THE FLOWER GROWER'S GUIDE. 



repens is nearly hardy, and planted against a back wall will quickly cover it with 

 neat, green shoots and foliage without any trouble expended in training. It may be 

 cut back to the wall every spring, similarly to ivy. 



HANGING BASKETS. 



The larger conservatories are incomplete without a few baskets of plants suspended 

 from the centres of archways and other positions, where they will prove attractive in 

 themselves and relieve the stiffness of the surroundings. In the smaller buildings room 

 cau generally be found for a limited number of baskets, taking care to suspend them 

 where they will neither interfere with the comfort of visitors passing through the con- 

 servatory, nor present a crowded appearance. Strong, galvanized wire-baskets with 

 movable central crates are usually employed, and failing crates sacking should be used 

 inside to keep the soil together. If the baskets can be filled and the plants given a start 

 in a warm greenhouse before suspending them in a conservatory, they will be more 

 quickly effective. They ought to be heavily lined with fresh moss, clean side outwards, 

 and suitable soil used for the plants employed, making this firm about them, allowing 

 sufficient surface room for water. Mixtures of several distinct kinds of plants are 

 undesirable, the more pleasing baskets, as a rule, being filled with one or two kinds 

 only. For the more shady positions ferns are the best, nothing surpassing grand 

 specimens of "Woodwardia radicans, Goniophebium subauriculatum, Asplenium longis- 

 simum, Nephrolepis exaltata, Microlepia hirta cristata, Gymnogramma schizophylla, 

 Davallia canariense, D. dissecta elegans, and D. Mariesi. With these may be associated 

 Adiantum assimile, A. gracillmmm, A. lunulatum, and Selaginella Ivraussiana, the 

 latter for covering the surface of the soil, and in some cases the sides of the 

 baskets. 



For the more exposed positions baskets filled with achimenes, Ivy leaf pelargoniums, 

 Epiphyllum truncatum, drooping tuberous and other begonias, petunias, tropoeolums, 

 fuchsias, convolvulus and lachenalias, associating with some of these Vinca major elegan- 

 tissima, Othonna crassifolia, Panicum variegatum, Saxifraga sarmentosa, Sedum Sieboldi 

 variegata and Tradescantia discolor. Some of the Oxalises are suitable for baskets, as 

 may be seen by Messrs. Sutton & Sons' illustration (Fig. 151). 



Ferns in particular will, if properly looked after, remain in a healthy, ornamental 

 state- without disturbing the roots for several years in succession, but most of the 



