28 AITNTIAL BEPORT 



winter in their cramped quarters in the windows, etc., to make life 

 .pleasant, where their bright foliage, blossoms and fragrance are 

 only too glad to be allowed the privilege of stretching themselves 

 as much as they please in the beds prepared for them, and make 

 us laugh — and they look as though they would like to — at the gro- 

 tesque manner in which they will double themselves in their free- 

 dom. The delicacy of the rose geranium is lost in a coarse leaf 

 rivaling the turnip leaf in roughness and size, and for bouquets we 

 turn in quick relief to carrot tops, parsley, etc. The flowers of our 

 house plants — well, I, for one, do not care for them in the summer 

 time. I want a rest from them, and am sure they need the rest. 

 In summer time, then, let us have something new — let us place 

 our main reliance on summer flowers. 



GET SEED IN" TIME. 



In late winter or early spring make a selection of seed, getting it 

 from some reliable seedsman, that you may be sure the seed is rea- 

 sonably fresh. Don't allow yourself to try everything the cata- 

 logue ofi'ers, but take just a few varieties, those you know will do 

 well in the soil of your garden and its location. The next year try 

 something new, but always have the most of varieties you can rely 

 on. Some varieties, verbenas, ,phlox, pansies, astors, etc., should be 

 started in boxes or in a hotbed. Others — mignonnette, petunias, 

 neraophilas, etc., should be sown where they are to remain. Most 

 catalogues will give the suitable way of starting each variety. Be- 

 fore sowing the seed or setting the plants the soil should be next 

 attended to. Now turn the attention to the location and arrange- 

 ment of the flower beds. If possible, secure bright, sunny places, 

 for there are few plants but what love to bask in the sunshine. 

 Even pansies, though it has been claimed for them ever since they 

 were known that they love a shady place, v/ill flower profusely be- 

 side that sun-loving plant, the verbena, during the hottest days of 

 midsummer. If it chance to be very dry as well, they will look tired 

 and weary perhaps, but a few cool daj^s and a good smart rain 

 will bring them out with bright laughing faces again, seeming 

 almost to talk to one, they look so intelligent. Pansies will grow 

 very large in the shade, but it is, I think, at the expense of beauty 

 and numbers. An overgrown pansy looks much like anything else 

 overgrown, a curiosity, but not a thing of beauty, losing its grace 

 and delicacy at expense of size. 



Do not make the mistake of putting beds around or under large 

 bushes or trees, for these have such large, strong roots that they 



