194 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGUST. 
[ September, 
The plants which I generally use for this system of planting-out for winter 
flowering are as under :— Begonia insignis; B. fuchsioides , one of the most useful; 
B. erecta multi flora , B. sanguinea , B. nitida , B. ricinifolia ; these and other 
varieties can always be cut in handfuls. Eranthemum pidchellum, for its blue 
inflorescence, has always a place. Euphorbia jacquiniceflora, when planted out, 
runs fairly wild ; the length of its scarlet raceme is something extraordinary, and 
when cut it breaks again and flowers freely, which is certainly a feature in its 
character highly to be recommended. Justiciapurpurea is also admitted, although 
not much of a plant to cut from. Poinsettici pulcherrima is another plant which 
rejoices in this treatment ; we have had in this way bracts 15 in. across. Vinca 
rosea and alba are also useful. Sericographis Ghiesbreghtianci is yet one of our 
most useful winter-flowering plants ; for cutting it is invaluable, and we can never 
have too much of it; we grow it plentifully, and by this system it, too, grows 
freely. Thyrsaccintlius rutilans also in this way yields its pendent inflorescence in 
a most graceful and peculiar manner, as if, in sailors’ parlance, dipping its colours 
in honour of the other plants surrounding. 
Planted thinly, many other plants not mentioned above might be introduced, 
so as to thoroughly carpet the whole of the surface of the bed, which will produce 
a very pleasing effect, more especially if contrasted with a house where plants 
are cultivated in pots, and where it happens, as sometimes it will, that pots and 
not plants are the prevailing feature. Many an amateur, who perhaps could not 
find time daily to attend to the watering of plants in pots, might in this way have 
throughout the winter and spring months a very gay house, keeping both his 
own and his friends’ flower-glasses plentifully filled with the choicest of flowers, 
and this, too, during the most dark and dreary days of mid-winter. 
Besides the above-mentioned system of planting-out in beds, I adopt the 
principle wherever an opportunity occurs. I have now in glorious flower in this way 
the Lagerstromia indica , with shoots 4 ft., 6 ft., and 8 ft. long, bending under their 
load of flowers. In another house of medium temperature I have Bougainvillea 
glabra in great splendour, which for cutting is certainly not second to any of 
our flowering plants, and in point of easy cultivation second to none. Thunbergia 
Harrisii is another plant which revels in great wildness, a plant of which, covering 
a roof 40 ft. long, is, during the winter and spring, a complete mass of flower,— 
more, perhaps, to be admired on the plant than of use for cutting, as it soon fades. 
Ipomcea Ilorsfcdlice is another lovely plant when treated in this manner ; for years 
during the winter and spring months we have had the favoured opportunity of 
seeing this glorious plant in flower, and the racemes when cut and put into glasses 
have a most pleasing effect, being peculiarly adapted to tall glasses, where the 
flower-stalk can either hang down or be entwined round the stem of the glass. 
Our fernery, which contains a goodly collection of stove ferns and Selaginellas, 
is treated also on the planting-out system. Some are planted on rocks, some in 
troughs, some in beds, some by the path-sides, and some everywhere. So quick 
and luxuriant is the growth in this house, that to keep it within reasonable 
