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Gardening for Amateurs 



Xight-scented Stock, with pale purplish- 

 brown flowers. The plants grow 1^ to 

 2 feet high. Both these kinds need treat- 

 ment similar to that advised for the 

 Brompton Stocks. 



Meconopsis (Himalayan Poppy). 

 Though in some gardens one or two of 

 the Himalayan Poppies are of perennial 

 duration, the most successful method of 

 cultivation is to treat them all as 

 biennials. Sow the seeds during April or 

 May in a cold frame placed in partial 

 shade. Pot the seedlings singly in small 

 pots, and keep the young plants in the frame 

 during winter, planting them out in April. 

 They do best in a position sheltered from the 

 midday sun, in well-drained soil, composed 

 of peat and loam, and delight in plenty of 

 moisture in summer. M. aculeata grows 

 2 to 2J feet high, and has purple flowers ; 

 M. integrifolia, a lovely kind from China, 

 bears large primrose yellow flowers, the plants 

 growing from 1 to 2 feet high ; M. Nepalensis 

 has pale yellow, nodding blossoms, its height 

 is from 3 to 5 feet ; M. Wallichii, the blue 

 Himalayan Poppy, is a lovely plant with blue 

 or purple-blue flowers, it grows 4 feet or 

 more in height. Ail bloom in summer. 



Michauxia. This plant belongs to the 

 Campanula family. There are two kinds, 

 both biennials. M. campanuloides, native 

 of the Levant, reaches 4 feet, and M. 



Tchihatcheffii, from the Caucasus, 5 feet 

 in height. Both have white flowers in 

 summer. Give them a sunny position, and 

 a well-drained sandy loam, enriched with 

 leaf-mould and old decayed manure. Sow 

 the seeds in July in a cold frame ; do not 

 put out the plants until spring. 



Oenothera biennis (Evening Primrose). 

 This favourite grows from 3 to 5 feet high, 

 and has fragrant yellow flowers from May 

 to July. Even better than the ordinary 

 kind is the variety lamarckiana, with larger 

 yellow blooms. Both are useful for the 

 herbaceous and shrubbery borders, also for 

 the wild garden. Self-sown seedlings of the 

 Evening Primrose are plentiful in most 

 gardens. 



Onopordon (Cotton Thistle). Several 

 of these plants are biennials. They seed 

 freely, and the seedlings come up plentifully 

 in the border. O. arabicum, 8 feet high, 

 with purple flower heads ; 0. bracteatum, 

 the Silver-leaved Thistle, 7 to 8 feet high ; 

 and 0. Salteri, with white stems, 6 to 8 feet 

 high, are the best. 



Verbascum (Mullein). Two kinds of 

 Mullein are biennial : V. olympicum, with 

 deep yellow flowers and tomentose foliage ; 

 and V. phlomoides also with yellow flowers. 

 Both grow from 5 to 6 feet high or more, 

 flowering in summer and early autumn. 

 They seed freely and thrive in ordinary soils. 



Roses from Cuttings. The amateur who 

 wishes to propagate a few of his own Roses 

 may do so quite easily, for the majority root 

 well from cuttings. In the event of the con- 

 venience being at hand for preparing a hot- 

 bed of manure and leaves under an ordinary 

 garden frame, he may increase his Roses 

 any time during summer when the shoots 

 are half ripened. Short, wiry shoots are 

 preferable to those which are long and sappy. 

 Sections 3 to 4 inches long may be cut to 

 an eye at the base, and another at the top, 

 a little of the older wood from the parent 

 branch at the base of the cutting being left 

 if possible. These should then be inserted 

 in well-drained pots of 2 parts loam, 1 part 

 leaf-mould, and 1 part sand, and plunged 

 over the hotbed in coco-nut fibre or other 



fine plunging material, after the fiercest heat 

 has worked off. Careful watering and 

 efficient shading from bright sun will result 

 in quantities of vigorous young roots in from 

 two to three weeks. If a hotbed cannot be 

 prepared stand the pots in a cold but close 

 frame. People who do not possess a frame 

 may leave their cuttings until September. 

 They may then select sections of well-ripened 

 branches 9 to 12 inches long, and place 

 them in a sheltered border out of doors. 

 Insert the cuttings on the slant, and bury 

 all but the upper three inches. It is possible 

 also to induce rose cuttings to form roots 

 merely by inserting them in a jar of water 

 placed in a sunny window or greenhouse. 

 They may be put in either in July or Septem- 

 ber. Roots may show in 4 or 5 weeks. 



