12 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



AGERATUM 



" Floss-Flower'* 



While for practical purposes it is possible to treat not 

 a few perennial plants as Annuals, it is also possible to so 

 treat some Annuals that to all intents they become Peren- 

 nials. Such is the "art that doth mend Nature, change it 

 rather." The Ageratums are mostly Half-hardy Annuals, 

 natives of Central and South America, but if they are not 

 allowed to ripen seeds (and this they rarely do in our 

 climate), they may be propagated from cuttings year after 

 year, the stock plants being lifted and potted in the Autumn 

 and kept in a Greenhouse during the Winter. Early in the 

 year these plants begin to grow freely and provide a quantity 

 of cuttings that may be rooted easily in sandy soil in a 

 temperature of from 60° to 70°. It is by this means 

 that the specially dwarf strains are frequently cultivated 

 for Summer bedding, but so well are many of the best 

 forms fixed, that seed-raised stocks show little variation 

 in height and even less in the colour of their flower 

 clusters. 



Sowing under glass should take place in February or 

 March, the usual processes of pricking off and hardening off 

 being followed so that sturdy plants are available for planting 

 early in June. A sowing on a warm border early in April 

 will provide excellent material, especially if there is no 

 special need for plants to flower at the earliest possible 

 moment. 



The parent of the garden race of Ageratums is A. mexicana, 

 a species that grows about 18 inches high, and produces small 

 Composite heads of lilac-blue flowers, borne in denseclusters and 

 in the greatest profusion. Numerous varieties are catalogued. 



