FOR AMATEUR CULTURE 



favorite as soon as it becomes better known. 

 It is of very easy culture, doing well in a soil 

 of loam and sand. It requires a moderate 

 amount of water, and plenty of light. Its foli- 

 age has a mint-like fragrance, when touched. 

 Its flow^ers are of the purest white, like tliose 

 of the Astilbe, light, airy, and graceful, borne 

 in spikes well above the foliage. 



Its flowering season is February and March. 



After flowering, the plant should be cut back 

 until little but a stub is left of the main stalk 

 and branches. Keep it quite dry for a month 

 or two. As soon as growth sets in more water 

 should be given, but use no fertilizer until late 

 in the fall. 



Plumbago. — This plant deserves a place in 

 every collection, for three reasons : It is of the 

 easiest culture — it is an almost constant bloom- 

 er — and its flowers are very beautiful. In 

 shape they are very much like those of the 

 Phlox, but with narrower petals. They are 

 borne in loose clusters, at the tips of the 

 branches. In color they are a soft, delicate 

 blue — an exceedingly rare shade among flow- 

 ers, and especially so among house-plants. 



This plant requires about the same soil as 

 that given the Geranium, and about the same 



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