March, 1907 



A M E R I 



CAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



XIX 



coloring; grown in the shade they are apt to 

 "hark back" to the original greenish strain. 



Coleus should never be allowed to bloom, 

 but all flower-buds should be removed as soon 

 as they appear. They should also be kept 

 cut back and not allowed to make too robust a 

 growth, for when growing too rankly they are 

 likely to loose their large leaves and to present 

 a more or less ragged appearance. 



The ricinus, one of our noblest ornamental 

 plants, is also very quick to respond to culture 

 The seeds, which take about tv. o weeks to 

 germinate, may be sown in pots in March or 

 April, using a four-inch pot which should have 

 the drainage-hole covered with a bit of shard, 

 or the roots will push straight through to the 

 detriment of the plant. When planted in four- 

 inch pots in April they do not usually need re- 

 potting before planting out in May, but if 

 necessary they can be easily shifted into six- 

 inch pots and should make robust plants by 

 May. 



The ricinus when used as a center for a 

 bed of cannas should have the lower branches 

 removed and be grown in an umbrella form, 

 so as to leave more room for the cannas 

 while affording a grateful shade for such tender 

 bloomers as the Burbank and those orchid- 

 flowered varieties which lade in strong sun- 

 light. 



The brilliant salvia, so bc!o\'ed of all lovers 

 of gorgeous color, is another easily raised seed- 

 ling, and it will be found, as a general thing, 

 that the seed-raised plants are much more 

 robust than the greenhouse plants raised from 

 cuttings. Any plant raised from seed is far 

 more likely, given good conditions, to prove 

 a good bloomer than plants raised from cut- 

 tings, as in the case of the seed-grown plant 

 there is no check of intention, the natural bent 

 of the seedling being to sprout, to grow and 

 to bloom, it proceeds to do so in the most direct 

 way; not so the cutting. In the first place the 

 parent plant has been denied its natural func- 

 tion of bearing seed, it has been checked in its 

 growth, mutilated and diverted from the orig- 

 inal impulse implanted in it at its birth by 

 nature, and if this has been going on for several 

 generations of plant life, it is not strange if 

 natural selection, in the struggle of existence, 

 produced a non-blooming plant or one in which 

 the desire to breed and reproduce its species 

 is more or less weakened. I have grown sal- 

 vias from seed that were giants of their kind, 

 I remember one bed, given generous culture, 

 that when I had penetrated to the center of 

 the bed I could just see over their tops, and 

 they were a mass of flowers from near tlie 

 ground up. 



The dahlia is another plant that comes 

 easily from seed and will do better in the 

 hands of the amateur than the plants from 

 roots; especially is this true of the single kinds, 

 which, by the way, are much more effective 

 for cut flowers and corsage wear than the 

 double. Dahlias grown from seed in my own 

 garden this summer were a month or six weeks 

 ahead of the plants from tubers in blooming. 



Dahlia-seed may be sown in the boxes in 

 the house or in the hotbeds — preferably the 

 latter. They should be sown in drills, a half 

 or an inch apart in the drills and covered an 

 eighth of an inch. They are ready germinators 

 and make a rapid, sturdy growth from the 

 first, and may be planted out where they arc 

 to remain when quite small. 



A very ornamental plant for bordering beds 

 of tall growing cannas or to intersperse be- 

 tween caladiums or other foliage plants is 

 found in the globe artichoke — the variety that 

 shows the silvery foliage. A row of this in 

 my garden a couple of summers ago was ad- 

 mired more than many choice bedding-plants, 

 and truly the great silvery, spiked leaves were 

 beautiful. Another of the silvery foliaged 

 plants well worthy cultivation is the Solanuni 



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