May 12—There must be few lovers of flowers whd do not like the Mock Orange (Philade'phus coronarius) that is displaying its charms in our these days. This plant is a native of Known as'"Syringa" which is the Of the Lilac: but as the fragrance of the flowers, does resemble that of the orange blossom, think It better. to refer to, the plant as "Mock Orange" to avoid contusion. The flowers are white and bore in profusion on plants that have plenty of als, the shrubs are most attrac. tive in the shrubbery, but they have a tendency to grow weak and straggly and look better when grouped: those of us who give them an Autumn top dressing of manure are wall repaid during the Spring. On looking through our: eotds we find that the Mock Orange flowers ai about the same time each year regardless of the weather and they do not appear to worry about what climatic conditions were Flenced during the Winter. We notice the species has the same habit elsewhere, for it generally shown as flowering In May and June in other parts of the world where the [weather does not'change overnight from cold and rain to hot and bright. The Anemones are how over atter giving us plenty for our money; but beds of Tris and Aquilegia have taken their place: there Is always something to Keep us Inlerested in the garden..We'have occasional disappointments though and even if the heavy rain of Saturday did cut short the life of many' fof the flowers on our False Acacia trees, known to the botanical world.as Robinia Pseudacact it did help many of our other trees and shrubs immensely; they were beginning to suffer from nek of moisture for the rain, we have previous-had was followed by hot sun and the mols. ture In the sell evaporated quickly. To revert to the Aquilegla:, these attractive little plants are often referred to as Columbines and, yener. ally speaking, a fine range of colour is to be had {from a single packet of seed. The long-spurred varieties are, of course, the best; but the spurs have a-habit of becoming shorter each year. Perhaps the plants object to the attention being. jalven to them by hybridists and would rather grow naturally as they do in their home in the of us who who live East of the Railway are May: 15—The gardening activities of many
esttieted to the care of an area of about one mow and this area Is generally surrounded on three sider by trees, the north side being oe. cupied by the house' We iry to make the plot fof land - Beautiful, but afler a long struggle gainst what appear to be insurmountable df= feultles, many of us give up the task as a bad fob and are content with a line of shrubs along the boundary and an apology for a lawn in the centre. However, there are' some. people who refuse (0 become disheartened and despite un-Favourable surroundings, they are able to enjoy many of the pleasures of gardening. We were ina small garden today: It 1s on Avenue Haig fand it dees not cover more than one mow of and but it is a charming place, The lady who spent hours planning the colour schemes and Planting Ube various ower beds Is not here to Enjoy the results of her endeavours. She would Drobebly have been very disappointed if she had Seen het garden after the heavy rain we have Fecenily experienced, but most of, the plants have recovered already. Trees over 40 feet high fare growing around the garden and this results {in many of the plants becoming "drawn" and higher than customary despite the fact that the beds have been widened. There are two. beds on each side of the garden divided by a patch of turr that extends up fo a narrow bed of aisles growing in front of a creeper-covered bamboo fence. All the beds are planted in her~ baceous border style and the following colour [schemes were noticed:—Below the verandah, two beds were full of wallflowers, cheiranthus and Swan River daisy: the latler is a graceful blue-flowered annual and it looks well against background of marguerites In pots: A. blue Blazed pol full of lobelia on the lawn was also attractive. In the first bed. on the Eastside, malva has beer used as a background and al: though the foliage of this is useful, its flowers not show up so well: Carnations have been planted as dot plants amongst a group of silene, but the rain was too strong for the latter. There Was a fine group of forget-me-not in the bed as well as many antirrhinums and gypsophila flowering in front of an edging of daisies and phlox. The second bed is edged.with wallflowers and phlox, and calendulas, valerian and a most striking vanely of phlox are grouped in front fof larkspurs. The South bed Is almost continually shaded; but despite this drawback, forge!- me-nols and gypsophila are making 'a brave display as well as the edging of "Fairy" violas. Phlox' and antirrhinums predominate in the second bed on the West side and there are some beautiful shades of colour amongst. the verbena plants growing in front. In the first bed on this side of the garden, a flesh-pink variety of phlox-has grown higher than anticipated; but another group of the scarlet vanely La picture, Tue predominating. feature of this bed is a group of Anchusa Myosotid'fora a tall-growing. plant that. produces flowers. oft fof blue: much prettier than the Chinese torgetme-noi: "it is mot such a deep blue ay the latter plant; but it is more decorative. A "Snowball" shrub in this bed was a gorgeous sight a short time ago: however, it over now, it was to6 pretty to last for long! ware.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.