i8 



GARDENING. 



Oct. /, 



The Greenhouse. 



DIFLflDENIflS. 



Dipladenias are woody, long-running, 

 slender vines from tropical and sub-trop- 

 ical South America, and than their blos- 

 soms no flowers are more lovely, — they 

 are exquisitely beautiful. They are not 

 common plants in cultivation at all, in- 

 deed there seems to be a prevailing im- 

 pression that they are hatd to grow, but 

 I haven't found them to be so. Those of 

 you who have a greenhouse should try 

 them, I'll gladly give you the benefit of 

 my experience. 



At the fall exhibition of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society at Boston, 

 this month (September 2 and 3) I exhib- 

 ited twoplants,and thedaybefore taking 

 them to Boston I had them photographed 

 for Gardening [Our illustrations have 

 been engraved this year from these pho- 

 tographs— Ed.] One is Profusa (Dipla- 

 denia splendens var. profusa); it has 

 splendid rich carmine open flowers five 

 inches across, and borne in profusion from 

 the axils of the leaves. When exhibited 

 this plant [See it on front page —Ed ] 

 had over eighty open blossoms on it, and 

 the Society awarded it a silver medal. 

 The otherplant [Shown on page 19. —Kd ] 

 is Amabilis (D. amabilis) and is a large, 

 rosy-crimson flower of firm texture, and 

 borne in clusters. It is also of garden 

 origin, being a hybrid between D.crassin- 

 oda, a beautiful rose-flowered species 

 from Rio Janeiro, and D. splendens, a fine 

 pink-tinted flower from the Organ Mount- 

 ains. The plant of amabilis had over 

 fifty expanded flowers on it when its pict- 

 ure was taken. 



These plants were raised from cuttings 

 about six years ago. During the first 

 year they were grown in a warm green- 

 house, but since then they have been 

 grown in a house whose temperature is 

 not kept above 50° with fire heat, and it 

 was down to 40° many a night in winter. 

 The plants were shifted into larger pots 

 or pans as they required it till now they 

 are in pans that are in 2-t inches wide by 

 9 inches deep; they were potted into these 

 in the spring of '95, they were not re- 

 potted this year. The soil I use for them 

 is tufts of fern root from the woods with 

 some sharp sand added, and the pans are 

 thoroughly drained. In potting we are 

 careful to keep the crown of the plant 

 well up so that water cannot lodge 

 around them. But instead of repotting 

 them this year we topdressed them last 

 February; all the loose compost was 

 taken off the surface of the pans and a 

 dressing of fresh fern-root, cow manure, 

 and sharp sand all mixed together, was 

 given to them, immediately after this a 

 watering was given tosettletbecompost. 

 As the plants began to grow we gave 

 them a little more water, increasing it as 

 growth advanced. When the plants be- 

 came well rooted into the new compost 

 we gave them weak manure water once 

 or twice a week, getting it oftener and 

 stronger as advanced growth warranted, 

 till the first of August, when it was given 

 to them oftener (not unfrequently every 

 day) and stronger than most people 

 would credit. 



We use no shading over the dipladenias 

 in our glass houses, and during the hot 

 spell of weather we had during this sum- 

 mer I often went into the greenhouse but 

 never saw a dipladenia flower flagging 

 from the heat. 



The two plants above referred to com- 

 menced to flower early in May, and since 



the middle of June we have been getting 

 from seventy-five to a hundred flowers a 

 week from them. The blossoms are very 

 highly prized for table decoration or fill- 

 ing low dishes, and they keep well when 

 cut; they make a good companion for 

 allamanda flowers. 



As the nights get cooler we reduce the 

 supply of water till about the middle of 

 November, when we withhold water alto- 

 gether until such time as we intend to 

 start the plants again into fresh growth. 



Pruning is governed by the strength of 

 the plants and the wood; weak wood is 

 pruned short, and strong wood is left 

 from four to ten feet long, and when the 

 plants are repotted or topdressed in 

 spring the shoots are bent over the sur- 

 face of the compost and pegged down to 

 it with copper wire, a peg being put in at 

 every second or third joint. When growth 

 begins, roots start freely from every 

 pegged down joint, and too from the 

 eyes between these joints. By pruning 

 and pegging down in this way we get 

 more vines to a plant, hence a full speci- 

 men sooner than we would if we let the 

 dormant vines run long. 



In growing specimen plants the quick- 

 est and best way is to put a wire trellis 

 to each plant, then set it on the front 

 bench of a greenhouse and run a lot of 

 strings along under the roof from there 

 to the ridge, running a vine to each string; 

 as soon as a vine reaches to the top of the 

 house, unfasten it and tie it around the 

 trellis leaving the end. of it to again run 

 along one of the strings to the roof. 

 When required for exhibition or other 

 purposes like that, take down the strings 

 altogether and train them around the 

 trellis. 



The quickest and best way to raise 

 dipladenias is to root the cuttings in 

 spring and plant them out in summer in 

 the garden or field just where one would 

 plant hisbouvardias, and keep the ground 

 clean, well-hoed and mellow, and you 

 would be' surprised when fall comes, to 

 find what nice plants they have become. 

 They should get the aid of a cane or stick 

 to climb up on. I have grown diplade- 

 nias planted out of doors for the last 

 two summers, and I neversaweven under 

 glass such fine foliage as they made. Last 

 fall I left three plants outside to see how 

 much frost they could endure without 

 harm to themselves. Five degrees didn't 

 take the foliage off of them; seven degrees 

 denuded them of their leaves, but when 

 the plants were lifted and put into the 

 greenhouse they grew away fine. 



George McWilliam. 

 Whitinsville, Mass. 



as to the care of begonias outside. From 

 10 to 3 each day it is very hot and many 

 plants are burned, while at other times 

 the rains are so heavy that everything is 

 beaten down." G. C. G. 



Herkimer St., Brooklyn. 



The begonia looks like B. Evansiana, 

 one of the best for outdoor cultivation, 

 and a very free growing, profuse species. 

 Cannot say what ails your asparagus, it 

 should grow where maiden hair ferns 

 thrive. Let it alone for another season. 

 The fern sent is Pteris serrulata, one of 

 our commonest greenhouse species and 

 hardy in Florida. Begonias like partial 

 shade from warm sunshine; they thrive 

 admirably under slat roofs, that is frames 

 made ol plaster laths or the like with 

 inch apertures between them. These 

 slats protect the begonias from hot sun- 

 shine, and breaks the beating of the 

 storms on them, and they admit a free 

 circulation of air at all times. 



BEGONIA-ASPARAGUS. 



From a friend in northern Florida I 

 have received a letter asking the follow- 

 ing questions: "What is the name of the 

 begonia of which I enclose a leaf and 

 flower? The leaf is one of the smallest, 

 the large ones being a great deal larger. 

 The flowers fairly cover the plant and 

 have a perfume much like our Florida 

 wild rose. The plant I have is fully six 

 feet tall. What is the matter with my 

 Asparagus tenuissimus? I received it a 

 short time ago from a well known florist 

 and was pleased with its strong, healthy 

 look. It sends up shoots very rapidly 

 but they soon, before half grown, turn 

 brown and wither. I have near it many 

 ferns, including^ native Florida ones and 

 Adiantum cuneatum, all of which are 

 growing very rapidly and are healthy. 

 All receive the same treatment. Please 

 tell me the name of the enclosed fern. 

 Will you please give me a few directions 



SOWING YOUNG BANANA PLANTS. 



I have a large banana plant in a yard, ' 

 3 years old, about to show bloom, I 

 think it is the Orinoco variety and this 

 tree has quite a number of sprouts from a 

 foot to six feet tall. Now can I save these 

 sprouts by separating them from the par- 

 ent tree and rooting them in sandy soil 

 and putting them in my greenhouse? 

 Shall I cut off all the leaves from the 

 sprouts before potting? E. 0. N. 



Tracy City, Tenn. 



Yes, by all means. Dig up the whole 

 clump and with an axe or sharp spade 

 separate the sprouts close in from the 

 main stump preserving the roots as in- 

 tact as possible. Cut off the outer rough 

 leaf or leaves and shorten the inner one or 

 ones half or third their length, then pot 

 the plants and bring them into the green- 

 house. How much of the leaves should 

 be cut off depends upon the size and con- 

 dition of the sprout as regards its roots, 

 and the place you are going to take it 

 into. But they are easy plants to get 

 to live. 



HYACINTHS AND IXIAS. 



The time approaches for the potting of 

 hyacinths, and I am wondering if Mr. 

 James of Hammond will again go through 

 his process of burying the pots in a trench 

 with five inches of sand and cinders over 

 them. Surely this performance must be 

 an immense trouble and as surely an im- 

 mense waste of time. We simply pot our 

 hyacinths in the old-fashioned way — 

 leaving the bulb well out of the soil — and 

 we tie them down with common wrap- 

 ping twine, in case the growing roots 

 should be inclined to push the bulb up, 

 and set the pots on the cellar floor. 

 [Isn't covering the pots over with 3 or 5 

 inches deep of soil or sand much less 

 troublesome than tying down the bulbs 

 with string? We think it is. We are 

 potting several thousand hyacinths, 

 and while it is a very easy matter 

 to lay them even and close together and 

 cover them over with soil it would be a 

 serious matter to tie the bulbs down with 

 string. — Ed.] It is not a cool cellar by 

 any means, because of steam pipes, but 

 with a window left open it seems to an- 

 swer every purpose; there the pots remain 

 until the buds are an inch high, being 

 watered as they need it, and never cov- 

 ered at all. When brought upstairs the 

 pots remain on the conservator}- floor 

 until well into bloom and then go any- 

 where in the house for decoration, the 



