Bedding Plants for Next Year— By Edwin Lonsdale, 



YOU CAN SAVE MONEY BY TAKING INDOORS THE TENDER BEDDING PLANTS AND HAVE LOTS 

 OF FUN PROPAGATING THEM DURING THE WINTER MONTHS IN THE WINDOW GARDEN 



HPHE "bedding" plants we shall always 

 -*• have with us if only because they 

 give such dazzling brilliancy of color. 

 Some of us really like them too, for them- 

 selves and the fact that they are not hardy 

 and must be nursed is an incentive to 

 one's efforts. Of course you may buy 

 what you need each season — most people 

 do — but I want to show you how you 

 can have a deal of pleasure during the 

 coming winter by home propagation from 

 the plants that are now growing in your 

 garden. 



Of all the favorite bedders, alternanthera 

 and coleus are still the most popular for 

 highly colored foliage effects. The former 

 has narrow leaves, dwarf habit and stands 

 shearing well, and is much used as an 

 edging. It can be had in red and yellow 

 colors. 



We commence putting in cuttings of 

 these bright-leaved plants any time during 

 the month of August — the sooner the 

 better. The material used in which to 

 put the cuttings to form roots is a mixture 

 of well decomposed leafmold that has been 

 sifted through a sieve with a half inch 

 mesh, and bar sand or any other clean 

 sand, in about equal proportion in pans 

 (which are shallow burnt clay flower pots) 

 or boxes, about three inches deep. The 

 cuttings are dibbled carefully from half 

 an inch to an inch apart, and made firm. A 

 thorough watering is then given to com- 

 plete the settling process and also to fur- 

 nish moisture to sustain the young embryo 

 plant until self sustaining roots have been 

 formed. During the first few days after be- 

 ing put into the propagating pans or boxes 

 it is necessary to sprinkle the cuttings fre- 

 quently, so as to keep them from wilting, 

 and they must also be kept shaded from the 

 strong rays of the sun during the hottest 

 part of the day; for if cuttings are allowed 

 to wilt, it is not always an easy matter to 

 bring them up bright and fresh again. 



These cuttings are allowed to remain 

 in the propagating pans or boxes in a 

 temperature that is not allowed to go below 

 55 degrees at night. About the first of 

 March, and sometimes two weeks earlier, 

 we prepare a hotbed in what is called a 

 "coldframe" outdoors. This is made with 

 fresh horse manure — two to two and a 

 half feet deep, and about three inches of 

 well pulverized rich soil is placed on the 

 top of same, the whole being covered over 

 with hotbed sashes. And when the gen- 

 erated heat has somewhat subsided, which 

 will be in two weeks, the rooted cuttings 

 of the alternantheras are divided, and 

 each division is dibbled into the soil in 

 the hotbed, two and a half inches apart 

 or so, carefully sprinkled with water 

 through a "rose-nozzle," and the sash put 

 on again, and, if the sun is very bright, 



loose sand may be scattered on the glass 

 to supply the necessary shade for a few 

 days. And in these congenial quarters 

 the plants will thrive amazingly, if all their 

 wants are intelligently attended to. As 

 to ventilating the bed, when a temperature 

 of from 70 to 75 degrees has been reached, 

 the sashes are drawn down a few inches 

 from the top, which will allow the excess 

 heat to escape, and admit some needed 

 fresh air. 



Another method we sometimes employ 

 is to take up the old plants from the gar- 

 den before frost and shorten both roots and 

 tops with a sharp knife and place same 

 either in pots or boxes, and as soon after 

 the New Year as possible these plants 

 are taken out, divided, and placed where 

 the night temperature never falls below 60 

 degrees at night. 



These plants may also be propagated 

 in the window garden, provided, the room 

 in which they are cared for does not go 

 below the night temperature as recom- 

 mended above — 60 degrees. The plan to 

 be practised here should be somewhat dif- 

 ferent from that carried out in a greenhouse, 

 and that is not to fill the flower pot to with- 

 in three and one-half inches of the top, or 

 sufficiently low down so that a pane of 

 glass may be placed on it and not touch the 

 leaves of the little plants. This will check 

 evaporation and remove all possibility of 

 wilting. Every morning the glass should be 

 lifted, and the collected moisture should be 

 wiped away and within half an hour the 

 windowpane may be replaced over the 

 little plants. 



Coleus may be handled in very much 

 the same way, except that we put the 

 cuttings in clear bar sand, and as soon as 

 the cuttings are rooted they are potted 

 into light soil, which is composed of rich 

 loam, made by mixing a fifth part of 

 well decayed cow manure to good 

 fresh soil that has been secured from 

 an old pasture, if possible. But if not 

 easily obtainable any good garden soil 

 will do. If the prepared loam is inclined 

 to be of a heavy clay nature, some leaf- 

 mold will help to make it of the desired 

 lightness. A generous proportion of sand 

 may be necessary in order to allow the 

 water to pass away freely. 



When the young plants have grown to a 

 sufficient length to make a cutting, another 

 crop of cuttings may be taken and many 

 of the plants from which the cuttings were 

 taken are thrown away. This method 

 keeps the plants more vigorous than if we 

 kept the cuttings that were rooted in Au- 

 gust and repotted at intervals. Old plants 

 of coleus are frequently dug up in early fall, 

 potted and placed on the window sill in a 

 warm room, and when the slips have grown 

 to a sufficient length to be used for prop- 



63 



agating purposes, they may be treated as 

 recommended for alternanthera. 



The colors of Girard College, Phila- 

 delphia, are steel and garnet. For the 

 latter colors in the beds around the grounds 

 Irtsine Lindeni is used. Treated similarly 

 to coleus, except that it will flourish in a 

 temperature 5 degrees cooler, it is as easily 

 handled, and is unique in its color scheme. 



The "old woman" {Artemisia Stelleriana) 

 furnishes the gray in the college colors. 

 These cuttings are not put in until Novem- 

 ber and then they are put into boxes, and 

 in a temperature that frequently goes to 

 45 degrees at night. The material is 

 leafmold and sand in about equal quantities, 

 in which the cuttings root in a very short 

 time if they are shaded from strong sun- 

 shine and never neglected for want of 

 water. If we need room in the greenhouses 

 they are put out into a coldframe early 

 in the year, where they should be protected 

 from severe frost. From two to three 

 weeks before they are needed for use out- 

 doors they may be potted into 2|-inch pots 

 and if given intelligent treatment they 

 will be just right by planting out time. 



For furnishing the "white line" that 

 is sometimes needed in formal bedding 

 I think of nothing better than Abutilon 

 Savitzii — the white variegated flowering 

 maple. In the distance, especially when 

 used among plants with dark foliage, 

 it looks white indeed. On account of its 

 slower growth than some other of our 

 bedding plants it has to get an early start, 

 say not later than last week in August. 



The cuttings are dibbled into sand, 

 and as soon as well rooted they are potted 

 into a 2-f-inch pot, and the temperature 

 we allow them to grow in is about 55 de- 

 grees at night. If given a higher tem- 

 perature they will grow faster and if short 

 of stock a cutting may be taken from the 

 tallest plants and rooted and potted in the 

 regulation way. 



Undoubtedly by far the most popular of 

 all bedders are the many varieties of the 

 zonal pelargonium or geranium. Cut- 

 tings of these we generally leave until 

 September before taking, and then they 

 are put into clear sand and kept cool. 

 After they have been firmly dibbled into 

 the sand, a good watering is given. Cut- 

 tings must always be watered through a 

 rose. After that geraniums will not need 

 much water, except that the leaves may 

 be sprinkled occasionally. This class of 

 plant being of a succulent nature, if too 

 much water is given they are more likely 

 to rot than to root. 



Slips, or cuttings, as florists and gardeners 

 generally call them, may be propagated 

 during the late fall with more certainty 

 than at any other time, provided that their 

 wants are carefully attended to. 



