396 GARDEN MANAGEMENT, 



Watsonias, and Sparaxes, which, in such situations, il planted five or six 

 inches deep, will flower well. These intermixed with the beautiful Anoma- 

 theca cruenta and juncea ; Harperoscordum lacteum ; Calochortus venustus 

 and splendens ; Vieusseuxia pavonia ; Sternbergia lutea ; Oxalis floribunda, 

 divaricata ; Bowena Deppi, violacea, and elegans. Patches of Tigridia 

 pavonia and conchiflora, planted judiciously here and there, with Lausoch- 

 neria californica, Anemone japonica, and Japonica hybrida, planted in peat, 

 will also be suitable occupants of such a border, in which some of the best 

 dwarf bedding-out plants may be planted out in summer to fill up vacancies. 

 Many of these ai'e surpassingly beautiful, Mr. Cox adds, and a portion would 

 be in flower from early spring till the frosts set in, when the whole border 

 should be covered with a layer of decayed leaves, at least fom* inches thick. 



1 155. It not un frequently happens, and that in gardens once famed for 

 the luxuriance of their plants on bog or peat borders, that a period of 

 decay arrives. Ehododendrons become sticky, moss accumulates about 

 their roots, and their leaves flag and look sickly at the slightest drought. 

 Ivalmias, also, have continually dead branches to be removed, and 

 Azaleas do not make the new wood they ought. These are undoubted 

 evidences that renovation is required, and should be forthwith attended 

 to. A top-dressing of the soil, with a mixture of well-rotted manure from 

 the cow-yard, and fresh j^eat or bog, may do some good ; but if evidences 

 of decay are very striking, it will be far better to take up all the plants and 

 dig in a good change of soil. Bog-earth which has been kept for a season, 

 and turned two or three times, is, of course, the best ; but, in the absence of 

 this, leaf-mould and cow-dung may be used. Those I'hododendrons which have 

 run too far from home, and bear leaves only at the extremities of long sticky 

 branches, must be cut down. The season of the year best suited for pruning 

 rhododendrons is immediately after the flowering season, that they may have 

 all their growing period of the 3'ear before them to make fresh shoots. Ehodo- 

 dendrons of any size may be taken up and removed, and not unfrequently 

 with great benefit, as far, at any rate, as flowering is concerned, if care be 

 taken that the mould about the stem and roots be not disturbed. In cases, 

 however, where bog-plants come up very easily, having no hold in the ground, 

 : and with a bard ball of earth about the roots, which appears disinclined to 

 blend with the surrounding soil, it is frequently of great advantage to loosen 

 this ball and open the roots a little before the plants are placed in their 

 fresh bed. 



