Dace liber 7, 1876. ) 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



481 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 

 of 



Day 

 of 



DECEMBEE 7—13, 1876. 



Average 

 Temperature near 



Snn 



Snn 



Sets. 



Moon 



Moon 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 before 



Day 

 of 



Month 



Week. 





London. 











Son. 



Year 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



h. m. 



h. m. 



h. m. h. m. 



Days. 



m. e. 





7 



Th 



Koyal Society at S.30 p.m. 



48.4 



S8.5 



13.5 



7 54 



3 49 



11 27 18 



21 



8 6 



342 



8 



E 





46.9 



33.6 



40.8 



7 55 



8 49 



morn. 



30 



( 



7 40 



343 



9 



S 



Royal Botanic Society at 3.45 P.il. 



46.7 



34.9 



40.8 



7 67 



3 49 



48 



42 



23 



7 IS 



344 



10 



Son 



2 Sunday in Advent. 



47.0 



32.8 



S9.9 



7 58 



3 49 



2 6 



53 



24 



6 45 



345 



11 



SI 



Michelius born, 1697. 



46.5 



32.6 



39.5 



7 59 



S 49 



3 25 



1 7 



25 



6 17 



346 



12 



To 





48.0 



37.0 



42.5 



8 



3 49 



4 44 



1 28 



26 



5 49 



347 



13 



W 



Society of Arts at 8 p.m. 



47.5 



36.5 



42.0 



8 1 



S 49 



6 3 



1 44 



27 



5 20 



348 



From observations taken near London dnring forty-three years 



the average day temperature 



of the week is 46.0- ; and its night temperature 



35.1'. 











INDOOR EARLY WINTER FLOWERS. 



UTDOOR supplies of flowers for filling vases 

 are cut off by frost and snow, plants now 

 flowering naturally are not numerous, and 

 forced plants are not yet in beauty. The 

 demand for flowers, instead of decreasing 

 as tbe days become shorter and duller, 



increases. Flowers never make their pre- 

 sence felt more than in the dull autumn and 

 early winter months, and at no time in 

 country establishments are they more in 

 request. The shooting and hunting season generally 

 strains the resources of the garden. No wonder that the 

 cultivation of plants with handsome foliage of bright 

 glowing colours should have received an impetus. Ever 

 flower-like in colour, ever beautiful, they are always 

 available for decorative purposes. Yet useful as are their 

 sprays for cutting we must still have flowers. Take a 

 friend's opinion. " All the colours sought for formerly in 

 the flowera of plants must now be looked for in their 

 foliage ; and if the present rage for coloured-leaved plants 

 continue it will soon be difficult to find a plant with plain 

 green leaves and showy flowers. Variegated plants have 

 frequently a diseased look — anything but the freshness of 

 Nature's green heightened in effect by her bright glow- 

 ing flowers." That observation struck me as conveying 

 a hint that leaf-colouring may be overdone ; that we 

 might have too much coloured foliage, and too little green 

 leafage contrasted with bright flowers. 



It is a fact that few plants which are noticeable for 

 beauty of foliage are remarkable also for handsome flowers, 

 and when flowers are produced in anything like profusion 

 on variegated plants they do not appear to advantage 

 with the beauty of the leafage. The effect of mixing 

 variegated leaves, or sprays of variegated plants, with 

 flowers is very similar to that of flowers upon a varie- 

 gated plant. They do not accord well together, though the 

 white inflorescence of Iresine Herbstii is effective in con- 

 trast with the red foliage ; the plume-like Celosia flowers 

 intermingled with bold variegated foliage have a particu- 

 larly fine effect ; and the sprays of Panicum variegatum 

 ■will almost associate well with anything, and at this its 

 flowering season its crimson inflorescence is quite charm- 

 ing. It shall therefore have the first place upon the list 

 for its general usefulness and adaptation ; and as I do not 

 intend to dwell particularly on variegated-foliaged plants, 

 I should like to make but one suggestion — namely, if 

 flowers are at any time scarce never let the scarceness 

 be felt, but seek to meet a lack of flowers by bright glow- 

 ing leaf-colouring. Many overgrown or ill-shaped plants 

 may often be laid under contribution with advantage even 

 to the plants, and certainly to the credit of the gardener. 



I will now note what I find to be useful as early 

 winter-flowering stove plants. Hippeastrum pardinum 

 is now (November 21st) in full glory, its crimson-red 

 spots on the cream ground being very beautiful. Just 

 going off are Hippeastrum robustum and Amaryllis 

 aulica platypetala, red, tipped green, yellow-striped. What 



No. 819.— Vol. XXXI. New Series. 



1 others of this family will flower without any special treat- 

 ment in a stove ? The beauty and distinctness of Ama- 

 ryllises cause them to be always acceptable. Ureeolina 

 aurea, with its bright yellow and green-tipped drooping 

 bells, is a very desirable early autumn-flowering bulbous 

 plant of the easiest culture, and continues flowering 

 throughout November. It is seldom that the Griffinia 

 Blumenavia or G. hyacinthina are seen, but finer winter- 

 flowering bulbous plants are not grown. Their flowers 

 are Lily-like, produced in elegant heads, the former having 

 white pink-striped flowers, and the latter blue flowers, 

 and the plants are evergreen — at least as much so as are- 

 Eucharises. 



Gesnera macrantha is another valuable early winter- 

 flowering plant ; it has a root like a Gloxinia, very clear' 

 green leaves, and a fine head of bright scarlet flowera. 

 It requires to be started in June. The long panicled 

 racemes of orange-scarlet flowers of G. zebrina splendens 

 are fine, and as they come from the axils of the leaves 

 after the principal flowers are past the plants continue 

 a long time attractive. G. cinnabarina has very beautiful 

 leaves and fine red and orange flowers ; but G. exoniensis 

 from its dense growth, high-coloured leaves, and profuse 

 blooming properties is the most desirable. Its flowers are 

 orange-scarlet, with a yellow throat. Achimenes, and 

 especially Tydseas, not started until June, will flowey 

 finely in early winter. I find the small but numerous 

 bright scarlet flowers of A. ignea very useful for cutting. 

 The flowering sprays have a light appearance. Amongst 

 Tydsas I find Display a splendid variety. 



Few plants are more free in flowering in winter than 

 Begonia nitida odorata, white tinged flesh, which does 

 best upon a trellis against a wall ; B. insignis, pink ;- 

 B. Weltoniensis, pink; B. erecta multiflora, pink; 

 B. fuchsioides, scarlet ; B. parviflora, white ; B. hybrida 

 floribunda, bright rose ; B. Saundersiana, flesh ; B. In- 

 grami, salmon, all from cuttings struck early in April and 

 grown-on make fine plants by autumn, blooming all the 

 winter in a stove. 



Allamanda neriifolia flowers more or less continuously ; 

 and late-started plants of A. nobilis and A. cathartica give 

 their gorgeous blooms up to Christmas. Clerodendron 

 Balfouri, which was given a rest in August and kept 

 moist after the middle of September, is now showing its 

 cymes of white calyxes with their peeping crimson 

 corollas. Passiflora prineeps keeps up a continuous sup- 

 ply of its rosy scarlet flowers ; and the glowing P. ker- 

 mesina is of the brightest scarlet-crimson suffused with 

 violet. P. Madonna also is a fine plant for early winter, 

 producing its flowers freely. 



Centropogon Lucyanus with red flowers is free and 

 effective ; and a pretty bushy graceful plant is the easily- 

 grown Centradenia rosea, dotted with its rosy stars. Then 

 we have the rosy-pink bracts of Dalechampia Roezliana 

 rosea, and the fiery orange scarlet of Aphelandra au- 

 rantiaca Roezli, Jasminum Sambac flore-pleno, white ; 

 Eranthemum pulchellum, blue ; Thyrsacanthus rutilans, 

 scarlet ; Scutellaria Mocciniana and S. pulchella ; the 

 very desirable Tabernfemontana coronaria flore-pleno, 



No. 1471.— Vol. LVI., Old Semes. 



