FIRST WEEK IN OCTOBER 



they last throughout the spring in beauty, only dropping off 

 when the flowers begin to open. 



But the best of all shrubs for a winter window-box is 

 Choisya ternata, 1 the Mexican orange, which is quite as 

 hardy as the laurestinus, and may be trusted to do well 

 unless exposed to cutting winds in January or February, 

 therefore a south or south-west exposure is desirable for it. 

 Few plants are so floriferous, for it produces large heads of 

 bloom at every point, some of which open in the early 

 autumn until the cold of winter puts them to sleep, when 

 they will wait for weeks in the same dormant state, expand- 

 ing their fragrant petals as soon as the warm sunshine of 

 spring awakes them. The foliage of the choisya is hand- 

 some and distinct, with shining leaves in bright green, and 

 the whole plant has an aromatic scent. Coming from 

 Mexico, as it does, it is wonderful that it is as hardy as it 

 has proved, but the foliage is of great substance, and the 

 buds are, as we have said, clever at accommodating them- 

 selves to a colder climate. This plant can be propagated by 

 cuttings, or, still better, by layering the shoots which are 

 naturally near the ground into pots of good loam, sand, and 

 leaf-mould sunk in the soil below the shrub in the early 

 spring. The joint which is the most convenient for the pur- 

 pose should be slit like that of a carnation, and the cut part 

 pegged firmly into the pot, a broken one with a chip out of 

 the rim being the best for layering. If the soil in these pots 

 be kept moist throughout the summer the pot will be full of 

 roots in October, when the young plant may be detached 

 from the parent and repotted, placing it upright and giving 

 it good drainage and soil. It should not be exposed to the 

 cold of the open air during its first winter, but can be shel- 

 tered in a frame or a greenhouse, potting it on the following 

 spring as it requires more room. 



Veronicas, with handsome bottle-brush flowers in various 

 colours, are excellent plants for a window-box in the south 

 and west of England and in Ireland, but some of them are 

 scarcely hardy enough for use in the north, except in a 



1 See p. 114. 

 351 



