Tulips, Keizek Kroon in Leinster Lawn, Dlblin. 



The Month's Work. 



The Flower Garden. 



By J. H. CiMMrNi;, Overseer, Royal Dublin Sociely, 

 Ball's Bridge. 



GKNER.VL REM.A.RKS.— Now that the busy plant- 

 ing months of Maj- and June are past, the 

 important matter of dress and high keeping the 

 whole season is necessary. The greatest amount of 

 flower gardening cannot be pleasing to anyone with 

 an\' pretence to refined taste unless a high state of 

 cultivation and neatness prevails. One bed of floweis 

 may be made to attract more attention than a great 

 Tuimber. A small garden well arranged and highly- 

 kept must, in the nature of things, be far more produc- 

 tive of enjoyment than a larger one out of proportion to 

 the means ctt its owner, and consequently badly kept. 

 See, then, thiit neatness and order is maintained through- 

 out the garden. Dead leaves on the plants in con- 

 sequence of the check of replanting require picking off, 

 the surface of the soil kept stirred, grass regularly 

 mown, and the edges kept trim. "Walks should be 

 cleaned and rolled. All boxes and pots that were recently 

 used for bedding stuff should be carefully cleaned and 

 stored away, as many of them will again be required in 

 two months' lime. With continued dry weather all 

 through the most part of June begonias have suffered 

 possibly more than other tender bedding plants. To 

 keep the ground cool and mt^ist, clean sifted peat moss 

 or leaf-mould may be spread over the beds as a mulch 

 which will help to protect the roots from drought. 



The HERBACEOfs Border. — Such things as delphi- 

 niums and pyrethrums should be cut down as soon as 

 flowering is over, and in late summer months many of 

 them will yield another set of flowers almost equal in 

 size to the first ones. As some of the perennials go out 

 of flower, gaps occur, and bare patches in summer is 

 unsightly. Things then should be found to keep up the 

 simimer display. Among good annuals for this purpose 

 will be foimd asters, comet and sinensis ; these make a 



line show and are useful lor culling. Nemesias, calen- 

 dula (marigold), ten-week stocks, and seedling violas 

 are all easily obtainable and quickily come into flower. 

 X'irginian stock sown in little patches is also very- 

 welcome. Some of the stock pelargoniums that may- 

 have been left over can also be utilized in the mixed 

 borders, as the main idea is to have no vacant places 

 during the important summer and autumn months, when 

 all beds and borders should look their brightest. 



Rehmannia Angi'LATA. — This is a novelty of recent 

 introduction from Central China. The flowers are 

 about three inches in diameter — not unlike the incar- 

 villea— rose purple in colour with yellow throat. The 

 spikes are from four to five feet high, and continue in 

 flower for several months. In the show-plant house at 

 Mr. Justice Maddens, Nulley, I noted a few days ago a 

 grand lot of this plant in full flower, and arranged over 

 a mass of show and zonale pelargoniums. The 

 rehmannia was in eight-inch pots, and the flower spikes 

 standing up w-ithout any stakes over the other plants 

 made a charming effect. It is well worth growing for 

 indoor decoration, and may be tried outside in sheltered 

 situations. The cultivation is simple. Seed may be 

 sown at any time, but, as it is really a half-hardy- 

 perennial, now- is a favourable lime to sow for next sum- 

 mer's display. Place the seed pans in a cold frame, 

 and shade till the young plants appear. When fit to 

 handle prick off into boxes, thereafter into three-inch 

 pots when large enough. Keep them growing cool all 

 winter, with just suflicient heat to exclude frost. Pol 

 on jis the roots of the plants require it, making the final 

 shift into eight-inch pots in March, which are quite 

 Uirge enough to carr\- them through the flowering 

 period. 



Begonia Gloire de Lorraine. To have good 

 plants for early winter use, daily watching will be 

 necessary and particularly in watering, never getting 

 the plants too wet. Cuttings that were struck and in 

 four-inch pots will now be ready for their final shift to 

 six and seven-inch pots, which are quite large enough to 



