THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



151 



will, therefore, probably be another 

 change, and that a mixture. 



The geraniums now in the bed are 

 for the most part five, six, and seven 

 years old. They have been used for 

 training out on a wall until this sea- 

 son, and have every year been potted 

 for the winter, moderately pruned 

 back to shorten the soft shoots, and 

 then tied up to stout stakes to make 

 them occupy as little room as possible, 

 and their place every winter has been 

 against the back wall of the lean-to, 

 where they stand on the floor of the 

 path on empty pots turned upside 

 down. The stock of large training 

 plants had so far increased this spring 

 that I selected the best and potted 

 them carefully so as to last in the 

 same pots for another five, six, or 

 seven years — nay, for the rest of my 

 lifetime for aught I know ; for large 

 geraniums can be treated as orchard- 

 house trees, and be kept in the same 

 pots any number of years if annually 

 refreshed by removing a portion of 

 the top soil, and replacing it with a 

 rich mixture. The best of all gera- 

 niums for this practice is Reidii, 

 which is peculiarly upright in habit, 

 does not readily branch out, and may 

 be grown to any height, even up to 

 twenty feet, in long rods, which put 

 out spurs their whole length, and 

 make a fine display of horseshoe 

 foliage and bright scarlet white-eyed 

 flowers. Since Hibberd's Pet has 

 proved a strong grower, it would sur- 

 pass Eeidii, being more profuse in 

 bloom and of much more distinct and 

 striking character ; but as I parted 

 with the whole of my stock to 

 Messrs. Carter last year, I must 

 wait to make a fine pyramid of that 

 variety, and go on with Heidii for the 

 sake of the strong, hard, long rods 

 with which my plants are furnished. 

 The central plant in my group is a 

 grand specimen, and positively too 

 good to be so closely surrounded, but 

 it serves its purpose, and the loss of 

 lower furniture will be of no conse- 

 quence ; it will break again at any 

 time if encouraged. It is in a fifteen- 

 inch pot, and being somewhat too tall 

 for the width of the bed to make a 

 eix feet pyramid, it is plunged rather 

 deeply, and has beneath it a large 



seed-pan inverted to prevent entrance 

 of worms, and also to keep the drain- 

 age safe. It is surrounded at equal 

 distances by five plants in ten-inch 

 pots, also placed on inverted seed- 

 pans and filled in firm and close with 

 cocoa-nut fibre. Then follow smaller 

 plants all arranged as to height, and 

 some of them propped up on empty 

 pots to make them fit exactly in the 

 general outline, the next row serving 

 to hide the pots completely, so that 

 the eye cannot detect a single shadow 

 of the machinery. The outside row 

 next the clean grey stone edge is all of 

 Attraction ; the principal mass being 

 Reidii, with a few Queens to fill up 

 for the sake of their size, happening 

 to have a good stock of them ; but 

 Queen, though one of the grandest of 

 strong-growing geraniums, is not one 

 of the best for this purpose, being 

 very diffuse in growth, throwing its 

 strong arms out laterally and holding 

 up its immense trusses of huge scarlet 

 blossoms on long stalks, which gene- 

 rally grow obliquely ; whereas for 

 plunging, the more upright the 

 growth and flower-stalks the better. 

 Now let me tell you about the potting 

 of these geraniums, and what I have 

 to say will bear upon the whole case 

 of growing scarlet geraniums in pots 

 for any purpose. These large speci- 

 mens will probably remain in the 

 same pots for many years, but it is 

 my system with all ordinary speci- 

 mens of two to four feet high, to pot 

 them every other year only, and by 

 my method I get such plants and 

 such a blaze of bloom as I never see 

 elsewhere; nine-tenths of our ama- 

 teur growers only make a muddle of 

 geraniums, they do not grow them, 

 and it is quite as easy to make them 

 into trees as to have little bits of 

 plants in five-inch pots. Now for the 

 modus operandi. Compost, firm loam 

 of rather stiff texture, two parts ; 

 thoroughly rotten dung, one part ; 

 sifted lime rubbish of about the 

 size of peas, one part; chop it over 

 well, and have it nearly dry for use. 

 Put in the crocks carefully, over the 

 centre hole one large thick rather 

 convex crock. Against each of the 

 holes in the side of the pot a picked 

 crock of an angular shape: I wish I 



