

The HmiicuUurist and Journal 



bulbs are large, care is required not to water 

 over the bulb, for it frequently rots the heart 

 and the plant eventually decays. 



A few pots of Mignionette and Heliotrope 

 should be grown in every greenhouse, both 

 for the delicate perfume in the flower and 

 also for cutting a spray for a bouquet or glass 

 of flowers. 



A few violets should be grown in pots ; a 

 single flower of the Marie Louise variety will 

 perfume a small greenhouse. Of course, 

 where room in the greenhouse is limited, 

 violets for gathering will be grown in a frame 

 which is protected from severe frost ; the 

 llussian varieties, of which Czar and King 

 of Violets are improved varieties, are hardy 

 and flower all the winter in open ground in 

 England ; they will also stand the winter 

 here in many places with slight protection, 

 and winter well in cold frames, and also 

 flower well if covered to exclude frost ; a 

 moderate frost will not hurt the plants, but 

 it takes all the scent from the flower ; these 

 varieties are all dark shades of purple, which 

 make them less popular than the Neapolitan, 

 the neutral tint of which harmonizes with 

 other colors ; the Marie Louise is simply a 

 great improvement on the Neapolitan. 



A selection of flowering Begonias will be 

 also in flower at this season, and now is a 

 good time to strike cuttings for next autumn 

 and winter blooming ; young plants are bet- 

 ter than keeping old ones over more than one 

 season ; the old plants will continue flower- 

 ing indoors until it is warm enough to plant 

 tender things in the flower garden, when 

 they maybe planted in the open borders, and 

 will flower all the summer freer than indoors, 

 and are very desirable and ornamental for 

 that purpose ; the plants can remain until 

 cut down with frost, and then be cleared away 

 with Coleus and other summer occupants. 



A few plants of Hoteia Japonica and 

 Deutzia gracilis in pots should be coming on 

 for flowering ; these are both very useful for 

 cutting, and can be turned out of pots into 

 the open ground when done flowering. 



Flower Garden for Februarif. 



With the amateur this is a month of leisure 



in this department, so it allows time to con- 

 sider what improvements and alterations can 

 be made in the planting arrangements, and 

 to prepare plants, seeds and bulbs for that 

 purpose ; any variety increased from cut- 

 tings, of which the stock is likely to be 

 short, should be removed into a good posi- 

 tion to get a good growth for cuttings ; or 

 cuttings of such plants might be placed in 

 heat to root with a view to further increase ; 

 but for growers of moderate quantities of 

 plants for summer flower garden decoration, 

 there is no advantage in propagating before 

 March, with the exception of the above, but 

 all the plants for planting should be arranged 

 before that time, with a list of all the plants 

 intended to be planted ; of course, mental 

 notes would be taken of satisfactory, and also 

 unsatisfactory results in last season's plant- 

 ing, and if any alterations in beds or borders 

 was contemplated it should have been com- 

 pleted before the usual time of freezing up ; 

 not that we have been frozen up at present 

 this winter, but this is the exception; it is 

 always bad policy to leave any ground work 

 alterations, such as turfing and leveling, to 

 be done in the spring, for under any circum- 

 stances there is always hurry and bustle at 

 that season, and time cannot be found for 

 alterations, or they have to be done in a 

 slovenly manner. 



Make a list of any novelties, to be tried 

 on a small scale at first, if it is only known 

 by report ; this should be specially attended 

 to as regards European novelties, for many 

 of the most desirable plants for summer 

 flower gardening there are total failures 

 here ; it is waste of time to expect the same 

 results here with Zonale and Nosegay Gera- 

 niums as are obtained in the English flower 

 gardens, and no American gardener would 

 model his planting by the flower beds at the 

 crystal palace at Sydenham. But if we can- 

 not obtain satisfactory results by copying 

 our neighbors over the water, we can obtain 

 much grander and in every way superior 

 ones by planting those things only suited to 

 the climate, and which in Europe they can 

 only persuade to grow at all, by great trouble 



