180 BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS 



Petunia. -The fringed single and double forms of this flower 

 garden favourite are excellent plants for the greenhouse. The 

 florists now have remarkably fine strains of the doubles, the 

 flowers being immensely large, and most richly coloured. When 

 these are well grown they make very handsome specimens. They 

 are almost invariably treated as annuals, being raised from seed 

 and flowered in the course of a few weeks. The normal treat- 

 ment, both as to sowing and soil, will suit them admirably. 



Plumbago. Plumbago capensis is a popular greenhouse plant, 

 and sometimes finds its way into a room window, grown in 

 a pot, and trained on a trellis. It is a vigorous plant, and is 

 often planted out in large houses, and trained up pillars, where it 

 produces its blue flowers freely in summer and early autumn. 

 The young shoots may be pruned in closely after flowering, as 

 better flowering wood forms when the plant is thinly grown than 

 when it is crowded with shoots of all sizes. It may be propagated 

 by cuttings in spring, and grown in normal soil. The species 

 rosea is also a popular Plumbago, and may be had in flower in 

 a warm greenhouse in winter by striking cuttings in spring. 



Poinsettia. The flat, scarlet bracts of this plant, taking the 

 place of flowers, are most brilliant, and cause it to be a great 

 deal sought after by gardeners, who take short pieces of the old 

 stem in spring, and strike them in bottom heat ; or strike cuttings 

 in late summer for winter blooming. Given the temperature of 

 a hothouse Poinsettias thrive in the normal soil, and when in 

 full beauty no flowering plant will be more brilliant. 



Primula. The Chinese Primrose (Primula sinensis of botanists) 

 is one of the most popular of all greenhouse plants, and no 

 surprise can be felt at this when a good collection is seen in full 

 beauty, for the plants have handsome foliage, from the centre of 

 which rises a sturdy stem six or eight inches high, crowned with 

 a cluster of round, fringed flowers, ranging in colour from white 

 to flesh, pink, salmon, rose, and crimson, and also comprising 



