THE CONSERVATORY 
161 
siderable foresight and judgment are needed, therefore, to bring the 
batches of plants into blossom just when they are needed. The 
majority of the kinds relied on to supply this house are old and well- 
tried favourites, such as fuchsias, chrysanthemums, primulas, cycla- 
mens, hippeastrums, azaleas, and so on. But distributed among them 
will nearly always be found others of greater rarity. Kew, from 
its connection with the newer British colonies, is often the first to 
discover the merits of lately-introduced plants, and many, whose 
merits perhaps had already been ascertained in the more botanical 
houses, have first shown their full beauty and value to the public 
in this house. Among recent accessions of this kind may be men- 
tioned Coleus thyrsoideus, Impaticns Oliveri, and Moschosma riparium. 
Other beautiful greenhouse plants, not foreign, but raised at Kew, 
which have found their way into almost every greenhouse, are Primula 
kewensis and the hybrid Streptocarpuses. It will not be possible to 
do more than give a short resume of the plants chiefly relied on to 
furnish this house throughout the year. 
Almost as soon as the new year has begun, and from then until 
April, a prominent feature is the succession of hardy shrubs forced 
into flower. Here one may anticipate by two or three 
t^M^h months the natural flowering out-of-doors of some 
of the most beautiful of hardy cherries, crabs, plums, 
spiraeas, Forsythias, etc. ; also that of many bulbous plants like 
tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths. Among other important plants in 
the first quarter of the year are the Chinese and Japanese primroses, 
the cyclamens, the acacias, epacrises, and many other Australian 
plants. In recent times no genus of plants has improved more under 
the gardener’s hand, or made greater advances in public favour, 
than the hippeastrums. They make a brilliant display in this house 
during the early months of the year, and are at their best in March 
and April. 
In the second quarter — from April to June — most of the forced 
plants have disappeared. Their time has come in the open air. Still, 
a few remain ; the flowers of the Moutan peonies, for in- 
stance, which do not succeed well out-of-doors at Kew, 
are magnificently developed in the soft atmosphere of 
this house. But in the main their place is taken by other naturally 
tender things. We have many beautiful varieties of Indian azalea, 
the ever popular pelargoniums, the greenhouse calceolarias, the 
April to 
June. 
w 
