102 FLOWERS AND THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



situation and good compost, but the bed or border should 

 be well drained, and a covering of tan or coal ashes 

 should be laid over the roots in autumn, and left until 

 the weather gets warm. The bulbs may be taken up 

 and replanted in October, or they may be left in for two 

 years. Slugs and wireworms are very destructive to 

 them. Most of them flower in the spring, but a few 

 early in autumn. 



Cyclamens are very pretty in pots. They should be 

 planted in autumn, have little water until the flower is 

 formed, and after that plenty. They may be kept in a 

 frame until they flower, and then brought into the green- 

 house or room. The Persian cyclamen is a greenhouse 

 plant, and is sweet-scented. 



Several of the Larkspurs are good for bedding, espe- 

 cially where tall groups are wanted. Delphinium for- 

 mosum and D. Hendersoni are hardy perennials, grow- 

 ing rather tall, producing fine blue and white flowers the 

 first year, provided the seed be sown early. Del- 

 phinium grandlflonun ccBlestinum is a handsome variety, 

 growing not more than two feet high, and produc- 

 ing flowers of a splendid blue. They may be sown 

 in sandy loam, in the open ground, and will keep in 

 bloom from June or July for several months. 



"Where a mass of brilliant yellow is wanted, the Esc.h- 

 coltzia may come in conveniently, but in a tolerably 

 warm place, with light earth, care must be taken that it 

 does not become an encroaching weed. In any place 

 where it has grown, and which it likes, it is only neces- 

 sary to watch for the young plants to come up, when a 

 bed of it, or large clump is wanted, and remove them 

 with so large a ball of earth that the roots are not dis- 

 turbed. It grows near the ground, and keeps in full 

 flower from Midsummer to August. The white are 

 delicate, but poor compared with those of a full yellow 

 and orange. 



The Lantanas are very nice bedding plants, growing 

 from one to two feet high, and producing their pretty 

 compact bunches of flower of various colours, from June 

 to September. Increase by taking cuttings when growth 



