208 THE FLORIST, 



MYOSOTIS AZORICA. 



This is a very useful greenhouse as well as showy bedding plant, 

 which I think deserves to be more extensively cultivated than it is. 

 It is exceedingly easily managed, forms a good-sized specimen, pro- 

 duces its flowers in great abundance, and retains them for a long 

 time. Its colour is a rich purplish blue ; I therefore consider it a very 

 valuable acquisition, more especially for the decoration of the conserva- 

 tory or greenhouse, and it would be very suitable for the sitting- 

 room window of the amateur. The following hints may be useful 

 to such as are commencing its cultivation. 



It may be procured from most nurseries, and seed may be ob- 

 tained readily. If it is to be raised from seed, it will require the 

 ordinary treatment of greenhouse plants in that state. It enjoys a 

 close, moist frame. It will hardly be possible to grow it to such a 

 size as to be worth notice as a flowering plant during the first sea- 

 son. When moderately strong, it may be potted off into 4-inch 

 pots, and when the plants have filled these with roots, shift into 7- 

 inch pots. After they have become established in these, they may 

 be removed to a situation near the glass in the greenhouse, where 

 they may remain during the autumn and winter. They will now be 

 nice strong bushy plants, forming a good foundation for the next 

 season's specimens, particularly if several plants have been put into 

 one pot. I generally put three or five in a pot. After they have 

 fairly commenced growth in spring, shift them into r2-inch pots, 

 and place them in the warmest corner of the greenhouse. They 

 will soon make vigorous growth, and may be nicely trained to small 

 stakes. With ordinary management and care, they will soon be 

 some 18 inches high and 2 feet through; and about the beginning 

 or middle of July, they will be covered with their flowers, like our 

 pretty Forget-me-not, but larger and much darker coloured. A 

 plant of this kind placed beside Plumbago Larpentee will probably 

 induce the conclusion, that the latter has been somewhat over- 

 pufFed, and that all paid for it above the price of this interesting 

 little beauty was money thrown away. 



I find a mixture of loam and peat to suit it perfectly, adding, of 

 course, a portion of silver-sand, according to the nature of the soil ; 

 and the soil had better be used in as rough and fibrous a state as it 

 can be had ; but I imagine amateurs begin to be aware that this is 

 a point worth attention in the culture of their pot-plants. The 

 greenhouse or sitting-room window will suit it perfectly when in 

 flower ; and the plants after flowering may be cut back and taken 

 care of for another season, or thrown away to make room for young 

 plants ; the latter will generally be found to make the best speci- 

 mens. 



Harry Marten. 



