maintain her standard of cultural excellence by growing speci- 

 mens and growing them well. 



Speaking of cultural excellence causes me to think of an 

 experience that happens to so many of us, for frequently a rose 

 garden that has been a joy one Summer proves a disappointment 

 the following Summer, and usually it is because the roots of the 

 plants are loose in the soil, owing to the action of frost. I have 

 seen, and I am certain you have too, parts of macadam and asphalt 

 roads looking as if they had been blown up by dynamite. But we 

 know it was the Winter frost that caused all that upheaval, so 

 it can be imagined what effect this strange force may have upon 

 the dormant roots of our roses. It loosens them and makes tlienJ 

 homeless in the soil, with nothing to grip or hold to. So every 

 bush, climber, etc., shuld be tread in Avith the greatest thorough- 

 ness ; so firmly should they be in the soil that it should be difficult, 

 most difficult, to pull one of them out of it. 



This is a most important piece of Spring garden work, and I 

 hope it has been attended to in all gardens; if it has riot been 

 done, iuvsist upon it, and if possible personally supervise it. For 

 this will mean long life and a bountiful return in roses, roses, 

 roses. There need be no gaps or bare places in our rose beds 

 because of plants not thriving, or dyfng, for goo^, jotted roses 

 are always available, but when planting them, on no account 

 remove the pot ; set the pot containing the bush an inch below the 

 surface of the bed, and you need fear no check in their growth or 

 appearance. In the Autumn they can be lifted, arid then the pot 

 may be removed and the bush replanted. 



CLIMBIJ^G HELIOTROPE 



N California there is a heliotrope that climbs as high as 

 the average rambler rose, and so it will elsewhere (that is, 

 in localities that are not subject to very early frost). 

 First of all, let me say it is essential that you obtain seed 

 of the true new climbing heliotrope, which may be trained on 



pillars or posts, lattice, trellis, or tied in with robust climbing 



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