334 BEDDING PLANTS. 



The Heliotrope. — This plant is valued for the sweetnfiss 

 and delicacy of its perfume more than for the beauty of its 

 flowers. It is of easy culture, growing freely in any rich and 

 well drained garden soil. It should he planted in the open air 

 after all fear of late frosts is over, and taken in before the early 

 autumn frosts come on, for it is more tender than the Verbena, 

 and apt to be injured by even a slight freezing. 



The flowers vary from a very pale lilac to a deep purple, are 

 individually small, but produced in close trusses or corymbs. 

 They bloom profusely all the time they are in growth, and make 

 excellent window plants if allowed plenty of room. Being sensi- 

 tive under removals, it is important when they are taken out 

 of the border that the transplanting should be done with care, 

 disturbing the root as little as possible. They flourish best when 

 they have plenty of pot room, or indeed, if in the green-house, 

 they have a border in which the roots may ramble. 



"When a plant is taken up from the open border in autumn, 

 for window culture in winter, it should be pruned back so as to 

 remove the soft wood and kept for some time in a cool room. 

 Before the frosts become severe enough to penetrate the place 

 where it was placed, it should be removed to a warm room. 

 There its buds will soon break and the plant begin to grow, 

 yielding an abundance of sweet-scented flowers. 



It is propagated by cuttings of the soft wood, which strike 

 freely in bottom heat. JS'ew varieties are raised from seed. The 

 best now in cultivation are The Gem and Voltaireanum, with 

 dark flowers'; Oculata, violet with white centre ; Jersey Beauty 

 and Jean Mesmer, light blue; and Garibaldi, nearly white. 

 Pauline Pfitzer, a new lilac-colored flower, is a splendid bedder, 

 on account of the immense size of the truss and its profuseness 

 of bloom. 



The Coleus. — These are useful bedding plants in those 

 parts of Canada where the summers are hot and the nights not 

 chilly. Their beauty consists entirely in the color of the leaves 

 and not in their flowers, and this is brought fully out only in 



