Jan. 

 I-I5 



THE GARDEN WEEK BY WEEK 



Flowers 



There is work to be done among greenhouse plants, 

 and also in raising plants for later use in the flower 

 garden. 



Begonias {tuberous). — There are few more beautiful 

 late-flowering garden plants than the tuberous Begonia, 

 and it will bloom the same year if seeds are sown in 

 January in a warm house, and the plants handled 

 properly afterwards. Seed of both single and double 

 strains can be bought, and it is wise to buy it in mixture 

 — I do not mean singles and doubles mixed, but mixed 

 varieties of each section. One gets a lovely display of 

 brilliant flowers if the strain is good. Seedling Begonias 

 always progress slowly towards the flowering stage, 

 because before we can get stem and leaves we must get 

 the tuber, and that must have time to form and grow. It 

 is for this reason that I advocate January sowing. 



Sowing Small Seeds. — Seed of tuberous Begonias, as 

 of some other plants, such as herbaceous Calceolarias, 



which I shall have occa- 

 sion to refer to later, is 

 very small indeed, and 

 needs to be handled with 

 care, or it will be irre- 

 trievably scattered. The 

 packets of small-seeded 

 plants should be left un- 

 opened until the recep- 

 tacles for them are ready, 

 so that the risk of the seed 

 The surface soil should be 

 It is a good plan 



Fig 



Sowing Small Seeds in a 

 Box OR Pan, 

 a. Drainage, b. Compost. 



c. Surface cf soil made fine and level for 

 seeds. 



being lost is minimised. 



very fine, moist, and perfectly level 



