TUE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. IGl 



NOTES ON PASSION-FLOWERS. 



{With Coloured Illustration of Pasxijlora Kermeslna.) 

 BY OEOUGE GORDON. 



'ASSION-ELOWERS comprise a large number of free- 

 growing plants of a scandent habit, differing con- 

 siderably in the colour of the flowers and relative 

 hardiness, but alike possessing considerable value for 

 training up pillars, and over the roofs of plant- 

 houses. Some require a stove temperature, others again may be 

 cultivated successfully in the greenhouse or conservatory, and a few 

 are sufficiently hardy to admit of their being grown against a south 

 wall out of doors. The subject of the present illustration belongs 

 to the section requiring the temperature of a stove, and is unques- 

 tionably one of the most beautiful of the numerous species in cul- 

 tivation. 



Passion-flowers" are mostly of large growth, and, although they 

 may be grown in structures of a medium size, they are best suited 

 for houses in which sufficient space can be allowed for their full 

 development. In lofty houses they are of immense value for draping 

 columns and forming festoons between the girders, and in structures 

 of smaller size they produce a very pretty effect when trained close 

 under the rafters, and the lateral growth allowed to hang down in a 

 natural manner. They are not suitable for houses in which it is neces- 

 sary to frequently stop the side-shoots, to prevent their interfering 

 with the growth of the other plants, for when pinched back at inter- 

 vals, a mass of shoots and few flowers are the result. In the Eloeal 

 WoELD for October, 1868, an article on the Cultivation of Passion 

 Elowers appeared, in company with a plate of the brilliant Tacsonia 

 Buclianani, and it is, therefore, hardly necessary to speak of the 

 cultivation of these plants in detail. 



It may, however, be mentioned incidentally, for the assistance 

 of those who have not the volume for 1868 to refer to, that all 

 the species require abundant space for the roots, as well as for the 

 head. They should, therefore, be planted in a border of good soil, 

 or where that cannot be done conveniently, put in pots, tubs, or 

 boxes of a comparatively large size. In preparing the borders, 

 place a moderate layer of broken bricks underneath, and when they 

 are grown in pots, or other receptacles, they require a drainage of 

 crocks in much the same manner as other free-growing subjects. 

 With the assistance of a thorough drainage, it will be possible to 

 supply them most liberally with water throughout the growing 

 season, without the slightest risk of the soil becoming sour, owing 

 to the superfluous moisture being unable to escape so quickly as 

 coald be desired. Over the drainage place a layer of some rough 

 material, and then fill in with a mixture of four parts mellow turfy 

 loam, and a part each of thoroughly decayed manure and leaf-mould. 

 This compost will a'so be in every way suitable for plants grown in 



June. ^^ 



