84 FLOWERS AND THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



winter it should not be higher. "With large plants 

 little stopping will be required after re-potting, but 

 thinning will sometimes be needed, so that the old 

 plants will bloom earliest, as stopping and re-potting 

 delay the flowering period. 



CHAPTER XII. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS (concluded). 



PETUNIAS, PHLOXES, AURICULAS, ETC. ; RANUNCULUSES, 

 TULIPS, AND YERBENAS. 



PETUNIAS, besides being cultivated as florists' flowers, 

 are useful, from rapid growth and freedom in flowering, 

 either for plants in pots or for bedding. They may be 

 raised from seed, sown on a hot-bed in March, and planted 

 out in May ; or the seed may be sown out of doors as 

 soon as it is ripe, and protected with a little litter in 

 cold weather. It may also be sown out of doors in the 

 spring, when all chance of frost is past. When grown 

 out of doors they must have a warm sheltered situation. 

 Petunias will grow from cuttings of the ends of shoots, 

 or side shoots. In the spring they require a little heat, 

 but in summer and autumn they will strike without. 

 The plants must be kept in-doors, protected, or put in a 

 cold pit in winter, as they will not stand frost. A light 

 rich sandy loam is the soil they like. 



When they are cultivated in pots they must have 

 plenty of room for the roots. When fine large plants 

 are wanted, begin with them in small pots, shift them 

 into larger and larger by degrees, and stop the tops and 

 shoots until the plants are large and handsome in shape j 

 then allow them to flower. 



When petunias are wanted to cover a bed, do not stop 

 them, but peg down all their long shoots, and the side 

 shoots will put out freely, and make a good show of 



