78 



IRISH GARDENING 



Ononis iiaritosA. 



This shrubby. '" liest Harrow .'" lias tlinmnt^bly tii- 

 joyed the hot days of niid-Junc. and has bcrii liti-rallv 

 covered witli its c-hamiin^' pink ttowors. (now in;,' 

 about throe foot high and making,' a wide sj)rra<lin^' 

 bush, it delights in a well-drained soil and finds a 

 suitable home on a sunny, dry bank, where it makes 

 short annual ;,'rt)wths whieh bee<ime well ripeurd and 



ably mole in ;^ood .soil. The leaves are typically 

 those of a LilaCj the young shoots dark choeolati- 

 brown, whieh also extends to the raehis of the tiow er 

 th\rse. The flowers are shell pink in the late bud 

 stage, but open white with i)ink inside the tube. 

 The infloresconees are well brunelnd and of consider- 

 able size on vigorous examples. It, therefore, pro- 

 mises to be a verv handsome and useful shrub. 



flower freely in June. In a similar position the 

 dwarfer Ononis rotundifoUa flourishes, the leaves 

 being larger and rounder and the flowers also of 

 larger size. Ononis aragonensis, also a dwarf shrub, 

 makes a delightful companion to the other two pink- 

 flowered species, the flowers in this ease being bi'iglit 

 yellow. 



Syringa Sweginzowi supehba. 

 This new Lilac flowers when most of the garden 

 varieties are over, but before Syringa japonica, which 

 is the latest of all. It thus links up the early and 

 late flowerers, and is welcome for that reason as 

 well as for its own intrinsic merits. It looks like 

 making! a shrub of at least six feet ultimately, prob- 



Work among Annuals. 



Staking and Tying, 



By E. T. Ellis, Weetwood, Ecclesall, Sheffield. 

 •• A STITCH in time saves nine." There is scarcely 

 any other operation in gardening to \vhich this old 

 ])roverb applies so much as in the .staking and tying 

 (it annuals. As soon as they are large enough and 

 have been thinned somewhat, stakes and ties should 

 1)0 suppUed, and as these are likely to be needed very 

 shortly, I send up a note about the operation. 



I do not think all amateurs realise that the object 

 of using flower-sticks, stakes, ties, etc., is to give 

 support to the plants. Else why do we see such 

 flimsv arrangements which the very wind can, if it 



