MAY. 



636 



MAY. 



followed by calceolarias and verbenas, re- 

 erving heliotropes and the more tender 

 kinds of geraniums for the latest planting. 



Bedding out, Plants necessary for. 

 Where bedding out is practised, this is a 

 busy month. Let all be done according 

 to a well-digested plan, in which the height 

 and distance, as well as the colour of every 

 plant and every bed, are previously deter- 

 mined; for the next few weeks will be 

 devoted to filling up the flower garden 

 beds and clumps intended for the summer 

 and autumn display. Every exertion 

 should be made to get the planting out 

 completed with all possible despatch ; 

 and, premising the plants intended for 

 each bed have been previously determined 

 and hardened off, no great difficulty will 

 now be met with in filling them up. If an 

 early display is wanted, they must be 

 planted rather thicker, and need not be 

 stopped ; if not before a later period in 

 the summer, planted somewhat thinner; 

 and the flower buds should be pinched off 

 as they appear, till the plants have filled 

 the beds. 



Bedding out, Staking and Pegging Plants 

 down. It is always desirable to stake or 

 peg down such plants as may require it as 

 the planting proceeds, or the wind may 

 break many things off. Various expedients 

 are resorted to by gardeners to peg down 

 the different sorts of bedding plants- 

 verbenas, petunias, &c., &c. Some use 

 ladies' hairpins, and some use small pegs 

 made of hazel or other wood ; but pegs 

 that are at once neat, cheap, and most effi- 

 cient may be cut from the brake, a wild 

 fern which grows freely in every lane and 

 on almost every common in England. 



Biennials, Perennials, and Seedling. 

 All seedling perennials and biennials should 

 now be planted out if sufficiently advanced ; 

 the others pricked out in nursery beds. 

 Dig up a clean piece of ground for this 

 purpose, and divide it into beds 3^ feet 



broad ; rake level before planting, and 

 prick the plants out by line 6 inches apart 

 each way. Seeds of gillyflowers, wall- 

 flowers, sweetwilliams, Canterbury bells, 

 and most other sorts, may still be sown in 

 beds of mellow ground not too much ex- 

 posed to the sun. 



Bulbs and Tubers. Bulbous roots and 

 tubers intended for removal should be taken 

 up as their leaves decay. Even those which 

 are usually left in the ground should be 

 taken up every two or three years, and their 

 offsets, which will have grown into large 

 bunches, should be separated, if large and 

 handsome flowers are desired. When the 

 offsets are detached from the principal bulb, 

 it is desirable to give it a season of rest. 

 This treatment is necessary for all bulbs. 

 The principal one, planted in its season, 

 flowers with renewed vigour ; and the off- 

 sets, in time, form new plants. The proper 

 time for removing the various narcissi, 

 jonquils, irises, tulips, and hyacinths, and 

 all other bulbs, is the season when the 

 leaves and stems begin to decay ; for then 

 the roots are in a state of rest : if left in 

 the ground three or four weeks later, they 

 put forth fibres and buds for the following 

 year's bloom, thus wasting their strength 

 fruitlessly. 



Bulbs, Autumn-flowering. This month, 

 or the following, it will be proper to remove 

 the autumn-flowering bulbs, such as the 

 colchicums and autumnal crocus, which 

 have now ceased to grow. All these 

 removals must be made in dry weather, 

 and the offsets carefully separated, and 

 either planted again immediately, or 

 spread out to dry, and stored till August, 

 when they are to be planted again. 



Carnations, &*c. Carnations and pico- 

 tees in pots should at this time have every 

 assistance given them ; sticks should be 

 placed to support the stalks towards the 

 end of the month, the plants watered in 

 dry weather and kept clean, the soil 



