66 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 1, 1869. 
summer, and full of Strawberries and Vines in pots next 
winter, and wlio will number the fruit next season ? 
D. Beaton. 
PLANTS NOT FLOWERING. 
“ ‘ H. O. H.’ has kept the following several years without being 
able to bloom them :—Blandfordia nobilis and Plumbago rosea.” 
We should have liked the treatment adopted detailed, and then 
we could have better judged of the cause of failure. 
Blandfordia nobilis would stand out of doors in front of 
the wall of a hothouse, in most positions south of the midland 
counties, if protected by branches or a hand-light in winter. If 
grown in pots, the soil, as the plant increases in size, should be 
chiefly loam with a little very rotten cowdung. In summer it 
can scarcely have too much encouragement as respects manure 
waterings, &c.; but as autumn approaches the water should be 
diminished, whilst full exposure to the sun is given. In winter, 
if the plant is in a pot, it should be kept dryish and cool; and as 
the days lengthen and more water is required, the Lily-like 
flower-stems may be expected to appear. The larger and finer 
the foliage, provided fully exposed to the sun this season, the 
finer may the flower-stems be expected next season, whether out 
of doors protected, or in-doors in a pot or tub : the earth in winter 
must not be dry, neither should it be wet. Most of such 
plants at that time absorb sufficiently when placed on a moist 
surface, such as sand, or ashes, a little damp. 
Plumbago rosea. —This plant requires a cool stove to manage 
it nicely. After flowering or growing freely this season, it should 
bo pretty well cut down, or pruned in, and water withheld in 
proportion to the diminished surface. The water should have 
been curtailed previously, in order that the buds near the base of 
the shoots may be well ripened. Repot next season as these buds 
break into little shoots, shaking away most of the old soil, 
and watering as necessary, and plenty of bloom will come from 
points of the shoots, in a temperature from 50° to 60° at 
night, and 70° to 80° during the day. It does little good in a 
common greenhouse. 
“ ‘F. H.’ has a nice bushy plant of Plumbago Capensis in her 
greenhouse, but it scarcely ever yields a flower.” Perhaps the 
bushiness, the result of stopping and pinching, may be the reason. 
This plant also produces its bloom chiefly on the points of the 
shoots of the current year’s growth. Treat it much as you would 
doa Vine, and you will have plenty of bloom. Get the wood ofthis 
season well ripened, and it matters not whether you long-rod or 
spur-prune, from every bud left that produces a shoot you may 
expect a bunch of flowers at its point. When once a good plant 
is well established the easiest way to manage it is, as soon 
as the blooms begin to decay—say in September, and the same if 
there is no bloom—give the plant all the air and light possible, 
and just as much water as will prevent flagging, so as to ripen 
and harden the backward buds, and then prune each shoot back 
to within a couple of buds or so of its base, in November, or even 
earlier. If the shoots from these buds next spring are too 
numerous, thin them; and if the shoots from which they spring 
were well ripened, the stronger the shoots of the current year the 
finer will be the masses of bloom. In a pot it is best to divert 
the strength into a great many shoots of equal size, so as to have 
it a mass of flower all over. It will then require a large space; 
but when pruned in at the approach of winter it will require but 
little room. It stands well anywhere so that much frost does 
not reach it. 
Ekytiirina gristagalli. —“ I have had this three years in 
a large pot, and have not seen it flower.” We are rather surprised 
at this ; and can only account for it on the supposition that you 
must have treated it as if it were a plant that could not be kept 
too weak. Now, it requires a plant to be three years old to give 
you a fine mass of bloom; but, nevertheless, there is nothing to 
stop a young plant blooming when in its second year. This also 
blooms on the points of the shoots of the current year. The 
strength of these shoots generally gives proportional strength of 
flower-spikes. The plants bear heat well, but they do well in 
pots in the greenhouse, and also out of doors, protected at the 
bottom of a wall, south of the midland counties. However the 
plants are grown, they should be primed down to the surface of 
t soil, and have a period of rest in winter, by keeping the roots 
a the fleshy juicy sort of a collar dryish rather than otherwise. 
When the shoots break from the collar in spring, then is the best 
time for taking off young pieces three inches long, and inserting 
them as cuttings. About the same time the shoots should 
be thinned, proportioning the number to the size of the collar 
and strength of the plant. Three, five, or so, for a young plant; 
and seven, or ten, for a very strong one. From that time the 
plant will take a fair amount of heat and water, and all the air 
and sunlight you can give it. The flower-spikes will, ere long, 
appear; but if not, the shoots must be encouraged to grow 
strong until September, when all the sun possible should be given 
in unison, with no more water than will keep them from flagging. 
As the leaves fall in October or November under this treatment, 
the plants if in pots may be cut down, and the pots placed any¬ 
where, so as much frost does not reach them. 
Clianthus puniceus, and Passiflora ccerulea. —“ I have 
not succeeded in blooming. Do they require heat, &c.?” inquires 
‘ R. E. P.’ Both of these plants flourish out of doors in warm 
places in the southern counties. We have seen fine specimens 
of the Passiflora out of doors in the midland counties. The 
Clianthus, however, may be looked upon as a very hardy green¬ 
house plant, requiring to be protected from a temperature below 
the freezing point in winter. This secured, the plant should be 
kept almost in a state of rest in winter, little water being re¬ 
quired ; and during the winter and spring the last summer’s 
shoots should be shortened. If these had been well exposed to 
the sun, especially in the autumn, as the days lengthen the young 
shoots will begin to grow, and by the end of May should be 
inured to the open air, and will most likely have plenty of flowers ; 
and when they are gone the plants should have as little water in 
autumn as will ju3t keep them from flagging, and as much sun as 
they can get. This so ripens the wood of the plant, that after 
the winter’s rest the plants cannot help flowering the following 
season. Loam and heath soil suit the plant, with good drainage, 
and manure watering when growing. The syringe should also 
be freely used in summer to keep red spider at a distance. 
The Passion-flower should also be allowed to rest in winter, 
after having its wood and leaves well exposed to the sun in 
summer and autumn. A plant out of doors against a w'all 
should not be pruned back until the end of March or the be¬ 
ginning of April, as the spray acts as a protection. If the plant 
is in a greenhouse, it may be cut back in November or February. 
When once established, it is best to cut back each young shoot at 
these times, so as to leave one or two buds only on the base of 
the shoots. If the shoots were ripened in summer and autumn, 
every shoot next season that comes from the buds left will prove 
flowering-shoots. Where space is to be covered, a good ripened 
long shoot like the rod of a Vine will throw out a flowering- 
shoot from every bud upon it. If these should be too numerous, 
the buds or shoots would require to be thinned. Good, rich, 
loamy soil, with a portion of leaf mould or heath soil, grow this 
plant well. A manure watering in summer will be advantageous. 
Curtail watering in autumn, and give little in winter, and begin 
to increase the quantity in spring and summer as the young 
shoots grow. Sometimes these shoots will be a yard or more in 
length before they show bloom, and then fresh flowers will come 
every day from every fresh joint until the cold dark days arrive. 
R. Fish. 
REMOVING LARGE EVERGREENS. 
I AM about transplanting a number of evergreens—viz., Irish 
Yews, Bay and Portugal Laurels, and Hollies of from six to 
twelve years’ growth. Will you give me any guidance you can 
as to the best mode of proceeding in the matter ? Our climate is 
mild and moist; and my grounds situated close to the seashore, 
-II. R. B. 
[Irish Yews and Bays, or Sweet Bay (Lamms nobilis ), are 
two of the easiest plants to move at any age or size. As their 
roots are very numerous, most succulent or fleshy, and much 
given to fibres, they carry great balls; and the only difficulty you 
will have with them will be to get the balls so reduced ns to make 
them easy of carriage without destroying many roots. Have 
them gently wrought amongst with sharp-tined forks, and clear 
well away under the balls, to make sure that any tap roots are 
cleanly cut before the ball is thrown to one side. It is never safe 
to “ throw ” any such balls till all tap, or downward, roots are 
first cut. All such tap roots ought also to be cut at the level of 
the bottom of tiie ball. Portugal Laurels and Hollies are more 
difficult to move ; and November is one of the w r orst of the four 
winter months to transplant either of them. August and Sep¬ 
tember are the best time to move them ; but any time from the 
first of May to the end of September is better than between 
October and April. But, as in Dumbartonshire you have twice 
