THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. I93 



ECHEVEEIAS. 



(With Coloured Illustration of JEcheverla rosea.) 



ASHIO^N" lias made the Eelieverias important, but they 

 could never have attained to their present popularity 

 without the aid of first-class decorative qualities. They 

 constitute a distinct section of crassulaceous plants, all 

 of them somewhat more tender than the sempervivums^ 

 with which they are closely allied, both in structure and appearance. 

 A considerable number of sempervivums may be grown on open 

 rockeries, and the severest winter will not harm them, but there is 

 not one species of the genus now before us capable of enduring the 

 cold and damp of an ordinary winter near London. But given glass 

 of some sort, and many of the best may be kept. Our own collec- 

 tion of echeverias is the best we have seen in any private garden. 

 The greater part are kept in pots, and winter well in a geranium 

 house that is never heated more than sufhcient to keep out frost. 

 Some of the more showy kinds are planted on the highest part of 

 the rockery in a fern-house, where tliey are extremely effective, re- 

 quiring no more care than an occasional shower from the syringe, 

 what little of it that lodges about their roots proving sufficient for 

 their sustenance. This is a capital way of utilizing these interesting 

 plants, because the dry, sunny parts near the roof of a fern-house 

 will not suit ferns, and there are not many kinds of plants adapted, 

 to harmonize with them, and also to thrive in such a peculiarly try- 

 ing situation. Another use for echeverias may be fouud by planting 

 them out in the garden at the end of May, and taking them up in 

 October. Several kinds have become popular as bedding plants, and 

 those that are not adapted for massing make interesting clumps in 

 a sunny border, and grow twice as fast as they would if kept in pots 

 all the summer. 



Echeverias will grow in any good soil of a somewhat light 

 description, but when planted out ttie soil that suits a geranium will 

 suit them perfectly. Eor pot culture the best compost is a mixture 

 of three parts good loam, and one part each of sharp sand and sift- 

 ings of lime rubbish or old plaster. Eor all such plants we provide 

 ourselves with grit by having the sweepings of the gravel walks 

 sifted ; this is better than silver sand for succulents. To propagate 

 them is so easy as scarcely to require a note ; but it may be well to 

 say that from June to August cuttings may be struck in the open 

 border in the same way as geraniums, and from March to May 

 cuttings may be struck in a warm greenhouse, wher^ the best place 

 for the cuttings is on a sunny shelf near the glas:i. "When rare 

 kinds are to be made the most of, every leaf that can be snapped off 

 full ripe may be made into a plant. Only the fully-matured leaves 

 should be taicen, and the best way to remove them is by gentle 

 pressure with the thumb. Carefully dibble the leaves, base down- 

 wards, into damp sand, and if you cannot jnake them hold firmly, 

 cut some fine splinters of wood like tiny skewers, and fix every leaf 

 Jul/. 13 



