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" Come with me, then, behind the scenes, where we are concerned only with the joys of plant increase and rejuvenation” 
The Reminder is to "suggest” what may be done during the next few weeks. Details of When referring to the time for out-door work of any sort New York City at sea level in a nor- 
pou w ao eacn liem are given in me current or the hack issues of I he Garden Magazine — it 
is manifestly impossible to give all the details of all the work in any one issue of a magazine. 
References to back numbers may be looked up in the index to each completed volume (sent 
gratis on request), and the Service Department will also be glad to cite references to any spe- 
cial topic if asked by mail. 
JUNE— THE MONTH 
feWjt?'. T IS by no means to be understood that everything is over for 
the gardener but the shouting, when we speak of enjoying 
things in June. This is never the case in any month, and 
perhaps least of all in this month of Roses and fragrance; but 
the mere fact of Roses and fragrance everywhere, and teeming 
life, makes the garden tasks welcome, just for the sake of being a part 
of all out-of-doors and taking it all in. 
General 
Keep watch everywhere — in the vegetable garden, the flower garden 
and on trees and shrubs — for signs of insect depredations or fungous 
ravages. This vigilance will often save not only a great amount 
of time and trouble later on this year and in subsequent years, 
but the life of valuable plants. Like the stitch in time, destroying 
the insect at the moment it appears saves nine — nine thousand 
nine hundred and ninety-nine indeed! 
And keep at work as long as there is anything to be done. Everywhere 
everything should be in shipshape and no disorder now, since all 
changes are made and everything is “set” for the summer’s run. 
Greenhouses and Frames 
Pot up Poinsettias for winter flowers. Plunge Azaleas and plants 
of their kind which have flowered, outdoors in pots to ripen. 
Get the supply of Lilium Harrisii, Freesias, Amaryllis and other bulbs 
for indoor flowering later. 
Plant Violets now, keeping the house as cool as possible. 
Get Roses into the benches and finish budding. 
Flower Garden 
Take up bulbs that have finished flowering and dry, if they are to be 
planted out again in fall. Naturalized bulbs do not of course 
require such handling. 
Prune deciduous hedges before the middle of the month, cutting back 
one-half of the new growth. 
THE LARKSPUR 
T HERE is indeed a subtle lure about the Larkspur, and hardly a 
garden is without it. A “mixed perennial” border that does not 
include it would seem to be lacking an essential element indeed, like 
“Hamlet” without the melancholy Dane. More than any other 
flower of the old-fashioned garden perhaps it seems really to belong — 
which in fact it does, for is not the Bee Larkspur one of the oldest of 
cultivated flowers? It was introduced from Asia in 1597, and even its 
popular name is old-fashioned in tone — just when it came to be applied 
we know not. Even the botanists were led to name it scientifically 
“Delphinium” from its fancied resemblance to a dolphin’s head; and 
the name “elatum” signifies simply, tall. The “bee” part of the com- 
mon name has reference to the curiously shaped and colored petals that 
form a cluster in the centre of the flower. The flat bright blue parts 
■ — the really effective part of the flower as a matter of fact — are in 
reality sepals masquerading as petals, a feature that is quite com- 
mon among the members of the Buttercup family. 
The modern perennial Larkspur is without a rival in its class as a 
plant of tall habit with erect columns of blue flowers towering above the 
general level of its companions in the border. Its range of hues is re- 
markable too, running the whole gamut of shades from pure white and 
mal season is taken as standard; but at best dates can only be approximate. Roughly, the sea- 
son advances northward fifteen miles a day Thus Albany, which is one hundred and fifty 
miles from New York, would be about ten days later, and Philadelphia, which is ninety miles 
southwest, about a week earlier. Also allow / our days for each degree of iahtude. lor 
each five degrees of longitude, and for each four hundred feet of altitude. 
OF ENJOYMENT 
Shrubs that have bloomed should be pruned at once, if they need prun- 
ing at all. Many times they do not: be sure before you go ahead. 
Only dead wood should be removed or that which is weak. 
All bedding plants should go in now. 
Sow seeds of tender annuals now for late fall bloom. 
Cut Roses daily; let nothing go to seed unless seed is especiallv wanted. 
Vegetable Garden 
When the vegetables begin to yield gather them daily when they are 
just short of maturity and consequently tender and most delicious. 
Cultivate regularly twice a week — and again after a rain if rain comes. 
Do this when there are no weeds and then there never will be any; 
and the moisture will be retained in the soil instead of escaping. 
All kinds of vegetables should now be in the ground and further plant- 
ing should be only succession crops. 
Transplant late Cauliflower, Cabbage, Broccoli, and Brussels Sprouts 
to their permanent positions. 
Stop cutting Asparagus altogether by the middle of the month. 
Use thinnings of all vegetables such as Beets, Onions, Carrots, and Tur- 
nips for greens, mixing with Dandelion or Spinach — and with 
young Pigweeds and Sorrel, too. Nothing need be wasted. 
Thin early — and rigorously. This alone insures proper development 
of root vegetables. 
Fruits 
Rub off all suckers and adventitious shoots the moment you see them 
and thus conserve vitality and avoid pruning later. 
Thin fruit that sets too thickly immediately after the “June drop,” 
if it still needs it. 
Spray according to schedule. Let nothing hinder this at any time. 
Strawberry beds that have borne for two years should be dug up, the 
ground fertilized and worked and a late crop planted. 
Cover Strawberry rows with netting to prevent injury by the birds. 
(See Cover Design ) 
delicate azure blue to the deepest and most intense tones some of which 
border on almost crudity. But the blue color in whatever shade is 
ever.welcome in the riot of summer flowers because near by its effect is 
coolness, while at the far end of a view it increases theapparent distance. 
Seen through an opening in shade it combines both these effects. 
It is as hardy as any plant of the herbaceous garden. True it is that 
some plaints are heard about it being killed in winter, but that result is 
usually (if not always) because too much protection has kept the 
dormant crowns warm and wet, inducing rot. Larkspurs like a good 
soil and a deep one is essential for their proper growth. The ideal thing 
is a deep rich sandy loam, with plenty of water when growth is active. 
Seeds sown in summer will give splendid plants for next year, and quite 
a variety of colorings may usually be had from a packet of seed. Any 
preferred variety may be propagated either by division of the old clump 
after its second year or by cuttings taken from the shoots in spring and 
rooted in a frame, merely seeing that they do not get dry in hot weather. 
Named varieties arc offered by certain specialists in herbaceous plants 
which are useful if definite color tones are insisted upon in the 
first planting of the border; but there is much pleasure in selecting 
seedlings to fit one’s own preferences. 
270 
