n6 POPULAR GARDEN FLOWERS 



gardener is really fertile, and in nine cases out of ten it 

 is advisable to take out some of it, and make a hole big 

 enough to hold a bushel of fibrous loam and leaf mould, 

 which the local florist will provide for a shilling. The 

 plant is worth that. 



Pruning. The use of the knife should begin directly 

 the plant is put in, and that should be either in November 

 or March. Many plant late in April or in May, on a hot 

 site, with the result that the plant is scorched up before 

 the roots have time to get to work and feed it. With 

 autumn or early spring planting the plant has a chance 

 to make new roots before the hot w 4 eather comes on, and 

 as these fibres begin to send up food at once, the plant is 

 strengthened and can endure the sun. But a gardener 

 who has once summoned up enough courage to cut 

 back a Clematis Jackmanii after planting it will always 

 be ready to repeat the operation in future plantings. 



If shortened to a bud near the ground all the energies 

 of the plant are concentrated on that bud, and it pushes 

 a fine, vigorous shoot, which is soon several feet long, 

 and produces flowers the same year. The second year 

 it will do better still, and in the third the plant will be 

 at its best, covering an immense area, and producing 

 hundreds of flowers. 



It may sound strange to the non-professional reader, 

 but Clematis Jackmanii produces the finest flowers when 

 all the flowering shoots of the previous year are cut 

 back in spring. The reason of this is that the plant 

 blooms on new wood. We cannot lump all the Clema- 

 tises together and say that they should be pruned in 

 such-and-such a way. Jackmanii, we see, differs from 

 montana; and others differ from both. The amateur 

 may protest that his Clematis Jackmanii blooms without 

 any priming at all. So it does kindly, generous-hearted 



