October 17, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD * 
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REAULKO UUMrL III ILF IN. see pa £ e 871 Please post on Friday ni t ht. 
Wall Gardening. 
Anyone who has seen a portion of an old wall covered with 
pockets and planted with rock plants by way of a change from 
the climbing plants will know what a pleasing sight it is. The 
old high wall, once so bare and unsightly, may be planted with 
as varied a collection of interesting plants as the lock gaiden 
ever boasted. We often see bare high walls, especially in large 
old-fashioned gardens, a corner of which might be made beau¬ 
tiful at very little cost by planting with rock plants. Ugly 
walls are often covered with creepers or climbers, but there is 
usually a monotony of colouring. In wall gardening one can 
have a greater variety of colouring and an interesting collection 
of plants quite unique in themselves without robbing the rock 
garden or borders of their individuality or interest. 
Sometimes it happens that the garden ground is too limited 
or unsuited for the luxury of a rock or alpine garden. Heie 
awain the corner of a wall may be utilised for the purpose. It 
may not necessarily be a high or an old wall ; either will answer 
the purpose equally well, although an old roughly-built wall 
looks more picturesque when planted. The materials required 
for making the pockets are cement and chippings of lime or 
sandstone of various sizes. The shape of the pockets should be 
first traced with chalk or charcoal fairly close together and of 
irregular size. The mortar will be best picked out a little along 
the Outlines of the pockets, to give the cement a good hold. 
For making the very small pockets a mixture _ of fresh cow 
manure and sifted dry marl can be used, and will be found to 
adhere well to the wall and be very suitable for the smaller 
plants. A little of the mortar may also be picked out of the 
top of the wall and substituted with some of the above mixture, 
into which seedlings may be pricked. 
The Diantlms and Antirrhinum are well adapted for the situa¬ 
tion. A corner with a south-westerly aspect will be suitable 
for most things. If the position has a northerly aspect or is 
overhung by trees, some of the small Ferns would do well, also 
hardy Cyclamen, Asperula, Soldanella, or mosses. For a nice 
warm position I should recommend Arabis, Armeria, Aubrietia, 
Cluiranthus, Cistus, Dianthus, Draba, Erinus, Gentiana, 
Glecoma, Iberis, Lysimachia, Myosotis, Saxifrage, Sedums, 
Silene, and Thymus. Many more might be mentioned did space 
permit. The pockets would also give a fine display if planted 
judiciously with summer bedding plants, which could be fol¬ 
lowed by Wallflowers, bulbs, and various other things for spring 
flowering. 
When alpines are used each variety should be correctly and 
distinctly labelled, which will add greatly to the interest that 
is always taken in this interesting race of plants. In dry situa¬ 
tions careful attention must be paid to the watering with a 
hose or fine rosed can, both morning and afternoon in drying, 
summer weather. In very hot weather a thin shading of tiffany 
wouh. be beneficial, and could be easily arranged. I may add 
in conclusion that any extra care and attention that is bestowed 
on the wall garden will be amply repaid, forming, as it always 
does, one of the most noticeable and interesting features of 
large gardens, where every kind of gardening is practised and 
well carried out. Albion. 
The Culture of the Tuberous Begonia Simplified. 
Having read with considerable interest a number of articles 
in these pages on our favourite bedding plant, and as none of 
these articles have -treated on the accommodating qualities of 
the Begonia, I hasten to give our practice, which is inevitably 
followed with excellent results. Just now we are engaged in 
picking excellent pods of seed which have already undergone 
a process of crossing and intercrossing. The pods have been 
allowed to ripen on the plants in the conservatory, and, as 
they are taken off, are turned upside down over slips of paper, 
with the result that the seeds—not the brown chocolate dust 
sometimes purchased as such, but big boulders of seeds—roll 
in all directions over the papers ; this is important when ger¬ 
minating season comes round. We now turn to our notes of 
last year, and find that our seed was sown on March 20th, m 
the usual way, pricked out at intervals, as ready, from Apr 1 
10th to May 1st, 5 in. apart, in shallow boxes of light leafy 
soil; boxes were covered with squares of glass for a few days 
until the seedlings started growth, when they were gradually 
hardened to the temperature of the pit, which would be from 
55 to 60 degrees. As soon as the plants showed signs of crowd¬ 
ing they were again transplanted to other boxes of, perhaps, a 
little heavier compost, giving more space between the plants 
and keeping them near the glass, only shading from the mid¬ 
day sun when necessary. On May 18th the best boxes were 
transferred to a cool frame, and gradually hardened off in the 
usual way, and finally planted, on June 24th, on a border 
facing south from which an early crop of turnips had been 
taken. 
This border of about 1,000 plants has been an interesting 
study since they commenced flowering on July 12th ; and 
although the first flowers were small, they made a splendid 
show during August and September. Just now (September 
26th), when our beds of Pelargoniums are mutilated for cut¬ 
tings and the beds of Begonias from old tubers are on the wane, 
this year’s seedlings are in the height of vigour, and show a 
fair promise of a good percentage of useful tubers for next 
year—as shown by enclosed blooms to the Editor—to supply 
the place of older and less meritorious tubers, which have to 
be weeded out from time to time. We have grown Begonias 
here for the past ten years as plants for competition and decora¬ 
tion of the conservatory, and also for display in various designs 
in the flower garden some very fine effects have been produced 
by massing colours, but we must confess that our beds of mix¬ 
tures from every shade of colour, and intermixed with Lobelia 
Cardinalis or variegated grasses, never fail to call forth ad¬ 
miration, and always demand a closer inspection. We might 
go on viewing and reviewing, but think enough has been written 
on this topic to entice some Geranium faddist, before condemn¬ 
ing the Begonia, to at least give it a corner and a fair trial, 
and he will be surprised at the result. 
No observation is more common, and none more time, than 
" killed with kindness ” ; this applies also to Begonias. Most, 
if not all, the diseases' and pests it is credited with are the 
result of mistaken kindness at some stage of growth. Fresh 
air, moisture, and shade are essential throughout the growing 
season, with a light and friable soil, without much fresh 
manure. Moss-litter from the stables proves a valuable top¬ 
dressing in the slimmer, with an addition dug in in the 
autumn, being quite sufficient for this most accommodating 
bedding plant. James Bethel. 
Westwood Gardens, Newport-on-Tay, N.B 
[The flowers were single, of large size, circular and well 
formed, while there was a considerable range of variation in 
colour. Tuberous Begonias Usually do well when planted out 
in the moist atmosphere of the North, but we should hardly 
have expected the flowers to be so large after so cold or sunless 
and wet a season.—E d.] 
Useful Conservatory Plants. 
Few plants are more deserving of a place in the cool con¬ 
servatory‘than the Dasylirions. They are rarely met with, how- 
'ever, even in first-class gardens, and I think this is rather a 
pity, as they are such fine plants for giving a sub-tropical effect 
in the flower garden during the summer months. The hand¬ 
somest species is, without doubt, D. glaucophyllum, with (as 
its name implies) glaucous leaves about 3 ft, long, witli a 
spreading habit far superior to Dracaena indivisa. If they are 
bought in as small plants and potted on year by year in a com¬ 
post consisting of equal parts peat and loam with a good dash 
of silver sand, until they require a tub, a worthy bit of service 
can be had from them before they flower. It is almost impos¬ 
sible to give them too much water in the summer, but the pots 
must be well drained, as they do not like it hanging about them. 
Of course, the need for water will not be so great in the winter, 
a thorough watering once a week or so according to weather con¬ 
ditions being sufficient. 
Another plant that is more frequently seen is Hedychium 
gardnerianum. Stems and foliage as handsome as a Canna, 
and often over 5 ft. in height, while crowning the whole is a 
noble spike of scented yellow flowers ; it is in every way a suit¬ 
able plant for the conservatory or the flower garden. The plants 
are propagated by division. As soon as it is seen that the 
reddish-coloured nodes at the base of the old stems are swelling 
up, cut them asunder with as much root as can be had, and pot 
