PLANTS SUITED FOR SUMMER DECORATION. 107 



stemons, Passion Flowers, Rondeletias, Salvias, Tropaeo- 

 lums, Verbenas (seeds or cuttings), Veronicas, Zinnias 

 (seeds only). All of the above have their principal at- 

 traction in their flowers. The following are only useful 

 for the brilliant coloring or other peculiarities of foliage. 

 Alternantheras, Achyranthes, Artemisias, Cerastium (cut- 

 tings), Oentaureas (seeds), Caladiums, Coleus (cuttings). 

 Cinerarias (seeds), Dracaenas, Echeverias, Geraniums (sil- 

 ver, gold, or bronze), variegated Ivies, Lysimachia, varie- 

 egated Grasses, Peristrophe, Sanchezia nobilis, Vinca ma- 

 jor, etc. (For descriptions, see florists' catalogues.) All 

 of the above can be raised from slips or cuttings taken from 

 plants (or by seeds where noted), during the winter or early 

 spring months (January, February, March, or April), 

 either from plants that have been kept for flowering in 

 winter, or from large plants that have been preserved for 

 the purpose of propagation. The young plants raised from 

 slips are in nearly every instance preferable to the old 

 plants. Our practice is, to grow the old or ^^ stock" 

 plants simply to make cuttings, until we get enough 

 from them, and then to throw the old plants away, re- 

 serving the young ones only for selling, or for our own 

 planting in the open borders. Cuttings are rooted in the 

 way described in the chapter on *' Propagation of Plants 

 by Cuttings," or if by seeds, as in chapter on '^ Propaga- 

 tion by Seeds." The young plants should first be potted 

 in two-inch pots, and if early in the season, they will re- 

 quire to be shifted into three or four-inch pots before it is 

 time to plant them out in the open ground, which it is not 

 safe to do in this latitude until the middle of May ; nor 

 in any other latitude before the time when Tomatoes or 

 Egg Plants can safely be planted out. 



Nothing is more satisfactory to the lover of flowers 

 than raising his own plants, no matter how able he may 

 be to purchase. Those of his own raising, whether for 

 his own use or to present to his friends, are always more 



