NERIUM — OPHIOPO G ON. 



211 



According as the pots become well filled with roots, shift into larger sizes. The compost 

 suitable throughout is a mixture of two parts loam to one each of leaf soil, decayed 

 manure, and sand. Pot firmly. Expose the young plants to the full sunshine and air, 

 and if they have made good progress they ought to flower strongly the following June. 



After flowering, give less water for a few days, and then cut them down to within 

 6 inches of the soil. A little extra warmth, with moisture in the atmosphere, will 

 cause them to start into growth quickly and strongly, and they should be assigned a 

 light position in the greenhouse during the autumn and winter. In February all that 

 require more root room should have larger pots, and the strong growth resulting will, 

 if well exposed to the sun, flower later in the season. Bushy plants in large pots 

 or tubs are well adapted for arranging on terraces, along sunny approaches to a 

 dwelling-house, or in fronts of conservatories. They must have water in abundance, 

 varied with liquid manure in the case of root-bound plants, from March to September, 

 and the soil in the pots or tubs should never become very dry at any other period of the 

 year. Young shoots forming just below the flower trusses should be early removed. 

 Non-attention to this detail and also starving the plants at the roots frequently end 

 in dropping of the flower buds. Old plants, unless cut down each year after flowering, 

 become tall and straggling, in which state they are neither so ornamental nor so floriferous 

 as those kept better furnished with strong young growths. 



Varieties op Nerium Oleander. 



album PLENUM. — Flowers white and large, with 



double corolla. 

 cupreatum. — Flowers copper-coloured, largo, single. 

 Felix Bourguet. — Flowers pale saffron, single, very 



floriferous. 



Henri Mares. —Flowers a beautiful rosy pink, corolla 

 double. 



Madonna grandiplorum. — Flowers creamy white, 



largo, double. 

 Mons. Balaguier.— Flowers pale pink, largo and 



showy. 



Paulin Gregoire.— Flowers bright rose colour, largo, 

 single. 



Professor Duciiartre. — Flowers deep rosy purple, 



double, distinct. 

 Rose Double. — Flowers bright rose, double, large. 

 SasuR Agnes. — Flowers pure white, single, and pretty. 

 Souvenir du Felix Dunal. — Flower bright rose, 



double, very fine. 

 splendens. — Flowers bright red, double (Fig-. 100). 

 VARIEgatum. — Flowers red, leaves edged with whito 



and yellow. 



ophiopogon. — This genus was originally introduced from Eastern Asia, and the 

 plants classed as hardy or half-hardy perennials. The variegated forms, however, are to 

 be seen at their best under pot culture, and arc worthy of inclusion in a small collection 

 of greenhouse plants. O. Jaburan argentco-variegatus has narrow recurving leaves 

 prettily striped with green and creamy white, and produces small spikes of blue flowers 



VOL. II. f F 



