Greeiilwuse and tStuve Plants 



the base well furnished, but beyond this, 

 and simjile supjiort, they will need nothing. 

 During the winter they will not want 

 nearly so much water, but they must not 

 Ije allowed to get so dry as some occupants 

 of the hardwooded house. If the intention 

 is to grow them on to a specimen size 

 quickly, it will be advisable to leniove the 

 flowers again in the spring, as advised the 

 2)receding season, cutting back the shoots 

 similarly and treating in every way the 

 same. The size of the pots they are moved 

 into must be determined by the quantity 

 of roots they have ; if very full, they will 

 require a 4-inch shift, and the soil should 

 be in a little more lumpy state. As the 

 plants get larger they Avill need greater 

 care in getting the water with the syringe 

 well to the inside leaves, witliout which 

 they ai'e certain to become affected with 

 spider, and if once they are injured by this 

 pest no after-treatment can set them to 

 1 ights. Shade from the sun as advised for 

 the preceding seasons. By the end of this 

 summer they will get to a useful size for 

 decorative purposes, and as such can be 

 used for conservatory work, giving them 

 whilst here an open, light place, not cro-^vded 

 by other things. After being similarly 

 treated during another season, the plants 

 will, if all goes on right, have attained the 

 size of moderate specimens, and if required 

 for exhibition will, from their distinct 

 character, be well adapted for the purpose 

 in the early part of the season. Their 

 requirements in after years will be similar 

 to those prescribed so far, until they get 

 into 18 or 20 inch pots, in which size they 

 may remain for some time, assisted during 

 the growing season -with manure-water ; 

 afterwards, if they become at all bare of 

 leaves or indicate weakness, they may be 

 destroyed, to make way for younger ones. 



P. decussata, P. Hendersoni, and P. 

 mirabilis are species of comparatively small 

 growth, and produce a profusion of hand- 

 some pink flowers less than those of P. 

 spectabilis ; like it they are compact, neat- 

 habited, dwarf bushes, flowering in May 

 and June ; they also will do in either peat 

 or loam : in the former they grow the 

 quickest, in the latter the flowers are 

 usually higher colouied ; they all are free 

 growers, but do not attain nearly so large 

 a size as P. spectabilis. The strongest 

 branches require in the early stages of 

 their growth to be kept well down in a 

 horizontal position so as to lay the founda- 

 tion for furnishing the base of the future 

 specimens, otherwise in a short time the 

 bottom becomes bare and naked, and the 

 plants are made unsightly, a condition 

 much more common than it might or need 



be. If this matter of training is not 

 attended to while the plants are young and 

 the shoots pliable, no after attempt at 

 bringing the branches down will give them 

 the desired apj^earance, for they do not 

 bend well when they have got strong, and 

 bringing them down leaves the middle of 

 the plant thin. 



The above kinds, as well as those men- 

 tioned below, require to be treated gene- 

 rally in the way advised for P. spectabilis, 

 only with less pot-room propoitionate to 

 their weaker growth. 



P. elegans is a very distinct species, with 

 a somewhat looser habit of growth than 

 the preceding ; the leaves are ovate-lanceo- 

 late and much larger than in any of the 

 others named ; the flowers, which are 

 produced in spring freely, are compact and 

 globular, about the size of large heads of 

 red Clover, and are yellowish-white in 

 colour. The plant makes stronger wood 

 than the three last treated of, and should 

 be well cut back each season after flowering 

 or it gets into a somewhat straggling con- 

 dition. This kind does the best in loam 

 to which is added a good amount of sand ; 

 potting and general treatment similar to 

 the others. 



P. hispida is a somewhat weak-wooded 

 subject, of moderate size. If well managed 

 it will flower two or three times during 

 the season, or its blooming may be retarded 

 by stopping the points of the shoots, as 

 after it has made a couple of inches of 

 growth it will set and at once bloom. The 

 flowers are produced in loose bunches 

 similar to those of P. spectabilis, but not 

 so large as in that kind ; they are white, 

 tinged with pink. It is very useful, either 

 as a summer or autumn exhibition plant, 

 or simply as a decorative subject for 

 conservatory purposes. It does best in 

 peat, and at no time requires the shoots 

 reduced further than by removing the 

 flowers, as its persistent habit of blooming 

 prevents them running to any considerable 

 length. Plants in 6-inch pots in the 

 spring should be grown on anct not allowed 

 to flower for a couple of yeais, as its free- 

 blooming disposition prevents it grooving. 

 The flower-buds should be removed as soon 

 as formed until the plants have got to 

 something like 15 inches in diameter, after 

 which they will bloom twice in the season 

 — in spring, and again in the after part of 

 the summer. 



P. Neippergiana is a small-growing, 

 white-flowered species, that blooms in the 

 spring. In cutting back, potting, and 

 general summer and Avinter management, 

 it lequires to be treated like the others 

 alreatly spoken of ; but being a weaker- 



