124 Hydrangea Japonica. 



it was still more brilliant, having, at one time, upwards of 

 twenty heads of its showy flowers expanded at once. 



In habit of growth, it much resembles the hortensis ; but it 

 makes longer and rather more slender branches, longer jointed, 

 with larger leaves, deeply serrated, and adhering longer to the 

 branches. The flowers are produced at the ends of the shoots ; 

 but, instead of being in globular heads, they appear in flat clus- 

 ters or cymes, the sterile flowers occupying an outer row, 

 while the fertile ones fill up the centre, contrasting prettily, by 

 their bluish tint, with the white flowers of the circumference. 

 Its broad and deep green foliage, and its numerous corymbs 

 of blossoms, render it one of the most conspicuous and beau- 

 tiful objects of the conservatory. 



In a previous volume, (III. p. 63,) we have given the mode 

 of treatment of the Hydrdngea hortensis : H japonica requires 

 similar management. It should b,e potted in a compost of 

 peat and leaf mould, with very little loam, and, when in a 

 flowering state, placed in a half shady situation, and be lib- 

 erally supplied with water. Our plants, which are yet rather 

 small, in consequence of cutting them for propagation, have 

 received the same care as the common species, and both have 

 been placed in a frame or under the stage of the green-house, 

 until they commenced growing towards spring. 



It is readily propagated from cuttings or layers, which, if 

 put in about April or May, in a slight heat, under good treat- 

 ment, form fine blooming plants the second year : when about 

 six inches high, they should be repotted; and if the plants are 

 very vigorous, they may be shifted into pots 6 or 8 inches in 

 diameter. The second spring, when they commence growing, 

 they should be top-dressed, and in May, if growing rapidly, 

 they may be potted into the next size ; stake up the shoots 

 carefully, and in June it will commence flowering, and con- 

 tinue in great beauty for several weeks. Every amateur col- 

 lection should possess a plant of the H. japonica. 



It is of recent introduction to English collections, and first 

 flowered, we believe, in the Horticultural Society's garden. 

 In Belgium, it is common in most collections of plants. 



