106 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



MANDEVILLA STJAVEOLENS. 



BT A SUBSCRIBER. 



ffANDEVILLA STJAVEOLENS is not very suitable for 

 pot culture, at least I believe it is not ; for except the 

 M two first plants I had of it, I have never attempted to 

 grow it in this manner. I am convinced, however, from 

 the success which I obtained with those, that it may be 

 made to bloom rather freely in a pot ; and the fragrance and beauty 

 of the flowers render it worth an effort to obtain them in that manner. 



"Were I to attempt its culture in pots, I would treat it as follows : 

 and although the display of blossom which I might get would be 

 poor compared with what plants turned out in the conservatory 

 border, and allowed plenty of space to ramble about would produce, 

 it would nevertheless be ample compensation fcr the little attention 

 which the plants would require. 



I would procure good strong young plants, ^ay in March, prune 

 them back closely, leaving but one joint of the L_at season's growth; 

 then place them in a house where the night temperature might 

 average about 50°, and when the plants started into active growth I 

 would give a moderate shift, and stop the] shoots once or twice, to 

 insure an abundance of young wood. 



When the pots become filled with roots, I would shift into the 

 flowering pots, which should be fifteen or eighteen-inch ones, accord- 

 ing to the strength of the plants. The vigorous habit of the plant 

 renders a good-sized trellis necessary, which should be applied at 

 once, and the shoots neatly and regularly tied over it. Water should 

 be given rather sparingly at the root from the time when the plants 

 are placed iu the flowering-pots ; but the syringe should be used 

 freely, and the plants be kept in an airy, light part of the house, and 

 if the night heat can be conveniently kept as low as from 50° to 55°, 

 it will be more suitable than a higher temperature. When the 

 trellises ai'e well covered with wood, which probably may be the 

 case by the middle of June, remove the plants to the greenhouse, 

 placing them in the warmest end of it for a few days, to avoid 

 injuring the foliage, by a sudden removal from a moist atmosphere to 

 a dry one ; and when they are inured to the change, expose them 

 freely to sun and air, giving no more water at the root than will 

 suffice to keep the foliage from flagging. This treatment, continued 

 for three weeks or a month, will effectually check the tendency of 

 the plants to make wood ; and when this is effected, they may be 

 placed in the warmest corner of the greenhouse, where they will 

 speedily begin to open their blossoms. 



Tiie plants of the Mandevilla which I grew in pots were treated ia 

 the above manner, and I distinctly recollect that one of the specimens 

 was very much admired, and produced a great number of clusters of 

 flowers during August and September ; the other was a weak plant 

 when received from the nursery, and produced but a few clusters, 

 owing doubtless to its having been stopped back later in the season 



