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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



FLOWER GOSSIP. 



Be sure to have plenty of mignonette. 

 You want so much of it that you feel safe 

 in cutting freely. It is one of the most 

 useful flowers we have for cutting. 



The variegated hop is a charming 

 plant for covering screens and verandas. 

 Its leaves are quite as beautiful as many 

 flowers are. This reminds me to say that 

 the old hop of our gardens is one of the 

 best vines for covering large surfaces, be- 

 cause it grows so rapidly and luxuriantly. 

 It isn't a pleasing plant to handle without 

 gloves, but it is pleasing to look at. 



If you have a tiny lawn, don't spoil it 

 by making it look as if it had an eruptive 

 disease, as it will if you scatter flower 

 beds all over it, but leave a solid space 

 of green between the house and the street. 



If you want a grand show, plant half a 

 dozen hydrangeas, the hardy kind, in a 

 group. A dozen will give greater pkas- 

 ure if your lawn is large enough to allow 

 it. Planted in a mass, the effect is ex- 

 ceedingly fine when the plants are in 

 flower. One does not understand the 

 decorative possibilities of this plant by 

 seeing specimens planted singly. If pos- 

 sible, plant so that the group will have a 

 background of evergreens. 



Of course you will have Hollyhocks. 

 Every amateur florist will, if he is wise. 

 Like the hydrangeas, the hollyhock is 

 most efifective when grouped. I would 

 never advise planting it singly. It is a 

 good plan to sow a paper of Hollyhock 

 seed each summer. By doing this you 

 will have a fresh lot of young plants for 

 each season's flowering, and it is from the 

 young plants that you must expect your 

 finest flowers. 



If I were asked to name the best gen- 



eral purpose hardy border plant, I would 

 select the perennial phlox. It gives an 

 almost solid mass of color, blooms for 

 many weeks, and its carmines, reds and 

 purples are exceedingly rich in tone. And 

 it is very easy to take care of. Give it 

 good rich soil, keep the grass and weeds 

 away from it, and that is all you need do 

 for it. 



All things considered, the gladiolus is 

 the best of all the summer-flowering 

 bulbs. It is a flower anybody can grow, 

 and it is lovely enough to satisfy the most 

 exacting. You can have it in the most 

 delicate colors, if your taste runs in that 

 direction, and you can have it in colors 

 of extreme brilliancy if such are your pre- 

 ference. It is something you can depend 

 on to do well if you give it half a chance, 

 but the better you care for it the better it 

 will do, and it pays to give it liberal treat- 

 ment. It likes a soil that is light, mellow 

 and rich. Any soil in which corn will 

 grow suits it, and it likes to be planted in 

 the open ground about the time corn is 

 planted. That is early enough. If you 

 have bulbs enough to warrant you in do- 

 ing so, hold back some for planting about 

 two weeks later. By making successive 

 plantings you can prolong the season for 

 a month or more, thus securing fully two 

 months' display of beauty from this 

 charming flower. I prefer to plant the 

 bulbs in clumps or masses ; in this way a 

 much better effect is secured. 



Bedding Plants. 



Where striking and peculiar effects are 

 desired, it has become customary to make 

 use of what florists term bedding plants 

 in summer gardening. The term is used 



