|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| Lists of "Bests" |
How to Keep Blooms Open
There are two sure ways of keeping blooms open. You can place stems
in a vase of ice water, and store them in the refrigerator until time to
use them as decorations. You will find that the shock of the cold water
will keep the blooms from ever closing again. Or you can let the blooms
unfold to their fullest before cutting them, and then put a drop of
melted paraffin or wax from a lighted candle at the point where stamens, petals, and sepals join. Hardening, the paraffin or wax forms an
unseen but sturdy cast which holds blooms open. Either procedure
keeps flowers at their loveliest for three or four days, with no loss of
luster or fragrance.
A word of caution: Water-lilies set out in this way as decoration bear
up well under heat and even a bit of handling, but a strong, sustained
draft of cold air will kill them. So don't set them directly in front of
an air-conditioning unit.
How Many Plants for a Pool?
The best advice I can give you in the interests of an attractive pool
is not to crowd it. This may be bad for business, but I am duty-bound
to warn you that many new water gardeners overdo planting.
Here is a rule-of-thumb that may help. Figure your square-footage
of water surface. An 8- by 10-foot pool, for example, gives you 80 square
feet. Now remember that most water-lilies fall into one of three size
classifications which I have indicated in the listings. Extensive growers
cover about 10 to 12 square feet when mature; medium growers cover
8 to 10 square feet; small growers confine themselves to about 4 square
feet or less.
Cover no more than half the pool surface with water-lilies. Leave
room for some submerged, floating, and border aquatics. You also will
want some free, clear-water space, for reflections on the surface are one
of the principal charms of a water garden.
So, for your 8 by 10 pool, select only enough water-lilies to cover 40
square feet or thereabouts. This gives you more variety than you may
imagine-four extensive growers, five or six medium growers, or as many
as ten small growers.
As you will see in the water-lily listings, Nymphaea tuberosa and all
its varieties, some of the odoratas, such as gigantea, and practically all
of the tropicals are extensive spreaders. They quickly fill a large pool
with a pretty pattern of foliage.
If you prefer small water-lilies, you will do well to consider Nymphaea
odorata minor, N. tetragona, N. mexicana, N. Laydekeri rosea, and N.
pygmaea and its varieties, particularly helvola. The day-flowering N.
elegans and N. Daubeniana are among the very few tropicals with a
small spread.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
