M WOOD AND GARDEN 



from the ordinary florist point of view, but these 

 have the charm that is a good garden flower's 

 most precious quality. I do not like the cold, heavy- 

 coloured ones of the bluish-slaty kinds. No shrub 

 is hardier than the Lilac; I believe they flourish 

 even within the Arctic Circle. It is very nearly allied 

 to Privet; so nearly, that the oval-leaved Privet is 

 commonly used as a stock. Standard trees flower 

 much better than bushes ; in this form all the strength 

 seems to go directly to the flowering boughs. No 

 shrub is more persistent in throwing up suckers 

 from the root and from the lower part of the stem, 

 but in bush trees as well as in standards they should 

 be carefully removed every year. In the case of 

 bushes, three or four main stems will be enough to 

 leave. When taking away suckeis of any kind what- 

 ever, it is much better to tear them out than to 

 cut them ofl". A cut, however close, leaves a base 

 from which they may always spring again, but if 

 pulled or wrenched out they bring away with them 

 the swollen base that, if left in, would be a likely source 

 of future trouble. 



Before the end of ^February we must be sure to 

 prune and train any plants there may be of Clematis 

 Flammula. Its growth is so rapid when once it begins, 

 that if it is overlooked it soon grows into a tangled 

 mass of succulent weak young stuff", quite unmanage- 

 able two months hence, when it will be hanging about 

 in helpless masses, dead and living together. If it 



