PORTULACA, Nat. Ord. Portulac 



The Portulaca is a popular, hardy, creeping annual, each strong plant covering a space about 



a foot in diameter, with salver-shaped flowers, of every color imaginable, except blue, and striped, 



and these colors of the most intense 



brightness. The Portulaca delights 



in a warm sun and a sandy soil, 



and the drouth is never too long 



nor the heat too intense for this 



beautiful little salamander. When 



everything else is perishing for 



lack of moisture, the Portulaca will 



give its largest flowers and bright- 

 est colors. We well recollect 

 when the Portulaca gave us but very few colors, and a double flower would have been a wonder- 

 Now we have all the colors that heart can desire, and flowers as double as roses and almost 

 as large. The Portulaca does v ground early, or under glass. The 



not like a clay soil nor black muck. (JL. -^jjfc Jf&s&JFfSf plants can be transplanted even in 

 It makes a brilliant bed on the ^^a^CfuK^^^^ ^ u ^ fl wer > anc l m making a ribbon 

 lawn, but as the plants are low it ^&%3Hffijfflil&$f<^$ 1 Jcf l u ' l ^ Portulaca, we always 

 is best to raise the bed in the cen- jflBBBBEaBBBliiial wa i t un til the first flower opens, so 

 ter. Sow the seed in the open ^^B^ffFfSfflno^Mfc:-:- as to be entirely sure of the colors. 

 Only one possible objection can be made to the Portulaca, and that is that its flowers are fully 

 open only in sunshine ; like the sun-dial, it counts only the bright hours. The perfectly double 

 Portulaca forms no seed, so that seed must be saved from semi-double flowers ; and from fifty to 

 seventy-five per cent, of plants from this seed will give double flowers. 



RICINUS, (Castor Oil Bean,) Nat. Ord. Eufhorbiacece. 



ICINUS. Plants with very ornamental foliage and showy fruit, of 

 stately growth and quite a tropical nppearance. With other 

 onamental -leaved 

 plants, they make 

 most attractive 

 bed on the lawn, 

 and are also desir- 

 able when grown 

 as single speci- 

 mens. Plant the 

 i seed in the open 

 \ ground, in a dry 



situation, and as early as safe in the spring. The 

 same soil and treatment that will give good early 

 corn is just suitable for the Ricinus. 

 In the latter part of the summer the 

 splendid spikes, composed of the 

 seed-vessels, will be quite gorgeous. 

 Some of the varieties have spikes 

 of a beautiful metallic green, oth- 

 ers of a fine, almost transparent 

 pink and scarlet, which seem to 

 illuminate the grounds. There is 

 no ornamental-leaved plant for out- 

 door decoration for ordinary use 



equal to the Ricinus. For a clump or bed, the Ricinus should be planted about 

 three feet apart. For a screen, and nothing is better fitted for such a purpose, 

 about two feet apart. Plants range from five to ten feet in height, except a dwarf variety, which, 

 seldom exceeds three feet. 



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