RHODODENDRON. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. RHODODENDRON. 673 



from lime the plants do perfectly well, 

 although perhaps never so much at 

 home as on a sandy peat. Over a 

 large area of Ireland where the lime- 

 stone prevails it is, I think, not worth 

 trying to cultivate Rhododendrons, 

 and it is always better to grow things 

 that do best on one's own soil. Given 

 a peaty or limeless soil, the difficulty 

 is to prevent their growing so quickly 

 as to smother each other. They are 



Lilies and the other fine handsome 

 hardy flowers among Rhododendrons 

 and like shrubs tends to keep them 

 more open and delightful in every 

 way, their forms as well as flowers 

 being better shown. 



The plants, forming generally close 

 balls of earth, are more easily trans- 

 planted than most shrubs. This is 

 often done in late spring and summer, 

 as for the London flower-shows, where 



Rhododendron Falconer!. 



often too closely planted, and after a 

 few years of rapid growth such planta- 

 tions cannot show their beauty. It 

 would be much better to plant all the 

 choice kinds rather thinly. Where 

 from previous thick planting the bushes 

 are too close together, thin them 

 promptly and severely, leaving the 

 choicer kinds and the finest - formed 

 bushes. In this way we get light and 

 shade among the plants instead of 

 allowing them to form one flat level 

 mass. The excellent plan of placing 



numbers of the finest kinds are brought 

 in spring and taken away in summer. 

 In the case of all choice and rare 

 varieties remove the seed-vessels after 

 flowering, thus saving the strength of 

 the plants for future good growth and 

 flowers. 



Hardy Rhododendrons seldom flower 

 profusely in consecutive years, but fine 

 displays biennially are usually made. 

 Established plants can take care of 

 themselves, and in strong loamy soil 

 artificial waterings are not required. 



