124 THE UNHEATED GREENHOUSE 



where they can remain in the open air day and night during 

 the summer months, and this attention will generally be repaid 

 by annual flowering. 



Of the different genera of succulent plants of moderate 

 height and character Mesembryanthemums may be recom- 

 mended as amongst the most interesting and profitable to 

 grow, for two special reasons the plentifulness of their bril- 

 liant, many-hued flowers, and the fact that a number of the 

 finest species are quick-growing and may be treated practi- 

 cally as biennials or even as annuals. The usual practice is to 

 let Mesembryanthemums grow into gnarled and woody shrubs 

 which are ugly in themselves and never flower, until at last they 

 are discarded as worthless. That this need not be the case is 

 plainly shown by the fact that certain free- flowering species 

 of the type of M. bicolor used to be grown for market in 

 great numbers by the nurserymen of the day when succulent 

 plants were in vogue. It is quite true that a large proportion 

 of Mesembryanthemums are merely of botanical interest. 

 This must naturally be the case in a genus comprising some 

 hundreds of species. Nothing finer, however, by way of 

 colour can be grown for a sunny porch or greenhouse than 

 M. bicolor, M. micans, and M. polyanthon when their masses 

 of small daisy-shaped flowers of glittering orange and scarlet 

 and purple are open in the sunshine. Amongst those of 

 different character and with larger, if not more conspicuous, 

 flowers, M. blandum, in both varieties of rose and white, is 

 seldom entirely out of bloom, and is admirable for any 

 position where it may be wanted to trail, or for a hanging- 

 basket. M. aureum, an upright species with large, sparkling 

 orange flowers, opens with the earliest spring sunshine, even 

 in February. M. glaucum, one of the hardiest, with hand- 

 some canary-yellow blossoms from two to three inches across, 

 flowers at all seasons, according to treatment ; and M. spec- 

 tabile, with pretty glaucous leaves and fine rose-coloured 



