May 5, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



COMPARATIVE HARDINESS OF BEDDING 

 PLANTS. 



HE following notes were suggested by queries 

 from a correspondent, " Kittie." 



I know of many instances in which the 

 little greenhouse or greenhouse vinery is a 

 perfect picture in the winter, every inch 

 available for plants and cuttings being stowed 

 as thickly as possible. These all do well 

 until the sun gains power in March and on- 

 wards, and then they begin to require more 

 room. Here the difficulty of which " Kittie " 

 complains begins, and many errors are made by turning 

 out tender plants instead of comparatively hardy ones first. 

 Many plants, though comparatively hardy, are also often 

 injured by being turned out of the house into almost 

 complete exposure to the open air, and thus the care of 

 nursing through the winter has all been gone through in 

 vain. 



In ordinary seasons we begin putting out about the end 

 of March lots of plants that had the protection of glass 

 in winter, but this year, owing to the weather being so 

 cold, wc did not begin until the first and nearly the second 

 week in April, though we would have turned out a good 

 many in the first week if we could have found time. Suc- 

 cess — in other words, preventing the plants being hurt or 

 stunted by the change — consists greatly, first, in not ex- 

 posing them at once to the full sun, nor yet to the cold 

 nights, without protection. This is easily effected where 

 there are cold pits or cold frames covered with glass. 

 but these accessories are becoming more and more scarce 

 for this purpose, even in large establishments, and are 

 absent altogether in the numerous places where there is 

 only one greenhouse. 



In such a case, the most convenient place for the hardiest 

 is a position on the south-east or south-west side of a 

 wall or fence, where the plants can be placed tolerably 

 closely together, and be protected at night and during the 

 hottest part of a sunny day with a mat, canvas, calico, or 

 an old hurdle, thinly twisted with evergreen twigs. One 

 of the readiest ways to do this quickly is to set a row of 

 large pots, say at (i or 8 feet apart, and at a suitable dis- 

 tance from the wall, on these lay a rough rail, and from 

 that to the wall put cross pieces every (i feet, with a light 

 rail or rod longitudinally in the middle, so that you can 

 have the mats tied together or the cloth rolled along easily, 

 the rod being higher than the highest plants to be pro- 

 tected. A second mode I often practise is to throw out 

 beds 4 feet wide for Celery, with 4-feet ridges. Some leaf 

 mould and a little fine soil are placed in the bed or trench, 

 and there we set lots of plants in pots and boxes ; but they 

 will do well if planted out pretty thickly, especially all 

 those with fibrous roots, as Calceolarias, Verbenas, Cu- 

 pheas, and Lobelias. A few sticks or rods laid across the 

 bed from ridge to ridge enable one to protect the plants 

 easily. Hurdles thinly thatched do well for this purpose. 

 A third and better mode still is to have an earth or turf pit 

 for the purpose, say a pit with the soil inside of the natural 

 No. 470.— Vol. XVIII,, New Sertee. 



level, but the front earth wall a foot above, and the back 

 wall 2 feet above, the level. About 5 feet is a good width. 

 Such a bed need never be idle, but it is very valuable for 

 all the hardiest of the bedding plants, and they will do- 

 best when turned out with a little rough rich soil about 

 the roots, so that they may rise with a fair ball. The 

 bed may be protected by the modes I have mentioned, and 

 in other ways, but of all I have tried I have found no 

 material so good and economical as double-width, un- 

 bleached, rather thin calico. It is not easy buying it 

 cheaply at fully 2 yards wide, but it is easy to obtain it 6 

 or It inches narrower than the 2 yards in width. A piece 

 of calico, if used only for this purpose, will last a good 

 many years if put away when well dried by the sun ; though 

 ours is used for various purposes, we have some pieces 

 seven years old tolerably good. In such a pit we lay 

 sticks or rods across it at every 4 or 5 feet. Whatever the 

 length of the calico, be it 5 yards or 15 or more yards, it 

 is fastened at each end to the middle of a neat pole, say 

 2 inches in diameter, and 8 or 9 feet in length. On these 

 poles the calico is rolled when taken oif. The pole at 

 one end being fixed with pegs, the other is unrolled as the 

 planting goes on, so as to cover the plants. At the farther 

 end, the calico is kept stretched by the pole being held 

 firmly by the pegs. Besides this, at every 5 feet or so, 

 strings are fastened on the calico back and front, and 

 these strings, being attached to a peg in the turf wall, keep 

 the calico as tight as an expanded umbrella, so that heavy 

 rains are excluded if moisture is not wanted. 



Now, to show the economy of this mode I will give just- 

 one instance of the saving of labour. With the help of 

 calico I have frequently planted out lots of Calceolarias, 

 Salvias, and Verbenas at 3 or 4 inches apart, watered 

 them well about the roots, and left the drier soil as a 

 covering on the surface, and except lifting the calico a 

 little to give several syringings in very hot days, the 

 plants were neither watered nor uncovered until a few 

 days before they were to be finally turned out in the beds, 

 and better, more suitable stuff it would not be desirable to 

 see. Fully exposed, or under glass, in warm weather there 

 would be the daily watering, whilst this is almost avoided 

 by using the calico, which lets enough of light through for 

 healthy growth, and yet gives sufficient shade to prevent 

 rapid evaporation. Frequently, in planting out thousands 

 of Calceolarias from the cutting bed, I have had no occasion 

 to water, nor yet to uncover, until a few days before they 

 were to be taken to the beds. Any sort of rough bed or 

 pit, to be thus covered with a piece of unbleached rather 

 thin calico, I can thoroughly recommend to everyone who 

 wants to make the most of his little glass house. 



Now, as respects some bedding plants and their respective 

 hardiness. 



Cerastium in ordinary seasons will stand all the winter ; 

 but though I have not done so this season, I would consider 

 it more secure if, during the beginning of the winter, a 

 good many pieces had been planted in a well-pulverised 

 border, even if 2 or 3 inches apart ; these, if wanted, could 

 be removed wJth roots and little balls. 



Variegated Af.aeis, to be safe, should be treated in the 

 No. 1127.— Vol. XLHI., Old Series. 



