46 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



CHAPTER XI 



SPECIALLY RARE AND VALUABLE PLANTS 



WHILE every plant in the collection should be given the 

 best possible care and attention, it is advisable to keep 

 the more rare and valuable specimens immediately under 

 the eye of the grower. It is often the case that albinos, 

 rare varieties, and new species are allowed to get mixed 

 up in the general collection, and a plant that could not be 

 replaced may be hidden by the commoner things which 

 are not of so much consequence. In the case of the best 

 spotted varieties of Odontoglossum crispum, albino Cattle- 

 yas, and other exceptionally rare things, it is a good plan 

 to arrange a batch of them together in the most suitable 

 part of the house, or to place each on an inverted flower- 

 pot at intervals along the staging, thus bringing them into 

 prominence and facilitating the inspection of each at all 

 times. Some use wire plant stands instead of inverted pots, 

 but the moisture-holding flower-pots are preferable, if they 

 are inspected occasionally to see that they are not harbour- 

 ing insects. Albinos and fine varieties of Cattleyas and 

 Laelias could be grown in suspended Orchid pans or baskets, 

 to take them out of the general collection, and so grown 

 they would make better progress than if placed on the 

 stages. In the case of any plant not making satisfactory 

 growth it is often beneficial to place it on an inverted pot 

 to bring it more prominently under notice. 



