CHAPTER VI 
Half Hardy Flowers for Summer Beds—Flowers of Spring— 
Chrysanthemums—Beautiful Window Gardens 
Geraniums.—Since it is well to insist on the accurate name of a 
plant, although its wrong name is commonly used, I may state that the 
Geranium isa hardy plant and several sorts grow wild in Britain. 
Others are valuable rockery plants. The plant commonly referred 
to as Geranium is the Zonal Pelargonium, which is half hardy—that 
is to say, it needs protection in winter. However, Geranium almost 
everyone calls it, so Geranium it shall be. There are bedding 
Geraniums and winter flowering Geraniums ; varieties that are 
suitable for bedding out in summer are often valueless for winter 
flowering in the greenhouse and vice versd. Geraniums for summer 
bedding are easily grown from cuttings taken in August. Plants 
growing in the flower beds will furnish large quantities. The 
cuttings are made about 3 to 4 inches long, cut below a joint (the 
lowest leaves being cut off), and inserted in flower pots 3 inches in 
diameter (several cuttings in a pot). The pots are filled with sandy 
soil made firm and, of course, drainage is provided by crocks put in 
the bottom. The cuttings are placed out of doors—preferably on 
ashes or a gravel walk so that worms may not enter the soil—and in 
late September are put in a frame or ona shelf in the greenhouse 
for the winter. They need very little water indeed until the spring ; 
a dry atmosphere and slight warmth in frosty weather are essential 
to success. Not only must the surroundings be kept as dry as 
. possible, but all dead and decaying leaves need picking off, for the 
chief thing to be feared is “damping,” or, in other words, the decay 
of the leaves and stems. In spring as the weather improves the 
plants are again placed out of doors to be hardened off for planting 
out in June. If it is wished still further to increase the stock, 
cuttings can be taken in spring from those plants rooted in the 
autumn. Good varieties of bedding Geraniums are Paul Crampel, 
brilliant scarlet ; West Brighton Gem, scarlet, very free flowering ; 
Henry Jacoby Improved, crimson, much freer than the old variety, 
and Beauty, cerise. 
Calceolarias.—These are increased by cuttings inserted in 
September in a bed of light soil made up in a cold frame. The 
cuttings are dibbled in some 2 or 3 inches apart, and remain undis- 
turbed throughout the winter. The chief thing to be guarded 
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