THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



61 



Clematis Paniculata. 



looking fine, and the reason was I 

 thought it a saving to buy no more 

 fuel after the end of April or first of 

 May, and perhaps to add to the trou- 

 ble had some whitewash on the house. 

 A sudden drop in temperature with 

 a cool damp house is the very worst 

 thing for coleus. They lose their 

 leaves, grow decidedly smaller, and 

 instead of showing their fine colors, 

 all assume a brown paper appearance. 

 Full sunlight and heat is what they 

 want and must have. 



I must refer once more to the hot- 

 beds. There is no place like them to 

 grow good bedding coleus. They need 

 not be built up as if you were grow- 

 ing cucumbers in the month of March, 

 but one foot of solid stable manure 

 with four or five inches of loam or 



refuse hops on. top and some clean 

 glass over them will produce in three 

 weeks a better bedding plant than you 

 can make in ten weeks inside. Have a 

 big batch of cuttings so that they are 

 ready to pot off middle of April. By 

 first of May they can go into the hot- 

 bed in 3-inch pots, and that is their 

 finish. One more great advantage is 

 that on warm days toward bedding out 

 time you can remove the sash, which 

 finely prepares these tropical plants 

 for their next and last move. 



We use coleus of several varieties 

 for veranda boxes and vases. They 

 always do well. The only trouble with 

 them is that they grow so freely that 

 if allowed they will smother the gera- 

 niums, the flowers of which are always 

 looked for. 



Any light loam with a third of sift- 

 ed rotten manure will grow coleus, and 

 if we wish to hurry them along we 

 add a quart of bone flour to every 

 bushel of compost. 



Mealy bug is about the only green- 

 house pest that troubles the coleus, 

 and if it has been a gardener that had 

 charge of the hose, that would not 

 be seen. A proper use of the hose will 

 keep them down; if it does not, use 

 the kerosene emulsion in the mildest 

 form, and if your plants are very bad 

 throw them away and start with a 

 clean lot. 



Verschaffeltii I can remember very 

 well watering as a rather choice ex- 

 otic about the year 1863. It is by 

 long odds still the best of them all, 

 and Golden Bedder is such a fine gol- 

 den yellow that nothing is equal to it 

 in its color. If you grew 5,000 coleus 

 for bedding plants, 2,500 should be 

 Verschaffeltii, 2,000 Golden Bedder, 

 and the rest your own fancy. For 

 vases, etc., the fancy sorts are useful. 

 Klondike is a yellow with a few dark 

 markings, a very strong and useful 

 variety. We have long since neglected 

 to keep record of the names of the 

 fancy coleus, and grow only half a 

 dozen that are most distinct and keep 

 their color and markings outside in 

 the broad sun. 



COSMOS. 



The annual varieties are now great 

 favorites, not only for the flower bor- 

 der but more especially for cutting. 

 Its finely divided foliage and handsome 

 flowers are now produced of various 

 shades, there being now crimson, pink, 

 white, and last a yellow. The only 

 drawback to the cosmos was its late . 

 flowering habit, early frosts in our 

 northern gardens coming before it had 

 scarcely bloomed. 



,By selection an earlier breed will 

 soon be produced, some seedsmen now 

 advertising a strain that will begin 

 to flower in June and be in full bloom 

 in August. We have noticed cosmos 

 in bloom this year by middle of July. 

 While a tendency to early flowering is 

 produced, the later strains are alsj 

 more compact in growth; that, how- 

 ever, to the florist who grows for cut 

 flowers is not so important, as it is in 

 the long sprays that it is particularly 

 graceful, and for decorations few flow- 

 ers surpass it in light, airy beauty. 



Only moderately rich soil should be 

 given it or it would grow too strong. 

 Plants that have many blooms yet to 

 open can be lifted and planted in 

 boxes and placed in a light position at 

 the end of a carnation house, and will 

 be greatly appreciated after all outside 

 flowers are killed. Grown in a posi- 

 tion where a deep cold-frame could be 

 put over them in fall to protect them 

 from the first severe frost will well 

 repay the trouble. 



They are best sown end of February, 

 and transplanted into flats and kept 

 in cold frame and planted out middle 

 to end of May. 



