BEDDING PLANTS FROM SEED 69 



cover with a white paper and glass until the plants 

 appear, then place in a warm sunny window, shading 

 the glare of the sun for the first few days with a 

 bit of cheese cloth stretched across the window, then 

 give full sun as the plants grow in size, for coleus 

 depends upon the sun for the beauty of its foliage. 

 Transplant, when large enough to handle, into similar 

 flats or small thumb pots, if the number is not too 

 large, plunging these into boxes of moist sand or moss 

 and grow until planting time. The directions for 

 coleus ^eed apply equally well to all the smaller 

 seeded plants with the exception of heliotrope. Where 

 these are required for bedding, extra care must be 

 given to the question of humidity, as they are very 

 sensitive to extremes of drought or dampness and 

 must be kept just at the point of drying out, but 

 never allowed to do so, for success. 



Salvias are, of all bedding plants, the most easily 

 managed; the seed, which should be sown in flats or 

 hotbed, germinates in from three to five days, and all 

 the little plants ask is a chance to grow in sunshine 

 and fresh air in abundance, but not cold air, as 

 the salvia is a plant of warmth and sunshine, espe- 

 cially in its early stages. Grown from seed they 

 bloom earlier than from, cuttings, and I have had 

 from spring-sown seeds plants five or six feet high 

 and a mass of bloom by mid-summer. 



Dahlias are as easily grown from seed as salvias, 



