HOUSE AND GARDEN 
May, 1913 
359 
May Blossoms in Southern Gardens 
T HE refreshing showers of April and 
the balmy skies of May bring forth 
such a riot of blossom in Southern gar¬ 
dens, fields and woods that amateur gar¬ 
deners are apt to feel content to rest on 
their laurels. With the tall white olean¬ 
ders’ masses of starry blossoms, with 
crimson rambler roses vying with star jas¬ 
mine to see which can be most beautiful, 
with bright-faced pansies by the hundreds 
in the borders, with nasturtiums rich and 
glowing in their places, with sweet peas 
delicately beautiful as orchids in the rows, 
with hedges of hollyhocks, stately and tall, 
lending their dignity of color and line to 
the garden picture, it is hard to realize that 
eternal vigilance is the price of a garden, 
and that May must be a busy month if 
summer flowers and vegetables are desired. 
The violets must be looked after, first 
of all. No matter how luxuriantly they 
are growing, after the season of bloom is 
over every plant must be taken up, the 
leaves cut off, and the roots planted in per¬ 
manent positions, about three inches apart. 
This is the only way to grow them suc¬ 
cessfully. If not separated annually they 
multiply so rapidly that deterioration takes 
place very quickly. Many do not think it 
necessary to cut the leaves when trans¬ 
planting, and the result is unsightly, with¬ 
ered or dead leaves on every plant, mar¬ 
ring the appearance of the whole garden. 
Planted with the leaves cut, not too closely, 
the strength of the plant goes to form new 
roots, and when the leaves begin to grow 
they are fresh and green, and stay so. It 
is a great deal of trouble to take up violets 
every year, separate the roots, and replant; 
but what do we have in life that is worth 
having, without working to gain it? 
My violets are planted on the edge of 
the flower beds, separating them from the 
lawn. I also use them to divide the lawn 
from the driveway and to edge my porch 
boxes. They make a satisfactory ever¬ 
green border edging. Blooming from Oc¬ 
tober to April, at first not very freely, com¬ 
ing into full beauty in December and blos¬ 
soming by thousands from then until late 
March, I know of no flowers that so well 
repay a minimum amount of thought and 
care. If it is very cold the leaves may 
become yellow, but the brave little plants 
seem to flower more freely for the touch 
of winter. To southern gardeners who 
can plant little, and give that little indif¬ 
ferent care, I would say, plant a grass plot 
and edge it with violets. 
The dahlias and gladioli should be staked 
at this time, and tomatoes transplanted in 
the latter part of April will also be ready 
for the stakes. Plant them in rows two 
feet apart. In the first row begin the 
planting one foot from the end and con¬ 
tinue at intervals of two feet until the end 
of the row is reached. In the second row 
begin three feet from the end, and then 
plant two feet apart. If there were eight 
plants in the first row, there will be seven 
in the second, eight in the third, seven in 
the fourth, and so on. The gain in plant- 
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