Thf. Gardening World, May 4, 1907. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“ But winter lingering chills the lap of May.” — Goldsmith. 
An Amateur’s Letter to Amateurs. 
CONTENTS. 
Amateur's Letter to Amateurs, An ... 297 
Annual, A Beautiful . 3°6 
Bank, A Beautiful . 298 
Cabbage Green’s Express (illus.) ... 301. 
Climber, A Beautiful . 299 
Competition Awards . 298 
Competition, Prize Letter . 3 °° 
Day Lily, A Fine . 3 01 
Editorial . 3 02 
Enquire Within . 3°9 
Flower Garden, The . 3°4 
Fruit Garden, The . 3°4 
Fruit Growing for Amateurs’ (illus.)* 307 
Grapes, The Culture of (illus.) . 307 
Greenhouse, The Amateur’s . 3°5 
Heath, A Pretty . 3 QI 
Kitchen Garden, The . 305 
Magnolia, A Starry (illus.) . 303 
Orchids for Amateurs . 3°5 
Paeonies, Tree . 3 02 
Potatos (New) at Christmas . 303 
Sidalcea, The Mallow-Flowered 
(illus.) . 299 
Toad Flax, The Dalmatian (illus.) 306 
Tulip, A Scarlet (illus.) . 3 02 
Violets, The Culture of . 298 
Work of the Week . 3°4 
-- 
MAY DAY. 
• l Ver novumque stabat cinctum florente 
corona. ” 
Flail! charming, cheerful, radiant May ! 
Blooming beauteous, bright and gay 1 
Kissed by sol’s inspiring ray, 
Blushing Nature seems to say, 
No longer thy caress delay; * 
And I will gracefully display 
My beauty in its best array. 
Nor e’er will I thy love betray, 
But bask in splendour, day by day, 
With floral incense Thee repay. 
Yet fondly as 1 own Thy sway, 
And every glance of Thine obey ; 
Imploringly to Thee I pray 
To ne’er turn frowningly away, 
Depressing me with dire dismay, 
| But suff’ring truant clouds to stray 
! And weep their tears from sullen traits, 
Thy glorious radiance to allay, 
And veil Thy ray from a gay May Day. 
LXXXIX. 
Rose Notes. 
There are always some people who 
never think of setting about their garden 
work until the time for it has gone by. 
This applies to Rose planting as much as 
to anything else. But happily it is pos¬ 
sible by puchasing Roses in pots to es¬ 
tablish them at aimost any time, so that 
if there are still empty spaces in the Rose 
garden, or we want a climber, we may fall 
back on these pot plants. Of the Rose 
bushes that are now growing freely much 
might be written, but whatever we do let 
us remove blind shoots. It always seems 
to me such waste to let these take of the 
nourishment that might feed the bud¬ 
laden shoot. If green fly is carefully 
looked for and dealt with at once, really 
the fingers are as good as anything to re¬ 
move it where but a small quantity of 
trees have to be treated. 
Seedling Perennials. 
At the present time many little seedling' 
plants will be found round about the 
parent clumps. Thus round the Prim¬ 
roses hundreds of seedlings may now be 
found. If the summer prove a hot diy 
one and they are left as they are probably 
hardly ten per cent, will survive. But re¬ 
move as many as may be wanted for 
autumn planting to some cool moist 
aspect and not one will die. There may 
be many of these seedlings of other kinds 
that it may not be convenient to leave to 
mature in their present positions, but a 
nursery bed in the kitchen garden will 
prove a great convenience. Even some of 
the old plants, like the early flowering 
Doronicums (that most useful of all spring 
perennials if the variety D. austriacum 
be chosen) may likewise be pulled to 
pieces, and will make a quantity of plants 
for bringing back to the border in the 
.autumn. 
The Rock Garden. 
A summer flowering plant of great beauty 
may be secured in Linaria alpina, but it 
needs to develop into a great creeping 
mass really to show its full beauty. Some¬ 
how, I think Violas always should have a 
place in the rock garden. They are 
beautiful anywhere, but never so beau¬ 
tiful as when used in this fashion, and 
it is a beautv quite different from that on 
the level. Silene Shafta is useful, Sedum 
Ewersii, Sedum spectabile, Sweet Wil¬ 
liams, many of the dwarf Oenotheras, 
Heaths, and Potentillas prove invaluable 
for summer flowering. 
Hardening Bedding Plants. 
I do not think it is impressed upon the 
novice as it should be that hardening 
plants for summer bedding, especially if 
they have been kept in any considerable 
heat, should be done with extreme care. 
If they receive a severe check it takes 
weeks to recover, and this naturally tends 
greatly to retard their flowering period. 
Even in May we sometimes get bitterly 
cold nights, and, when such threaten, 
really etlicient protection should be sup¬ 
plied. Cutting winds and night frosts 
should not reach them, and I say this in 
spite of being a keen advocate for a non¬ 
coddling treatment. Make your plants 
hardy, by all means, but do not try them 
too closely following artificial heat. 
Thinning Seedlings. 
And once more I would urge the neces¬ 
sity of thinning seedling plants severely. 
Ten to one there are many more than you 
can use. As well, discard the superfluous 
ones now, as later. It will make all the 
difference to those that are left. 
Growing Perennials from Seed. 
Every year we find keen amateur gar¬ 
deners more interested in, and more eager 
to grow, some of the rarer perennial 
plants. Let me make a little list of 
plants that well repay the trouble of grow¬ 
ing in this manner. Dodecatheon, a 
beautiful plant, seed slow in germina¬ 
tion, but should not be grown in artificial 
heat. The blue Polyanthus and the blue 
Primrose; blue is always a valuable 
colour in the spring garden, and if the 
seed is sown at once, the young plants 
will flower next year. I have a splendid 
line of plants in close proximity to the 
giant Russian Violets, and these Prim¬ 
roses accord wonderfully in colouring, 
and certainly add much to the deep rich 
colour scheme of this out of the way bor¬ 
der. 
Bv the way, it is often convenient to 
grow Violets from seed, and they should 
be sown as soon as possible. I do not 
think I have ever seen Violets so fine or 
so lovely as they have been this year. It 
has made me determine to grow as many 
more as possible; and, as the present is 
the most desirable time to divide old 
plants and establish rooted runners. I am 
planting Violets in all the out-of-the-way 
positions. I can find empty, cool, even 
partially shady positions will suit them 
well enough for summer quarters, but 
they should be put into deep well trenched 
soil. 
Pyrethrums. 
For those who may still lack Pyreth- 
ruras in their gardens, I would say sow a 
packet of seed without delay. There is 
no other perennial that is so excellent for 
cutting nor more beautiful in the border 
