red which harmonise in another. For this purpose they need August. 



to be well grown from the first, must be given plenty of Hollyhocks, 



food and water, and never be allowed to seed. Evening 



Hollyhocks Althasa rosea which began in July are still p r i m rose 

 fine in August. The great height of their spikes, seven or even 

 nine feet, and the long heads of buds opening by degrees from 

 the bottom, make them particularly striking among late Summer 

 flowers. At the back of herbaceous borders, against Yew hedges 

 or stone walls, or in big beds in the open, they are certain to 

 look well. In some gardens they are troublesome plants either 

 rotting in the Winter or failing under the attacks of their special 

 disease in others they flourish and seed themselves, keeping up 

 a perpetual supply of good strong plants. They grow in this 

 way on a bank above a stream in a garden near here, with a 

 background of fruit trees, and their tall spikes reflected in the 

 water below. July r August is the best time for sowing. 

 The young plants should be kept in a cold frame through the 

 Winter and planted out in April or May. If they are sown in 

 January in heat it is possible to flower them the same year, but 

 they will be late and never so fine as those sown the Summer 

 before. Cuttings can be made at almost any time from the 

 small shoots round the old roots ; if taken in Winter or 

 early Spring they will need bottom heat to strike them. 

 The Fig-leaved Hollyhock is a useful variety, slender and 

 branching in growth, and producing a number of flower 

 spikes. 



Two varieties of Evening Primrose are particularly showy 

 now, CEnothera Fraseri^ bright yellow, about one foot high, 

 and Lamarckiana, four or five feet high, with large pale yellow 

 flowers which are in blossom for many weeks. The latter sort 



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