26 o 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
April 13, 190- 
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 papei should be used for each question. 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
Garden Plans .—Gardeners who would matte 
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- 
STOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 
1711. Plants for a Greenhouse. 
I have a small lean-to greenhouse and 
want to furnish it with plants produced 
from seed. What could I sow now to make 
a fair show of easily cultivated flowering 
and a few foliage plants? (Suburbia, Kent). 
In the way of flowering plants you could 
have some Ten-week Stocks^ for choice, per¬ 
haps, Princess Alice, with sweet-scented 
flowers ; also East Lothian Stocks, Petunias, 
and China Asters. All these should be sown 
in pots or seed pans, transplanted into boxes 
as soon as they are fit to handle, and when 
they have grow to be bushy little plants you 
should pot them off singly, at first in small 
pots and into larger sizes as they grow. 
The secret to keep these growing is never 
to let them become pot-bound before giving 
them a fresh shift until they have reached 
48 or 32-sized pots according to size. There 
are also some perennial plants which you 
could flower under the conditions you name, 
including FYancoa ramosa or Bridal Wreath, 
Fuchsias, and for the front of the shelves 
Lobelia Erinus speciosa. Greenery to mix 
with these would consist of the plant gener¬ 
ally known as Isolepis gracilis, Asparagus 
plumosus, Smilax, Nicotiana colossea and 
Grevillea robusta. The Nicotiana forms 
very large leaves, so that if you cannot ac¬ 
commodate leaves 12 in. to 18 in. or more 
in length you could omit it. It is a giant 
Tobacco plant The Grevillea you could 
probably manage to raise in summer when 
the temperature is fairly high. All of these 
foliage plants are perennials, the two last 
are shrubs. 
1712. Carnation Leaves Spotted. 
Can you tell me what is the matter with 
my Malmaison Carnations? Some of them 
have got the leaves spotted like the enclosed. 
They seemed to be quite healthy till lately. 
(Diaxthus, Soms.). 
The leaves are affected with Carnation 
spot, and no doubt this was contracted in 
the winter time during the short dull days 
when moisture was more abundant in the 
house than it should have been for this class 
of plants. The leaves merely appear 
spotted when the fungus has done its work 
and burst through the leaves in order to 
scatter the ripe spores. What you should 
do now is to burn the worst of the leaves and 
in the early part of the day syringe the 
plants with sulphide of potassium at the 
rate of -t oz. to the gallon of water. This 
should be done without delay and the opera¬ 
tion repeated once a fortnight so as to de¬ 
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. 
stroy the spores and prevent them from at¬ 
tacking fresh leaves. You might get “Se¬ 
lect Carnations, Picotees and Pinks,” par¬ 
ticulars of which you will find, on p. vii. 
of The Gardening World for March 30th. 
This will give you much information about 
methods of prevention and cure of diseased 
Carnations. 
1713. Cyclamen in Different Stages. 
Kindly advise as to treatment of seedling 
Cyclamen persicum, (a) corms from seeds 
sown last year, which made nice leafage, 
but no flowers. The corms are about in. 
in diameter and in 4 in. pots, (b) From 
seeds sown in August, six or seven leaves 
the size of a 6d., corms about the size of 
3d. piece and in 3 in. pots, (c) Tiny seed¬ 
lings sown in January with two leaves not 
bigger than sketch enclosed. 
(a) Your first lot of plants must have been 
rather small to flower well last autumn. 
The best time to make a sowing to bloom 
in late autumn and early winter is in No¬ 
vember. Probably you did not keep them 
in a very warm house, and in that case a 
sowing in October would even be better. 
These old corms you should now keep on the 
dry side, and when the leaves become yellow 
they can be allowed to rest for a while and 
later on they will show signs of starting 
into fresh growth. You can then repot them 
in the same sized pots or slightly larger in 
entirely fresh soil, consisting of two parts of 
loam, half part of well-decayed manure, 
haltf part leaf mould and a good dash of 
sand. Put the pots on stages or shelves close 
to the glass and water to keep them regu¬ 
larly moist, also giving them ventilation. 
They should be kept at a temperature of 
50 degs. by night in winter, rising 5 degs. 
by day or 10 degs. by sun heat. This will 
keep them in a genial atmosphere and en¬ 
courage growth. (b) These young plants 
should be kept steadily growing till about 
July, when they should be ready for a shift 
into 48-size pots. Insert the corms about 
half their depth in the soil, leaving the' 
crown quite clear to prevent damping when 
the buds begin to form late in autumn. 
About the beginning of June these could be 
placed in cold frames and attended regu¬ 
larly to in the matter of watering and ven¬ 
tilation. Your object should be to keep 
them growing steadily by a genial atmo¬ 
sphere close to the glass with plenty of air 
in warm weather. They should frequently 
be syringed in bright weather to keep down 
thrips and red spideT. Indeed, it often 
happens during dry weather that these pests 
obtain a footing without being noticed and 
spoil the plants. If you have reason 
suppose that these pests have got a footir 
you should lay the pots on one side an 
thoroughly syringe the under side of tl 
leaves with strong soapy water, (cj The- 
tiny seedlings should also be kept growu 
steadily in a favourable situation near tl 
glass in a greenhouse, and by June the 
should be ready for potting singly in; 
thumb pots. Some time in June they ma 
be transferred to a cold frame and kef 
under the same favourable conditions as tb 
others. By August they should be fit fc 
3 in. or in - P ots - They may not con 
mence flowering until spring, but the 
should be kept growing steadily in the sam 
temperature as mentioned for the first lo: 
The secret with seedling Cyclamen is ; 
keep them growing steadily from the tim 
-they germinate till they come into bloom 
The best growers or most of them treat then 
practically as annuals and throw them awa' 
after they have flowered once. Some goo- 
growers also flower them a second time, bo 
it requires careful management to do then 
well. 
ROOM PLANTS. 
1714. Leaves Turning Brown. 
Should the leaves of indoor plants (sucl 
as the Lily enclosed) when brown at the tij 
be cut off? (Freda, Northamptonshire). 
The leaves of evergreen plants should n- 
be wholly cut away until they turn yellow 
The tips often become brown through th» 
influence of the dry atmosphere of dwelling 
rooms, but that does not indicate that thi 
leaf is of no further service unless it is ven 
old and becomes brown or yellow. By 
means of a pair of scissors you can cu-t of 
merely the brown tips in such a way as u 
make the remaining portion of the leaf seen 
quite natural and fresh. Every leaf yci 
can retain upon a plant adds so much to it: 
vigour, and this applies more particular!} 
to leathery legyes like the Parlor Palm oi 
any of the Palms proper. Only the brow, 
tips in these cases should be removed. 
1715. Aspidistra Turning Yellow. 
The leaves of two of my Aspidistra plant: 
now in the window of a room with a nortl 
aspect are turning yellow. I am advisee 
to cut the leaves right away' to induce new 
growth. Will you please advise if thi: 
should be done? (Leipzie, Surrey). 
If the leaves are entirely yellow, as yen 
seem to indicate, they can be of no furthei 
service to the plant, though cutting then 
off will not make the plants start into growtl 
any earlier. The leaves will die when they 
get very old, but it very often happens tha 
Aspidistras and other plants in rooms an 
allowed to get dry for some days at 2 
stretch, and at other times they may be kepi 
too wet at the roots by allowing water t< 
stand in the saucers beneath them. Thi: 
plant is very easily managed if you exam: < 
it every day to see whether the soil is dry 
or not. No water at all should be given if 
the soil is black, indicating that it ; s moist, 
but when it turns brown it is a sign that 
more water is wanted. You should fill up 
the pot sufficiently to moisten every part ol 
the soil, and if water is standing in the 
saucer two hours afterwards it should be 
poured out to allow air to get at the roots 
of the plant. Could you not place the 
plants in a window with a better aspect to 
encourage them to make fresh growth during 
May, June and July. After they have made 
a fresh set of leaves they would then- stanc 
in a northern aspect close to the glass with¬ 
out taking any harm if you water them wit! 
discretion as above indicated. 
FERNS . 
1716. Ferris for Shady Border. 
Would you give me the -names of Fern; 
that would grow in rather a shady border 
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