The gardening world 
April 9, 1904: 
$08 
Plants for Border Decoration. 
Herbaceous Lobelias are nob sio frequently seen in gardens as 
they deserve to be. By this I do* not mean to* say that there 
are hardly any places where they are cultivated at all, as L. car- 
dinalis and L. fulgecos Victoria are greatly used for summer 
bedding; but anything like a representative lot, massed or 
planted in clumps in the herbaceous border, is not a general 
thing. These Lobelias', unless planted by themselves in the 
flower garden, rarely give a good idea of what they are worth, 
because it is not until most of the other occupants have either 
been lifted for storing, mutilated for cuttings', or, as in annuals, 
finished their work, that they are' just at their best. This is 
why I think the herbaceous' border the most suitable place, 
where, if they are sheltered from high winds and properly 
staked, they will flower well into November. They like a good 
loam, and should have a mulching of leaf mould, ooeoanut fibre, 
or anything that will keep thei soil from drying up. During 
warm weather and in ordinary summers the watering-pot will 
have to come into' play. Tliey may be left in the border and 
covered fairly thick with cocoanut fibre during winter, but do 
not increase so rapidly asi when taken up, placed in boxes, and 
stored in a cold frame. As long as they are kept frost-free and 
not allowed to get diy, which they will hardly do to any extent 
in such a low temperature', no other attention will be required 
until growth commences'. They should then be given a little 
warmth, and if more plants are required propagation by divi¬ 
sion may be proceeded with. The best time to plant, out is the 
latter end of May. Varieties I can recommend are Firefly, 
Ibis; Atropurpurea, and Alba. 
Lantanas are rather neglected plants, but are particularly 
well adapted for borders. 'Cuttings should be taken early in 
September, and inserted round the rim® of 60’®, filled almost 
to the top with sandy soil, and struck in a. propagating pit. 
As soon as rooted remove to a cool pit, and keep' on the diy 
side near the glass all the winter. The latter end of February 
pp't off singly into 60's, and plant, out, end of May. Trust¬ 
worthy varieties are Distinction, Globe d’Or, Fabiola, Magenta 
King, and La Neige. 
Phygelius capensis is a fine border plant having scarlet 
flowers. It can be cultivated under the 'same conditions as the 
Lantanas, and will stand a fairly hard winter. French Ranun¬ 
culus is a plant I am not, quite sure of the name, but I believe 
is a strain derived from Ranunculus asiiaticus. Whatever its 
origin, I can confidently recommend it, as a, splendid border 
plant. The best position to grow it, well is a matter of opinion, 
but I prefer to' plant it, under a wall if possible. The soil should 
be of a good character. From the latter end of February until 
the third week in March is a suitable time to plant. Break up 
the soil well, and work in some well decomposed manure. 
Draw a drill about li in. deep, on the bottom sow some sand, 
and place the tuber® 6 in. apart, covering with sandy soil. 
A great thing about their culture, in my opinion, is to keep 
the foliage green, which can only be obtained by a judicious 
use of the water-pot, too much or too little causing it to turn 
yellow. During a dry spell a good soaking once in two days 
will generally be found sufficient. When the foliage has died 
down the tuber® may be lifted with safety, laid out to dry, 
and stored in the seed-room till planting time. 
H. Arnold. 
Acanthus spinosus. 
It. is a qoity that these magnificent herbaceous plants, are not 
oftener seen in gardens, as they can be used for many pur¬ 
pose's. In the sub-tropical garden they can be used with splen¬ 
did effect, their long, deeply-cut. leaves giving an exotic air, 
and at the same time they are perfectly hardy. In the mixed 
herbaceous border they could be planted in clumps, but to see 
the full beauty of the long purple spikes, often more than 
i ft. high and the spiny foliage; they should be grown as speci¬ 
men plants on grass. Any moderately-good garden soil will 
suit them. This is now the season to divide up the old root 
stocks and replant, and noble specimens are, soon obtained. If 
preferred, seed can be sown in gentle beat, pricked off when 
large, and grown on the ordinary way; but, of course, laro- e 
plants are not grown, so quickly this way. Acanthus mollis 
is another species; the leaves of which are supposed to be 
the type for the old Corinthian capital; but A. spinosus is no 
less beautiful and far more effective, and every garden of 
moderate pretensions should have a few good specimens. 
F. M. Verrall. 
Sunnys'ide, College Road, Harrow. 
The Cultivation of Calanthe Veitchii. 
This useful winter-flowering Orchid was recently the subject 
■ of an animated discussion in these columns. The present 
article is meant to explain how these much-discussed Orchids 
were grown. 
As soon a® the flower spike® of the previous season were 
past the plants were laid on their side (pot and all) under the 
stage in a temperature of about 65 deg. till about the end of 
Febri aiy, when growth made it® appearance at, the base 
of the pseudo-bulbs; they were then shaken out of the pots and 
the dead roots cut away, except a, tuft about 1 in. long, which 
was allowed to remain to steady the bulbs after potting till 
new roots are emitted. The compost used was flaky pieces 
of moss litter (peat,) that had been used as bedding for horses. 
It was rubbed through a ^-in. riddle; with just a little of the 
horse-droppings along with it. Scarcely an eighth part, of the 
bulk was added of sand. The compost ait the time of pottiny 
was neither wet nor diy, but in a medium state. 
The largest bulbs, were potted into 5-in. pots, and the smaller 
bulb® into 4-in. pots. They grew luxuriantly in this compost 
without any feeding till the pots were completely filled with 
roots, when they were given about a, tablespoonful of a ferti¬ 
liser to the gallon of water twice weekly till the leaves showed 
signs of ripening- about the end of September, when feeding 
was stopped. 
After potting firmly (not using a® much drainage as is used 
for Orchids in general) the plants were 1 placed in the shady 
side of a warm stove, where the sun did not beat down on the 
pots to diy the soil and necessitate much watering before roots 
were formed. After growth was fairly started they got plenty 
of water overhead and at the roots. 
The sun was not allowed to shine on them during the grow¬ 
ing-season, a,s one half-hour’s bright sunshine would destroy 
their delicate foliage. The temperature ranged from 70 deg. at 
night to 90 deg. by day. Grown in this high temperature 
fungus (black spot) does not put in an appearance. 
Brown scale was kept away by cutting the leaves after they 
were ripe hard down to' the pseudo-bulb, leaving none of the 
old sheaths as a shelter for the' scale to winter in, when tliey 
would .have started into growth along with the plant® the fol¬ 
lowing season. Prevention is much better than cure in this 
case, as it is very difficult to clean them off during the growing 
season without injuring the foliage. 
W hen the foliage began to ripen and the flower spikes to 
make their appearance they were removed to a house 10 deg. 
lower in temperature; the air drier, and where they got more 
light to assist the ripening process; but not bright sunlight till 
the' leaves were almost, ripe, when they got all the sunshine 
that was to be .got at that time of the year. 
It is not such an ‘ accommodating ” Orchid to cultivate as, 
Oypripedium insigne, and should not be attempted by 
anyone without proper means. 
ith the above method of culture some of the flower spikes 
leached over 4 ft. in height; but tile lower flowers were past 
before tbat height was reached. The spikes were really at 
their best, at over 3 ft. in height, just before the lower flowers 
began to fade. \\q 
