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SELECT HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 



NO. II.— HERBACEOUS LOBELIAS. 



BY GEORGE GRAY, 



Head Gardener, Norbiton Hall, Kingston-on-Thames. 



j|HE herbaceous Lobelia is not perhaps so useful for 

 out-door work as the Phlox, but it can justly claim to 

 rank next in importance. It is not necessary to praise 

 it unduly, but there can be no harm in saying that it is 

 one of the most useful plants we have for conservatory 

 decoration. It is doubly valuable to amateurs and others who have 

 little room for wintering plants, because it is nearly hardy, and the 

 stock can be preserved in a cold frame, or plunged in a bed of coal- 

 ashes. The plants that have embellished, during summer, the open 

 borders, can be lifted and placed in a dry corner out of doors, and 

 covered with coal-ashes ; and if protected from heavy rains they 

 will take no harm. 



Their chief value, however, consists in the ease with which they 

 can be increased and grown into specimens for conservatory decora- 

 tion. The merest tyro need have no fear of failing in getting up a 

 stock, if the few directions accompanying these remarks are strictly 

 followed. 



In the last week in February, or beginning of March, turn the 

 old plants out of the pots, and divide them carefully, according to 

 the number of plants required ; every shoot will form a plant, but 

 it is not desirable to divide them into such small portions when the 

 plants are required for indoor decoration, as a few good specimens 

 have a much better effect than treble the number of small plants 

 with single spikes. An average of four spikes to each specimen is 

 the most suitable for ordinary purposes. 



Good fibrous loam, mixed with a liberal proportion of hotbed 

 manure, will form a suitable compost. Use six-inch pots to commence 

 with, and after potting place the stock in a cold frame until the 

 pots are nicely filled with roots. Admit plenty of air to keep the 

 growth short-jointed and hardy ; and towards the end of May, place 

 the plants out of doors in a shady corner, and be careful to stand 

 the pots upon a bed of coal-ashes to keep the worms out. Here 

 they remain until the flowers begin to expand, and the only atten- 

 tion necessary will be to shift into sixteen-inch pots soon after the 

 removal of the stock to the open air, and keep them well-supplied 

 with water. 



After the beauty of the flowers is past, remove the plants to 

 the open air, and cut away the old flower-stem, and in October 

 return to the cold-frame, or heap a good thickness of coal-ashes over 

 the pots, and lay a few boards on the top to throw the wet off. 



Where frame-room is abundant, the plants can be potted in the 

 autumn with advantage, because it gives the plants an opportunity 



