July 18, 1869. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
37 
T HE conservatory usually loses much of the charm in summer 
that it possesses during the autumn, winter, and spring months. 
These structures are often not regarded with the same admiration 
in the summer on account of the great similarity between the 
•flowers and plants employed and those outside, but this need not, 
and should not, be the case. Forethought is needed in rendering 
conservatories attractive in summer, as greenhouse flowering plants 
are somewhat limited in number when those that are doing duty in 
the garden are deducted. The object in view may, how r ever, be readily 
accomplished if such plants as Zonal Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, and 
others are not employed after they commence flowering outside, 
or only sparingly, as may be necessary to impart colour and variety. 
Well-grown French and Fancy Pelargoniums are distinctly 
attractive, and their flowering period can be prolonged by having a 
number of plants rooted daring April and May. If the pinching 
•of the shoots is discontinued at the end of August these plants 
■will flower early in summer, and others rooted in the spring from 
young growing shoots continue the display until the end of August 
•or middle of September. 
Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums, of which so many beautiful double 
.and single varieties have been raised during recent years, are ad¬ 
mirably suited for conservatory decoration, their elegant appearance 
■and charming colours being much enjoyed. No doubt these plants 
•can be grown in the open air, but they cannot there be represented 
in the best condition, and they are worthy of good positions under 
glass. Well grown plants are highly attractive. 
Liliums are invaluable—indeed, indispensable—until they com¬ 
mence unfolding their flowers in outside beds and borders, and 
•even subsequently good plants and varieties are admissible in the 
conservatory. I need not, however, stay to enumerate plants 
which flower in the open air, but propose directing attention to 
•others that are suitable for the purpose in question. 
Achimenes are decidedly attractive in appearance in pans and 
pots, and theie need be no scarcity of these plants from June 
until October if they are prepared successionally by inserting 
cuttings thickly at intervals of a few weeks. It is necessary to 
select free and continuous flowering varieties. Gloxinias may be 
employed with advantage in conservatories, but the plants must 
not be removed direct there from close moist highly heated stoves, 
but must be prepared for the positions they are to occupy by being 
started somewhat late and brought forward gradually. Plants 
thus prepared produce stout flowers on sufficiently strong stems 
for dispensing with the aid of stakes. Both Gloxinias and 
Achimenes last longer and are more attractive under the cool 
treatment of the conservatory than in the close, moist atmosphere 
of the stove. 
Allamandas, Bougainvilleas, and Clerodendron3 are at home in 
conservatories in summer, provided the plants are watered with 
care and not exposed directly to draughts. Large balloon-shaped 
specimens that are admired in exhibition tents are, with few excep¬ 
tions, useless for the purpose under notice. They are too formal 
for grouping effectively with plants of a totally different nature. 
Plants in from 7 to 10-inch pots loosely trained round four or 
five stakes are the best for our purpose. Prepared on the pot 
Yine principle, and well ripened by being trained under the roof 
the first season of growth, we have found them most suitable. The 
No. 473 .—Vol. XIX., Thibd Sebies. ♦ 
two former answer best when transferred from 5 or 6-incli pots 
in which they have been started the first season to their flowering 
pots, and well grown the second year. They can be prepared in 
a seasoD, and small well flowered plants are appropriate for certain 
positions. Clerodendron fallax can be raised from seed sown early 
in the year, and the large trusses of flowers impart brightness 
without “ commonness ” to any structure in which the plants are 
arranged. Cuttings of C. Balfourianum rooted early and the 
plants well grown in 6 and 7-inch pots are large enough for 
conservatory decoration. Finishing as they do their growth late 
in the year they require very little retarding to insure their 
flowering at the proper time. 
Begonias of nearly every section are invaluable, but unfor¬ 
tunately these are not employed in the conservatory during the 
summer to the extent that they deserve. Persons who know 
their value and grow the plants well do not fail to provide a 
sufficient number for decoration at this period of the year ; but 
all the same, there is ample room for thousands more to be 
cultivated for the purpose in question. 
We have frequently arranged for a time early-flowering Tydeas, 
Ixoras, and other stove-flowering plants without the least sign 
of harm having been done to them, though even the few that have 
been enumerated, if employed in sufficient numbers, give a totally 
different aspect to many conservatories than they frequently 
possess during the summer months. 
In lofty structures Campanula pyramidalis, well grown, is 
highly effective, forming spire-like masses of flowers 6 to 9 feet 
high. They associate well with other plants, imparting diversity 
with agreeable colour to the arrangement. 
Kalosanthes are quite distinct from outdoor flowering plants, 
and are rich without being gaudy. They can be flowered in quite 
a small state if needed for certain positions, and show to advantage 
with Ferns and Gloxinias. 
Among annuals well-grown plants of Gomphrena globosa are 
distinct from any in open borders. Salpiglossis attract by their 
richly pencilled flowers, Rhodanthes by their chaste colours, and 
Thunbergia alata produces a good effect in appropriate positions. 
But for the summer decoration of the conservatory we need not 
confine ourselves to flowering plants, for ornamental foliage plants 
are equally suitable and impart a tropical aspect to the arrangement, 
which is enjoyable. Few plants associate with flowers better or 
produce a more elegant appearance than Adiantum cuneatum. If 
some are grown under the influence of more light than the otheis 
two distinct effects can be clearly brought out. Those grown with 
abundance of light will have fronds of the lightest green, or nearly 
yellow, tinted with pink ; while those grown in the shade will be of 
the deepest and most pleasing shade of green. 
The number of suitable plants is by no means exhausted. Aralias, 
or most of them, would be better in the conservatory than in the 
stove ; in the latter they soon grow too tall, while in the former 
they make compact growth, and are in the best possible condition 
for any other form of decoration during the following autumn, 
winter, and spring. Small well coloured plants of Pandanus 
Yeitchi are very effective, so also are well developed examples of 
Dracaenas Lindeni, Cooperi, terminalis, and gracilis. These and 
other stove plants, such as variegated grasses, Acalyphas and 
others, change the aspect of the conservatory in summer, and 
notwithstanding the wealth of flowers outside do not fail to give 
satisfaction. 
Crotons, well coloured, of any section, whether broad or narrow 
leaved, have few equals for ornamental purposes. Poorly grown 
plants inferior in colour detract from, rather than add to, the effect 
of an arrangement, and should not be used. AVe often see these 
plants employed with magnificent effect in the exhibition tent, 
yet seldom find them equally good in conservatories and similar 
structures during the summer. Improvement in the arrangement 
of plants for effect has been apparent in exhibition groups, but these 
No. 2129.— Yol. LXXXI., Old Sebies 
