106 
PRACTICAL HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF 
! 
bloom before the end of July. With these remarks we shall proceed with a ft 
observations in extension of our former list. 
Dipladenia splendens . — This magnificent plant is one of Messrs. Veitch’s acqi 
sitions, through their collector in Brazil, and was figured several years back in one ' 
our former volumes, under the name of Echites splendens. It was introduced 
1842, and with its gorgeous masses of bright and various tinted rosy pink flowers, 
certainly not surpassed by any plant in existence. In cultivation, however, as a p 
plant, it has very frequently been found unruly, growing with great vigour and lux 
riance, but rarely producing bloom proportionate to the size of the plant, as a frier 
of ours, and one of the best cultivators in England, although he had remarkably fi] 
specimens in three consecutive seasons, never succeeded in producing a single flowe 
This we imagine arose from two causes ; first, over-luxuriant growth, afterwar 
suddenly and unduly checked by exposure to the full sun and air in a cold pit ; ar 
secondly, a want of bottom-heat to the roots, which, so far as we can judge, appea 
indispensable to the proper management of this plant. We have heard it assert* 
that the plant will not bloom unless it is properly ripened by exposure to the suit 
rays towards the close of the growing season ; but so far as our own experienl 
extends, this practice has had a directly opposite effect. In the stove, when plant* 
out, or even in the Orchid-house, and trained to the rafter or trellis, the Dipladem 
splendens flowers with great freedom, and as it is generally in a free growing sta 
at the time, this, we consider, is a sufficient contradiction to the opinion that tt 
ripening or maturing process is necessary to the production of bloom. On the coJ 
trary, we have always found that if the plants are kept growing, with the pots ha 
plunged in a lively bottom-heat of from 75° to 85°, they will, after the first flush 
lwxxHwn.ce has past over, and they come into steady moderate growth, produce blooi 
almost with as much certainty as any climber in cultivation, and that too not for 
week or too, but until the dull weather of winter renders it impossible for the bu* 
to unfold themselves. 
In commencing the cultivation of Dipladenia we will suppose that you ha\ 
provided yourself with nice strong young plants in forty-eight or thirty-two sized potj 
and that they are well stocked with roots in an active state. These during the wint* 
should be kept just growing, but nothing more ; and to insure this, they must be ke} 
rather dry than moist, and at a temperature of from 55° to 60°. In February, 
dung«pit or frame being ready, take the plants, and having removed some of the ol 
exhausted soil from the roots, pot them in a soil consisting of turfy peat, leaf-moul* 
and sand, in about equal quantities, to which, at the subsequent potting, one-fourt 
of fibrous loam may be added. After potting, place the plants in the frame or pit 
and if the bottom-heat is mild and sweet, plunge the pots a little, but take cai 
that they do not become overheated. If properly managed the plants will be fit t 
remove into larger pots by the end of March, and by the first of June they shoul 
be well established in eight or six sized pots. As the shoots progress in growtl 
direct them so as to prevent their becoming entangled, but avoid training them unt 
