PLANTS FOR OUTSIDE PLANTING 421 



liquid manure or nitrate of soda will be found beneficial. 

 The plants should be strong, vigorous in bloom, and ready 

 for outside bedding by the twentieth of April. They 

 may be used in solid beds, for borders of bulb beds, or for 

 planting among late flowering bulbous plants. 



706. Plants propagated by cuttings. Many kinds 

 of bedding plants do not reach maturity and produce 

 flowers satisfactorily in a single season. Others may 

 produce blooms, but they are less abundant on seedlings 

 than on plants reproduced from cuttings. Among such 

 are ageratums, abutilons, achyranthes (iresines), aloysias, 

 alternantheras (telantheras), antirrhinums, coleus, fuchsias, 

 geraniums, heliotropes, lantanas, double petunias, and 

 named varieties of single petunias, salvias, santolinas and 

 vincas (Fig. 50). 



Stock for the above may be obtained in two ways. 

 Soft-wooded cuttings may be taken in early fall and propa- 

 gated as described in Chapter IX. When well rooted, 

 they are put in small pots and later they are re-potted 

 several times during the year, and as spring approaches, 

 other cuttings may be taken from the plants. When 

 large numbers of cuttings are desired, it is customary for 

 flower growers to lift large plants in the fall. They are cut 

 back severely, potted in four- or five-inch pots and are kept 

 partly dormant during the early winter. About the middle 

 of December they are placed on a sunny bench, more 

 heat and water are given and a large number of stocky 

 shoots will break from each plant. These shoots make 

 fine cuttings in January, and hence a good supply of 

 plants, suitable for spring sale, may be obtained. Most 

 varieties of coleus, however, will not survive fall trans- 

 planting, but are best propagated from cuttings taken 

 in the fall. 



