138 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



in which oil is still conveyed from Italy, covered with their delightful 

 coarse wicker-work, are useful ornaments in some gardens. They 

 are glazed inside, and boring a hole in the bottom of them is not very 

 easy work. They have to be more than half-filled with drainage, and 

 plants do not do well in them for more than one season, as the 

 surface of the earth exposed at the top is so small. In old days 

 the oil merchants in the suburbs of London used to cut them in two 

 vertically and stick them against their houses, above their shops, 

 as an advertisement or ornament. The enthusiastic amateurs will 

 find that they get two very nice pots by sawing them in half 

 horizontally just below the sham handles. The top part when 

 reversed requires the same treatment as was recommended for the 

 Seakale pots." 



The first rule, I think, is to grow in them those plants which do 

 not grow well in your own local soil. To put into a pot what is 



flourishing much better in a bed a few yards off is, 

 What to grow, to my mind, a mistake. I grow large old plants 



of Geraniums in the open ground, and they are 

 kept on in the greenhouse from year to year, their roots tied up in 

 Moss, and crowded into a pot or box with no earth and very little 

 water through the winter ; they can be kept in a cellar or spare 

 room. Early in April they are potted up and protected by mats 

 in a pit, as I have no room for them in the greenhouse. This 

 causes them to be somewhat pot-bound, and they flower splendidly 

 during the latter part of the summer. Marguerites, the yellow and 

 the white with large leaves, are good pot plants early in the year, 

 far prettier than the narrow-leaved kinds. A double Pomegranate I 

 have had for many years in a pot, and if thinned out in the summer 

 it flowers well ; also two small Orange trees. The large old-fashioned 

 Oak-leaved, sticky, Cape sweet Geranium, which has a handsomer 

 flower than the other kinds, makes a very good outdoor pot plant. 

 Fuchsias, especially the old-fashioned fulgens, are satisfactory. 

 Carnations, Raby Castle, Countess of Paris, and Mrs Reynolds Hole 

 I grow in pots, and they do well ; they must be layered early in 

 July, and answer best if potted up in September and just protected 

 from severe frosts. 



In fine summers, Myrtles and Oleanders flower well with me in 

 tubs, not in the open ground. I treat Oleanders as they do in 



Germany cut them back moderately in October 

 Myrtles and and dry them off, keep them in a coach-house, 

 Oleanders. warm shed, or wherever severe frosts will not reach 



them. When quite dry they stand a moderate 

 amount of frost. Then in March they are brought out, the surface is 

 stirred and mulched, they are taken into a greenhouse and brought 



