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Gardening for Amateurs 



Notes of Practical Interest 



CLEMATIS Jackmanii. Failures 

 with this delightful Clematis are 

 unfortunately frequent. The stems 

 are often scorched through exposure to hot 

 sunshine ; to avoid this plant the Clematis 

 in a west, north-west, or south-west as- 

 pect, or between shrubs 4 to 6 feet high. 

 All Clematis delight in a well-drained soil 

 containing plenty of lime ; old mortar 

 rubble is excellent material to dig in the 

 ground previous to planting. Jackman's 

 Clematis should be pruned fairly hard during 

 February or early March each year, shortening 

 the previous season's growths to within about 

 a foot of the old wood. The parents of C. 

 Jackmanii are the Chinese C. lanuginosa and 

 C. Viticella, a European kind. 



Shrubs in Tubs. Various kinds of shrubs 

 cultivated in tubs are useful for standing on 

 terraces during summer, whilst they are also 

 of value in winter when halls have to be 

 decorated. Suitable kinds for the purpose 

 are large and small -leaved Myrtles, Sweet 

 Bay, Laurustinus, Camellia, Rhododendron 

 formosanum, Cytisus fragrans, Hydrangea 

 Hortensia and Veronica speciosa. The tubs 

 must be well drained, and really good fibrous 

 soil must be used in the tubbing compost, 

 for sweet soil is essential to success. Re- 

 tubbing is not often required, as the plants 

 can be kept in health for many years by the 

 aid of manure water. They may be left 

 out of doors until the arrival of frost, when, 

 with the exception of the Cytisus, all may 

 be stored in an outhouse if a cool greenhouse 

 is not available. 



An Interesting Shrub. Searchers 

 after really good and interesting shrubs 

 should make a special note of the Witch 

 Hazel, Hamamelis mollis, for few plants are 

 more ornamental. It blossoms during mid- 

 winter, when there are few outdoor flowers, 

 the blossoms lasting from mid-December 

 throughout January. It is seen to greatest 

 advantage during mild weather, but a 

 moderate amount of cold does not affect the 

 blossoms seriously. A native of China, it 

 forms a shrub 8 to 15 feet high, with oval 

 or rounded leaves, and bears its yellow 



fragrant flowers from almost every bud on 

 the leafless stems. Light loam, to which a 

 little peat has been added, suits it, and it 

 requires no other pruning save what is 

 necessary to shape the bush. 



Citrons as Wall Plants. It does not 

 appear to be generally known that in the 

 mildest parts of the country it is possible to 

 cultivate Citrons successfully and ripen the 

 fruits against an open wall. Yet this is done 

 every year in the neighbourhood of Falmouth, 

 and fruiting plants have even been noted in 

 the open ground in the Scilly Islands. Any- 

 one who has a garden situated in a place 

 where peculiarly genial climatic conditions 

 prevail might experiment with various 

 members of the Orange family against) 

 sunny walls, for uncommon plants of that 

 description are always interesting and a 

 source of wonder to visitors from colder 

 parts of the country. Loamy soil which is 

 warm and well-drained is likely to suit. 



Pruning Shrubs. It is just as im- 

 portant to understand the method of pruning 

 shrubs especially flowering kinds as of 

 pruning fruit trees, for while it is quite true 

 that a good many shrubs will flower every 

 year if left alone, yet the blooms are often 

 much improved if the growths are thinned ; 

 on the other hand, cutting them at the wrong 

 time or in a wrong manner may prevent 

 their blooming at all. A little observation 

 will generally enable the amateur to discover 

 the correct time to prune flowering shrubs. 

 As a general rule, when flowers are produced 

 in the spring and early summer, they are 

 formed on growths made the previous year, 

 so that these shoots can be cut back when 

 flowering is over, and so fresh growth is 

 encouraged. But when the blooming period 

 is some time in late summer and autumn, it 

 shows, generally speaking, that the flowers 

 are produced on shoots made during the 

 same season, therefore pruning in early 

 spring is usually advisable. Evergreens that 

 do not flower may be pruned hard in the 

 spring when necessary, but if clipping only 

 is carried out, it will be best to do this in 

 spring and again towards the end of summer. 



