AprU 20, 187G 1 



JOURNAL OF HOUTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB, 



S07 



Like flower pots each vaae has a hole in the bottom to let 

 fluperflaoua water escape. To keep this in workinR order the 

 bottom must be filled with broken crooks, and care must be 

 taken in placing them in to lay a lar^'je piece over the hole and 

 fill up afterwards for 2 or 3 inches, according to the size of 

 the vase, with smaller pieces. The drainage must be packed 

 closely together that none of the soil can become mixed up 

 with the lower part of it, or its influence will be entirely lost. 

 When the crocks have been carefully laid in, a fresh turf with 

 the grass side down should be laid over them, and the vase 

 may then be filled with soil suitable to the plants with which 

 it is intended to be filled. For common summer bedding 

 plants a mixture of loam or garden soil and decayed manure 

 is suitable. The bottom part should be firmly rammed, and 

 when the plants are put in the soil should be pressed very 

 firmly about them, otherwise much labour is necessary in 

 watering in dry hot weather. 



Now the success of the work in producing attractive vases 

 depends on the manner in which the plants are selected and 

 arranged. Sometimes the vase-filling is considered of second- 

 rate importance, and every corner about the place is " bedded " 

 before the odds and ends are collected together to fill the vases. 

 Buch examples need not be looked at for imitation, bat when 

 the vases are filled with the elect, to which their conspicuous 

 position eqtitles them, their appearance is very different. 



Such vases as fig. 89 may be planted as a flower bed in design 

 — that is, the centre may be a mass of one colour, and the 

 edge of some other kind. One good eolour looks better in 

 a small vase than an indefinite mixture. An edging, how- 

 ever, of some drooping plants different to the other plants 

 generally improves the appearance of the whole. Tall, straight- 

 up-looking vases have to be planted with tall plants, and low 

 flat vases must be filled with little dwarf plants to be in 

 character. 



Nearly every plant used for flower beds is suitable for vases. 

 Trailing plants should be planted around the edge so as to 

 hang gracefully over. These may consist of Ivy-leaved Gera- 

 niums, such as Duke of Edinburgh, tbo old Mangles' variegata, 

 Treasure, L'Elegante, Lady Edith, Willsii, Willsii rosea, Aurea 

 marginata, and many others of this class ; Tropseolums of the 

 Oooperi and Attraction description ; every kind of Ivy, especi- 

 ally the finer variegated sorts, which are beautiful-leaved 

 plants, are well worth cultivating anywhere ; Lobelias of the 

 speciosa type mixed with something more trailing. Mesem- 

 bryanthemum cordifolium variegatum looks well either in 

 foliage or in bloom ; and Cerastium tomentoaum is an old 

 silver-leaved favourite which in its way has few equals. It 

 has the advantage of being effective in either summer or 

 winter. 



Centre plants should be of upright growth. Geraniums and 

 Calceolarias are very suitable. In large vases the centre plant 

 or plants should be slightly elevated above the outer plants. 

 When Geraniums are used old plants saved from last year 

 generally make good centres. There are now so many good 

 Geraniums that it is difficult or unnecessary to name those 

 varieties most suitable. When they have to be seen from a 

 distance the brighter the colours are the better. Yellow Cal- 

 ceolarias are excellent vase plants in summer, they bloom so 

 freely and are so conspicuous amongst other plants or flowers. 

 A sprinkling of Verbena venosa or Purple King Verbena 

 amongst the yellow is very effective. The venosa is the best 

 of the two for this purpose, as the small flower heads mix 

 better amongst the Calceolarias. 



In the summer season constant attention must be given to 

 watering. In dry weather the whole soil should be thoroughly 

 moistened every morning. When the weather is very hot at 

 the time of planting it is a good plan to remove the smallest 

 and most portable vases under some tree or into an open shed 

 to be filled, and they should be allowed to remain here for a 

 week or two until the plants take hold of the soil, as they are 

 somewhat hable to suffer at first in exposed situations. In 

 some small vases there is a kind of zinc basin which may be 

 lifted out and in as required. When this is the case the 

 basin may be taken under cover and filled a few weeks before 

 it is safe to risk the plants finally in the open au'. Treated in 

 this way the vase is at once effective at bedding-out time ; but 

 let the vase be filled when it may or how it may, the plants 

 should always be put in thick enough to form a mass. In 

 such bleak places as on balconies the plants in vases have not 

 a favourable chance to make luxuriant growth ; at^least, by 

 the time they do so the best of the season is past. 



However attractive well-filled vases may be in summer, they 



are none the less so throughout the winter, and especially in 

 spring. They cannot be had full of flowers in November and 

 December, but they may be furnished even at that dull timo. 

 When they are cleared of their summer occupants in October 

 the soil should be atirred-up, and if much exhausted about the 

 surface it should be removed altogether and replaced with 

 fresh material. For bulbs it must be made moderately rich ; 

 in fact, for most plants it should be quite as strong as it was 

 for the Geraniums in summer. The colourod-foliaged plants 

 at this time are not very numerous, being chiefly Daisies, 

 green-leaved and variegated; Wallflowers, Forget-me-nots, 

 Saxifragas, Sedums, Sempervivums, Arabis, Alyssum, etc. 

 Amongst bulbs Hyacinths, Tulips, and Crocuses are the 

 most useful. When the vases have been filled with soil plant- 

 ing may be proceeded with. Plants in leaf may be planted 

 first, and the bulbs can be put in afterwards. With a careful 

 selection of plants and bulbs a succession of flowers may bo 

 had in one vase from the end of .January to the middle of 

 May. This was secured last spring in several large vases in 

 the following manner : — In October they were planted with 

 Rex Rubrorum Tulip, Alyssum saxatile, double-flowering 

 German Wallflowers, and Crocus. Each of these was planted 

 thinly all over the surface. The Crocuses were in bloom by the 

 end of January, and very pretty a small round mass of them 

 looks in a vase. These were followed by the Tulips, having 

 a beautiful undergrowth of bright yellow in the Alyssum, 

 which remained in bloom until May, with the sweetly-scented 

 Wallflower for a companion. A great many different shades 

 of colour may be had in the Tulips. Rex Rubrorum is one of 

 the best with its large double blooms. An undergrowth of 

 White Daisies and Blue-flag Tulips, which have a violet shade, 

 are very pretty. Red Daisies and Rose Guisildino Tulip make 

 a lovely vaseful. The Tulips look rather naked in themselves 

 unless very closely planted, but they are more effective planted 

 thinly and carpeted underneath. For the latter purpose the 

 white early-flowering Arabis albida and the white and blue 

 Myosotis are well adapted. 



Small vases may be filled in winter with shrubs. In much- 

 exposed places this is a better plan than using flowering 

 plants ; as shrubs, such as the common variegated Aucuba 

 japonica, Chinese Juniper, Cupressus Lawsoniana, Cryptomeria 

 elegans, Eetinospora ericoides, and the pretty Fern-like R. fili- 

 coides withstand severe weather without injury and are con- 

 tinually effective. In a small, dwarf, compact form the Cedrus 

 Deodara is a most elegant vase plant. Unless in exceptional 

 dry times Uttle or no artificial watering is required through- 

 out the winter. The best way of treating the shrubs is to grow 

 them in pots. Good-sized plants may be had in pots that 

 will fit into a 15-inch or 18-inch vase. When such plants are 

 not employed throughout the summer they may be plunged 

 in ashes in some out-the-way corner, and here they need very 

 little attention in the way of watering until they are again 

 shifted into the vases, where they may be placed at any time 

 without being subjected to the slightest disturbance or check 

 at the root. — J. Muik. 



PANSIES AT THE KOYAL AQUARIUM. 



This useful old spring flower was not invited for competi- 

 tion. Like the Auricula the Pansy is not so much grown as 

 it deserves, but it has one or two advantages in its favour 

 which the Auricula has not. It is a much hardier plant, and 

 is well adapted for beds or borders. If for exhibition it must 

 be grown in beds where the flowers can be protected from the 

 weather. For ordinary decorative purposes a row of plants may 

 be put out in rich light soil in the front row of au herbaceous 

 border ; they flower very freely until the hot weather sets in 

 about the month of June, when the plants, unless supplied 

 freely with manure water, show signs of distress. Mr. Henry 

 Hooper of Bath was the only exhibitor, and in his stand were 

 some very fine flowers ; the varieties most worthy of notice 

 and which ought to be in every collection are — 



Enterprise, a fancy flower of the largest size, and of good 

 substance. The colour is rich mulberry, with a large purple 

 maroon blotch. A first-class certificate was awarded to it. 



Duchess of Edinburgli is the largest Pansy I have ever seen. 

 The flowers are cream, edged with violet, and a large purple 

 blotch in the centre. This will make a fine bed or border 

 flower. 



King Kqffec has been previously exhibited at the London 

 exhibitions, and has been awarded several first-class certifi- 

 cates. It is, perhaps, the best yellow Pansy ; the colour is 



