factors. They are: (1) the materials of gardening; (2) the means; (3) the methods; and (4) the background. These four factors, as well as the all-important human element.

Materials – These are, first of all, the plants that make gardens; and, second, the soil in which they grow. In the plant articles, the objective has been to describe each subject, then to give simple cultural directions, and finally to list and describe briefly the more important and promising kinds available and especially suitable in gardens.

When looking for any plant (or a genus) always look for the correct botanical name. Sometimes botanical and common names are the same, as Chrysanthemum or Zinnia. Sometimes a plant has a botanical name and also two or more common names.

Means to Gardening are the implements, accessories and aids with which plants are grown and gardens are made and cared for: tools, fertilizers, spray materials, hotbeds in fact, all objects that are neither plants nor parts of the soil. All these subjects should be studied in connection with the cultural notes on the various plants, and other articles covering the plant care factors.

There are many grasses grown through out the country. it all depends on the climate and soil conditions your piece of real estate can provide. Here’s a quick look at 5 grasses used in the landscape.

Chewing Fescue produces a fine textured. brilliant. green dense turf. The needle-like leaf blades are distinctive, being cylindrical in shape rather than flat. With adequate care only, can its true beauty be realized, however it will stand hard usage: Chewings Fescue will thrive in partial shade. It is used extensively in choice grass seed mixtures. With Creeping Bent it blends admirably, in a proportion of 80% Chewings Fescue, 20% Creeping Bent.

Creeping Bent is well known for its exceptionally fine turf-producing qualities. Its fine-bladed leaves and vigorous root system makes it admirably suited for putting greens. bowling greens, and extra fancy velvety lawns. Bent lawns should be mowed close. The turf will benefit if aired often by means of puncturing with a spiked contrivance.

You have finally made the big move out of an apartment in the city to a home in the suburbs. You love your new home with your own space outside. The trees and flowers are growing nicely, but there is one problem, management has not cut the grass in weeks. You suddenly realize, you are management and it is time to get a lawn mower.

There are several types of lawn mowers available and what you choose depends on where you live.

One choice is a human powered push mower. They are a little less expensive than the least expensive gasoline mower and work well on a small lawn. They are very quiet when in operation and cut the grass with a scissor action that helps to avoid the brown tips on the grass. Since your lawn is already a bit out of control, however, these mowers are probably not right for you right now. They do not do well when grass is very tall.

You move on to look at the gasoline mowers. They require somewhat less energy to push through the grass and do a good job at cutting grass. They do require the strength to pull a rope for starting which can be a problem for some people. Most find it pretty easy to start these machines.

In Eastern Canada, the trees that have been used most successfully as street trees are the hard, or sugar, maple, the Norway maple, the European linden and the red and white oaks – though the oaks are rather slow growing. In the north and west, where the climate is more severe, the best street trees are the American elm, hackberry and green ash.

Because trees need to be in scale with the houses, modern homes call for much smaller street trees than the large ones named above. Shingle oak, hornbeam and smaller forms of European linden are excellent. There are also selected forms of Norway and red maple that do not grow as large as the natural species. These are more suitable for modern subdivisions.

Windbreaks and Screens

Exposed home sites, such as farmsteads or suburban properties, often need rows of trees to protect them against wind. Here the need is for rapid, dense growth. The exposed position naturally demands the utmost hardiness and, because the planting is close, the shape of the individual tree does not matter as long as the mass is effective.

The average homeowner today buys his house from a building contractor. The house is already placed on a rectangular lot and the contractor usually does the rough grading of the lot and perhaps sods the front.

If a few details can be considered before the house is begun, it will help to create a more pleasant property. The most important are the shape of the lot, the direction that the house faces on it, the grade relationship between the house and the street, and the location of trees, if any.

Choosing the Lot

A corner lot may be considered a position of importance, yet it leaves most of the property exposed to one street or the other with little opportunity for privacy. There is also more lawn to cut, for the benefit of the neighbors. The same applies to a lot that is wide in the front and narrower in the back. From a garden point of view, it is better to have a lot that is narrow in front and wider or irregular in shape in the rear.

Dividing the Property

There are two types of lawns to consider at this time of the year – the old lawn that has been established for some time, and the new lawn that is being developed. Consider the latter… many new home owners are faced with establishing a lawn after moving into a new home during the summer months. It is entirely possible to establish a lawn that will survive the winter if there are as many as six weeks of growing weather left in the late summer.

Prepare the soil well either by spading or digging with a rototiller to a depth of at least six inches. Next level the area by raking, and prepare a fine seed bed. Broadcast the grass seeds either by hand or with a mechanical seeder and increase the recommended amount by one-third. The amount will vary with the kind of seeds, but from two to five pounds per 1,000 square feet is needed to insure quick results.