Gardening for Amateurs 



207 



remove them to a cold frame where they 

 can remain until planted out. 



Swainsonia galegifolia. An attractive 

 plant of slender, wiry growth, bearing small, 

 red, pea-shaped flowers. As grown for 

 summer bedding it is not more than 12 inches 

 high. Cuttings can be taken in August or 

 September. Root them in 5-inch pots filled 

 with sandy soil in a warm frame, and grow 

 them in a temperature of 50 during the 

 winter. In the new year pot them off 

 separately in 2^ -inch pots. Old plants may 

 also be saved, and cuttings taken from 

 them in January or February. 



Verbena. The named varieties of this 

 attractive plant are raised from cuttings 

 during February and March ; but to enable 

 this to be done pot up some old plants 

 from the beds in the autumn and keep them 

 in a greenhouse temperature of 55 during 



the winter. Insert the cuttings in small 

 pots filled with sandy soil, and plunge 

 them in a propagating case. When rooted 

 they may be potted separately in 2-inch 

 pots, in which they will make suitable 

 plants to bed out. Seedling Verbenas are 

 well worth growing. Sow seeds in heat in 

 February, and later on prick off the seed- 

 lings in small pots. Grow them in the 

 greenhouse until late in April, then harden 

 them off in a cold frame preparatory to 

 planting out. 



Veronica Andersoni variegata. This 

 useful plant is propagated from cuttings in 

 September. Insert them around the edge of 

 small pots filled with a light sandy compost, 

 and place in a slightly heated frame to root. 

 Keep them during the winter in a tempera- 

 ture of 55, and early in the new year pot 

 off the cuttings singly into 2 -inch pots. 



Removing Faded Flowers from Shrubs. 

 Shrubs which naturally mature large 

 quantities of seeds are improved in health, 

 and their lives often indefinitely prolonged, 

 by the removal of the old flower heads before 

 seeds have time to form. Seed production 

 is a very exhaustive process, and, as a rule, 

 shrub seeds are not wanted, therefore there 

 i- in. rea-on why the energies of the plants 

 should not be directed to the formation of 

 branches rather than seeds. Rhododendrons, 

 Azaleas, and Lilacs are examples of shrubs 

 which produce large quantities of seeds. 

 If a trial is made of a few plants, it will 

 soon be found that those from which the 

 flower heads are removed immediately the 

 flowers are over will bloom more freely and 

 be in better health the following year than 

 those allowed to mature seeds. 



Thinning Growths of Herbaceous 

 Plants. The fact does not appear to be 

 generally known that herbaceous plants 

 give much better results if the shoots to 

 each plant are limited to a comparatively 

 small number than when all that appear are 

 allowed to mature. A little thought will, 

 however, convince anyone of the common 

 sense of this statement, and after a trial of 

 the practice no further evidence will be 

 necessary. It stands to reason that half-a- 



dozen shoots will develop more satisfactorily 

 than twenty, and as a rule the better the 

 shoots are the finer will be the inflorescences. 

 Therefore it is a good plan when the young 

 shoots are from 4 to 6 inches long to look 

 over the plants and remove a large number 

 of the weaker growths, leaving a compara- 

 tively small number to mature. Perennial 

 Asters, Sunflowers, Chrysanthemums, 

 Phloxes, Paeonies, and other plants of similar 

 growth may be dealt with in this way. 

 Then, with plants that require staking, 

 instead of tying them round in bunches, 

 place a separate stake to each shoot. This 

 takes a little longer, but the effect is much 

 more pleasing than that obtained by tin- 

 haphazard method only too often practised. 

 A Hint on Transplanting. If a week 

 or ten days before it is desired to move any 

 shrubs in the autumn, the roots are chopped 

 round by just inserting tin- spade as if the 

 plants were to be lifted at once, they will 

 transplant \\ith eomparatively little check, 

 provided a good ball of soil is taken up 

 with the roots. This may also be practised 

 on plants which are to be lifted from the 

 flower borders and potted, and if they are 

 to be placed in rather small pots, carry out the 

 work a fortnight or three weeks previously, 

 as the check will be more severe. 



