200 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE 



March 9, 1912. 



.^anie time. The encouragement of surface 

 roots is quite as necessary as it is in the 

 case of rhododendrons ; therefore, deep 

 planting must be avoided. 



P. floribunda is a North American species 

 which was introduced albout a century ago, 

 a figure appearing in tlie Botanical 

 Magazine/' t. 1,566^ in 1813, two years 

 after its debut. It is usually met with as 

 a compact bush, two to four and a-half 

 feet in height, with oblong or oval, serrate 

 evergreen leaves, one to two inches long. 

 The white flowers are borne during March 

 in short upright terminal panicles. As a 

 Tule, it blossoms freely, although a thin 

 crop of flowers may be expected now and 

 then. 



P. formosa is the most imposing of the 

 species, though unfortunately it is less 

 hardy than either P. floribunda or P. 

 japonic a. Neveiiiheless, in the southern 

 counties, and particularly in Devonshire, 

 Cornwall, and vSouth Wales, it grows mag- 

 nificently, and fine examples are to be seen. 

 Several plants are to be seen in the Kew 

 collection, which, though occasionally cut 

 by late spring frosts, have made satisfac- 

 tory progress since they were cut to the 

 ground line during the severe frost of Feb- 

 ruary, 1895. These plants neither grow nor 

 flower so freely as those in south-west 

 gardens, however. 



P. formosa is a jiative of the temperate 

 Himalaya, and of various parts of central 

 and southern China. At its best it forms 

 a small tree 200ft. or upwards in height, 

 with a considerable spread. Stich a speci- 

 men is referred to as growing in the gar- 

 dens at Pentille Castle in the description 

 which accompanies figure 8,283 of the 

 * ' B(otanical Magaaine. ' ' The oblong or 

 lance-shaf>ed evergreen leaves are x\p to 

 five inches in length and If inch wide, deep 

 green and glossy. When young they, with 

 the soft ehoots, are of a (bright red hue. 

 Tlie white, urn-sliaped flowers are borne in 

 largo terminal panicles during April and 

 May. These panicles are ofteu six inches 

 long and eight inches across. In the 

 neighbourhood of Tunbridge Wells it is 

 said to thrive almost as well as in Devon- 

 .shire. 



P. japonica may be met with as a bush 

 2 to 4ft. high, with da.rk green, more or 

 less oval leaves, which may be anything 

 between 1 and 3^in. long and from a quar- 

 ter to lin. wide. The white flowers nro 

 borne in terminal drooping panicles late 

 in March or in April, the panicles often 

 being from 4 to 6in. long on vigorous 

 specimens. The accompanying illustration 

 gives a good idea of the beauty of a flowotr- 

 ing spray of this shrub. Where one kind 

 only is grown this ought to be selected. A 

 variety with variegated leaves is sometimes 

 met with. 



P. Mariana and P. nitida are Xai*th 

 American species, w'hich are sometimes 

 seen in cultivation. Thev are less beauti- 

 ful in this country than the above-men- 

 tioned kinds, although showy shrubs in 

 their native country. Neither do they ap- 

 pear to be very liardy, for young plants 

 prodtice sappy growth, whi<]i is easily in- 

 jured by frost. 



P. ovalifolia is a distinct sipecies 'by reason 

 of its broadly oval leaves, which on some 



specimens are 8in. long and 4in. wide. 

 The white, pink-flushed flowers are in long^ 

 slender axillary -racemes. It is a native 

 of the temperate Himalaya, and is not in 

 general cultivation. 



During the present, century a number of 

 new Chinese specias have been described by 

 M. Hector Leveille. In the Bulletin de 

 I'Academie de Grcographie Botaniquc/' 

 Xn. (1903), pp. 251-2-53, descriptions of the 

 folloj^ving species appear: P. Gagnepaini- 



aua, P. divaricata, P. Martini, P. Kouyan- 

 gensis, P. Duclouxi, P. Bodinieri, and P. 

 repens. In Bulletin de la iSociete Bo- 

 tanique de France " (1904), p. 211, the same 

 a u thor describes P . longicormi and P . 

 Cavalerei. The other apecies are P. 

 phillyresefolia, P. villcm, P. nana, and P. 

 Swinh^oei. W. DalIvImore. 



ID 



PROPAGATION OF 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



An amateur gardener — and very much 

 an amateur — once said to -me that it was 

 no trouble to grow chrysanthemums, for 

 someone had given him some plants which 

 had been on a rubbish heap all the winter, 

 and they had grown and flowered well. 

 This is on a par with the remark of an- 

 other amateur that Shirley poppies would 

 grow on a dust heap. Both statements are 

 true, and yet very misleading, if made 

 without qualification. With plants, as 

 with children, it is a great thing to give 

 them a good constitution to start with. 

 In the rearing of plants of the hai'dy bor- 

 der, or early-flowering, icbrysanthemum.s 

 which are now so much in vogue, there are 

 two main factors which determine the de- 

 gree of success we attain to, and these are 

 the old stools and the cuttings. 



First, as regards the old stools. View- 

 ing the old plants solely as a .source of 

 cuttings, it is a mistake to cut them down 

 as soon as they have finished flowering, 

 ;:s the t:;p.s continue to strengthen the 

 young shoots from the base for some time, 

 often, in fact, until the former are finally 

 cut off by frost. We ^peak of these chry- 

 santhenuuns as hardy, but they can only 

 be called so relatively to the choicer indoor 

 varieties. Both severe and wet winters are 

 alike fatal to them in the open ground, 

 and in a damp season slugs are no less de- 

 structive, as it was the experience of a 

 great many perhapj^ nio-t, growers on wet 

 soils that they lost all their plants in the 



open ground during the winters of 1908-9 

 and 1909-10. 



Some precautions must be taken, then, 

 to secure a stOL-k of plants to ^up])ly in 

 the spring, and the nature of tti('>t' 

 must depend upon circumstances. In a 

 light soil in a slugless garden they will be 

 safe enough in tlie open in an ordinary 

 winter, with, p^M'haps, some ashes round 

 the crowns, and, it the weather becomes 

 very severe, a little litter thrown over 

 them lightly. On the other hand, in a 

 M'et, or slug-infested, garden, it is a<lvis- 

 able to put a certain number of plants into 

 pots in the late autumn, and keep them 

 through the winter in a cold frame, .which 

 is ma<le as nearly slug-proof as possible by 

 the iise of lime or soot, or both. If any 

 have been grown as pot plants during the 

 summer and autumn, these, kept in the 

 frame during the winter, yield the best 

 young stOL'k. As a possible reserve some 

 plants may be laid in under the shelter of 

 a south waH, or even partially buried in 

 one corner of the frame. 



Cai*e >houl<l be taken that the young 

 grow^ths from the bas*e do not get drawn 

 up and succulent, either through being too 

 thick, or having too little light or air in 

 the fram<\ a.s such ma'terial does not mak(* 

 good cirttings. The object should be to 

 keep the young growth as short and sturdy 

 as possible. To attain this some take up 

 the best of the old plants in the autumn 

 and plant them in an earth sitaging near 

 the glass. Other growers like to have 

 the o^d plants out in the open for a ,month 

 at least before taking the cuttings in the 

 spring, and it is undoubtodly a good 

 plan if a look out is kept for a sudden 



sharp spell such as we often have 

 M a rch . 



Next, as regards the cuttings. The onlv 

 ones to use are those originating from the 

 parit of the old plante below the surface, 

 and the best of those which are alreadr 

 provided with soane roots. The latter 

 pieces may be taken off any time after ib 

 middle of March^ and put in sixties^ one 

 in a pot, but the rootless pieces should be 

 put near the sides of pots in the ordinary 

 way^ and, if too long, shortened to two 

 inches or so, and' cut clean through jus: 

 below a leaf, the lower leaf, or leaves, on 

 the remainder being removed before inser- 

 tion in the mixture of loam and sand, 

 Shoots originating from the portion of tk 

 stem above the ground are no good fci 

 cuttings, as they always show a bud soon 

 after they begin to grow. When the cut- 

 tings have rooted they should be patted off 

 before tlie roots have become matted to- 

 gether, as these are very brittle, and the 

 plants suffer a considerable check in cons^ 

 quence if the rooted cuttings have to W 

 pulled asunder. It is better to pot theJii 

 off earlier even if it means the sacrifice oi 

 a few which have not yet made any raote 

 In about six or eight weeks from the time 

 the cuttings are taken, they should be 

 nice strong plants ready for putting out 

 in their flcwering positions. Those whkli 

 are planted out eariy, say the middle o: 

 April, need carefully hardening off. 



When plants have stood the winter 

 where they flowered the previous autiimB 

 they shoukl be taken up and not left ^> 



much hetter flowers arc 



If t-aken uf 



second ycia.r. ;;s 

 obtained from fresh pJants. 

 and divided, nice, young, rooted pif^^j; 

 may often be ohtained without any ol' 

 wood attached, and these make fine plaatj 

 if planted at once in some well-cinltivate^ 

 ground. Cuttings. may be taken any t* 

 during June, or even in early July, a^i' 

 the plants grown on in pots to be kept in^ 

 frame during the winter, when they nn- 

 ni^h a good supply of material for prop^ 

 gatioii in the spring, and possib^ alsoM>n j 

 late flowers in November. This metlio 

 sometimes .solves the difficulty of keepif? 



the old plants through the wmter 



^ Alger Petts. 



Iris fimbricata. -This beautiful 



greenhouse iris, is not grown as mucii d> 

 deserves to 1^. Its delicate lilac blossoins . ^^ 

 splendid for buttonhole wear ; indeed, u u 

 the famous Odontoglossum cnspum toi ^^^^ 

 purpose, and, bearing as it does a 

 tinuation of its flowers from the same sp_^ 

 it remains in ]:>erfection for a long F 

 The plants are now pushing t^^^^V^.^V 

 spikes freely. Tlie cultivation J"^ ^.ji 

 ject is very easv. When the plants have a 

 flowering, thev are best repotted annu 

 It will be found they increase readuy ^ 

 growths which are pushed out freely 

 the base. Tliey should be shaken o^V^^^ 

 pots and pulled to pieces. For ^P^^ 

 plants select five or six of the strong^^ 

 growths for a ten-inch pot, placing n^^f^ 

 the siden and one in the centre, ^^^'^ 

 strong growth in a oin. pot will siimce. ^ 

 best compost is good loam two pari^^ 

 cayed manure one part, and p*^ ^^^^^ 

 old mortar rubble broken up finely. 

 potted they. should be placed in a i'*''^"'^^,|ji]5r 

 grown cool, giving plenty of , at' 

 growing. WiwYi the centre leaves ^^'^ ^,^^s^ 

 tained the same length as the others, 

 must be graduallv withheld, and trom 

 her onwards the V^^^ts must l>e ^^f^' h 



dry until the flower spikes can be i^^^ * 

 • « ^ XI- .secret 



in the centre of the growth, 

 successful flowering 



. ..... "^^P^^e^ 



After October the plants will need ra^ r^ 

 tection of a heated frame, and when sn^^^ 

 flower should be removed to the c - 

 tory. — Lewis Smith, Shotesham 

 Gardens. 



