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Before planting water the soil well. Then as you make places for the plants put into each hole some of the
soil which belongs to the plant which is to be put there.
I think it would be a rather nice plan to have a wild-flower garden giving a succession of bloom from early
spring to late fall; so let us start off with March, the hepatica, spring beauty and saxifrage. Then comes April
bearing in its arms the beautiful columbine, the tiny bluets and wild geranium. For May there are the dog-tooth
violet and the wood anemone, false Solomon's seal, Jack-in-the-pulpit, wake robin, bloodroot and violets. June will
give the bellflower, mullein, bee balm and foxglove. I would choose the gay butterfly weed for July. Let turtle
head, aster, Joe Pye weed, and Queen Anne's lace make the rest of the season brilliant until frost.
Let us have a bit about the likes and dislikes of these plants. After you are once started you'll keep on adding
to this wild-flower list.
There is no one who doesn't love the hepatica. Before the spring has really decided to come, this little flower
pokes its head up and puts all else to shame. Tucked under a covering of dry leaves the blossoms wait for a ray of
warm sunshine to bring them out. These embryo flowers are further protected by a fuzzy covering. This reminds one
of a similar protective covering which new fern leaves have. In the spring a hepatica plant wastes no time on
getting a new suit of leaves. It makes its old ones do until the blossom has had its day. Then the new leaves,
started to be sure before this, have a chance. These delayed, are ready to help out next season. You will find
hepaticas growing in clusters, sort of family groups. They are likely to be found in rather open places in the
woods. The soil is found to be rich and loose. So these should go only in partly shaded places and under good soil
conditions. If planted with other woods specimens give them the benefit of a rather exposed position, that they may
catch the early spring sunshine. I should cover hepaticas over with a light litter of leaves in the fall. During
the last days of February, unless the weather is extreme take this leaf covering away. You'll find the hepatica
blossoms all ready to poke up their heads.
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