HALF HARDY FLOWERS 93 
against is damp, and the same precautions should be taken as 
with Geraniums. The frame must be kept closed from the time 
the cuttings are put in until warm weather sets in, say, in March. 
Then air may be given, and as the weather continues to improve 
more air is allowed ; thus the rooted plants are gradually hardened 
off for planting out in June. 
Violas or Tufted Pansies are charming bedding plants and 
may be had in great variety. They are readily increased by cuttings 
taken in July and inserted 4 or 5 inches apart in a bed of leaf 
mould and sandy soil made up in a frame or under a handlight 
in a half shady part of the garden. The cuttings need not be 
disturbed until the following spring, when in late April or early 
May they are planted out. As far as possible those shoots which 
. originate beneath the soil should be selected, for very often they 
may be taken off with a few roots. Violas can be grown from seed 
sown in April and May to bloom the following year. They thrive 
best in an open sunny situation. Good varieties for bedding 
purposes are Snowflake and Seagull, white; Primrose Dame and 
Mrs. Airdrie, pale yellow ; Redbraes Yellow and Golden Sovereign, 
deep yellow; Kitty Bell and Maggie Mott, lavender; Councillor 
Waters and Archie Grant, purple. 
Lobelias.—A favourite flower on account of its brilliant blue 
colouring, unsurpassed by any other bedding plant. When the old 
plants have finished blooming in beds and borders they are taken 
up and put in boxes or pots in a warm greenhouse, receiving little 
water during winter. In the spring plenty of cuttings are available, 
and these root readily in flower pots filled with sandy soil and kept 
in the greenhouse. When rooted they are potted off and grown on 
ready for summer planting after being hardened off. They may be 
raised from seed sown in a warm glasshouse in February ; the little 
plants will bloom in the summer. Another good method of increas- 
ing one’s stock of Lobelia is to divide the tufts when they are taken 
up, pot each piece separately in a small flower pot, and keep them 
in the greenhouse during winter. ‘They will make good plants by 
the summer. Mrs. Clibran is a beautiful sort. 
Fuchsias are admirable plants for summer bedding ; they are 
less stiff and formal than many used for this purpose; when good 
standards or plants of pyramid form are planted they are quite 
striking objects. It is an easy matter to train standard and pyramid 
Fuchsias, if a good plant is bought in the first place. It must be 
encouraged to grow quickly, by giving a larger pot as soon as the 
roots reach the side of the pot in which the plant is growing. It is 
best to start with a young plant; when the stem is, say, 8 inches 
high the top is pinched out, with the result that several side shoots 
form; the uppermost shoot is trained perpendicularly to continue 
the leader or central shoot, and some of the best placed of the others 
are selected and tied down in the direction in which they are to 
grow. The use ofa wire frame with the rim beneath the edge of the 
