February I, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
73 
Address : The Editor, The Gardening 
World, 37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may 
cover any branch of gardening. Questions 
should be as brief as ■possible and written on 
one side of the paper only; a separate sheet 
of paper should be used for each question. 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
Garden Plans .—Gardeners who would make 
the best use of this column are invited to 
prepare and forward to us a rough outline 
drawing or plan-of their gardens, indicating 
the position of beds and lawns, the charac¬ 
ter and' height of the fence or wall; posi¬ 
tion of vegetable garden, orchard, etc. The 
north side of the garden and any over¬ 
shadowing buildings should be denoted. It 
should also be stated whether the garden is 
■flat or on a declivity, and all large trees 
should be marked. Particulars of the na¬ 
ture of the soil will also help us to give 
satisfactory replies. When such plans are 
received they will be carefully filed, with 
the name and address of the sender, and 
will be consulted by the Editor whenever an 
enquiry is sent. 
STOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 
2551. Treatment of Heliotrope. 
How should I treat a Heliotrope plant 
which I have trained up the back wall of 
the greenhouse? - It has reached the top, 
about iofit. high. The main stems are about 
6in. apart, with shoots about 2ft. long hang¬ 
ing down from them. Should these be all 
cut back, or should some of them be trained 
up between the main stems? (H. H., Oxon.) 
The main stems on the wall should not, 
of course, be disturbed. The shoots that 
hang down loosely should be cut back con¬ 
siderably. We- should not always cut them 
to the lowest bud if the lower portions of 
these shoots are bare, but shorten them ju¬ 
diciously so as to retain some foliage on 
the plant. Being an evergreen, it would be 
somewhat a severe operation to remove all of 
the foliage at one pruning. Some of the 
shoots may be cut to a promising bud at the 
base, while the others may have a few inches 
of stem left, but do it so that the plant will 
have a somewhat regular appearance with a 
fair amount of foliage left on it. We con¬ 
sider the main stems are already close 
enough, but you may find it advantageous 
occasionally on bare spots to tie in some of 
these side shoots, so as to cover bare stems. 
2552. Name and Treatment of Plant. 
Kindly give name of the enclosed plant. 
Also say what treatment it requires to make 
it bloom. It has had no flowers for two 
years. (B. G. S., Essex.) 
The specimen you sent is Phyllocactus 
Ackermanni, or some of its garden varieties. 
You do not tell us the conditions you give 
it, whether it is in your dwelling house or 
in a greenhouse. All plants of this class 
delight in plenty of sunshine at all periods, 
but they certainly should have this while 
maturing their wood in summer. You can 
scarcely give them enough of this in a 
dwelling house, but after they have made 
some growth or at least have started, they 
could be stood out of doors in a sunny, shel¬ 
tered position, say, at the foot of a south 
aspect wall in July. Here they may remain 
till about the middle of September, by 
which time the wood would be well ripened, 
when j*cu can replace it indoors. It might 
also be a case of old, worn-out soil requir¬ 
ing repotting. A suitable compost would 
consist of three parts of sandy fibrous loam 
and one part of finely broken, soft, red 
bricks and sand. A little leaf mould would 
also be beneficial, but the broken bricks are 
necessary to keep the soil porous. Repotting 
might be done in March if you consider that 
necessary, but no water should be given un¬ 
til the soil is getting very dry, when suffi¬ 
cient should be given to prevent the roots 
from getting killed. More may be given 
when growth commences, but by the end of 
August it would be a good plan to withhold 
water to encourage complete ripening. Some 
growers give weak liquid manure when the 
plant is in full growth, but that requires to 
be done carefully, and if the ripening pro¬ 
cess is thoroughly effected by sunshine your 
plants should set buds and bloom in the 
early part of summer. 
2553. Time to Sow Seeds. 
Do you get better results if you sow seeds 
when the moon is coming than you do if it 
is on the wane? (R. A. D., Lancs.) 
We have long, long ago discarded the in¬ 
fluence of the moon as a factor in plant 
growing and give more attention to the sun. 
The moon has only borrowed light, and that 
is too weak to be effective in influencing 
plants in any way. On the other hand, you 
can study the sun to advantage by sowing 
when it is sufficiently warm to enable plants 
to germinate. This light afterwards will 
enable the seedlings to grow. All green 
plants have colouring matter in them which 
enables them to utilise the sun’s rays in 
building up their bodies. You would do 
well, therefore, to study the matter from 
this point of view, as our pages frequently 
testify to the effect of sunshine on plants. 
2554. Cultivation of Globe Amaranth. 
Please give me some information about 
the cultivation of Globe Amaranth, and say 
if it requires much heat or if a cold frame 
would do. I understand it is an everlast¬ 
ing, and, if so, can it be cut and dried like 
Helichrvsums? (T. Ford, Yorks.) 
The Globe Amaranth (Gomphrena globosa) 
really requires a greenhouse temperature to 
do it successfully. It is an annual, and the 
seeds should be sown in a temperature of 
60 degs., which will be sufficient to ensure 
germination. Sow the seeds in a compost 
of loam, leaf mould and sand in equal pro¬ 
portions, and when two leaves are developed 
pot them off singly in small thumb pots. 
After being potted off they should be re¬ 
turned to the warm place, watered with luke¬ 
warm water and kept there till well estab¬ 
lished in the fresh soil. A lower tempera¬ 
ture will then be sufficient to keep them 
growing and at the same time prevent the 
stems from getting drawn. When roots are 
getting well round the sides of the pots give 
a shift into a larger size, and this may be 
repeated as the plants continue to make 
growth until in 32 size pots, which should 
be sufficient for them to flower. When es¬ 
tablished in these pots they may be given 
weak liquid manure once a week to urge 
them to make good growth. They should be 
kept in a greenhouse during the early 
stages, but may be grown in a pit or cold 
frame after the natural temperature is suffi¬ 
ciently high to meet their requirements. 
COLD FRAMES. 
2555. Increasing Ophiopogon. 
I want to make an experiment with Ophio¬ 
pogon Jaburan variegatus as a bedding plant 
outdoors during summer, but I have only 
four plants. Can you tell me how to get 
up a stock quickly, as they are very slow 
growing? (C. Felton, Hants.) 
To increase this Ophiopogon quickly it is 
necessarj' to plant them out, as they make 
crowns much more rapidly than in pots. 
Set up a cold frame in some sheltered place 
by the side of a south aspect wall or a 
greenhouse, and place six to eight inches 
of good soil in this. Plant out the Ophio¬ 
pogon in this and encourage it to make good 
growth by keeping the frame fairly close to 
ensure a warm and moist atmosphere. 
Water freely whenever the plants appear to 
be getting dry and syringe the foliage twice 
on bright days. Shade lightly during 
bright weather. By this method of treat¬ 
ment the crowns will produce fresh crowns 
rapidly, making tufts that can readily be 
divided when you wish to pot some of them 
up or plant out. 
ROOM PLANTS. 
2556. Flowers of Aspidistra. 
Is it a good thing to pull the flowers off 
an Aspidistra? Some people say it is, be¬ 
cause more leaves will then come up. 
(R. A. D., Lancs.) 
A flower or two upon an Aspidistra would 
not have very much influence upon the plant 
one way or another. If the flowers develop 
seed, however, that would be a much greater 
tax upon the plant than the mere flowering. 
As a rule, however, the flowers do not set 
any fruit, but gradually wither away after 
some days. Some people regard them as a 
curiosity, and would retain them, so that if 
you like you can remove them or leave them. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
2557. Hardy and Half-Hardy Annuals. 
I should be very much obliged if you 
would advise me as to what are the annuals 
most likely to succeed in the positions given 
on the attached plan. I am desirous of only 
planting seeds which will flower this season, 
and the positions shaded on the plan are 
where I wish to plant them. These posi¬ 
tions have been dug about 2 ft. deep and a 
layer of well-decayed manure placed in them 
and the earth replaced with alternate layers 
of manure. The position is ra\her a shaded 
one, and only about two hours’ sun daily 
(10’to 12) will be available. The manure 
consists of well-decaved vegetable matter, 
garden sweepings and a small amount of 
animal manure mixed in it. The west side 
of the border is almost completely shaded 
with trees, etc. I regret I am unable to name 
the perennials which will divide the shaded 
portion destined for annuals, for I onl\ 
came here in December, and am therefore 
ignorant on the matter. The soil is loam 
and the subsoil a reddish clav and stones. 
The bottom layer of this has, however, been 
removed in each trench. I have a glass¬ 
house (heated), and half-hardy annuals can 
therefore be grown. (Beginner. Hereford.) 
The shade is the most serious matter in 
connection with the border shown upon your 
plan. The portion intended for flowers 
