THIRD WEEK IN MARCH 



much improved by careful consideration at the present time. 

 There are, too, a few plants (such as some of the campanulas) 

 which quickly exhaust the soil in the centre of their position, 

 becoming untidy there, whilst the outer edges of the group 

 are in a flourishing condition. In this case the old roots in 

 the middle should be removed, and rich soil substituted for 

 them, rearranging the rest of the mass of roots as convenient, 

 or replanting them in a different position. 



As a general rule herbaceous borders are at their best in 

 June, but as we usually require our gardens to be gay 

 throughout the summer months, it will be necessary to pro- 

 vide plenty of plants which blossom in July, August, and 

 September, long after the grand show of paeonies, blue 

 delphiniums, pinks, foxgloves, &c., is over. Early flowering 

 chrysanthemums are valuable in this connection, many of 

 them opening their blossoms in August ; carnations, which 

 can now be put in from pots, are indispensable for July ; 

 and blue salvias will add their rare tint to the warmer 

 colours with good effect. 



Salvia patens is a flower which is but too seldom seen, for 

 its pure intense blue and habit of blooming throughout the 

 whole season are both valuable in the border ; it is of the 

 easiest culture, and can be treated in the same way as 

 the dahlias, for it is tuberous-rooted, as they are, and half- 

 hardy. It is also easily propagated by seed, or by cuttings 

 taken from the new growths in spring or summer ; yet its 

 simple needs are so little known that it is too often allowed 

 to die in the cold wet soil of winter, when it should be kept 

 dry and out of the way of the frost, starting it early in 

 March in a greenhouse or a slight hot-bed, and planting it 

 out in the middle of April, or later in a cold district. If 

 protected with an inverted pot at night until the frosts are 

 over it will quickly form strong growths, and produce its 

 first flowers towards the end of June, just as the glorious 

 spikes of the blue delphiniums are failing us. From that 

 time until frosts cut it off in November Salvia patens will 

 continue to blossom if well supported, and few plants can 

 excel it in beauty of tint. 



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