Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1889 — Frost-Proof Flowers. [ARTICLE]

Frost-Proof Flowers.

It is possible, even in our northern tier of States, to have out-of-door blossoms from April to November, by a proper selection of varieties; but how few there are among the multitude of flowerlovers in them that can attain such a desirable condition of things. There are so many that must and will have flowers of some kind, that have to do the best they can with the varieties that drift into their possession; and after they have nursed their petted darlings into blossoming freely, how often they sigh, some early fall morning, to find them all blackened by the frosty breath of a single night, in spite of the most careful covering. Rufus Choate once said, speaking of New England’s climatic variations, “that they were sure of ninety days’ corn weather;” so we of the Northern States are of our blooming season; but most flower cultivators find it all too brief, for without special advantages but few can get their annuals and bed-ding-plants to blooming freely before the middle of July ; and we all know to our sorrow how often there are frosty nights in the middle of September. “Experience is a good teacher,” if a dear one; it often takes many failures and hard knocks to get any kind of an idea into our heads; this occurred to me this fall, after all the hard frosts and flirts of snow way into October, while looking at my flower-beds. For the pink and purple verbenas, petunias, red catch-fly, sweet alyssum, pansies, and double chamomile were blooming as brightly, as if they had not been frozen stiff so many times; and even the first of November, one of the neighbors had a bed of purple ten weeks’ stocks as brilliant as if summer skies were smiling over them. While looking at them the idea struck me very forcibly that by planting such hardy varieties the blooming season might be extended a month or more, which would be quite a consideration to flower-lovers. We should find it hard to give up all our tender beauties, and do not grudge them their care; but the varieties named are beautiful enough at any season to satisfy most people; proven frost-proof qualities are a strong item in their favor. Of course, to have a nice-looking bed in the fall all the varieties in it should be frost-proof, and to kqpp them in a blooming condition the withered flowers may be clipped during summer; but a few minutes’ use of the scissors once a week will be sufficient for that.—Portland Transcript.