JUNE 



Flowers and Fragrance 



THE garden in June is in its most captivating mood ; 

 many of the plants are in blossom, many more are 

 in bud. Such disappointments as may be in store have 

 yet to materialise. The garden in June is full of the 

 joy of life ; the glamour of hope and the promise of 

 good things to come are all-pervading. Days are 

 long, nights are cool, and the fragrance of countless 

 petals fills the air ; the flowers are never so sweet as in 

 June. Grassy ways are green, the leaves are fresh, there 

 are signs on every hand of life, full, vigorous, beauteous 

 life, and no portents of the withering that must follow. 

 The Roses are opening fast, and never again will they 

 be so sweet. The Pinks form a fragrant fringe to the 

 garden path, every pole is covered with buds and blossoms 

 bursting through untarnished leaves ; white Lilies mingle 

 with Damask Roses ; Clematis peeps from climbing Rose 

 everywhere there is fair, fresh bloom and never a 

 fading leaf. How to prolong the ecstasy of June is 

 the problem of the gardener. It is accomplished only 

 by the adoption of prosaic methods by plying the hoe 

 to keep the surface soil loose and to preserve the precious 

 moisture ; by picking off the flowers as they fade ; by 

 timely watering morning or evening, but never at noon ; 

 by curbing a trespassing shoot here and encouraging a 

 weakly one there ; by careful tying and staking and the 

 annihilation of weeds. The observance of such common- 

 place tasks alone can keep the garden gay to its close 

 and imbue it with some of the spirit of youth, even 

 when it is old. 



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