July 7. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
259 
from the roof of a cool greenhouse?” This inquiry de¬ 
serves prominence on two accounts. Eirst, because the 
letter is so short, and to the purpose; and, secondly, 
because the matter has not previously received very 
direct attention, though it has frequently been swept 
over by a side wind. 
A lady, of acknowledged refined taste, lately expressed 
her surprise that I had not scores of such baskets sus¬ 
pended from the conservatory and veranda roofs. I am 
well aware of the striking effect they would produce, not 
merely from the novelty of the arrangement, nor because 
they would awaken ideas of Chinaman’s land and 
oriental magnificence, but because we have many plants 
that never look themselves unless when allowed to sus¬ 
pend their branches freely. Witness the Nemophila 
j insignis, whose praises I have lately recorded; witness 
the whole beautiful group of Anagallis and creeping 
Lobelias, which novel - look so much at home as when 
waving from a basket or vase. Witness, again, the 
whole evergreen trailing group of Helianthemums, with 
I their single and double, yellow, creamy, copper, pink, 
I straw, sulphur, and white coloured flowers in spring 
I and summer. They are, no doubt, beautiful in beds on 
the level ground, but what is their interest there com¬ 
pared with seeing them trailing over banks, or rude 
knolls, or baskets of stones ? 
However made, whether of iron or rustic wood work, 
suspended baskets will present a new charm to the 
greenhouse. Why do not gardeners use them more 
often ? Because attention to them involves additional 
labour, and that is a commodity, they, as a class, find 
keeps no proportion with the increase of work from im¬ 
provements. For their introduction w - e must, therefore, 
in the first place, depend upon our amateur friends. It 
j will not be the first time that we are indebted to them 
! for improvements. If at times we can supply practical 
S details, it is only an attempt to pay back some of the 
brightest ideas on gardening we owe to them. 
Before enumerating a few plants I have either used, 
or seen adopted for such suspension in baskets in such 
a cool house, let me say a few words as to the preparing 
of such baskets. 
Where mere neatness and economy are concerned, 
nothing is better than wire, as it can be easily worked 
into any shape. A great variety may also be produced 
from wood, crooked and gnarled, covered with bark, or 
oiled and varnished, and a pleasing effect is often pro- 
i duced by pieces of split cane, and pieces of, and speci¬ 
mens of the cones of the fir tribe. Supposing that wire 
is approved of, the first thing to do is to protest against 
| painting; however well done, it will soon disappear 
i when in constant use. Neither let the baskets be made 
' of galvanised wire, for every cut made during the forming 
! of the basket will expose the wire there to the oxydising 
rusting effects of the atmosphere, and before long this 
will creep along, and give you as rusty a vessel as if you 
had used common wire, and exposed it to damp. The 
best plan is to make the baskets of suitable wire, and 
then send them to a galvanising company to be dipped. 
Most wire-workers are in the habit of sending vvhole 
webs of wire rabbit-fencing to be thus dipped. Every 
end, cut, and tie of the basket are thus encrusted, and 
will bid defiance to rust for a long time. In elegant 
houses, I yet expect to see fine artistic China baskets 
manufactured for this purpose. 
Whatever be the material of the basket, its preserva¬ 
tion, and the welfare of the plants, will be promoted by 
having a vessel to fit inside, in which the roots and 
earth of the plant shall be placed. Of course, in a close 
wooden basket, with holes for drainage, this may be dis¬ 
pensed with, but at the risk of premature decay. In an 
open wire vessel it may also be dispensed with, but in¬ 
dependent of the wear of the wire, there is the additional 
labour of packing all the interstices of the wire firmly 
with moss. That would require to be done, even if the 
roots were growing wholly in decayed moss, instead of 
earth. I have frequently adopted this mode from choice, 
when I wished to make something like a globe of bloom 
as soon as possible. The roots were placed in layers 
inside, and the tops of the plants just brought through 
the moss, and the chief care they required was dipping 
the basket in water as often as the state of the roots 
required it. 
1 have grown Musk mimulus, Forget-mc-not, Lobelias, 
Verbenas, and various kinds of Achimenes, in this 
manner. In spring, Tulips, and Crocuses, and Snow¬ 
drops, might be done in a similar way. In general, 
however, in the case of all plants that trail freely, little 
is gained by the mode, as they will soon cover the 
basket, and give but little index whether the shoots 
proceed from the sides or the top. I, therefore, all 
things considered, recommend the plants to be grown 
in an interior vessel; and the best, for general purposes, 
we consider to be those made of zinc, because, first, 
such a vessel will take up but little room, and, secondly, 
because almost all plants that we have tried answer 
well in such material. Our readers will recollect our 
allusion to such vessels at Trentham ; and though our 
experiments have been chiefly confined to propagating, 
so far as we have tried, our practice confirms Mr. 
Fleming’s surmises and conclusions. V hether this 
metal shall be greatly used for ornamental plant grow¬ 
ing will depend greatly upon amateurs with refined 
taste : sobersided practicals will have to stick to the 
red pottery. But, for their weight, and the room they 
occupy, a common garden-pot, with suitable plants 
grown in it, may be stuck inside a wire basket; the 
space between the sides of the pot and the side of the 
basket stuffed with moss, which will conceal the pot, 
keep the roots in such a suspended position in an equal 
temperature, or tend to do it, and so far as possible 
minimise wateriugs. 
Let us now glance at a few of the plants suitable for 
such a purpose in a cool greenhouse— 
1st. Hardy Plants.—I mention a few of these merely 
on the principle that, in such a house, a common thing, 
in a healthy state, especially in winter and early spring, 
is more interesting than a woe-begoue exotic, however 
rare. 
Lotus comieulatus flare pleno. —Every one knows the 
yellow Comieulatus of our pastures. The double one 
is just more interesting when grown in rich loam, in 
a pot, well-watered, all the blooms pruned-off in the 
early part of summer, and encouraged to grow, it makes 
a rather pretty mass of yellow, in a little basket, early 
in the spring. 
Helianthemums. —The whole of the trailing, low-grow¬ 
ing, evergreen kinds, will bloom soon alter Christmas, 
if treated in the same way. They should have a good 
portion of broken sandstone, charcoal, and rotten wood, 
and leaf mould incorporated with the soil. Now is a 
good time for inserting cuttings of firm side-slioots for a 
stock, under hand-lights, in sandy soil, in a shady place. 
Vinca. —The whole of the Periwinkles delight in the 
shade, and make long, straggling shoots—hence the 
name, from vinculum , a band. Most of them bloom in 
mild winters out-of-doors. I have found this is greatly 
promoted by cutting the shoots back to a prominent 
bud in April, May, and June. 1 once had a plant of 
i Vinca major in a large pot, with abundance ot its large 
blue-purple flowers, and its glossy, green foliage at 
Christmas. Such a mass would have adorned any 
basket. Besides this major, there are several varieties 
of minor, with small flowers, purple, blue, and white, 
and with small foliage—green, white variegated, and 
yellow variegated. A fine basket of the latter would 
give a cool greenhouse a lively appearance in the 
winter months. 
