86 MY GROWING GARDEN 



that we have learned to be exceedingly cruel to the 

 weeds; we kill them early and often, and the stirred 

 ground is not allowed to feed their tiny roots. 



In a north corner, in almost total shade, I 

 planted last year a bush of the Carolina rhodo- 

 dendron sent me by my plant-friend Kelsey. It 

 has bloomed this May, and it is most lovely, with 

 its pinkish- white clusters of waxy flowers. It is a 

 fine addition, from the Appalachian Mountains, to 

 the rhododendron treasures of Breeze Hill. 



Dahlias and cannas have been a resource of my 

 garden, frost-tender though they are. Planted in 

 May, both give from dormant roots a superb show 

 of bloom in late summer and until frost. The loose- 

 petaled "cactus" dahlias seem to me most attrac- 

 tive, and the cannas that have resulted from the 

 patient life-work of my old friend Wintzer are 

 superb, distinct, and of more garden-value than 

 anything of Burbank's I have seen. 



The last week of May has been for several 

 years persuading us to revise the truism that 

 June is the month of roses, in any exclusive sense. 

 "Decoration Day" finds many mid-Pennsylvania 

 gardens ablaze with the bloom of the queen of 

 flowers, and my garden is among them. We enter 

 June, therefore, in that mood of mind which the 

 scent of roses alone can produce. 



