TENDER BEDDING PLANTS 



337 



GAZANIAS 



Gazania splendens is a brilliant orange-coloured flower, growing 

 from a foot to eighteen inches high, and is sometimes used for 

 bedding. There is a yellow variety of it, and one with variegated 

 leaves. The plants love sunshine, and do best in loamy soil. 

 They can be propagated by taking the side-shoots as cuttings 

 and inserting them in sandy soil in a frame, which should be 

 kept close. 



LANTANAS 



These charming plants are very useful to bedders, and any 

 amateur can grow them with ease. In foliage they resemble 

 Heliotrope, and the flowers are borne in 

 close heads. The colours are brilliant and 

 varied. Inasmuch as the plants bloom 

 freely and continuously, and will do in 

 ordinary soil, they are undeniably useful. 

 They have the defect of a straggly habit 

 of growth, but this can be corrected by 

 pinching in the early stages. 



The Lantanas are useful for window- A shows stem of old P lant ; B - a side - 



shoot suitable for a cutting ; C 



boxes, tubs, and large vases, as well as sh w the latter severed with a 



heel attached. 



for beds. 



They are propagated by taking cuttings of flowerless side 

 growths late in summer, and inserting them in sandy soil in a 

 warm frame kept close, or under a handlight. The resulting plants 

 can be potted separately in March, and stopped when the shoots 

 are about four inches long. Some prefer to preserve the old 

 plants, shorten them and pot them in autumn, then prune them 

 hard in spring like Fuchsias, and give them heat to start the 

 back buds. 



CUTTINGS OF LANTANA 



