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GLENNY S HANDBOOK 



preferable for them. When they are struck the}^ may be 

 potted singly in three-inch or five-inch pots, which will serve 

 them till spring, when they mnst be shifted into larger ones, 

 'They may be grown out of doors until September, but will 

 then require to be housed. A greenhouse or a garden frame 

 will equally suit them, provided the frost is not allowed to 

 enter, and they are preserved from damping : the less heat 

 and the more air a Pelargonium plant has the better, so that 

 it be not frosted. The trade catalogue of Dobsou and Co. 

 gives hundreds of varieties, comprising all the best. 



PENTAS. [Cinchonaceae.] Pretty free-flowering soft- 

 wooded stove plants. They should be raised annually from 

 cuttings, which root readily in a hotbed, and the young plants 

 must be stopped frequently until a bushy plant is formed, 

 when they may be allowed to grow away for flowers, which 

 will be continued in succession for a long time if the plants 

 have nourishment enough to support them. Cuttings rooted 

 in spring and autumn will almost keep up a constant succes- 

 sion of flowers. Soil, a mixture of loam, peat, and leaf-mould 

 The tips of the shoots must not be removed when the plants 

 are required to produce their blossoms. P. carnea is the 

 best. 



PEXTHOPtUM. [Crassulaceae.] Hardy succulent-leaved 

 perennials. Common soil. Increased by division. 



PENTLANDIA. [Amaryllidaceae.] Handsome -flowered 

 bulbs, requiring to be grown in a frame or cool greenhouse, 

 and to have rich loamy soil, with a season of rest. Seeds or 

 ofiFsets. P. miniata, flowers scarlet. There are two varieties 

 r^-lacunosa and Sulivanica — which differ in the period of 

 flowering. 



PENTSTEMON. [Scrophulariacege.] A large genus of 

 hardy or half-hardy herbaceous perennials, sometimes sub- 

 shrubby, among the most ornamental of summer-flowering 

 plants. The best kinds for the flower garden are the varieties 

 of P. f/entianoides, which is sub-shrubby, propagates freely by 

 cuttings, and blooms most profusely from August onwards 

 till severe frost occurs. It should be wintered in cold frames, 

 and planted out in spring. They may all be propagated by 

 seeds or cuttings, less freely by division, according to their 

 peculiar habits of growth, and require to be planted in a 



