PLUMBAGO, OLEANDER, AGAPANTHUS 59 



the veranda or porch in summer, it is unexcelled. Its 

 great clusters of rosy-crimson flowers are quite equal 

 to bunches of Roses in effect, and a well-grown plant 

 will be literally covered with blossoms through half 

 the summer. Give it a rich soil made up of loam, 

 sand and old manure ; repot each spring. Keep it 

 in good shape by cutting back any branches which 

 show a tendency to outgrow others. Watch the stalk 

 and foliage, and if you notice a scale on either take 

 an old tooth brush and apply water containing lemon 

 or fir-tree oil, as advised in the chapter on insecticides. 

 Mealy bug often attacks this plant, but it can be 

 routed by washes containing one or the other of the 

 above mentioned oils. 



This plant can be made to assume a very sym- 

 metrical form by careful pruning. If you have an 

 old plant which has become too large for the window, 

 don't throw it away, but put it in the cellar over; 

 winter and plant it out on the lawn in summer, where 

 it will bloom beautifully. Indeed, no shrub can exceed 

 it in brilliant show. In fall the plant can be taken 

 up, its roots crowded into an old box or tub, and stored 

 away in the cellar for use another year. It is well 

 to winter your Oleanders in the cellar, because they 

 are not winter bloomers, strictly speaking, though they 

 often bloom at that time of the year, and they get 

 a chance to rest while in the dark. There are several 

 varieties, but the old rose-colored one is the best of all. 



The Agapanthns 



This is one of the best summer-blooming plants 

 we have. Its merits, however, seem to be but little 

 known, for we do not often see it in even quite large 

 collections. It is often called a tuberous plant, but 

 such is not the case. It has thick, fleshy roots with 

 a semi-tuberous look about them. It throws up a 



