August 21, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
159 
f“r- 
COMING EVENTS 
21 
Th 
Reading Show. 
22 
P 
23 
S 
24 
SUN 
llTn Sunday after Trinity. 
25 
M 
26 
TU 
Royal Horticultural Society’s Fruit and Floral Committees at 11 a.m 
27 
w 
[Fruit and Vegetable Show 
PENTSTEMONS. 
[EAT advances have been made in the improve¬ 
ment of these plants during the past few years. 
The flower spikes of many varieties are nearly 
18 inches in length, and the blooms packed 
closely together, many being 2 inches or more 
in diameter. There are now numbers of varieties, 
and the flowers are most varied and beautiful in 
colour, nearly every shade being represented, so 
that they can scarcely fail to please the most 
As a decorative plant the Pentstemon possesses 
many advantages over other plants for the flower garden, herba¬ 
ceous and shrubbery borders. They are as beautiful as they 
are suitable for any position, because they are in perfection 
from the middle of June until the autumn frosts stop them, 
a quality that the majority of plants used for the embellish¬ 
ment of our gardens do not possess. In addition to this 
their spikes of blooms are invaluable for cutting, their culti¬ 
vation easy, for they will thrive in almost any soil and posi¬ 
tion. Pelargoniums that are employed by thousands in 
flower gardens are comparatively insignificant. When whole 
beds and borders are filled with Pentstemons, either mixed or 
in separate colours, it would be difficult to name any plants 
capable of surpassing them for effectiveness. Many plants 
grown for the decoration of our gardens during the summer 
give unspeakable trouble and require much skill to protect 
them from the cold until the approach of genial weather. But 
such is not the case with Pentstemons; they are almost hardy, 
for the old plants will pass safely through all ordinary winters 
with such little protection as a few ashes, cocoa-nut fibre, or 
other similar material will afford. But the protection of old 
plants is unnecessary, for thousands of young stock, which 
are decidedly the best, can be accommodated in a two or 
three-light cold frame. 
Pentstemons are easily propagated by seeds and cut¬ 
tings, the former being freely produced; but plants raised 
from the latter are preferable where neat even arrangements 
in beds and borders are needed. It is very interesting to 
raise a few seedlings when the seed has been saved from 
choice named varieties, and although they may prove rather 
uneven as regards height, they make a very effective bed or 
border. It is advisable to grow a few from seed annually, 
as some very beautiful and distinct varieties may be obtained 
by this means. The seeds should be sown on the surface of 
the soil in pans and boxes in heat early in the year, and 
when the seedlings are large enough prick them off singly into 
other boxes, and then grow them on quickly until they are large 
enough for planting out into frames and treating the same as 
those raised from cuttings. It is necessary to hasten them 
so as to get them as large as possible before the time for 
planting outside, for the larger they are when planted out 
the sooner they commence flowering. From early plants 
cuttings are generally plentiful towards the close of the pre¬ 
sent and following month. The sooner they can be obtained 
the better after this date, so that they will become rooted 
No. 217.—YoL. IX., Third Series. 
and established before winter. Vigorous cuttings from 2 to 
3 inches in length should be selected and inserted thickly 
together in a frame, or where old lights can be placed over 
them. The bottom of the frame in which they are to be 
inserted should be firm, and upon this should be placed from 
2 to 3 inches depth of old potting soil, and upon the surface 
a little red or river sand. After insertion a good watering 
should be given, keeping the frame closed and shaded until 
they are rooted, when abundance of air may be admitted 
whenever the weather is favourable. The young plants will 
require very little water during the winter, free ventilation 
only being needed. During severe weather the protection 
afforded by the lights will be ample, for if the soil becomes 
frozen no injury results; but this we endeavour to avoid by 
placing an old mat or two on the frame. 
Some cultivators place their plants as soon as rooted in 
3 or 4-inch pots, but experience has proved that this is really 
unnecessary and only a waste of labour. When in small 
pots the plants are very liable before they are planted out 
in spring to become dry at the roots or to suffer from in¬ 
sufficient root room. When grown in pots they cause double 
the labour in watering that is required for the system we 
shall recommend. 
In early spring, about the month of February, as soon as 
the young plants show signs of growth, the points of the 
shoots are pinched out, which will induce the plants to 
branch and to push shoots from the base. About a fortnight 
afterwards, or as soon as they commence to break, the plants 
are lifted and transplanted into frames temporarily prepared 
for them. The base is made firm, and then soil to the depth 
of 4 or 5 inches is placed in. Any ordinary garden soil will 
do provided a liberal quantity (about one-third) of old Mush¬ 
room bed refuse or half-decayed leaves is mixed with it. 
These plants are gross feeders, and grow quickly and luxu¬ 
riantly in rich soil. They root freely in leaf soil, and lift well 
when a good quantity is used in the soil for them. The 
plants are placed about 4 inches apart, watered if the soil is 
dry; if not, they are lightly syringed daily and^ shaded 
when the sun is bright until they commence rooting and 
grow. Abundance of air is afterwards given them, and 
when the plants are growing freely and strongly the lights 
are taken off, and the frames removed by the time they are 
needed for the protection of other bedding plants. If the 
weather proves very stormy or severe after the frames have 
been removed, the plants may be protected for a week or 
two longer with mats. 
Pentstemons are hardier than many people suppose, and 
if grown on the principles detailed they will bear a low tem¬ 
perature without any apparent injury. This year our plants 
were placed in their flowering quarters the first week in May, 
and this in a locality where cold winds and late spring frosts 
are too frequent. We had 8° of frost after the plants were 
placed out, and they did not show any sign of injury. _To 
grow these plants well and luxuriantly they require planting 
in deep liberally manured soil. They lift much better than 
the majority of plants, and if dry weather follows the opera¬ 
tions of lifting and planting one good watering is generally 
sufficient to start them growing freely. It is surprising how 
well these plants bear drought, and do not even show the 
least signs of suffering, when Phloxes and many other hardy 
plants are flagging from insufficient moisture. This season 
we have been testing their powers of endurance in this 
respect by planting them in a particularly dry position at the 
foot of a wall where the majority of plants fail, but they are 
flourishing amazingly. So well and safely can they be 
transplanted that if left until they commence flowering they 
may be transplanted without injury even during very dry 
weather. Good plants need not be placed nearer than 
15 inches apart, for if planted the first week in May they will 
have nearly covered the ground and commenced flowering a 
month afterwards, if the weather is in any way favourable. 
In order to keep beds and borders gay the old spikes should 
No. 1873.—VoL LXXL, Old Series. 
fastidious. 
