488 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 27 . 
seeds for tlie beds and borders, both in and out-of-doors; 
and the first I shall mention is the new autumnal, 
yellow annual, Eucnida Bartonioides, which I mentioned 
last autumn. I still hold the opinion, that it is more 
suited for pots than beds; still, a bed of it ought to be 
tried everywhere, as if it should turn out to be 
manageable that way, the bed may be expected to 
flower on till the end of September, from a sowing 
in a moderately warm frame about the middle of April. 
I would sow and treat it exactly as I would Salpiglossis, 
Portulacas, or the small, blue Lobelias; that is, get it 
up quickly, in a mild hotbed, in light, sandy soil, and 
then remove it to a cooler place to grow more slowly, 
and get hardened before I would prick out the plants 
into other pots. There is no reason for hurrying it on, 
as, probably, none of the spring-raised plants, if sown 
ever so early, could be got into bloom before the month 
of July; but all that wo have to learn yet. 
Suppose a small bed was sown now with Bartonia 
aurea, or Sphenoyyne speciosa, that bed would be done 
flowering by the time this new yellow plant would be 
throwing-up for bloom ; and, therefore, it might follow 
either of them in a regular garden arrangement of 
colours. It did not appear to me to require a very large 
pot; and three shifts would be sufficient for it:—first 
into a 60-pot; then into a 32-pot, say, at the end of May ; 
and five weeks after that, to be finally placed in a 16- 
pot ; and being a flower which is certain to attract the 
attention, it is well suited for pot-purposes from the 
drawing-rooms and conservatories to the window-sill. 
A packet of the seeds may be had for sixpence. 
It is full soon yet to put in or sow Balsam seeds for 
plants out-of-doors; the first of May is time enough for 
them, as they will not bloom comfortably in the open 
air until after the middle of July, but they are certainly 
a good addition to the mixed borders in the autumn ; 
and which is as much to the purpose. A well-bloomed 
Balsam out-of-doors is a sure sign of skill and compe¬ 
tency in the manager; for, let me say it fearlessly, it is 
not a bad hit to show off a batch of Balsams in the 
open air in this country. 
Blacli-eyed Susans, or the different varieties of Tliun- 
bergia alata, are a set of plants which few people have 
the courage to rear for the flower-beds, but I hardly know 
a plant more fanciful, more gay, or more easy to manage 
that way, far more easy than to get them up well iu pots 
for the show house. Three years ago, I told how they 
did them at Claremont—just like a hedge of Sweet Peas, 
and they flowered much longer than Sweet Peas, and 
ripened seeds as well in front of the hothouses. I used 
to grow them for years against the shaded side of a 
conservatory wall, and in mixed borders; in the latter, 
I let them go as they listed, when some trailed along the 
ground and flowered in abundance; others climbed up, or 
rather turned up the sticks which supported other plants, 
and then hung down carelessly when they could find no 
more support; and all of them flowered till the frost 
came; and I saw a bed of mixed plants, last year, which 
was not cut out of the grass till Juno, one-third of the 
plants being of these very Thunbergias; the whole of 
the soil was new, and all the plants were more luxuriant 
than usual, but none so much so as the Tlnmbergia, 
which trailed over everything, and flowered in the 
wildest confusion, encroached on the grass, and had to 
be trained back or cut by the scythe ; it was the end of 
October before they failed, but I did not hear if they 
ripened seeds. The hottest and dampest place in the 
garden is the best for them; but they seldom do well 
against a south wall, as the red spider takes to them the 
moment they get overheated or too dry. 
The common red Pentstemons grow among Rhododen¬ 
drons, in peat, better than anywhere else in the garden, 
if there is sufficient room between the plants for them. 
Every one of the Phloxes has the same partiality for peat, 
and more especially if it is fresh. The best reds, purples, 
pinks, and whites of them, if mixed all over an American 
bed, would carry on the same colours as the Rhododen¬ 
drons through the autumn. This is a good time to try 
this experiment with the trimmings from the old Phloxes, 
then, by planting a row of these Thunbergias all round 
the outside of the Rhododendrons, the Thunbergias 
would run and scramble over the outside Rhododendrons, 
and the whole would be as gay and as curious as 
anything one could make out of a few spare plants, and 
with no more room than there is at present; but after 
you rise above a certain stamp or style of gardening, 
I do not think this plan would be in character. It is 
rather wheie one is tied down in space that these 
expedients are iu good taste; but taste takes a wide 
range, and there is no reason against one making the 
best of his own garden. 
The new Eschsvholtzia tenuifolia, which Mr. Veitcli 
exhibited last July, is well worth trying against the old 
ones. It is much dwarfer and of more upright growth 
than the old one, and will do to sow in the open ground 
any time during this month. The dark blue, or violet- 
flowering Whitlavia yrandiflora is equally new, and 
worth a trial as a new annual. There is a full account of 
it in my report of the last July show at Chiswick; and 
there are many good varieties of the old Convolvulus 
major which many people never saw or heard of, but 
which are very useful as summer climbers, in various 
ways. The places for them should now be marked out, 
and some rich, fresh compost put in the places intended 
for all such, while the garden is undergoing the spring 
work. 
Those who saved plenty of seeds of the different lialf- 
hardy plants might now sow some out-of-doors, in addi¬ 
tion to what they intend for pots in heat; many seeds 
can be raised in a bed under a warm south wall, with a 
tenth of the trouble by pots and hotbeds; and if the 
season should be against them there will be nothing lost, 
and some experience will be gained, with a chance of 
success; but where one has to buy every such seed they 
are too precious to be risked out at first. 
A packet of the seeds of the different Portulacas 
might be sown over a bed of spring bulbs; and although 
these seeds are of the very smallest, I have seen them 
do very well that way, and the plants to flower all the 
season without any more trouble, after the bulbs died 
down or were removed. The very dwarf Coreopsis tine- 
toria is now to be had in the seed-shops; it is not more 
than six inches high, but flowers as freely, and the 
flowers are quite as large, as those of the old sort; the 
least heat will bring them up, or they may be sown in 
the open ground at once. When one is pinched for 
room where to sow all the seeds of this or that plant, take 
the best spring bed now in bulbs, or mixed plants, and 
sow it all over with one or more kinds ; little seedlings 
will do no harm to the other plants, and they are always 
under the eye, and as the season warms, they can be 
moved somewhere else. A great deal may be done in a 
small way by a few harmless shifts of this kind. I 
have often put a pinch of seeds in the middle of a 
cutting-pot, and had the two crops as one. 
China Asters and Ten-week Stocks will come up, after 
the middle of April, as well among a bed of Hyacinths 
as in a hotbed, though not so so soon. 
A whole bed of blooming Cinerarias might now be 
planted out near the windows; and if a mat is thrown 
over them at night, they will bloom longer, and as fine 
as those in a greenhouse, besides making more room for 
other things. All the forced Roses which are now over, 
or past their best, might be cut down. Yes, cut in so 
much as you would last November, and be all the better 
for it in the long run; they will soon spring afresh, and 
you have the very best cuttings from this pruning. 
While the cutting-frames are in work, I would not lose a 
