PETUNIA. 



209 



PETU NIA. 



seen in flower for want of proper ma- 

 nagement ; but to make it flower 

 f reel y, it only requires to be pruned 

 like a common grape-vine, that is, to 

 have the leading shoots stopped at the 

 second joint to make them throw out 

 side shoots, and to have these stopped 

 in the same manner, in order to have 

 what the gardeners call spurs, distri- 

 buted over all the branches ; for it is 

 on these spurs only that the flowers 

 are produced. This plant is called, 

 in the Antilles, the Easter Flower, 

 because it flowers about Easter ; and 

 it is used for decorating the Spanish 

 churches at that season. In England 

 it generally flowers in August. It 

 should be grown in chopped turfy 

 loam mixed with a little peat to keep 

 it open ; and it is propagated by cut- 

 tings struck in heat. 



Petty Whin. — Genista dnglica. 

 • — See Genista. 



Petu v nia. — Solanacece — Perhaps 

 no plants have made a greater revo- 

 lution in floriculture than the Pe- 

 tunias. Only a few years ago they were 

 comparatively unknown, and now there 

 is not a garden, or even a window, that 

 can boast of flowers at all, without 

 one. P. nyctaginiflora, the common 

 white Petunia, was first brought from 

 Brazil in J 823 ; and as it was 

 tli ought very nearly to resemble the 

 common tobacco, it was called Pe- 

 tunia from Petun, which is the 

 Brazilian name for that plant. This 

 plant was cultivated but sparingly, 

 and only i n greenhouses as a peren- 

 nial, till 1830, when P. viblacea, or 

 P. phoenicea, as it is sometimes 

 called, was introduced from Buenos 

 Ayres by Mr. Tweedie ; and from 

 this species, hybridized with P. nyc- 

 taginiflbra and P. bicolor, most of the 

 innumerable hybrids now in our gar- 

 dens have been produced. All these 

 kinds are found nearly hardy, and 

 they may either be treated as half- 

 hardy annuals, being raised on a 



slight hot-bed and planted out in 

 May, or they may be sown in the 

 open ground as soon as the seed is 

 ripe, or in March or April, or suf- 

 fered to sow themselves ; care being 

 taken in all cases in the open air to 

 choose a sheltered situation, and to 

 lay a few dead leaves over the bed if 

 the weather should be severe. When 

 treated as greenhouse plants these 

 .Petunias all become shrubby, but 

 they will not live more than two or 

 three years, and they should be cut 

 down as soon as they have done flow- 

 ering. When they are wanted to 

 grow to a large size, and to cover 

 a trellis, &c, like climbing plants, 

 they should be planted in the free 

 ground, in the conservatory, or in the 

 open air, in a light rich soil or, if 

 they are kept in pots, allowed plenty 

 of room for their roots, as, unless 

 this is done, they will become drawn 

 up with long weak stems, bare of both 

 leaves and flowers, to a considerable 

 height. When they are wanted to 

 form strong bushy plants for setting 

 in a window or keeping in boxes un- 

 der a verandah, the end may be at- 

 tained by planting them first in very 

 small pots and shifting them into 

 others, gradually becoming larger and 

 larger, always pinching off the flowers, 

 and tips of the shoots, till the plants 

 have attained the desired form and size, 

 when they may be allowed to flower, 

 and will form splendid objects. When 

 Petunias are wanted to cover a bed 

 in a regular flower-garden, they are 

 not cut in at all ; but their long 

 rambling shoots being pegged down 

 all over the bed, a number of side- 

 shoots will be sent up, which will 

 soon become covered with a mass of 

 flowers. The hybrid, P. splendens, 

 treated in this manner in Lady Gran- 

 ville's flower-garden at Dropmore, 

 is, when the sun shines upon it, al- 

 most too brilliant to be looked at. 

 P. intermedia, sometimes called 

 ? 



