THE HOME FLORIST. 



P/EONIA (Hardy Herbaceous Perennial). 



A well known genus of plants noted for their hardiness, ease of culture, vigorous growth in 

 any warden soil, and for the wonderful size and attractiveness of their flowers, which in many 

 varieties are nearly half a foot in diameter, well rounded and perfectly double. The Herbace- 

 ous Paonias are increased by dividing the roots. This may be done once every few years, in 

 September or October or in the spring, if it be done very early. The roots should be taken up 

 whole, cut in pieces, each with at least one bud, and be reset. Plant them in rich deep soil, 

 the crown or bud three inches below the surface. 



PANICUM (Hardy Herbaceous and Greenhouse Perennials). 



PANICUM PLICATUM. This is a desirable hardy grass for the garden, with deep green foliage, 

 striped white, and occasionally rose ; grows in clumps, and attains a height of about two feet ; 

 propagates by division. Protect in winter. 



PANICUM VARIEGATUM (35, 30 to 60, 90). A very attractive grass, of trailing or creeping 

 habit, excellent for hanging baskets or pot culture in the greenhouse or window. The leaves are 

 willow shaped, and distinctly variegated with white, rose and green. The plant requires a warm 

 place, and rather delights in shade ; propagates from cuttings. 



PANSY HEART'S-EASE, VIOLA TRICOLOR (Hardy Annual). See Fig. 50. 

 I term the Pansy a hardy annual because the best way to manage the plants is to treat 

 them as such, although they may not incorrectly be classed among biennials and perennials. 

 The Pansy is a magnificent genus among flowering plants, and is undoubtedly as generally 

 esteemed as any in cultivation, not even excepting the Rose. It is among the easiest to rear 

 from the seed ; is very productive of flowers for a long time, and the flowers in the garden are 

 the subjects of admiration from all beholders. Their colors range from white to jet black 

 through the various shades of violet, dark and light blue, reel, bronze, yellow, purple, etc., 

 and there are some varieties of recent introduction which are most beautifully and distinctly 

 striped and blotched. To grow the Pansy to perfection simply requires that they be planted in 

 soil of high fertility, and with this requisite secured there is no need of hot-bed, conservatory, 

 or any other appliance to have an abundance of flowers, by sowing the seed in the fall. They 

 flower most freely, and the bloom is finest in the months preceding and following the hottest 

 and dryest part of summer, although there will be no cessation of bloom during this period if 

 the soil is ordinarily retentive of moisture and well enriched. The seeds may be sown in 

 August or the first half of September. If the seed-bed is shaded with whitewashed sash or lath 

 shutters the lath an inch apart they will germinate more readily. After they have made their 

 second leaves they should be thinned out to afford a chance for development, or they may be 

 transplanted to several inches apart in any rich soil for wintering. Young Pansy plants are 

 hardy, and all the protection they require is a slight scattering of long strawy manure on the 

 beds, after the ground is frozen, which will prevent any injury to the plants from thawing 

 weather in winter ; this must be removed early in the spring. For final flowering, plant six to 

 nine inches apart in the highly enriched beds above alluded to. If the sowing in the fall was 

 neglected, the seed may be sown from February to April, and nearly the same results gained 

 as with fall sowing, but with a little more trouble. Should these spring grown plants be too 

 small for flowering before midsummer, they will be all the more rewarding in the fall months 

 for not having flowered profusely in the spring. 



PASSION FLOWER PASSIFLORA (Greenhouse Perennial, jj, 50, go ). 

 Climbing plants for the greenhouse and window that possess a pleasing appearance, both in 

 the foliage, form of growth and in the flowers. They withstand the dry heat of dwellings 

 better than the average of plants ; are frequently planted permanently in the conservatory to 

 climb along the rafters, for which purpose they are well suited and very ornamental. 



PELARGONIUM LADY WASHINGTON GERANIUM (Greenhouse Perennial, 33, 45 to 55, 90). 

 A distinct division of the Geranium family (popularly speaking, for, in a botanical sense, the 

 Geraniums are Pelargoniums), which are only suitable for pot culture, producing flowers of an 

 extremely high rank of beauty and color. The plant is in appearance somewhat similar to the 

 common Horseshoe or Scarlet Geranium, but the flowers, although of similar form, are much 

 larger, averaging about two inches across, and are of the richest colors, and shades of colors, 

 imaginable, ranging from purest white, through carmine, crimson, rosy pink, vermillion, to the 

 darkest maroon, and through the intervening shades for the ground work, and upon these the 

 most exquisite veinings and delicate shadings, all on petals of the finest satin-like texture, yet, 

 of such a thickness that but the deepest markings run through them, the under side being gener- 

 ally a tinted white, or a lighter and uniform shade of the predominating color of the flower. 

 The Pelargonium is not so valuable a window plant as some of the Geraniums, for, although of 

 free, healthy growth, under any circumstances, it is here inclined to be a shy bloomer, but, as 

 a spring and early summer flowering plant in the conservatory, all the varieties possess the 

 greatest value, and bloom with exceeding freedom. No conservatory can be considered well 

 stocked without some of these plants in the collection. After the plants have flowered in 

 summer they should be given a rest of two months by almost entirely withholding water 

 from them. At the end of this time they should be cut back and be repotted into fresh 



