February 10,1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 105 
lOth 
Tn 
Royal Society at 4.30 P.M. 
11th 
F 
Quekett Club at 8 p.m. 
12th 
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ltoval Botanic Society at 3.45 p.m. 
13 th 
SUN 
Septdagesima. 
14th 
M 
Royal Geographical Society at 8.30 P.M. 
15th 
Tu 
16th 
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Meteorological Society at 7 P.M. Society of Arts at 8 P.M. 
THE CULTIVATION OF GARDENIAS. 
HE Gardenia as an evergreen stove plant ranks 
very highly in popular estimation, and is much 
admired by ladies for the purity and fragrance 
of its flowers, especially as they can be obtained 
during winter and spring. The blooms indi¬ 
vidually are only of short duration, yet they 
are produced in succession, and a large plant wil 
have flowers during a period of some weeks. With 
a number of plants and plenty of room at command 
Gardenia blooms can be produced over a period of 
several months if care be exercised in preparing the plants and 
retarding them as the case may be. Their natural time of 
flowering under ordinary stove treatment will be thro ugh March, 
April, and May. To obtain them in autumn requires much 
time, room, and plenty of plants to work upon. 
Propagation can be effected at almost any season of the year 
by cuttings. These are not difficult to strike either from the 
ripened wood or from young shoots. If rooted about August 
from half-ripened wood we have the whole of the following 
season in which to grow the plants ; yet if rooted in January 
or February "good plants can be grown to produce ten to twelve 
blooms each next spring. The cuttings are best inserted 
singly in small 2-inch pots, in a mixture of peat and sand, 
and plunged in bottom heat in the propagating frame or under 
a bellglass. If "practicable, and bottom heat can be applied 
until August, the "growth is much more rapid ; this, however, 
is not necessary’unless large plants are wanted quickly. 
In preparing for potting, the pots should be carefully drained 
and a little moss or the roughest portion of the compost placed 
over the crocks. The new soil should be pressed firmly into 
the pots, so that water cannot pass through it and leave the 
old ball dry. Potting must be done with care. The system of 
using a sharp-pointed stick to set the roots at liberty when re¬ 
potting cannot be too strongly condemned, as I believe more 
plants are destroyed through this than fro m any other cause, 
especially fine-rooted plants such as Heaths, and this applies 
with equal force to the Gardenia. The crocks only should be 
removed, and any loose soil from the top of the old ball. The 
time of potting varies, especially with established plants, and 
the period they are wanted to bloom. Some cultivators prefer 
potting as soon as blooming is over. The operation is best 
earned out as soon as the flower buds commence forming, for 
then Gardenias always unfold a number of leaves, and the roots 
are active and soon take to the new soil. The plants after 
flowering are ready to be cut back, and will start at once into 
vigorous growth without being again disturbed. 
The compost suitable after the young plants are rooted is 
rich fibry loam and peat in equal parts, adding a 6-inch potful 
of bone dust to every barrowful of soil, and plenty of coarse 
sand to make the whole porous. When the 2-inch pots are full 
of roots 4-inch pots should be employed, and afterwards the 
house or pit in which the plants are growing should be kept 
rather close for a week or ten days until the roots have taken 
to the new soil. The atmosphere should be moist and the 
plants well syringed overhead. The plants must not be allowed 
to suffer by want of pot room, and must be transferred into 
larger pots as required. Pots 6 or 7 inches in diameter will 
be large enough the first season, and bushy plants can be 
grown in those sizes if attention be paid to stopping the shoots 
as they grow. 
If required to bloom the first season the growths should not 
be stopped later than the first week in August, but be allowed 
to extend, the plants being grown from that time under the in¬ 
fluence of a little more air. Under these conditions young plants 
will soon complete their growth and form flower buds, averag¬ 
ing from ten to twelve upon each plant. These will unfold 
during March, or earlier if brought forward rapidly in brisk 
heat after the buds are set. If the object is to grow the plants 
to a good size as quickly as possible they should not be allowed 
to bloom, but be stopped later than the time named to prevent 
shortening the growths, which occurs by cutting the blooms ; 
the plants then start early again the following year. If allowed 
to flower, and two or three months are thus lost at the com¬ 
mencement of the year, a much longer time will be required 
to have the plants of large size ; and at this period when 
root-action has fairly commenced the plants should be 
placed in 8-inch pots and grown-on under the same con¬ 
ditions as described above. This, the second season, they 
should make rapid strides, and be ready by the end of June to 
be placed in 10-inch pots provided every attention recom¬ 
mended has been carried out. Any shoots that require stop¬ 
ping should be attended to, and the plants be grown on rapidly 
under the influence of light and sufficient air to cause their 
growth to be short and possess that solidity which is 
essential for a good set of flowers. Potting twice in a season 
will not be necessary after the plants have attained a fair size. 
Ten and twelve-inch pots are large enough for all ordinary 
purposes. When placed in the last-mentioned size they can 
remain in them for several years if liquid manure is supplied 
while the plants are growing and the flower buds advancing. 
Nothing is better than occasional applications of soot water, 
which quickly imparts a deep colour to the foliage. Plants 
can be kept in small pots under the same conditions if 
necessary. 
While growing, Gardenias require liberal applications of 
water both at the roots and upon the foliage, and in no stage 
should they be allowed to suffer from insufficient supplies. 
After potting water should be very carefully applied, and if 
the soil is moist when used some days will elapse before water 
is required, which will give time for the roots partially to 
recover from the damage received in removal. 
The Gardenia is subject to many of the insects which infest 
stove plants, and if close attention is not paid to keep them 
thoroughly clean much trouble and annoyance is caused. This 
is, perhaps, the reason why the plants are not more largely 
grown in some gardens, especially where plant houses are in¬ 
fested with mealy bug, scale, and other insects, which at once 
arrest growth and leave but little chance of success in culture • 
No, 33 .—Yol. II., Third Series. 
No. 1689.— Yon. LXY., Old Series, 
