2iU GAKDEN lIAyAGLJIE^•T. 



when placed in the basket : on the other hand, if they have been filled with 

 fine sifted soil, the plants are apt to die off most unaccountably : this applies- 

 to window-plants generally. 



649. Next to fuchsias, the best plants for suspended baskets are ivy-leaved 

 geraniums ; these being all of a trailing habit, they hang down and flower 

 freely ; the petunias and verbenas, also, which are of rich and varied colours. 

 Saxifrarja sarmentosa, of variegated foliage and pretty trailing habit; Disandra 

 prostrata, with pretty yellow musk-like flowers. The common musk is also 

 a very suitable plant : if a bit is planted in the centre, or some small pieces 

 pricked about the surface, it will soon spread out and hang down the sides. The 

 common moneywort {Lysimaclna nuniimilaria) does well and is effective ; also 

 the trailing snapdragon {Linarm cymhalaria), which will soon cover a basket 

 and look very pretty. 



650. Among hard-wooded plants suitable for suspended baskets, we may 

 reckon Mi/oporum 2^<^yviflor2cm, a very neat trailing plant, bearing small 

 white flowers in autumn, winter, and spring ; Pultencea suhurabellata, a neat 

 spreading plant, flowering in spring. There are also one or two acacias, as 

 A. rotundifoUa and A. ovata, which are of a naturally pendulous habit ; and 

 if they can be adapted to the basket, they will be very effective. Monoclicetova 

 ensiferum is a beautiful wiuter flowering plant, but will require tying down 

 at first, and training neatly over the basket. In planting the hard-wooded 

 plants, it should be remembered what was said with regard to soil ; it may be, 

 that the softer plants are more easy to cultivate ; they are certainly safer to begin 

 with ; but these are more permanent, and do not so soon outgrow their room. 

 Of a like permanency are ferns, , which require much the same soil as the last, 

 that is, equal parts of peat, loam, and sand, and having some broken crockery 

 mixed with it. One of the best ferns for baskets is the common polypody, or 

 Pobjpodium vulr/are : this may be planted in nearly all moss, with a small 

 portion of soil. Another excellent fern, and, indeed, one of the handsomest, 

 is Asplenium fluccldum, of a beautiful drooping habit, and also viviparous, 

 producing young ferns all over the old fronds. Let this fern be placed in the 

 centre of the basket : it will require nothing more, but will show over the 

 sides and look exceedingly beautiful, being of a bright lively green, and one 

 of the best and handsomest ferns in cultivation. Pteris serrxilata and P. ro- 

 lundifolia are also good ferns for baskets, and easily grown, being of a free habit. 

 There are several sorts of British ferns which may be grown in this way, particu- 

 larly the true British maidenhair {Adiardicm Ca^nllus- Veneris), which, spread- 

 ing at the roots, will soon cover the surface of the basket. Next to this we 

 should place Asplenium lanceolatum, which is also a spreader ; likewise -.4. 

 oiarinum. Other kinds might do in the same way, but we would not recom- 

 mend those who are not well skilled in fern-culture to grow more than threa 

 or four at the commencement : a single well-grown handsome plant will 

 become the fruitful parent of many. Ferns, be it remembered, are i^lants 

 the beauty of which consists in the delicacy of outline of the fronds, and in 

 the disposition of the sori, or fruit, as it is often called. 



