338 



BEDDING PLANTS. 



The Lantana. — This very pretty and very free flowering 

 :plant has not been as much iised among us for bedding purpoaeS 



as its beauty de- 

 serves. It is of 

 very easy cul- 

 ture, flourishes 

 well in any gar- 

 den son, indeed, 

 often growing 

 too well, if plant- 

 ed in rich soil, 

 running too 

 much to wood 

 in proportion to 

 the bloom. 

 It is of a shrub- 

 ^'S- 70. |jy habit, begin- 



ning to flower when from four to six inches high, and continuing 

 to increase in size and abundance of bloom until the frost comes. 

 The flowers are of various colors, yellow, white, orange, lilac, rose, 

 and purple, and these arranged in globular heads, each head, in 

 many of the varieties, contaiuing flowers of several colors. A 

 bed, containing several varieties of the Lantana, is not to be easily 

 surpassed in brilliancy of bloom or attractiveness of coloring. 



Plants obtained at the same time with Verbenas may be 

 planted in the open ground, as soon as danger from frost is over. 

 They shoidd be set in a bed by themselves, in not very rich, 

 but well-drained sod, about two feet apart each way. As soon 

 as the first frost blackens the leaves they shoidd be taken up, cut 

 well back, and with the roots in a pot or box of earth set under 

 the green-house stage, or, if one has no green-house, in a warm 

 dry cellar. The soU in the pot or box shoidd be just kept from 

 becoming entirely dry. In the spring they may be brought to 

 the light and heat, watered more freely, started into growth, 

 -and when the frosts are over, planted again in the open groimd, 



