The Gardening World February 22, 190S. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
‘ The gardener’s business is to root out the weeds and tend the flowers.”— Bodensledt. 
An Amateur’s Letter to Amateurs. 
CONTENTS. 
Amateur's Letter to Amateurs, An... 119 
British Plants . I2 4 
Calceolarias, Herbaceous . I2 o 
Carnations : Work for February . 126 
Competition Awards . 120 
Competition, Prize Letter . 122 
Delphiniums, Growing . 123 
Enquire Within . I 3 ° 
Flower Garden, The (illus.) . 128 
Foliage Plant, A Useful (illus.) .. 123 
Fragrant Flowers Through the Lear 124 
Fruit Garden, The (illus.) . 12S 
Greenhouse, The Amateuris . 128 
Herb Willow, White-flowered (illus.) 125 
Kitchen Garden, The (illus.) . 12S 
Orchids for Amateurs . 129 
Plants for Home Decoration . 126 
Poppy, The Californian Bush . 120 
Roses, Dijon . 122 
Saxifrage, A Handsome (illus.) . 125 
Tamarisk, Pallas’s (illus.) . 12 1 
Tomato Plants from Seed, Raising 
(illus.) .. I2 7 
Vases for the Garden . I2 ^ 
Work of the Week (illus.) . 128 
-*++- 
Your voiceless lips, O flowers, are li\ing 
preachers. 
Each cup a pulpit, every leaf a book; 
Supplying to my fancy numerous teachers 
from loveliest nook. 
-- 
Why this flower is now so called, 
!List, sweet maids, and you shall know, 
Understand this firstling was 
Once a brisk and bonny lass, 
Kept as close as Dante was, 
Who a sprightly springall loved ; 
And to have it fully proved, 
;Up she got upon a wall, 
Tempting down to slide withal . 
But the silken twist untied, 
3 she fell, and, bruised, she died, 
ove, in pity of the deed, 
nd her loving luckless speed, __ 
urned her to this plant we call 
ow “The Flower of the Wall.” 
Herrick. 
CXXXI. 
Active growth is about us everywhere. 
The leaf buds on the trees have lost the 
dead winter look; they are swelling; 
there is a haze of colour over them, brown 
or purple as the sun shines on them. 
There are many little attentions to be 
paid to the things of our flower gardens 
during this month—operations that too 
often are neglected altogether, or per¬ 
formed later on, when they have not the 
same benefit. 
Pruning and Thinning. 
Those varieties of Clematis that flower 
on the wood of the current year should be 
cut hard back at once, if not already 
done, and among the varieties to be 
treated thus is the beautiful C. Jack- 
manii. Thousands of specimens go from 
year to year with but little pruning, and 
as a result get weaker and the flowers 
smaller and less numerous. Now this 
Clematis may be cut down to within a 
couple of feet of the base. Strong young 
growths push out and flower prodigiously. 
And with Rambler Roses only the growth 
that was made last season need be kept, 
always supposing that this was plentiful. 
The old stuff may be cut out so that the 
whole strength of the tree goes to the 
y’oung, vigorous flowering growths. We 
do well to study this question of concen¬ 
trating growth from weakly to strong 
healthy portions of a shrub or bush. The 
novice is often afraid to cut away weakly 
shoots of old wood even where there are 
plenty of young good growths to take 
their place. February’ is a capital month 
to prune our Lavender bushes. Here 
again, hard pruning is often an advan¬ 
tage. There is a great charm in these 
bushes when they show tokens of having 
had careful and assiduous attention, and 
they show it by becoming trim, dense¬ 
headed, flower-laden bushes. 
If there are year-old plants of Pansies 
in the border and the old, hollow growths 
were not removed in the autumn, by all 
means take them off now. Here again, it 
is a matter of concentrating the strength 
of the plant on the lusty y’oung growth. 
A Plant foe a Sunless Boeder. 
When making out a seed list it is often 
out despair that few or no annual plants 
will succeed in any but open, sunny posi¬ 
tions. But true as this is, there are some 
few'hardy’ perennials that will respond to 
annual treatment, and as a rule these are 
much more successful than annuals, in 
unfavourable positions. One of the 
brightest and best of these is the Mimu- 
lus. It flowers well in a north border, 
with scarcely any r sunshine, and if a good 
strain be selected, a very beautiful effect 
is the result. The seed should be sown 
at the present time in the greenhouse, 
and the seedlings first pricked out; then 
gradually hardened, and afterwards 
planted where they are to flower, or, fail¬ 
ing a greenhouse or a frame, they may be 
sown in the open early in April. It is a 
really effective plant when in flower, and 
at the present day wonderfully beautiful 
colouring has been evolved. A bold 
edging of Mimulus is sure to please, and 
such a variety as M. cardinalis grandi- 
florus is thoroughly to be recommended. 
But the plant should not be established 
in a very exposed and wind-swept situa¬ 
tion, or the blossoms may be swept away 
while they are at the very height of their 
beauty. I have seen this done, and, 
therefore, whenever writing about the 
Alimulus, feel as if I must give this warn¬ 
ing. 
Antirrhinums. 
A grand plant for amateur's gardens— 
and when I say that I mean a really good 
stand-by’, and such assuredly is the 
Antirrhinum. In far-back times it was 
known as Calves’ Snout; now, familiarly, 
we know it as Snapdragon. The plant 
used too frequently to be represented by 
dull, magenta-coloured varieties, and 
where these are still growing they should 
be ruthlessly destroyed, because the 
grand colouring of the modern varieties 
is a thing to be proud of. I think it is a 
mistake to confine ourselves to the dwarf 
or Tom Thumb varieties, for the tall 
varieties are really a good deal more de¬ 
corative and showy than these. 1 do not, 
1 confess, understand the craze there is 
for the dwarfest varieties of plants pro¬ 
curable, and often' think we are wrong to 
give them the preference. Why not 
grow both tall and dwarf kinds ? There 
is a charming range now, including rich 
deep rose-pink. Among the tall varieties 
Coral Queen may be chosen to represent 
it. Among those of medium growth, 
either Carmine King or Cinnabar Scarlet 
may be chosen, while in the Tom Thumb 
section, a variety’ known as roseum carries 
the colour through to the dwarfest plants. 
To get the full capacity for flowering 
from Antirrhinums, I like to sow the seed 
in August and winter in a cold house, but 
where seed is not sown until the spring, it 
should be sown as early’ as possible. The 
plant is perennial and not annual, and 
therefore as long a period as possible 
should be given it before it is wanted in 
blossom. A great thing to remember in 
the cultivation of this plant is that it 
flowers better in rather dry’ soil and even 
of a poor sandy’ nature than in one that is 
over-rich. It requires plenty of sunshine, 
