Il6 HOUSE PLANTS 



for long periods, the plant producing new 

 clusters of flowers as the old ones begin to 

 fade. The flowers, according to the kind, 

 range from red through pink to white and 

 are quite showy, particularly the red ones. 



The showiest begonia for the house is the 

 coral begonia (5. coccined), but almost uni- 

 versally known in the trade as B. rubra or 

 B. maculata, var. corallina. If planted out in 

 the greenhouse it will grow eight to ten feet in 

 height, but in pot culture one can expect a 

 plant having a reasonable amount of care 

 to grow from eighteen inches to three feet in 

 height. The stems are bright green, and are 

 very stiff and upright, giving the plant a rather 

 columnar habit. The leaves are from three to 

 six inches long, and about half as wide, with 

 wavy red margins. The flowers are about 

 half an inch across, deep coral red in colour, 

 and are borne in rather large clusters. In a 

 sunny situation the plant will produce flowers 

 during three or four of the winter months. 



Another begonia, nearly as good as the 

 coral begonia, is B. semperflorens^ var. 

 gigantea rosea. A young plant started in the 

 late winter or early spring months will grow 

 so fast that during the succeeding winter it 



