DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF FLOWERS. 383 



crowding each other ; the foliage should be short, broad, 

 bright, and enough to hide stalk ; in the eyed and striped 

 varieties, the colors should be well defined and lasting, 

 never running into each other, or changing in the sun." 

 I should also add that the truss should be hemispherical, 

 not flat, and the center filled out full with perfect flow- 

 ers, destitute of green eyes or flower-buds. 



The Verbena is kept with difficulty through the win- 

 ter, except in the green-house or in warm rooms ; unless 

 kept growing, it will perish. It cannot therefore be kept 

 even in a dry cellar, and it is not hardy enough to stand 

 the winter. 



Most of the varieties are easily raised from cuttings, 

 and can be purchased at so small a price from florists, 

 that it is by far the most economical to buy a few dozen 

 in the spring than attempt to keep them through the win- 

 ter. Small plants turned out from the pots in June, soon, 

 make large plants, and by October will be two or three 

 feet across. They continue to flower after severe frc-sts, 

 and are among the last lingering flowers of autumn. 



The seed, sown in May, in the open ground, will be- 

 gin to show flowers in August; but, when the seed is 

 sown in January, in the green-house, and afterwards pot- 

 ted and placed in a hot-bed in March or April, will begin 

 to flower in June. 



Seedling plants produce seed in abundance, but those 

 plants, which have been a long time propagated from 

 cuttings, loose that power in a great measure, and pro- 

 duce none or very sparingly. It is easy enough to raise 

 seedlings, but the chance of getting an improved variety, 

 may not be one to twenty or one in fifty. 



No plant equals the Verbena for masses, particularly 

 when grown in fanciful beds and on lawns, as the brilliancy 

 of the flowers contrasts finely with the green grass. 



