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CULTURE OF FAVORITE PLAXTS. 



HAFF-FLOWER is^the significance of this name, wliich is derived 

 tVom the Greek, and has been given to this phuit because of tiie 

 chaft'-like appearance of its blossoms. The plant is one of the most 

 attractive of the well known Amaranth family, and is beginning to 

 be perhaps better known as the Iresine. Under whatever name, it is 

 in all its varieties a very pretty, desirable and easily cultivated garden 

 )use plant. The beauty of its varied foliage will enhance the attractiveness 

 le best collection. It will grow in any common garden soil, in an atmos- 

 phere ranging from fifty to seventy-five degrees, the latter grade being abso- 

 lutely necessary for a rapid growth. A few of the bright-colored varieties, as 

 the A. Lindenii, with its long, pointed leaves, are always conspicuous among a 

 collection of window-plants, the bright red foliage contrasting admirably with 

 the surroundings, and producing almost the effect of flowers among the green leaves of 

 the other plants. The varieties known as Gilsonii and Aureus Reticulatus have rounded 

 leaves, the latter being also conspicuous for their gold and crimson web-like markings; 

 while the former are generally an intense crimson, but with weakening shades down to a 

 salmon color. They form an effective ornament when introduced among Rose Geraniums 

 or other like green foliage plants; and can be planted so as to assume any shape to suit 

 the taste of the cultivator, as a circle around other plants, a cross or heart in the midst of 

 others, and the like. They can be easily kept from straggling by pinching back with the 

 finger and thumb, and thus maintained for a whole season in the shape it was originally 

 designed they should present. For winter plants, a few cuttings should be taken in Julv, 

 and put aside in a shady place, either in sand or common soil, where, if well watered, tiiey 

 will strike root in from ten days to two weeks, when thev can be potted for use. These 

 new plants will prove far superior to the old ones. 



among the Liliaceous plants, to which order it belongs, is more 

 ^^^-\ picturesquely beautiful, perhaps, than this pretty azure-blossomed 

 flower. The name signifies, in the original Greek, a love-flower, 

 j5^ and the plant is sometimes called in our vernacular the African blue 

 ly. It is a very ornamental plant for the parlor, the outdoor 

 pedestal or tree-stump, and, indeed, will show itself to advantage 

 anywhere. Its long, graceful leaves, curving to either side of the bulb, make 

 it attractive even when not in bloom. From among the leaves it shoots upward, 

 to a height of from eighteen inches to three feet, one or two stout flower- 

 stalks, which are crowned with a mass of azure flowers, springing from and 

 surrounding a common center like an umbrella, whence the epithet umbellatus. 

 The bulbs are among the class known as Cape bulbs, because originally introduced from 

 the Cape of Good Hope. They require a liberal allowance of pot room, as tiiey send 



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