GERANIUMS 175 



GERANIUMS 



It is not a very difficult matter to raise geraniums from seed. 

 The seeds are sown in pans containing a mixture of equal parts 

 of loam and sand. If a spent hotbed is available the seeds may 

 be sown in March. If there is no hotbed the sowing must be 

 done at the end of April and the pans kept indoors. Germina- 

 tion takes place quickly, and after thinning, the young plants, 

 when two inches high, are transferred to separate pots in which 

 they must be kept indoors through the following winter. 



The ordinary method of propagation is by means of cuttings 

 taken either in July or in March. For summer cuttings, good 

 strong side shoots are taken off with a clean cut, trimmed, and 

 firmly inserted in somewhat sandy soil in a sheltered position 

 out of doors. Care must, as usual, be taken that the base of 

 the cutting is in close contact with the soil. Root formation 

 proceeds rapidly, and at the beginning of October the rooted 

 cuttings will be ready to be taken up, potted, and stored for 

 the winter, either in a frame or indoors. 



In the case of spring cuttings, the slips are taken off old plants 

 kept over from the previous summer. Gentle heat, however, is 

 required for these spring cuttings, and consequently the method 

 cannot be adopted unless the school garden possesses a heated 

 greenhouse or a hotbed. 



Window geraniums planted in pots may be kept through the 

 winter (as is done by cottagers) in any room the temperature 

 of which during the winter nights does not fall to a lower 

 temperature than 40 F. Where it is desired to keep summer 

 bedded Geraniums through the winter, they are best packed closely 

 with the earth round their roots in boxes, which are then stored 

 in some place free from frost. 



THE HERBACEOUS BORDER 



The mainstay of the herbaceous border is a variety of soft- 

 wooded hardy perennial plants. These are supplemented by 

 such spring flowering bulbous plants as Snowdrops, Squills, 

 Crocuses, Irises, and Narcissus, by annuals, and by a few small 



