HYDRANGEAS 



405 



December rest them; after that 

 treat the same as the pot-grown 

 ones. If you want to make 

 money, instead of insisting on 

 getting the plants in for Easter, 

 when you know it is very 

 doubtful, don't rush them, but 

 let them come along in a 55- 

 deg. house and buy what you 

 want for Easter. You will want 

 your plants for later on, up to 

 Memorial Day and even later. 



You might put down page 

 after page of cultural direc- 

 tions, yet you haven't conditions 

 under control with field plants 

 as with those grown indoors. 

 Here we have at times gone 

 through wet Summers when 

 the plants made a soft, rank 

 growth only to be cut down 

 by an extra heavy early frost 

 that killed every top bud and 

 part of each stem. Again, we have passed through hot, dry Summers 

 when, despite all the watering they received, the plants stood 

 practically still. This was followed by an unusually wet Fall and 

 the plants kept on growing away into December; there was no way 

 of ripening the wood and we didn't get hardly any flower buds. 

 This is not to say, however, that such conditions don't affect even 

 the plants in pots; in fact, you run chances either way. 



Fig. 186. — ^Hydrangea "Mme. Moul- 

 Uere," one of the many beautiful French 

 sorts — a splendid white Easter plant. 

 You can grow it much branched or to a 

 single stem from Spring cuttings kept in 

 pots over Summer 



Plants for Summer Flowering 



I believe that the retail grower is better off buyiiig either stock 

 ready for forcing in Fall, or the plants in flower for Easter. I also 

 claim that he should pay more attention to making use of Hydrangeas 

 in pots and tubs for Summer flowering. We see beautiful speciinens 

 displayed on lawns, terraces and in front of the main entrance of 

 a residence, but we don't see enough of them, particularly at present 

 when there is a shortage of Boxwood. Specimen plants of Hy- 

 drangea should be pushed, and plants which come into flower during 

 July and August are the most valuable. To grow such specimen 

 plants on, or to get them ready, is an easy matter. Field grown 

 stock can be carried in a coldframe or house all Winter and three 

 plants which ordinarily would be large enough for 6-in. pots can 

 be planted in a butter tub about April, but still kept in a frame or 



