282 PLANT CULTURE 



Propagation, Seeds sown first half of February, and the plants 

 put out from 3-inch pots in May, will grow 5 feet high and 3 feet 

 through, bearing myriads of yellow and red flowers. Seeds ripen 

 freely on outdoor plants. 



BEGONIA. A number of species of Begonias are used for 

 bedding, principally the tuberous sorts, B. fuchsioides, and the 

 many varieties of 5. semperflorens. (See also pp. 70, 177.) 



Propagation by Seed. Seeds of the bedding varieties should 

 be sown by the beginning of January, to have the plants in good 

 shape for Spring sales. Cuttings are often used, but they do not 

 make anything like as good plants as those from seed. The seed 

 should be sown in boxes or pans. Sterilize the soil used on the sur- 

 face, firm well, water, then sow thinly without covering the seed, or 

 with only a very small quantity of fine sand, covering the box or 

 pan with a pane of glass until the seeds vegetate. 



BELLIS (English Daisy). B. perennis, the common pink and 

 white double Daisy of Spring, is most attractive for bedding as well 

 as for use in the early window box. The plants are not perfectly 

 hardy and should be wintered in a frame. 



Propagation. The best kinds are perpetuated by dividing the 

 plants after blooming, but in many parts of the country these 

 plants do not survive hot weather. Seeds should be sown during 

 September. 



CANNA. (See Bulbs and Tuberous-Rooted Plants.) 



CHyENOSTOMA. A charming dwarf shrub, C. hispidum, is not 

 so well known among florists as its merits deserve. It is useful in 

 a number of ways, but principally as a plant for filling boxes or bas- 

 kets. For rockwork, cemeteries or even as a bedding plant it is 

 prettier than a number of the things commonly used for such pur- 

 poses. It has a procumbent or decumbent habit, according to the 

 position in which it finds itself, and has the great merit of being 

 continually decked with a host of neat little pinkish white, star- 

 shaped flowers. 



Propagation. It is remarkably quick in making a bushy 

 growth from the seedling or cutting stage. For propagation lift 

 old plants in the Fall; keep in the greenhouse and take cuttings 

 from the young growths early in the Spring. 



DUSTY MILLER. There are a number of plants known as 

 Dusty Millers. They are used on account of their foliage, which is 

 densely covered with very fine white hairs, so much so that the 



