HYDRANGEAS 



403 



Otaksa and the French sorts a specialty, and I doubt whether it 

 pays the florist who uses a couple of hundred plants during the 

 year to attempt to propagate and grow on his own requirements. 

 I know we all feel hke taking cuttings and rooting them when we 

 have a plant with a lot of fine shoots, and it isn't a great deal of 

 trouble to carry the young plants along with the other stock, but 

 isn't it cheaper to buy in Fall either field- or pot-grown plants ? 



For Easter Flowbring 



Whether Easter comes early or late, the best plants to flower 

 for that date are those which have been grown on in pots during 

 the Summer months. If kept shifted during the Summer, say up 

 to August and the pots plunged up to their rims out in the open, 

 with perhaps just a little shade above, the wood of the plants is 

 ripened or hardened off by gradually withholding water from the 

 end of September on. A light frost will usuaUy help to get the 

 plants into a dormant condition. They are then placed either in 

 a frame with proper protection or in a cool house. 



As you want them 

 to rest for awhile they 

 need only enough water 

 to keep the buds on 

 the end of the stems in 

 good shape. Care must 

 also be taken not to 

 have them freeze, for 

 those end buds will later 

 on produce the flowers. 

 Destroy them and you 

 destroy the bloom. The 

 plants are brought to a 

 45-deg. house around 

 Christmas and wiU soon 

 get busy. Often the 

 mistake is made of 

 waiting too long in get- 

 ting the plants under 

 way, which means either 

 getting the plants in 

 bloom too late for 

 Easter or subjecting 

 them to a too high 

 temperature. If they 

 are aUowed to come 

 along slowly, much bet- 



Fig. 184.— A Standard Hydrangea. For variety s 



sake and as something a little out of the ordinary 



around Eastertime, a few standards like this wiU 



be useful 



