136 The Flower Garden [Chapter 



Thunbergias (Black-eyed Susans) like a warm, 

 sunny situation, and in good soil will grow six or 

 eight feet tall and be covered, until cut down by frost, 

 with a wreath of tube-shaped, flat-faced blossoms 

 two inches in diameter pure white, white with black 

 eye, yellow with white eye, and yellow with black eye. 

 They are very valuable for covering low trellises, the 

 foundations of porches, window-boxes, urns, or rock- 

 work where a small vine is needed. They are admi- 

 rable as basket or bracket plants in winter. They grow 

 freely from seed, germinating in about twelve days, 

 and should be started early in flats in the house or 

 the hotbed. Much finer plants are grown in this 

 way than can be purchased from the florist. Their 

 only enemy is the red spider, and they should be show- 

 ered frequently to prevent an attack. 



The Manettia Vine is one of the most satisfactory 

 vines for winter blooming, requiring only a small pot 

 and a place in a sunny window, and blooming better 

 when pot-bound. A daily watering, and occasional 

 doses of weak liquid manure when the other plants are 

 getting it is all the care it needs. It does not require 

 a warm atmosphere, blooming freely in a tempera- 

 ture of about 50, and giving an unfailing succession 

 of its bright little flowers every day during the winter. 

 It is that rare thing a plant which the florists have 

 not overpraised. It is every bit as good as it is 

 claimed to be. Though equally at home in a hanging- 

 basket or on a trellis, I have found it most attractive 



