108 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Di'XF.mhkk 18. 
winters without nny protection. Sometimes, however, 
the large, creeping, underground roots are desti’oyed 
when frost and extreme damp succeed each oilier. It is 
safest, tlierefore, to dig up the roots, and to pack them, 
in soil, in any jilace where they will be free from the.se 
e.xtremes. Beautiful as it is when mixed with the old 
variegated Scarlet Geranium, it also makes a nice, 
compact, rosy-purple bed when planted alone, rising 
from twelve to eighteen inches in height, and from its 
firm habit and upright growth requiring neither pegging 
nor staking to keep it in order. Several inquiries have 
been made as to ju'opagating and keeping, and hence 
these few remarks. Good seed sown in a hotbed, in 
March, pricked ofl^ and grown on until ^fay, will give 
nice flowering plants for the season. Cuttings may also 
be made in autumn the same as for other Verbenas. 
But the easiest and best method, where many plants are 
wanted, is to take the creeping, underground roots, and 
cover them over in sandy leaf-mould in the middle of 
March. They will soon present you with a forest 'oF 
young shoots, and by dividing the old roots in pieces, 
you will have lots of young plants furnished with young 
roots at once, which may either be potted separately, or 
planted out in a bed, where they will receive no check, 
and be hardened off gradually until planting-out time 
in May. If there is any preference, I shoidd choose 
this intermediate pricking-out instead of -[lotting. 1 
have frequently hardened them off in the beds in which 
they were started, divided, and planted out at once. If 
left in the beds out-of-doors during the winter, the beds 
should be covered with moss, or ashes, so as to throw 
off heavy rains, &:c. 
SALVIA PATENS. 
I regret to find that many disappointments have 
occurred about this splendid plant. One correspondent 
says, that he kept the roots quite safe, packed in sand, 
for several years; and that every year they became 
more unsatisfactory,* whether used for pots or the flower- 
garden. I have experienced the same thing myself. 
For compact, free flowering-plants in summer, young 
plants, raised from seed sown in a moderate hotbed in 
March, are sure to give satisfaction in-doors or out. 
Plants from tubers a year or two old will be much 
stronger. After tliat age, if taken up year after year, 
they are not to be sowbelly depended on, as, frequently, 
' a plant will go oft' without giving you any notice of its 
i intention to do so. Many keep them good for years, hy 
allowing them to stand in the ground all the winter, 
protected with old tan, ashes, &c. I have found, that 
though this plan does admirably well on light ground, 
the roots very often decay, more or less, on still, loamy 
soils. The best beds T have ever seen of this plant were at 
the Frythe, a beautiful new place, the residence of W. 
Wilshere,Esq., about a mile and a-quarter from the Wel¬ 
wyn station, on the Great Northern Railway. 'The flower- 
garden and terraces, though not extensive, have been 
specimens of good taste and first-rate management. Our 
old friend, Mr. Carter, though he has held the position 
of head-gardener for more than half a century, showed, 
that in his management he could be young and bloom- 
; ing as the best of us. These splendid Sah-ia jpatens 
I beds have been in the same place for several years; 
having only, so far as I recollect, a covering of rough 
leaf-mould in winter, slightly forked in in the spring. 
'The position was an elevated platform surface-soil; na¬ 
turally a sandy loam, resting on an open gravel subsoil. 
! 'The form of the beds were circular; the plants were 
fully lour feet high in the centre, and sweeping the turf 
at tlie sides; and during summer, and on to the end of 
autumn, were a dense mass of the most beautiful blue. 
I should suppose that the blooms fell sometimes, as they 
i do at other places, but during the times I saw them, it 
j would have been difficult to see where they could have 
come from. The place was well sheltered, being only 
directly open to the south. When flourishing in such 
style, 1 am aware of no blue to approach it in splendour. 
SALVIA FFLGENS VARIEGATA. | 
'The difl'erences between this variety and the common i 
fnlgens are, tliat tl)e foliage is liberally blotched with | 
white, sometimes approaching yellow; and that, if any- j 
thing, it blooms a little later, and, perhaps, is not so 
strong growing. A correspondent lately complained, 
that though he succeeded in saving it out-of-doors in the 
ground last winter, by a covering of ashes, thatched with 
moss; and though he had vigorous growth in summer, 
that he got no flowers until mid and late autumn. When 
left in the ground, the plants should he taken up and 
replanted in ^lay, which lessens luxuriance and pre- 
j disposes to early blooming. Plants thus treated were 
; in bloom in July. Instead of leaving them in the i 
I ground, which prevents the ground being dug in the ! 
, winter, and requires considerable trouble in protecting | 
! them, it is better to take them up, after cutting the tops I 
off, in November, and pack them closely in dryish earth 
; in a shed, where, hy means of a little litter in severe 
; weather, much frost may be excluded. Such plants 
I turned out in May, flower almost as early as cuttings 
i taken in August, and keep growing all the winter, and 
; require far less trouble. When so kept in a shed, or in 
1 a cold pit, they would be the better for an intermediate 
' place in a border, with a little protection, before going 
into the open ground, 
LARGE LOBELIAS. 
Such as fuhjens, Marryntta;, iyuea, sitlemlens, &c., 
i among the scarlets; and (iryuiaJieterupltyUa^jniramkluH)^, 
1 and syphilitica, among the blues, are best kept in much 
! the same manner, beneath a greenhouse stage, or in any 
shed, or root-house. They frequently stand the winter 
out-of-doors, but they are never to be depended on. It 
is always safest to take a part of them up by the hegin- 
i ning of November. A correspondent mentioned, the 
other week, how fine he grew them as single plants for 
; the greenhouse ; and few things are more splendid in 
' summer. For this purpose, the following are the essen¬ 
tials. Kee]) the roots dryish and cool in winter, not often | 
; below In spring, say the beginning of March, place 
them in an averege of hO'^, with an increase of moisture. ' 
: By the time the suckers fairly show several leaves above 
the surface, divide singly, and pot in small pots, in light, 
rich loam, heated, so as to give no check; ])lunge these 
pots .again in a hottom-heat of about 10^-' to 10°, and 
, shift on as fast as the jflants require it: the great thing ; 
' now being to encourage the production of good-sized i 
leaves before the stem commences to rise much, and 
to avoid anything like steam or condensed moi.sture 
hurting the foliage, by leaving a little air constantly at 
the hack. By June the [ilants should be gradually 
hardened, so as to stand in the greenhouse, and when , 
the roots have filled an eight or a twelve-inch pot, a rich 
surfacing should bo given, and manure-waterings freely i 
! applied. In flower-gardening parjjoses, several young I 
plants or suckers may go togethei’, as the same nicety is 
j not required, and, besicRs, such strong, high stems would i 
: often be a disadvantage. 
I I 
j SWEET-SCENTED VERBENA {Aloys',a cit,-lod,„■(,). l 
I This universal favourite, especially among the ladies, ! 
I when used as a window jflant, should he kept rather dry 
I in winter, if it has ceased growing. Young plants with 
foliage on must be kept slowly growing. Older j)lants 
that have lost their leaves may bo safely kept in any 
place, dark or light, where frost is excluded. It is 
becoming fashionable to plant old, stumpy plants among 
Roses in summer. These may be safely kept, when 
taken up, in a close shed, or beneath the stage in a cool 
