PLANTS IN VASES AND TUBS IN THE OPEN AIR. 135 



untrained and undipped. Once the plants are stored for the winter, 

 sometimes in sheds with little light, it is best to give no water. In 

 the same way we may also enjoy the Laurustinus in districts where 

 it is killed by frost out of doors, which in hard winters happens even 

 in the southern countries. This is all the more unfortunate as this 

 shrub and its varieties flower so prettily. If grown well in tubs 

 we may flower them in the cool house and place them out of doors 

 in summer. 



The old way of growing plants in the orangery is still much 

 more practised in France than with us, and a few words as to 

 the mode of culture in use may be useful. Though 

 Cultivation of t ^ ie O ran g e fr m which the structure gets its name 

 plants in is not often happy in it, other plants like the 

 orangeries. Myrtle, Pomegranate, African Lily, and Hyd- 

 rangea may often be kept with safety through 

 the winter in such a house. 



Among shrubs we have the Pomegranate, Oleander, Orange, 

 Fuchsia, Myrtle, Camellia, in fact, all those that are commonly 

 placed for shelter in greenhouses during winter. For shrubs like 

 these the year has two seasons: (i) that during which they are 

 placed for shelter in the orangery or the cool house, or in the absence 

 of these, some place where the conditions of temperature, air, light, 

 and construction are similar ; and (2) the summer season when they 

 are taken out into the open air and set in variously exposed situations 

 in order that they may mature, grow, and bloom. 



In October the shrubs are removed to warm corners. The 

 shedding of the leaf in some plants gets rid of one difficulty, that 

 of their preservation during the winter, as the 

 Winter summer-leafing kinds are so easy to store away 



cultivation. if the frost be kept out. Half-hardy evergreen 

 shrubs require to be kept in a well-lighted house, 

 but shrubs, like Fuchsias and Pomegranates, which shed their 

 leaves in autumn, can during winter be conveniently kept in any 

 dark place, such as a cellar or warm shed, and in their case watering 

 will scarcely be required. As a general rule, for orangery shrubs, 

 the temperature may be such as will exclude frost ; some kinds, how- 

 ever, will be found to withstand a hard frost, like the Oleander. 

 Although the summer-leafing, shrubs scarcely need water at all 

 during the winter, it is needed for evergreen shrubs. Even here we 

 shall have to make a distinction. For instance, the Orange tree 

 requires more water than the Myrtle, arid the Myrtle more than 

 the Proteads. In the majority of orangeries the plants are watered 

 every two or three weeks during winter, and daily after the month 

 of April, and those who cultivate Orange trees are able to tell 



