GREENHOUSE PLANTS OUTDOORS. 



459 



(-4 to 5 ft.) ; Petunias, single-flowered, tall growing varieties (3 to 4 ft.) ; 

 Streptosolen Jamcsonii (4 to 5 ft.) ; Erythrina Crista-qalli (4 ft.) ; Fuchsias 

 in variety, both double and single, grown as standards, pyramids, and 

 bushes (3 to 6 ft.) ; Hydrangea hortcnsis and its varieties are grown 

 largely ; Bougainvillaea glabra, Sanders's variety, w411 do well if it can be 

 started early and afterwards properly hardened off. 



Many visitors to these gardens wonder how these large plants are 

 safely kept through the winter months. To accomplish this a knowledge 

 is required of how much rough treatment these, and kindred plants, will 

 withstand without any serious amount of injury. The Lasiandras, the 

 Begonias, the Heliotropes, the Bougaiuvillaea, and the Strejytosolen require 

 a certain amount of warmth (a temperate house so designated will answer 

 the purpose well, i.e. a house intermediate between the stove and the 

 greenhouse, with the maximum of light). 



The Erytlirina is safe in a cold pit from which the frost is excluded, 

 the growths being previously cut down. A cold frame will suffice for 

 PhysaUs Francheti, a plant that is also used, and which in many 

 localities is quite hardy. A vinery at rest will answer well for storing 

 the Habrothamnus, the Solanums, the Zonal and Scented-leaved 

 Geraniums. A cold frame will be ample for the Hydrangeas in cold 

 localities, whilst in favoured spots they are hardy, or comparatively so. 

 The Sahdas are those that are held over after being used for the early 

 winter decorations of rooms and the conservatorv. The Petunias are 

 sown early and potted four or five in a pot, being shifted on until pots 

 eleven and twelve inches in diameter are required. The Fuchsias are all 

 stored away thickly until the middle of February in stokeholes or other 

 places from which the frost is excluded : these are not allowed to get dry 

 at the root. During February, from the middle of the month onwards, we 

 commence potting, the houses being by this time free from the Chrysan- 

 themums. The plants that are already in large pots are taken out, the 

 pots being cleaned, and the plants replaced in them after the balls have 

 been considerably reduced. We are in the habit of using for this purpose 

 three parts of good fibrous loam and one part of leaf-mould, and in 

 addition a little bone meal, wood ashes, and soot as a slight stimulant. 

 Such plants as Geraniums, Lasiandras, Heliotropes, Habrothamnus, 

 Streptosolen, Salvias, and Begonias are grown in a little warmth until 

 the end of March, but the Fuchsias, Solanums, Erythrinas, and Hy- 

 drangeas are grown in cold houses and pits. I find it better to bring all 

 of these plants along as hardy as possible. 



In April we commence to harden off' by getting the plants which 

 have been grown in a slight warmth into cold houses and pits, gradually 

 bringing them to withstand exposure to the sun and air. By the middle 

 of May most of these plants can be stood out in sheltered positions to 

 finish hardening off. The Begonias, Heliotropes, Salvias, and Lasiandras 

 should, however, be kept under glass until the end of the month. 



The first week in June we begin to plunge the plants out into their 

 summer quarters in the flower garden, so that the pots are hidden in the 

 grassy growth. One very effective arrangement is upon a sloping bank, 

 a large Spanish Chestnut- tree forming an excellent background with its 

 branches touching the ground. In this group some seventy to eighty 



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