Gardening in California 



degrees Fahrenheit by day, and carefully preventing cold 

 draughts of air from passing through the house. 



Hanging baskets should now receive a thorough over-hauling. 

 If a basket requires replanting, line it first with moss and place 

 about one inch of soil over this; place the plants in the basket 

 and fill the basket with lumpy, fibrous loam and a little peat. 

 Asparagus Springerii and Asparagus plumosa are excellent plants 

 for growing in baskets as are also the Davalia ferns, the Boston 

 fern and many of the Adiantums. Many of the small-flowering 

 tuberous Begonias also make excellent subjects, especially where 

 hung above the eye when their lovely flowers show to good 

 advantage. 



Propagate by cuttings, Coleus, Pilea muscosa, Tradescantias, 

 Ficus, and Panicum; also propagate Begonia Rex from leaves 

 and Isolepis by division. 



Caladiums and Alocacias, having rested during the Winter, 

 may now be repotted. Shake the old soil from the tubers and pot 

 them in small pots, allowing not more than a half -inch of soil 

 between the tubers and the side of the pot. They should be 

 placed in soil consisting of equal parts of fibrous loam, leaf-soil 

 and peat, with enough silver-sand to keep the whole sweet and 

 open. After potting, place them in a mild bottom heat of about 

 seventy degrees Fahrenheit and a top temperature of about sixty 

 degrees Fahrenheit at night, allowing a rise of about ten degrees 

 in the daytime; water sparingly until growth has begun. When 

 the plants have filled the pots with roots, change them to larger 

 pots, taking care that an inch of fresh soil surrounds the ball of 

 earth around the plants; this will necessitate a pot two sizes or 

 inches wider than the one the plant formerly occupied. In repot- 

 ting, use the same soil as recommended for the first potting, but, 

 in addition, 'mix a little very old well-rotted half-dry cow or 

 horse-manure with it as the Caladiums, like most other large- 

 leaved, rapid-growing plants, love good rich feeding and plenty 

 of water during the growing season. 



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