22 



GARDK\KR:<- ( HROMCLE 



The Greenhouse, Month to Month 



W. R. FOWKES 



JAXLARY and early February is a very interesting 

 period in greenhouse work. Winter's chilly hand 

 has seized all outdoor subjects, but the colors of the 

 indoor blooms are intensified. Hard firing is in progress, 

 bringing in its wake red spider. We must combat this 

 pest, and not allow too arid an atmosphere in any part. 



The rose house should be dampened down if the floors 

 are of cement. Take care that water permeates the 

 entire bench of roots where the heating pipes are under 

 the benches, or the plants will sulTer severely. Try and 

 keep the rose house at an even temperature of 60 degrees 

 at night, or a lot of foliage will be lost. Day teiuperature 

 can be regulated more than the night, and the sun's 

 rays will be more frequent and powerful now than in 

 the last eight weeks. If kept too cool now. your crops 

 will be short, for the wood will harden and go to sleep. 

 Do not topdress, but give a fair sprinkling of bone 

 meal now. It will carry the plants along their Winter's 

 journey without anything else. 



Carnation cuttings should be inserted in the sand and 

 will strike now far better than two months later. Re- 

 member the kind of cuttings to make. The nearer the 

 flower vou take them from, the more prolific crop of 

 flowers you will cut next Winter. It is likewise important 

 to avoid the usual method of trimming tops of the cut- 

 tings. Many cases of stem rot have their begiiming 

 through the bruising which is caused by this method. 

 Every one should grow the dark pink carnation, Hope 

 Henshaw. It is the most prolific bloomer I have ever 

 grown. The stem and blooms are of wonderful size, 

 and the blooms are never off color. 



The early peaches in pots should be brought into a 

 cool house.' Spray well to counteract scale. Keep the 

 temperature for the first week as near 38 degrees as 

 possible, and as the buds swell, increase, but never allow 

 higher than 48 degrees until the fruiting period is at hand. 



Lilacs for Easter should be started. See that scale 

 is not introduced by bringing these plants indoors, 

 Scaline is the best eradicator of this pest. 



Among our friends the orchids, Cattlcya Pcrckvliaiia 

 and Triawc are the first to herald in the New Year. 

 They come at the period when orchid blooms demand 

 the highest price. The late Fall weather with its unusual 

 warmth and sunlight has benefitted these plants, and 

 where the shafting was taken off carefully froiu time to 

 time, we find the result in most plants is that they are 

 sending forth a good supply of fine Ijlooms. Caltlcya 

 McndcUi which lilossomcd in May. made quick and 

 successful growth, and with us is giving its second crop 

 of blooms. If any of these plants need repotting, they 

 should be attended to now. Clean pots and make a com- 

 po.st of osmunda fibre ?> parts. 1 i)art sj)haKninu moss and 

 plenty of crocks for drainage. 



If your orchid house is low, you will need a little shade 

 on the sunny side, or yriur new growths will be ruined. 

 There are a lot of orchids in Itlfjoni and at various sta.ges 

 of growth at this time, and it is not unusual in the 

 United States to cut two crops of blooms ])er annum. 

 Unlike European culture, with restricted sunlight, orchids 

 here, excepting deciduous calanthes and dendrobiums, are 

 practically never at rest. Rest here in this sunny clime 

 is ruin, anrl the person who decries against certain 



methods and wants special houses in which to grow or- 

 chids is not in sympathy with their natural desires. The 

 skill of the cultivator has more to do with successful 

 culture of orchids than any kind of greenhouse erected. 



Ferns should be divided in early Februar\-. They 

 then have their period of new growth and can be divided 

 into as many sizes as one requires. Compost is not very 

 important, but drainage is most important. The Farlcy- 

 ciise tribe favor heavy rose soil and red sandstone in- 

 corporated. The usual Nephrolcpsis and Adianium will 

 grow taller if desired, in light soil containing leaf mold. 



Repot Schizantliiis when necessary and sow a little now 

 of liadger's hybrids. When in the flowering size, five or 

 six inches, be careful not to over water. 



liring Spircra along gently on a light bench in a cool 

 greenhouse. See that your gardenias are free from mealy 

 bug: also that they have free drainage or the result will 

 be sickly foliage which some people wrongly believe is 

 due to their being grown inland, claiming that this class 

 of plants only thrives on the sea coast. 



Crotons should be tongued. Take any bushy plant and 

 cut off the lower leaves on a healthy shoot ; make ait 

 upper slanting cut and half way through put a tooth 

 jjick or smaller piece of wood to keep incision open, and 

 inseii: a little moss and sand previously chopjied up fine 

 and moistened, and secure with raffia. Keep in a warm 

 corner gently sprayed away from draughts, and in six 

 weeks you will have a nice lot of voung plants for 2- 

 inch pots. Successful croton culture consists of slight 

 shifts. Never give more than a half inch shift in re- 

 potting and this should be done verv firmly. You can 

 build up plants fully six feet in one year from early 

 struck plants. 



Chrysanthemums of the large type should be put in 

 the sand in February. The pompoms and others will be 

 early enough for pot use if struck the end nf March. 

 The propagation is simple. They will strike readilv in 

 twenty days time if the sand is 60 degrees and the house 

 between .^0 and 60 degrees. 



I'inch back any poinsettias left from C'hri>tni:is time 

 and you will (Icvelo]) a nice growth that will lilimni well 

 at h'aster. 



Sprinkle a little tobacco dust around the roots of cauli- 

 flower jjlants to kill the maggots that infest these oc- 

 casionally. 



Do not waste valuable space in your houses projiagat- 

 ing ro.ses from cuttings. Order grafted stock from the 

 special rose men who advertise in the (i \iU)i\i i;s' i 'nunx- 

 ici.R, and who will deliver them when tliey are desired 

 next Summer. The coddling which one's own rose roots 

 demands; the wearisome waiting for a cro|> of blooms; 

 tJie continual dropjiing of \ellow leaves if \iinr ,itmos- 

 phere and soil, etc. is not just so. combined with poor 

 substance of petal, ju.sl takes the joy out of indoor rose 

 growing. The grafted plants have a vigorous start which 

 they maintain, and ymi can connuence to cut verv nice 

 blooms eight weeks after |)lanfing. They will continue 

 doing so with a little mani])ulaling of the buds, i hi 

 your present crop take away two buds oft" everv plant 

 cacli week, buds just shnwing color, and you will never 

 be wilhoiU roses, but he sure to secure grafted plants 

 next vear. 



