CHAP. VI VILLA GAKDENING 177 



enough for a plant, no more should be used ; but in after years, as 

 the plant gathers size, more training will be needed in order to 

 show the tlowers off to the best advantage. 



Treatment after Flowering. — When the flowering is over, 

 stand the plants in the open air to ripen the wood and prepare 

 them for cutting down. Pelargoniums of the second year will make 

 handsome specimens, and they may be kept in good condition for 

 many years, gradually increasing in size. The largest specimens 

 may be grown in 11 -inch pots. After the annual pruning, the 

 plants should be kept rather dry till the buds push, which will be 

 in the course of a fortnight. When the young shoots are half an 

 inch long, shake the plants out of the old soil, prune the roots, and 

 repot in clean pots as small as the roots can be conveniently got 

 into, using nice, sweet, turfy soil. From this time forward they 

 should occupy a light position near the glass, and early in January 

 be shifted into the blooming pots. In this way a collection of 

 really handsome specimens may be kept for many years in small 

 pots without any foiling off in their beauty or health. The round 

 bush shape is the form generally adopted as being the most natural, 

 and as a rule the form that is the most natural is the most appro- 

 priate and effective. I remember about twenty years ago seeing a 

 number of plants in the conservatory at the Botanic Gardens, 

 Regent's Park, trained as pyramids, and they were very eftective. 

 They were about 6 feet high, and remarkably well furnished. It 

 is just possible that some of my readers may have noticed these 

 plants. It would take some time to grow them to that size, but 

 to ray mind it seemed a pleasant way of breaking away from the 

 ordinary flat-headed form filled with sticks. The pyramids only 

 require one stake in the centre ; but during the early life of the 

 plant the shoots are linked down to the pot by strings of matting, 

 and with careful management such plants, when once formed, will 

 live in good condition many years. I do not say that every variety 

 could be trained to form a pyi'amid 6 feet in height, but all the 

 most vigorous growers of the show Pelargonium section, and also 

 the zonals, might easily be run up to any reasonable height. In 

 starting with a young plant, the main stem is tied to a central 

 .stake, and the manipulations of the side branches by pinching and 

 training are all carried out with a view to the plants assuming that 

 particular shape, at the same time taking care that while the upward 

 tendency is encouraged the bottom is allowed to make reasonable 

 progress to maintain the proper balance. ' 



Perpetual Pelargoniums. — Of late years gi-eater notice has 

 been taken of a most useful section of perpetual or early-blooming 

 Pelargoniums, of which the old red kind, called Gauntlet, and the 



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