114 THE GARDEN BEAUTIFUL 



provement in size and beauty of the blossoms more 

 than repays the extra trouble. If you wish ordinary 

 dahlias only, water and feed freely and let them 

 grow as they will, staking and tying them if they 

 are in danger of breaking down. 



HlPPEASTRUMS 



These gorgeous flowers, usually called amaryllis, 

 are unsurpassed among bulbous plants either for 

 size or richness of color. California hybridizers 

 have produced the finest in the world and have 

 received the congratulations and plaudits of the 

 leading growers both at home and in foreign lands. 



The flowers range in color from a pure white 

 ground color with light or heavy markings of blush, 

 rose, pink and red, to striped and mottled combina- 

 tions of white with red, scarlet, crimson and ma- 

 roon; also in the latter colors in "selfs" or but a 

 single color in each flower. The newer sorts have 

 no tinge of green either in the throat or on the re- 

 verse side and all are overlaid with a satiny sheen or 

 luster that grows brighter as the colors deepen. 



The shape of the flower is a spreading, blunt- 

 pointed star, with overlapping petals, in some cases 

 revolute, or rolling backward at the tips, vastly su- 

 perior to the old type. The flowers are also of 

 enormous size, occasionally attaining ten inches in 

 diameter, with a half-dozen blossoms on one giant 

 stem three feet in height. They are of the easiest 

 possible culture and thrive in any rich soil in a 

 sunny exposure or are splendid subjects for pot 

 culture, vigor and number of blooms increasing with 

 age. 



For these bulbs the soil should be enriched with 

 a liberal quantity of decomposed manure most thor- 

 oughly mixed with the soil by spading, respading 



