CHAP. XVII 



"\^LLA GAEDEXING 107 



iinder ordinary treatment, as they are not particular about soil or 

 situation. Pinching once or twice after planting, though it delays 

 the flowering for a short time, adds immensely to the strength of 

 the plants, and tends to prolong the flowering period till late in the 

 autimm. I sometimes peg the plants down after they are estab- 

 lished in the beds, and this causes a lot of strong shoots to spring 

 up from the bottom, which flower later on. In mild winters 

 old plants in the beds and borders will pass safely through the 

 winter, and if in spring they are primed back, strong bushy i)lants 

 are formed ; but to keep up a good collection of named varieties, 

 cuttings must be taken annually, as, although fairly hardy, they 

 cannot always be relied on to live through the winter — at least 

 I often lose old plants in sharp winters when left unsheltered. 

 A little old tan or leaf-mould about the collar, and, after the frost 

 has set in, a haudfid of dry Fern placed over each plant, will gene- 

 rally save them ; but young plants are most reliable. The spikes 

 of tube-shaped flowers are useful for cutting, and have a nice eflect 

 in a vase, as they relieve the dumpiness of the flat flowers, and 

 cutting improves the plants by causing successional spikes to spring 

 up. Pentstemons are valuable 



Pot Plants for autumn in a cool conservatory, and their culture 

 will yield as good a retiu-n for the trouble bestowed as anything I 

 know, either as bed or border plants, or iu pots. Though lists of 

 plants which are progressing rapidly have no permanent value, I 

 give below the names of a few good varieties : — Alice Dean, white, 

 shaded rose ; Andrew Hunter, rosy salmon ; Avoca, rose, white 

 throat ; Bateman Brown, pink, white throat ; Blue boy, blue, 

 shaded purple ; Countess of Eglinton, bright rose ; Cuthbert, red, 

 throat -pencilled carmine; Don Juan, rosy lilac, white throat; 

 Duke of Sutherland, scarlet, white throat ; E. S. Dodwell, purple, 

 suffused white ; Fanny Archer, plum, pencilled throat ; Frank 

 Miles, plum purple, throat blotched with brown ; Grace Darling, 

 rosy pink, white throat ; Harold, magenta, white throat ; John 

 Gray, rosy scarlet ; John Douglas, violet, tinted piuple ; Kate 

 Nickleby, pink, white throat ; Miss Sutherland, white, edged with 

 pink ; Mrs. Wills, claret crimson ; Miss Linley, white ; Mrs. Lee, 

 rosy pink ; Mr. Rowe, scarlet ; Orion, magenta ; Reformer, purple ; 

 Stanstead Rival, scarlet, white throat ; Virginale, pure white, 

 tipped pink ; Wm. Ashford, magenta red ; Trojan, scarlet. 



Pentstemons, like nearly all hardy plants, when grown under 



glass through the winter, will produce a lot of young soft shoots, 



which strike in the hotbed with the bedding plants in February or 



March, and this is a good way of increasing new or choice varieties. 



The Antirrhinum (Snapdragon). — Like the Pentstemon, 



