G. L. GRANT, Editor and Manager date Editor and Manager of the American Florist, 530>535 Caxton Building, Chicago. 



Vol. J. 



CHICAGO AND NEW YORK, DECEMBER i6, J897. 



No. 3. 



Bed of Vincas at Lincoln Park, Chicago. 



BED OF VINCAS. 



The accoinpanj'ing engravin<< is from a 

 photograph of a bed of Vinca alba and 

 rosea, bordered with Achyranthes metal- 

 lica, as it appeared at Lincoln Park, Chi- 

 cago, last summer. The beds of vincas 

 were a very attractive feature of the main 

 parterre and led to the belief that coin- 

 mercial florists should give more attention 

 to these vincas as bedding plants. 



Mr. Stromback, the head gardener at 

 the park, grows the plants from seed. He 

 saves seed from his plants each year, but 



the seed can be had from any of the large 

 seedsmen. He sows the seed in January 

 or February in flats of sandy .soil in a 

 temperature of 65° to 70°. When the 

 seedlings show the second leaf, they are 

 pricked' out about an inch apart in trays 

 of the same soil, and when the little plants 

 have five or six leaves they are potted 

 into 2-inch rose pots, and later shifted to 

 3-inch. The majority are bedded out from 

 the 3-inch pots but the remainder are 

 shifted into 4-inch and grown on for sec- 

 ond planting. 



The soil of the bed should be a sandy 



loam if possible, and the plants will not 

 do well in a very heavy soil. In bedding, 

 place the plants' about a foot apart. They 

 recjuire more water than a geranium, and 

 when the bed is watered it should be 

 given a good soaking and then left alone 

 for a few days. The plants will bloom 

 from the time they are set out until frost, 

 and do not require any trimming. 



If cramped for space in the greenhouses 

 the plants may be placed in hotbeds in 

 April. They cost somewhat less than 

 geraniums to grow. 



The border of Achyranthes iretallica 



