e Gardening World, March 30, 1907. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“ Read ray little fable: he that runs may read. Most can raise the flowers now for all have 
got the seed.”— Tennyson. 
An Amateur’s Letter to Amateurs. 
CONTENTS. 
lateur's Letter to Amateurs, An. ... 217 
mations (Tree) Propagating .. 218 
ina Asters. Webbs’ (illus.) . 219 
mpetition Awards . 218 
mpetition, Prize Letter . 220 
involvulus, The Dwarf (illus.) . 221 
quire Within . 228 
patorium odoratum . 218 
iwer Garden, The . 225 
ait Garden, The . 225 
jxinias for Exhibition . 227 
oseberries : Growing for Profit 
iilus.) . 224 
aenhouse, The Amateur's . 226 
.. The Netted (illus.) .' 227 
chen Garden, The . 226 
w Potatos . 232 
:hids for Amateurs . 1 . 226 
>lf’s Bane, A Fine (illus.) ... 221 
>rk of the Week . 225 
-- 
She of YfittUs. 
ght thy last fight, grey winter! That 
clear call 
- pon the golden trump of spring was 
blown; 
fnd, lo! through all the land that was 
thine own 
h bright-armed troops are mustering, 
each and all. 
r thee, thy ranks are thinned, thy 
strength is small; 
'hy sons the storm-winds quit thy 
tottering throne 
Unci join the invader, leaving thee 
alone. 
fight, though with thy back against 
the wall! 
I-Id as thou wilt thine arms of leaden 
cloud, 
nd iron cold — what cares for these 
the spring? 
[ he silver spears of Snowdrops mar¬ 
shalling 
ard him. and all the glittering Crocus 
crowd, 
I )w thy young monarch, crowned for 
conquering, 
i He. at his will, thy last snow weaves 
thy shroud ! 
S. Gertrude Ford. 
11 the Daily News. 
LXXX 1 V. 
Some Uncommon Plants for Present 
Rearing. 
The true flower lover is never content 
with what he has — he is always on the iook 
out for beautiful or rare plants he has 
not. And in these days of small packets 
of seeds .at the most reasonable rates 
novelties can be tried each season. We 
may not know them by sight, or even 
name until found in some catalogue, but 
no matter, it is always the unknown, the 
unfamiliar, that lures us. Never mind if 
they are over-praised and over-lauded, we 
are going to. find out for ourselves. It is 
one of those pleasant paths of gardening 
we cannot afford to forego. 
There is, for instance, a beautiful sub¬ 
ject in Gerbera Jamesoni. It is exceed¬ 
ingly handsome; it is worth experiment¬ 
ing with, and seeds are obtainable now of 
many of the best seedsmen. It is a peren¬ 
nial ; perhaps not quite hardy—it is grown 
in the cold house at Kew, I believe—any¬ 
way, it is easy to grow. I had some seed 
sent me last y*ear from veritable head¬ 
quarters, that is to say its own native 
haunts—the Transvaal. The kind and un¬ 
known correspondent who sent it, a far 
distant reader of The GARDENING 
World, told me to sow it as soon .as re¬ 
ceived, as it does not retain its germinat¬ 
ing power for very long. I did sow it, and 
I have some young plants that have been 
kept through the winter in a cold house, 
and if they flower I shall hope to write of 
them more fully later in the season. In 
the -meantime, I repeat, if you desire this 
beautiful flowering plant, sow the seed 
without delay. 
Then, again, .among the annual plants 
I note there are some promising novelties. 
Godetia Schamini fl. pi. is one, and I 
think a valuable one. The individual 
flower of the Godetia is large enough 
to have considerable character, there¬ 
fore' to secure it in double form is to 
secure something that should yield a fine 
mass of dense colour of great decorative 
value. And we have new strains of 
Nemesia. and of that splendid foliage an¬ 
nual Ricinus—this is known as R. panor- 
mitanus. I could add many others to this 
small list of novelties, but I will be content 
with those that seem to promise to be of 
verv general use either for town or country 
gardens. Among plants that will have to 
be purchased if used, I may mention two 
new double forms that promise to be a real 
value—one is a double form of our dwarf 
blue Lobelia, the other is the double form 
of Gypsophila paniculata, and I believe 
I am right in saying that neither form 
seed. I know the double Lobelia does 
not. The great merit of the double- 
flowered varieties of plants is the pro¬ 
longed period of flowering they enjoy,'and 
this is a point worth far more considera¬ 
tion than the novice is inclined to give it. 
The Hellebore. 
It is one of those plants that puzzle the 
novice as to the best time for establishing 
it. It flow-ers in mid-winter, so that it is 
a little disconcerting, but so long as the 
weather and the conditions of the soil are 
favourable there is no time so good as the 
present month (March). A spot should 
be selected that is not frequently being 
dug over, for these winter Roses of ours, 
like the Hepaticas, prefer to be left undis¬ 
turbed for years, and rejoice in deep rich 
soil. It is not absolutely necessary" to 
give them an open situation ; they flourish 
excellently under trees so long as these 
trees are not too close together, that is to 
say, making such dense shade in sum¬ 
mer that summer rains are cut off. Kew 
affords, as usual, a grand object lesson 
,as to the environment and manner of 
planting, and for weeks the winter Roses 
made a beautiful picture panel there. 
Kalanchoe flammea. 
As a greenhouse perennial Kalanchoe 
flammea, bearing brilliant red flowers can 
be thoroughly recommended. It has the 
interest peculiar to the succulent plants. 
I find that it germinates easily from seed, 
but it must be kept during the winter be¬ 
yond the reach of frost. - It makes really a 
handsome subject in the conservatory, 
reaching, as it does, a foot and a half in 
height, and when out of blossom its 
foliage is still valuable and decorative to 
a high degree. Another very favourite 
plant of mine is the Kalosanthes, also a 
native, I believe, of South Africa, easy 
to strike from cuttings as a Geranium, 
and certainly some degrees hardier than 
the Kalanchoe. It is every bit as interest¬ 
ing and as uncommon in appearance, and 
the blossom is wonderfully brilliant in 
hue. The novice who introduces a few 
of these rarer forms of plant life amid the 
more familiar types adds immensely to the 
charm and interest of his conservatory. 
F. Norfolk. 
Sweet Peas and Abuse. 
Letter to the Editor. 
Respecting Sweet Pea growing. "Culti¬ 
vator ” has had, and probably will have, 
ample opportunities to meet me on the 
show table. 
Grower. 
