Hydrangea 



( 432 ) 



Hydrastis 



Hortensia with one head of flowers each. Such 

 plants can be obtained in a little under a year 

 from cuttings taken in spring. Short, stubby, 

 flowerless shoots should be selected, dibbled singly 

 into 2i" pots, and struck in a heated frame. Cut- 

 tings set with flower buds may also be taken in 

 autumn. 



Soil. Good loam two parts, well- decayed cow 

 manure one part, and sand. 



Other Cultural Points. The cuttings should be 

 potted on as suun as they are rooted, and grown in 

 a cold frame during the summer. Not later than 

 the first week in August they should be given their 

 flowering pots 5" or (>" and when they have 

 filled these with roots, every effort must be made 

 to get them to ripen their wood and plump up 

 their buds. To this end they should be stood out 

 of doors on an ash bottom and fully exposed to the 

 sun. Keep them dry and cool in winter, and start 

 the first batcli in heat about the middle of February, 

 the others following in instalments at intervals of 

 a few weeks. Blue Hydrangeas are much in 

 request. These are often produced naturally by 

 the presence of iron in the soil, where the plants 

 are growing outdoors. The pink varieties can be 

 turned to blue by dissolving 1 oz. of alum in 

 1 gallon of water, and watering the plants once or 

 twice a week with it when they are in full growth. 



necessary, botb with paniculata hortensis and old 

 plants of Hortensia, should be done towards the 

 close of the flowering period, but the former should 

 be cut harder than the other species. 



Principal Species and 

 altissima, 8' to 30', luly. 



(XT /). 431). 

 Horteusia '!' to 3', grh. 



(\yHfl. opuloides ami 



hortensis, fee figure) ; 



many vars. Common 



Hydrangea. 



aiba, wli. : Japanese 

 var. (tee p. 4'J!>). 



japonica, 3', bl., wli. 

 (vars. roTiih'sceiis, hi.; 

 roseo-alha, wb., ro.). 



Linclleyi, 4' to 7', sum., 

 red, wli. 



Mariesii, 2' to 3', sum., 

 grh., ro., j)k., sterile 

 florets, very large. 



Otaksa. pk. 



Thos. Hogg, wli. 



- variegata, a poor 

 flowerer, but pretty wli. 

 and grn. foliage. 

 paniculata, 4' to 8', aut., 

 hdy., wh. 



Varieties : 



hortensis, 3' too', sum., 

 aut., hdy., wli., should 

 he pruned in Jau. or 

 Feb., and have the 

 young shoots reduced 

 when 4" long (K//N.V. 

 pauicnlata ttorihunJa 

 and p. grandiflora). 



petiolaris, Ap., My. , hdy. 

 against walls in south 

 of England, wh., ]vf. 

 Ivy-like, cl. (.v//^.v. scan- 

 dens and Sclii/ophrag- 

 nia hydrangeoides of 

 gardens. This is really 

 a very different plant). 



quercifolia, 4' to 6', sum., 

 hdy. against walls in 

 southern counties, grh., 

 wh. 



scandens (near to, or xi/n. 

 of pctiolaris). 



Thunburgii, '!' to 3', aum., 

 hlf-hdy., hi. or ro. 



HYDRANGEA HOUTENSIA. 



Excellent results have also been obtained by French 

 growers by growing the plants in a compost of 

 one-third loam, one-third peat, and one-third coal 

 ashes, Paniculata hortensis is not as a rule forced 

 so easilyas Hortensia and its varieties, butis allowed 

 to come on more naturally. Also old plants are 

 more frequently grown than single-stemmed ones, 

 the latter system being almost exclusively applied 

 to Hortensia and its varieties. What pruning is 



HYDRASTIS. 



Hardy herbaceous perennial (itrd. Kanuncula- 

 ceaV), somewhat difficult to manage. It is propa- 

 gated by division of the root in spring, and it is 

 well to plant the divisions in sandy soil in a warm 

 corner of the garden by themselves, in order to 

 give theni a start. Soil, loam and leaf mould in 

 equal parts, with sand. Ordinary garden soil will 

 not do. 



