FLOWER GARDEN.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14889, 31 January 1914, Page 5

FLOWER GARDEN.

Peonies are helped if they receive a good soaking two or three times during December and January, this to help to plump up tho growth buds for next season's display. ]t- is just at this time that a supply of water will stay them from a too-hasty ripening-off.. Pentstemon cuttings should be put in any time now. To keep theso popular border plants in good health they should be cut back after blooming, and so | ensure strong shoots from the base for next season's show. Young plants of Iceland Poppies planted out now will establish themselves at once and becomo strong before the winter. Canterbury bells, Snapdragons, Pentstemons, Columbines and similar plants should also bo set out any time after a downpour. Oriental Poppies are now resting, but will soon be active again. If they are to be transplanted, now is the time to do the work. Christmas Lilies, Lilium j Candidiim, the tall-stemmed lily which j blooms during December, are now in a resting condition, and it is during the resting time that they should bo divided and transplanted. Because this work is so often done while tho plants aro growing, success in lifting is so seldom obtained and much loss of increase is explainable. Remember that Liliums do best in a free soil, virgin in character, and resent at once the presence of fresh stable manure. Sum-mer-sown St. Brigid Anemones which havo reached tho rough leaf stage should be pinched out. and so give .".rr.i a chance to spread themselves and fit them for a display of bloom starting early in the spring.