276 GLENN y's handbook 



Strike in a few days in a hotbed, and may there be alloAved to 

 grow long enough to use their tops as cuttings before being 

 potted, this process being repeated as often as necessary to 

 make up the supply. The smallest portions serve for cut- 

 tings. Such plants require a good deal of nursing, and to be 

 perfectly hardened before being planted out. 



VERONICA. Speedwell. [Scrophulariacese.] A very 

 large genus, consisting almost entirely of hardy perennials. 

 About a score are insignificant annuals ; some half-dozen are 

 shrubs requiring greenhouse protection ; and the rest are 

 hardy perennials, most of the larger growing of which are 

 adapted for the mixed borders, and are really showy with 

 their long narrow close spikes of flowers, usually blue. 

 These latter may be said to require no culture ; they grow 

 with the greatest facility in garden soil of any description ; 

 increase extensively, if required, by partition of the roots ; 

 and live through all the inclemencies of winter and the 

 droughts of summer without suffering material detriment. 

 There is a great sameness in the appearance of many of them, 

 and they are probably mere natural hybrids. The green- 

 house shrubby species — of which V. speciosa, V. formosa, V. 

 varlegata, and F. Andersonii are the most desirable — are 

 multiplied by cuttings planted in sandy soil, and placed in a 

 gentle heat, and the plants should be potted into rich light 

 loamy compost. The necessary bushiness and compactness 

 of growth are given to them by the usual process of continued 

 topping till the desired form is obtained. These shrubby 

 kinds succeed well in many situations, planted out for the 

 summer months ; but they are not strictly " bedding-out " 

 subjects. In mild winters they will survive at the foot of a 

 wall in a warm aspect. 



VERVAIN. See Veebena. 



VIBURNUM. [Caprifoliacese.] A genus consisting for 

 the most part of hardy shrubs, including the Laurestinus and 

 the Guelder Rose. The Guelder Kose, F. opulus, is very 

 familiar in sbrubberies : the bloom is white, in bunches that 

 form complete balls, and, being abundant, is very efifective. 

 This is generally propagated from suckers, which come up, 

 like those of the Lilac, very freely ; they should be taken up 

 any time after the fall of the leaf, before the buds begin to 



