70 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS, 



the plant will, if properly managed, flower freely in the 

 open air. If winter flowers are required, the plant must 

 be in the stove, where, if fairly dealt with, it will rise to a 

 height of ten or twelve feet, and make a very delightful 

 display of its intensely blue flowers, in which the blue of 

 the delphinium the rarest colour in nature, save in the 

 vast firmament above is developed in power and purity. 



Salvia patens may be raised from seed with ease and 

 certainty. If it is sown in sandy soil in shallow pans and 

 boxes early in February, and placed in the stove or on a 

 common hotbed, the plants may be grown to a sufficient 

 size to make a good display in the flower garden the same 

 season. It will be necessary to pot them into small pots, 

 and keep them in a warm pit or greenhouse until the 

 middle of May, when they should be transferred to a cold 

 frame, and have more and more air by degrees, but with 

 very great care in the first instance, the object of this 

 treatment being to render them hardy enough to bear full 

 exposure before they are finally planted out The bed 

 should be in a sunny situation, well drained, and the soil 

 somewhat sandy. To plant them out before the first week 

 of June would be unwise, but as soon after that time 

 as possible they should be consigned to their blooming 

 quarters, and should be at a distance apart of not less 

 than nine to twelve inches. 



The plants can be kept from year to year by lifting 

 the roots after the tops have been cut down by frost, and 

 storing them in sand during the winter. Early in the 

 spring these roots should be planted in boxes or pans filled 

 with light soil, and be placed in a moderate heat to start 

 them into growth. They will soon produce young shoots, 

 which, when two or three inches in length, may be taken 



