28 MORE POT-POURRI 



cut them back, tie them up — when they take very little 

 room — and keep them rather dry all winter in a cold 

 shed just safe from the frost. We bring them on a 

 little in the spring, and plant them out the end of May 

 against a warm wall, though I am not at all sure that this 

 last is necessary. All they want is sunshine and copious 

 waterings. They are commonly treated in this way in 

 German gardens. Mr. Robinson says they can be in- 

 creased by division of the roots, but we also find cut- 

 tings strike easily in spring ; and three or four young 

 plants in a pot, as they flower at the top, are very pretty 

 in a greenhouse or window. Solanum jasminoides can 

 be treated in exactly the same way, though it will live 

 out through ordinary winters, especially if sheltered by 

 some other growth. 



Last spring my jealousy was excited by seeing 

 Camellias flowering very well out of doors. The prin- 

 ciple on which they were managed was to plant them in 

 a thick shrubbery with overhanging branches of Rhodo- 

 dendron or some other evergreen shrub. The ground 

 was prepared with a good deal of peat. In consequence 

 of the successful healthy look of these Camellias, I have 

 myself planted out two large old trees. The great 

 secret of success is that they should face due north, and 

 be well watered in dry weather. If Dielytra spectabilis 

 is planted in the same way, facing north and under the 

 protection of some shrub, it flowers weU out of doors. It 

 always gets injured by spring winds and frosts in the 

 open borders here. 



September 10th. — All the Funkias are worth growing, 

 but all might be left out of a small garden except FunJcia 

 Sieholdi. That, anyhow, must be grown out of doors, as 

 it is a beautiful plant, gives no trouble, flowers every 

 year, and lasts very well in water. If kept in a pot it 

 flowers at the same time as out of doors, but under 



