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THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



November 30, 1912. 



MEDINILLA MAGNIFICA* 



This interesting and beautiful shrub is 

 not often met witJi, but it well deserves a 

 place in every collection of stove plants. 

 The flowers are produced in the form of 

 gracefully drooping panicles, and are of a 

 soft pink colour, while the foliage is very 

 handsome, a single leaf often measuring ten 

 inches in length and eight itiehos in 

 breadth . 



Cuttings t-aken off as soon as the young 

 growth is produce<l, and inserted in small 

 pots in a mixture of equal parts loam and 

 peat, with a liberal supply of silver sand, 

 and placed in a close ca-se on gentle bottom 

 heat, root freely, and will be ready to pot 

 within a month or six weeks. When these 

 young plants h<ave made their first pair of 

 leaves they should have the point of 

 growth remove<l to en<'ourage branching. 

 They will soon form good plants, and 



Branches should be shortened freely alter 

 flowering, for this will encourage compact, 

 sturdy growth, iind, at the same time, 

 will keep the plants within reason ible 

 dimensions ; very little staking is required, 

 a stake to the centi'al growth and < ne for 

 each of the main side growths being all 

 that is necessary. Ralph E. Arnold. 



Roselands, Cheltenham. 



AN EFFECTIVE BED OF 



VIOLAS. 



The value of violas for the production of 

 rich colour effects in the garden during the 

 spring and summer months has had refer- 

 ence made to it in these pages on more 

 than one occasion, and there can be no 

 question as to our advocacy of their merits 

 having contributed in no small degree to 

 the popularity they now enjoy. There is 



rooting medium, yet they will bloom freely 

 throughout the summer, and, indeed, until 

 the autumn is well advanced, provided their 

 roots have the run of a deeply stirred and 

 moderately rich root run. If they are asso- 

 ciated with daffodils or tulips it is an easv 

 matter to lift the bulbs when they have 

 become ripened without appreciable in- 

 jury to the violas. Then, if the soil is 

 rather too light in texture to maintain 

 them in a vigorous state in the autumn 

 asters of medium height or other suitable 

 plants can be planted thinly among them 

 after the bulbs have heen lifted, for the 

 purpose of maintaining the effectiveness 

 of the beds until the autumn. In many 

 gardens supplementary plants will be 

 wholly unnecessary. 



The remarkably fine bed herewith illus- 

 trated occupied a prominent position in 

 Springburn Park, Glasgow, in 1911, and 

 the photograph of which the illustration 



•i J 



/ 

 I 



J 



AN EFFECTIVE BED OF VIOLAS IN SPRINGBURN PARK, GLASGOW. 



should receive a liberal increase of root 

 room each time they are repotted, for they 

 are very free-rooting subjects. Aledinilla 



a considerable variation in the suitability 

 of the numerous varieties in cidtivation for 

 what is technically known as bedding pur- 



is a reproduction was taken early in Sep- 

 teml)er. The effects of the long drought 



magnifica thrives best in a night tc^mpera- poses, but if the varieties that are com- 

 pact in growth and free and continuous in 

 ilowering are selected, the results will not 

 fail to be in the highest degree satisfactory. 

 Planted in the course of the autumn season 

 they become well established before the 

 opening of the spring. 



The early period at which the violas come 

 into hloom is a strong point in their favour, 

 for it enables them to join with bulbous 

 and other hardy plants in beautifying the 

 flow^er gar<len at a time when rich colour- 

 ing is much appreciated. Moreover, they 

 form a green car])et during the winter 

 and eaily in the spring wlien all who have 

 gardens woidd like to see the bare earth 

 ip.ore or le>s from view. Unlike 



odier liardy phuits that flower in spring 

 the violas do not cease to yield of their 

 floral wealth with the opening davs of sum- 

 mer. They enjoy to the full a rather cool 



ture of 70 degrees, rising to 80 degrees in 

 the day, but will succeed in a lower tem- 

 perature, even down to a minimum tem- 

 perature of 60 degrees. 



Very little shade is needed even in 

 bright weather, as plants flower most 

 freely when the wood is thoroughly ripened 

 by the sun. Frequent syringings will be 

 of great assistance, while watering occa- 

 sionally with liquid manure or a solution of 

 Clay's Fertilizer or peruvian guano, will 

 be a great incentive to luxuriant growth. 

 During the autumn months water shoidd 

 be gradually withheld, and during the win- 

 tor only just sufficient sliould be given to 

 prevent the leaves from shrivelling ; this 

 period of rest will cause the wood to tho- 



rouehly ripen^ and thus en.sure abun lance 

 of flower. 



ed 



nited 



been so hurtful to vegetation at Glasgo\\ 

 as in the South of England, but it was con- 

 siderable. Yet the violas in this bed and 

 elsewhere grew vigorously and bloomed pro- 

 fusely throughout the summer, and in Sep- 

 tember gave no signs of exhaustion. The 

 bed was sixty feet in length, and some five 

 or six feet in width. The centre was the 

 rich purple J. B. Riding, and the flowers 

 were so plentiful as to practicallv form a 

 solid block of colour. On either side was a 

 band of the lavender-coloured Come to 

 Stay, and, as a marginal band, the white 

 Countess of Hopetoun was used with good 

 efi*eet. Altocrether. the bed was the most 

 ofT(-'tive of the beds of violas that have yet 

 '•f)me under our notice, and we congratu- 

 late Mr. J. Whitton, (he sunerinteudent of 

 the OlasL^ow parks, and also the head gar- 

 dener at Springburn, on the work aehieved^ 



