THE GARDEN WEEK BY WEEK 



March that they will bear transplanting quite well, even when 

 1^31 they are in an advanced stage, and approaching the 

 flowering period. 



If the Chrysanthemum is sometimes overlooked as a 

 flower-garden plant, it is perhaps more because amateurs 

 have got into a way of associating it with conservatory 

 decoration and with exhibitions, than because there is 

 any doubt of its beauty. Perhaps this reminder that it is 

 really hardy, really beautiful, really amenable to trans- 

 plantation at a comparatively late stage, will serve to 

 convince many an amateur of the magnitude of a mis- 

 apprehension which leads to the exclusion of so glorious 

 a plant as the Chrysanthemum from modern flower 

 gardens. 



In speaking of the Chrysanthemum as hardy, I do not 

 overlook its not uncommon habit of dying out annually 

 on heavy, damp, clay soils. I have had experience of 

 that myself. But I am by no means sure that it is an 

 unmixed evil. The clumps of Chrysanthemums which 

 one sees in cottage borders make a brave display in 

 autumn, and the brilliance of their colours often cheats 

 us into overlooking their scraggy habit and puny flowers. 

 These plants are not really cultivated. They look after 

 themselves. The result is not bad, but it is open to im- 

 provement. Personally, when I found myself stirred 

 into the annual renewal of border Chrysanthemums by 

 cuttings, owing to the losses through winter damp in 

 heavy land, I did very much better with both plant and 

 bloom than I had done on the leave-alone system. 



A simple way of getting a stock of healthy young 

 plants is to cut back a few plants in autumn, put them in 

 pots, and keep them in a cool house, or on a bed of 

 ashes in a frame, through the winter. When they start 

 growing in spring the young shoots can be taken off at 

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