April S, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
489 
OAPE HEATHS. 
Ericas, or as commonly called Heaths, are plants that 
require great care, patience, and skill in their cultivation, 
and many disappointments will have to be encountered 
before success crowns the effort of those who are un¬ 
acquainted with their requirements. Heaths may be 
divided into two classes—hard and soft-wooded varieties. 
The hard-wooded kinds are the finest for exhibition pur¬ 
poses, and are nearly all spring, summer, and early 
autumn-flowering ; soft-wooded are for the most part 
late autumn and early spring-flowering. The liard- 
wooded kinds require a greater amount of care in their 
cultivation, and are generally much slower in their 
growth ; therefore, where specimen-growing is antici¬ 
pated, young thrifty plants not less than three years 
old should be obtained, the advantage of young plants 
being that the grower will be better able to understand 
the health of his plants, and also have them more 
under his command, by knowing what sort of soil 
they are growing in as they advance in years, and also 
a knowledge of what condition the roots are in, for this 
is the first essential to their well-doing. If the root 
action is not healthy, the whole plant will soon show 
signs of it by either be¬ 
coming yellow or dying off 
altogether. This is the great 
evil in obtaining large Heaths, 
as you have no idea what 
they may be potted in, or 
what particular treatment 
they have been subject to. 
For making the young 
plants into specimens, they 
should never be allowed to 
become pot-bound until they 
get into the size of pot it is 
intended they should be 
trained. By this treatment 
they grow much quicker than 
if allowed to get thoroughly 
matted with roots before pot¬ 
ting. Young plants must 
at all times be kept well 
staked-out to admit a free 
circulation of air amongst 
their foliage, which is apt to 
mildew. Should mildew 
appear, dust at once with 
flour of sulphur, and tho¬ 
roughly ventilate. Wash 
off the sulphur in a few days 
by turning the plants on their 
sides and giving a good 
syringe with rain - water. 
Much has been 'written about 
these plants not liking fire- 
heat, but I find that young 
plants benefit by a little 
judiciously applied ; suffi¬ 
cient to keep frost away 
must always be given, but 
a little during the early 
spring months, with plenty 
of ventilation, does not hurt them. It keeps the atmo¬ 
sphere dry about them, and causes the air in the house 
to circulate better. In potting these plants the greatest 
care is necessary, and time spent in this work is well 
spent, and should, under no circumstance, be hurried 
through. Particular attention must be paid to the 
drainage of the pot, and a good covering of rough peat 
should be placed over the crocks to keep them clean 
from the upper soil. 
For potting, select the best peat possible, and use 
plenty of sharp grit or silver sand. The peat should 
not be in too dry a condition when prepared for potting, 
and if it should be so, give it a good watering, and let 
it lay a day or two then add the sand, and well mix 
together. When ready for use it should be in a moist 
condition that will cause the whole to lay firm when 
pressed for potting. Pot the plants exceedingly firm— 
small shifts and often are better than large shifts, with 
the soil in a short time becoming sour round the roots ; 
leave sufficient space ou the top of the soil to admit 
giving enough water at one time to soak the whole ball. 
Give the plants a good soaking of water the day before 
you intend to pot—they will come out of the pots 
better for it, and if the ball seems at all in a condition 
to take more water after you get it out of the pot, 
stand it in a bucket or tub of water till it gets 
soaked through ; let it stand and drain for a little 
time after taking from the water before potting. If the 
above advice be followed out, the newly potted plants 
will not require any water from the can for some time; 
this matter will have to be left to the judgment of the 
grower. Heaths should never be potted in the hot 
weather, this causes them to have more water given to 
them than they require, and the result is more often a 
failure than a success. The month of March or the 
end of September is the best time for this work, with 
a deviation of a month either way where a large lot 
are grown ; but at all times select the plants for 
potting just at the time they are beginning to grow ; 
the work generally gives satisfaction then. 
When large plants get very much out of health it is 
often very difficult to bring them back into a robust state 
again, and should the variety not be a very valuable 
kind, it is better to throw it away, and pot up a young 
plant to take its place. Hot weather often leaves its 
mark on a collection of Ericas, and should a long spell 
of hot dry weather occur at any time, the plants will 
benefit with a little shade during the heat of the 
day if the plants cannot be placed in a house or pit 
Phlox Dkummondi. 
facing north ; and the younger plants benefit by stand¬ 
ing on a bed of ashes. Dribbling watering, light potting, 
and a confined atmosphere are all evils to be avoided 
in connection with this ela;s of plants. Soft-wooded 
Ericas require somewhat the same treatment as to soil 
and potting, but always benefit by being stood out in the 
open air during the autumn to mature their wood and 
set their flower-buds. When there is danger of frost 
they require to be put into cool airy houses or pits 
with heating apparatus in them to keep frost out. 
Erica ventricosa and its varieties are really soft- 
wooded kinds, but generally flowering at midsummer, 
they require somewhat the same treatment to grow 
them as the hard-wooded kinds. Propagating these 
plants is a very tedious operation, and will scarcely pay 
any one to attempt without they can afford to wait 
some years for the result of their labour.— IV. G. 
Chionodoxa Lucilia:. —This charming little plant 
advances in popularity every year, and is now becoming 
quite abundant in gardens. At all the spring shows 
it now occupies a prominent position amongst the 
Daffodils, and though these are so much in favour, the 
“Glory of the Snow” attracts much more notice. 
None of the Squills can be compared with it for un¬ 
assuming beauty, either in pots or borders. 
DRUMMOND'S PHLOX. 
The discoverer of this charming Australian annual 
probably never thought it would become such a favourite 
in English gardens, and much as it was admired when 
first known, some time elapsed before it was found to 
possess such a capacity for variation as it has since dis¬ 
played. The plant when introduced was pretty, but 
there are now numberless named varieties much superior 
to the form with which we first became acquainted, and 
from a packet of mixed seed a number of brightly- 
coloured varieties can be obtained, with large flowers of 
many differing tints, and the colours diversely arranged. 
There is no annual to surpass Phlox Druminondi in 
this respect, and when the plant is employed in suitable 
positions it is a valuable addition to any garden, as it 
flowers abundantly with moderately good treatment. 
It is equally well adapted lor borders or for pots, it can 
be planted as a margin, in clumps, or it can be arranged 
to cover the surface of a bed beneath other taller plants, 
such as Roses, and it is occasionally employed in 
summer bedding with very good effect in mixed borders. 
In some of the parks, especially in Hyde Park, it has 
been used in this way during several past seasons, and 
amongst beds of this cha¬ 
racter few have been more 
attractive than those con¬ 
taining this elegant half- 
hardy annual. By con¬ 
tinued selection and 
“fixing,” two very distinct 
types have been gradually 
formed, one comprising the 
tall varieties and the other 
the dwarf forms, these terms 
being merely comparative, 
as the tallest does not 
exceed 1 ft. in height, and 
several are not more than 
8 ins. high : but the others 
are from 4 ins. to 6 ins. high, 
and when well treated they 
assume the form of neat, 
compact, diminutive bushes, 
covered with their beautiful 
flowers. The taller forms 
bear the names of grandi- 
flora, grandiflora splendida, 
with a number of secondary 
titles indicating the colours 
from pure white, through 
pink, carmine, scarlet, crim¬ 
son and purple to purplish 
violet. Some are self 
coloured, others have a pure 
white centre contrasting 
with a zone of colour, others 
have the colours broken up 
by bands of white radiating 
from the centre to the mar¬ 
gin ; some, again, have a 
white margin, and remind 
one of the white - edged 
Auriculas on a small scale, 
only they possess much more brilliant shades of colour. 
An extremely beautiful strainis termed the Victoria, 
being remarkable for the intense richness of its scarlet 
colour ; another is called Heynoldi, very dwarf and of 
several tints, but chiefly white and scarlet; a charming 
variety, also, of the dwarf type is Chamois Rose, of a deli¬ 
cate rosy hue and lemarkably free. Most of these are 
equally well suited for culture in pots, and constitute 
useful additions to the plants available for conservatory 
decoration during early summer. There are a few an¬ 
nuals which can be really successfully grown in pots, 
and of these Phlox Drummondi is one of the best in all 
respects. The chief difficulty is to prevent the plants 
being drawn or weakened in their early stages, and if 
the tall varieties are grown a few light sticks must be 
employed to keep the plants in form. 
Any time in March is a suitable period to sow the 
seed, and it must be remembered, that, though so many 
selections have received distinct names, and are kept 
true, yet for ordinary purposes a packet of mixed seed 
of a good strain is all that is necessary, unless it is 
desired to make a particular design in the various 
colours. A light soil should be prepared of leaf mould 
and loam with sand, the two former in about equal 
parts, and sufficient of the latter to render the compost 
open and porous. Place this rather firmly in boxes or 
