HOUSE, AREA, AND WINDOW GARDENING. 



289 



Scillas, or SquiUs, are very satisfactory bulbs for 

 treatment in pots. S. bifolia is the first to blossom 

 in early spring, and has a little spike of small 

 purple flowers. The next to follow is S. sibenca 

 the flowers of which are more like Snowdrops 

 in form, though not quite so large, while their 

 colour is bright coerulean-blue. After this comes 

 S. amoena, which has the form and habit of 3. bifolia, 

 but is rather taller, and the flowers are dark blue. 

 Then S. campanulata comes in; this is the common 

 blue Squill of gardens, which is sometimes found 

 white, ai;d occasionally pale pink. About the same 

 time (that is, in May) the Blue-bell of our hedges 

 and woods, *S'. nutans, is also in bloom. All these 

 are very pretty pot-plants for rooms. 



Bulbs of Gladiolus reward the grower with tall 

 spikes of showy flowers of several colours. They 

 should be put into pots in April, and they will 

 bloom in August and September. Growing as they 

 do from three to four feet high, they are not 

 suitable for small windows. The colours are white, 

 yellow, pink, and scarlet, and some flowers are 

 beautifully striped, spotted, or mottled. Gladioli 

 require a richer soil than most bulbs, and should 

 therefore have a larger proportion of well-rotted 

 manure in the compost in which they are planted. 

 When growing, they will be all the better for an 

 occasional watering with liquid manure. 



Lilies. — To grow these well in pots, they must be 

 planted two inches below the surface of the soil^ 

 and the pots must have plenty of crock for drainage ; 

 hence the pots must be large and deep. The soil must 

 be a mixture of loam and sand, and to this mixture 

 must be added an equal quantity of good peat or 

 good leaf -mould. When planted, the pots should be 

 covered with and plunged in ashes, and kept there 

 until one or more leaves show through, when they 

 may be removed to the room or window in which 

 they are to flower. A little clear liquid manure 

 given once or twice a week, in addition to any 

 watering that may be necessary, will be a great help 

 to the bulbs in the production of fine flowers. Some 

 of the larger LiHums, such as L. auratum and L. 

 candichcm, are so strongly scented that they are 

 scarcely suited for a room, but most of the others 

 may be grown satisfactorily. 



We must limit our remaining remarks upon bulbs 

 suitable for in-door culture to the mere mention of a 

 few other very desirable plants. Anomatheca cruenta 

 is a pretty little grass-leaved plant with small bright 

 scarlet flowers. Camassia esculenta has star-shaped 

 blue flowers . on long graceful spikes. Chionodoxa 

 Zucilice is another blue-flowering bulb of great 

 beauty, Colchicums have rose-coloured flowers in 

 the autumn, in form resembling a large Crocus, but 

 without leaves. Crocosma awea has bright orange 

 67 



blossoms, and is very graceful. Hyacinthus ame- 

 thystiniis is quite a dwarf amongst its kind, only six 

 inches high, with beautiful amethyst-blue flowers. 

 Eyacinthus candicans grows from three to five feet 

 high, and has a long spike of elegantly hanging 

 white bell-like flowers. Imantophyllum miniatum is a 

 noble Amaryllis-like plant with clusters of orange - 

 crimson blossoms. Milla (or Triteleia) — all the 

 species are beautiful and easily grown, the flowers 

 being either white, purple, or lavender, shaded 

 or striped with a darker colour. The species of 

 Nerine have either crimson or scarlet blossoms, and 

 are all well worth growing. Ornithogalum caudatum 

 is the Onion-plant so commonly seen in cottage 

 windows ; there are other species much more orna- 

 mental. ScMzostylis coccinea has spikes of scarlet 

 flowers, much resembling a very small Gladiolus. 

 Zephyranthes are dwarf Lily -like plants, with either 

 rose-coloured or white blossoms. (For further details 

 see chapters on Bulbous Plants.) 



Succulents, as plants with thick fleshy leaves 

 are called, may be styled the donkeys of the veget- 

 able kingdom, since they will stand neglect and 

 ill-treatment better than any other kinds of plants 

 they will exist on the poorest root-food, and will 

 even live for long peiiods without any, while, as to 

 drink, they may almost be said to be total abstainers. 

 They are foimd principally upon sandy plains in 

 tropical and semi-tropical countries, chiefly in Mexico, 

 South America, and Southern Africa, in places where 

 they are exposed to great heat, and get little or no 

 rain or refreshing dews. These being their natural 

 conditions, they can be strongly recommended for 

 window-culture, since they do not require that 

 amount of regular and systematic attention which is 

 a matter of life and death to most plants. Especially 

 are they the plants for amateurs who are often away 

 from home, and for invalids who are occasionally too 

 unwell to attend to them. It must not, however, be 

 supposed that they will look as well and flower as 

 freely if neglected as if properly attended to ; on 

 the contrary, they well repay one for care and atten- 

 tion. Sandy loam, mixed with brick rubbish or 

 broken and smashed bricks, is the soil generally 

 suited to these plants ; some of them are the better 

 for a little leaf-mould. If the air be not too dry 

 they will extract from it nearly all the moisture 

 they require for their growth ; any deficiency in 

 this respect must be made good by occasional slight 

 waterings of the soil ; but this must be done very 

 sparingly. On the other hand, while it is an easy 

 matter to cause them to rot off by giving too much 

 water, it is difficult to pro\dde them with too much 

 sunlight, since in their natural habitats they know 

 as little about shade as a Gold Coast native knows 



