MAY 



99 



for plants from the north-east wind. Shelter in all 

 forms, without taking too much out of the soil, as trees 

 and shrubs do, is the great secret of success in all kinds 

 of gardening. I should spend my Ufa in inventing shelters 

 if I Hved on the East Coast ; but I confess that tem- 

 porary protections are not very pretty. Another good 

 method of obtaining shelter is to use common hurdles of 

 iron or wood, or flat laths with Gorse or Bracken twisted 

 into them. When aU your hand-lights are in use in Spring, 

 a good deal of protection from frost may be given to the 

 seed beds by sheets of newspaper held down by a stone or 

 two ; muslin sewn over a zinc wire-coop wiU keep out six 

 or seven degrees of frost. Dried Bracken spread over 

 frames is even better for keeping out frost than matting, 

 and is nearly as easily removed. 



May nth. — Bpimediums are charming little plants 

 with lovely, graceful foUage, and are well worth growing 

 if you have a moist and shady corner. E. 'pmnatwrn is 

 perhaps the best, and has long clusters of small yellow 

 flowers ; the leaves are very pretty, and mix well with any 

 flowers. 



Aloysia citriodora (Sweet Verbena) is a plant that is 

 a universal favourite. I have never known anyone, not 

 even those who dislike strongly scented flowers, not be 

 delighted with the deUcious refreshing smell of its leaves, 

 which they retain long after they are dried. Yet you go 

 to house after house, and find no plants growing out of 

 doors. Their cultivation is simple, and they require 

 but little care to make them quite hardy; out of five 

 or six plants which I have out of doors, only one died 

 in the hard winter two years ago. If you have any smaU 

 plants in your greenhouse (if not, buy them at sixpence 

 apiece), put them out at the end of May, after harden- 

 ing off, in a warm sunny place, either close to a wall or 

 under the shelter of a wall. Water them, if the weather 



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