694 
TUB GARDENING WORLD 
October 26, 1907. 
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. 
2302. Lilium auratum Dropping its 
Buds. 
I have been growing some Lilium aura¬ 
tum in pots, and these have been reared out¬ 
side. Some of the old bulbs I gave is. 6d. 
up to 2s. 6d. for. They grew to be very 
strong plants, some of them 4ft. 6in. high. 
I then put them a week or two back in a 
cold greenhouse. They had budded very 
nicely, but they began to droop. The leaves . 
from the bottom gradually began to get 
brown and then the buds dropped off. I 
have been much disappointed in them, and I 
find I get the best results from the 
cheaper bulbs. I have had out of the lot 
three or four that have bloomed fairly well, 
although all, or nearly all, the leaves 
turned brown and dropped off. About three 
weeks ago I put a sprinkling of manure 
mixed with sawdust on the pots. Do you 
think this will have affected them? (P. R., 
Lancs.) 
It is difficult to say what might have 
caused the leaves of your Lilies to drop, 
but we think it would have been safer to 
have taken them under glass early in Sep¬ 
tember. It is just possible that they had 
a check through some very cold night, as 
we have seen Lilium tigrinum in pots suffer 
much in the same way by losing leaves from 
the bottom, and sometimes from the middle 
01 the stem, although the flowers opened well 
enough. -Another suggestion we would 
make is that the plants had been allowed to 
get dry on some occasion, or, on the other 
hand, the drainage might have been bad. 
In all probability the cause is due to the 
roots being in a bad way for some reason 
or other. We come to this conclusion owing 
to the buds dropping. It is necessary to be 
very careful also in feeding Lilium aura¬ 
tum with manure, because even when liquid 
manure alone is given the bulbs are liable 
to die afterwards, although the flowers 
were very good indeed. We should not put 
manure on the top of the pots, as that tends 
to keep the soil cold, and in any case it has 
probably affected the roots. You suspect the 
bulbs were too fine, that is, of too large a 
size, and this is sometimes the experience 
with people who grow L. giganteum, who 
succeed best in establishing their plants 
when they get bulbs of moderate size and 
grow them to the flowering stage. There is 
always some risk with L. auratum where 
planted indoors. or grown in pots. In the 
first place the bulbs are liable to be attacked 
with disease before you get them, but 
this usually prevents the plants from 
making good growth, so that could 
hardly have been the cause of failure. 
On another occasion, we should advise you 
to take the plants under glass earlier in the 
autumn, unless the weather happens to be 
very hot. They could then be kept at a 
more regular temperature and not be sub¬ 
jected to the sudden lowering of the tem¬ 
perature on nights when it falls to freezing 
point or nearly so. Another point we 
should urge upon you is to make the 
drainage good and then use fairly good soil, 
so that you would not have to feed too 
heavily. Your experience in getting better 
results from cheaper bullbs might be the 
result of accident rather than any certain 
cause. 
2303. How to Make Hydrangeas Blue. 
Lady Rose would be glad to know what 
can be done to make the blooms of Hydran¬ 
geas blue. Hers are pink, and having some 
splendid tubs of them she would so much 
prefer them blue. She has tried steel shav¬ 
ings. (.Bucks.) 
A considerable amount of discussion has 
been carried on from time to time concern¬ 
ing blue Hydrangeas, but nothing certain 
seems yet to have been deducted from ex¬ 
periments and observations that can be 
turned to account in producing blue Hy¬ 
drangeas. Plants seem to produce flowers 
of the richest blue under a variety of con¬ 
ditions, and those conditions have been 
noted as far as possible, but still the un¬ 
certainty remains. In our experience, Hy¬ 
drangeas planted out near the sea mostly 
always .develop- flowers of some shade of 
blue, darker or lighter, and the gradual 
change may be noticed even on the same 
bush. In the case of plants grown under 
glass some have been planted out in a con¬ 
servatory and after a year or two they give 
rise to blue flowers. The situation was 
somewhat shaded, and to .this was attributed 
the colour of the flowers. Most people have 
an idea that it is owing to the presence of 
iron in the soil, but in such cases the iron 
was present in the turf when cut. Although 
you have applied steel shavings, it is just 
possible they had not been sufficiently 
changed to have any effect upon the roots, 
as the iron must become soluble before the 
plants can make any use of it. A solution 
of alum in the water has often been used 
and sometimes with fairly good results. 
You could try this plan, using the alum 
solution some time in advance of the flowers 
making their appearance in spring and 
early summer. Furthermore, we have noted 
that plants with bright blue flowers one sea¬ 
son would come pink the next, even a 
though, grown under the same conditions ; 
far as possible. 
COLD FRAMES. 
kit 
2 304. Old Carnations in Pots. 
I have flowered border 'Carnations in 6ii 
pots in 'the greenhouse and taken them 01 
into a cold frame. I do not want aD 
layers. Could I let them stop in the frart 
all the winter, or should I pot them up i 
ioin. pots now and take them back to tl 
greenhouse, which is kept at 40 degs. 1 
45 degs. in winter. I want some specimei 
next summer. Will you please adCs- 
(Green, Lancs.} 
The present is not a very desirable tirr 
to pot Carnations, as they will keep throug 
the darkest months of .the year much be 
ter when, their roots are rather potboun 
than otherwise. In a cold frame the 
should not grow much, if any, so that yo 
can defer potting them until February. I 
the meantime you should see whether tl 
runners are likely to tumble about and hav 4o( 
them staked in good time to keep them nef 
and shapely. The pots should be stood o 
a bed of ashes and the plants kept fairl 
dry both overhead and at the roots. Tb. 
does not mean that the soil in the pot 
should at any time become dust dry, a 
that might kill or injure the finer roots, bu 
water should only be given just to keep tht 
soil moist. During the dullest part of win 
ter the moisture arising from the ashes wil j 
keep them just in the right condition. Th< , 
temperature of the greenhouse you mentioi 
is altogether unnecessary for outdoor Car 
nations. In fact those temperatures woul< 
nearly be sufficient for those intended fo 
flowering in winter. Ventilate the frame 
on all occasions except during severe fros 
or snow, as that keeps them sturdy an< 
healthy. 
FERNS. 
2305. Treatment of Umbrella Fern. 
I shall be much obliged if you will in 
form me of the correct name and treatmen 
of the Umbrella Fern; also, whether ; 
Hare’s-foot Fern which appears to be pot 
bound should be repotted. This at presen 
is in a sin. pot and is throwing up' a con 
siderab.le number of new leaves. Should i 
be kept wet or dry? (S. H. B., Surrey.) 
We are not quite certain what you mean 
by the Umbrella Fern, as it is a term tha 
is not very often or very widely used. W< 
presume, however, it must refer to one o: 
the tree Ferns, of which there are many 
and all of them could be compared to ai, 
umbrella. The more common one of thi, 
type for greenhouse culture is Dicksonk 
antarotica. This forms a stem of variou: 
heights from 3ft. to 8ft., according to th< 
age of the plant. The fronds come up it 
the form of an umbrella on the top of the 
stem, and take a spread of many feet if th 
plant is ■ grown vigorously. It^ may be 
grown in a greenhouse, shading it during 
the heat of the day and otherwise keeping 
it cool by plenty of ventilation. Wher 
making its young fronds a light sprinkling 
once or twice a day in bright weathei 
would be of assistance in preventing 
flagging and encouraging growth. Being 
evergreen it should, of course, be kept mom 
at the roots all the year round. It coulc 
be kept somewhat drier in winter, but nevei 
allow the soil to get actually dried up 
During summer when making its grown 
an abundance of water will be reqmrec 
every day. The soil may consist of two 
parts of loam to one part of peat or leal 
mould and a good dash of sand. If thes< 
points are attended to you should have n< 
difficulty in cultivating this tree Fern. H 
