CHAPTER XVni 



THE PETUNIA, RHYNCHOSPERMUM, HELIOTROPE AND 

 OXALIS 



The Petunia 



I find the double Petunia a very poor plant for 

 winter culture. It does well enough in summer, but 

 it steadily refuses to give me any good flowers after 

 November. But I have no trouble in getting enormous 

 quantities of blossoms from the single sorts. A bou- 

 quet of single and double Petunias is seen in Fig 12. I 

 know no other flower so prolific of bloom all through 

 the winter as the ordinary garden Petunia, if given 

 half a chance. It will bloom until exhausted. Then 

 cut it back almost to the pot, give a weekly application 

 of manure water, and in a few days you will see new- 

 shoots starting up about the base of the old stem, 

 and in a month it will be a large plant, loaded with 

 flowers and buds. The crimson purple varieties seem 

 best adapted to house culture. The white kinds do 

 very well, but they lack that purity of color which one 

 demands in a white flower. 



A very good effect is secured by planting a crim- 

 son and white plant together, letting the branches 

 interlace. The contrast will be very pleasing. 



This plant grows well when trained to a trellis, 

 or when allowed to droop. It must be cut back fre- 

 quently, if you want the greatest quantity of flowers 

 it can give. Its flowering depends on new growth, and 

 in order to have it bloom profusely you must treat it 

 in such a manner as to keep it producing new branches. 

 This treatment consists in pruning well from time 



