December 7, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
775 
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. 
2416. Pruning: Habrothamnus. 
I .have a large plant of Habrothamnus in 
my conservatory that has made a lot of wood 
and is very bushy, taking up' too much 
space. How should >iit be pruned, and wha.t 
is the best time to do it? (R. Hislop, 
Lancs.) 
You can prune this climbing shrub at any 
time after it goes out of flower. The best 
plan would be to prune it at once, cutting 
back the young shoots wiiibin ilm. of the 
base. If there are any bare spaces to fill, 
shoots should always be retained for that 
purpose, after Which the rest should be cut 
away to prevent crowding. As the flowers 
are produced on the young wood you are not 
cutting away any of the flowering wood, and 
by doing it at this time it will give the 
plant plenty of time to 9 tart into fresh 
growth as the temperature rises in spring. 
Even if you do not wish to make the roof 
look bare vou can thin, out some of the 
unnecessary shoots after .the flowers are 
over, and that will prevent the shading of 
other subjects to some extent. Then in win¬ 
ter you can cut back the remainder so that 
nothing will be left but ‘the old wood with 
a bud or two at the base of the shoots, from 
which you will get all your flowers for the 
following season. 
FERNS. 
2417. Maidenhair Becoming Brown. 
I have a kind of Maidenhair named 
Adiantum 'Cathar.inae that made a few 
fronds in summer, but they are now going 
off brown. Can you say what is the matter 
with them? (R. Hislop, Lancs.) 
The Fern you mention is only a variety, 
the proper name of ft being A. trapezdfforme 
Catharinae. It is unsuitable for a cool con¬ 
servatory such as you have, because if it 
does not get a sufficiently high temperature 
the fronds always degenerate and become 
brown much earlier than they ought to, al¬ 
though the plant may make fair growth 
-in the following season when the tempera¬ 
ture .rises in spring or- early summer. A 
better plan in. a coq! conservatory would be 
to try A. ouneaitum, A. Capil.lusi-Veneris, 
A. C.-V. Ma.riesii, A. C.-V. magndficum, 
A. C.-V. imbricatum, or A. formosum, all 
of which are handsome Ferns and more 
suited to the dry, cool atmosphere of a 
greenhouse than the one you. mention. As 
you may have a fair success with your own 
next season it need not be thrown away. 
2418. Ferns for Window Case. 
I have a window facing the east which is 
well Blighted, and as I have a love for Ferns 
I intend making a case to fit the window and 
fill it with Ferns which you think will suc¬ 
ceed under those conditions. (G. Farrer, 
Surrey.) 
In making the window case you should 
provide means for the surplus water to drain 
away. As a rule you do not require to give 
very much water in a case that is kept rela 
tively close, but at the same time watering 
will have to be attended to, and if sufficient 
air is given to keep the Ferns sturdy it wil .1 
be beneficial and watering necessary at 
times. It should net stand in the soil in the 
bottom of the case. If the latter is sloped 
towards one corner the water will drain 
away by that, and a vessel could be placed 
there to receive it while it continues to es¬ 
cape. Large Ferns very soon get too big for 
such cases, and you would do well to get 
small growing types for the sake of variety 
which you could accommodate in such a 
case. Those that we would recommend are 
British Ferns, such as-, Adiantum Capillus- 
Veneris, the Killarney Fern (Triohomanes 
radicans), Asplenuum Triohomanes, A.T. 
cri'Statum, A. germanicum, A. fontanum, 
A. marimum, the Hclly Fern, or choice varie¬ 
ties of any of the above which you can 
manage to secure. Small or young plants 
of several others would look pretty and 
prove handsome for a time, and when they 
get too large you can always remove them. 
For instance, you should get young plants 
of Adiantum cuneatum, A.c. gTacillimum, 
the Lady Fern, with -its crested varieties, and 
Scolopendr.ium vulgare with some of its 
varieties, including S.v. crispum. 
FLOWER GARDEN . 
2419. Name of Flower- and Its Use. 
Please name enclosed flower and say what 
it is useful for. (Veronica, Perth.) 
The specimen you sent is Gana.nia splen- 
dens vaxiegata, supposed to be a hybrid of 
some South African species. It is usually 
employed for bedding purposes, being most 
often used, perhaps, as an edging. Occa¬ 
sionally it is grown upon the rockery or very 
small beds or narrow borders may be filled 
with it. During winter it requires the shel¬ 
ter of a cool greenhouse from -\yhioh frost 
is just excluded, b-u.t in summer' it may be 
used for the purposes named. Select a 
sunny position fo.r it, because the flowers 
open better, and continue longer than they 
would in a shady situation. In September 
you can take outtings of .if and insert them 
in sandy soil to be rooted in a cold frame 
like other bedding plants. If you choose to 
grow >it in a pot in a greenhouse use a com¬ 
post of loam, peat and sand. 
2420. Groundwork for Tuberous Be¬ 
gonias. 
I want to plant a bed of tuberous Be¬ 
gonias, scarlet flowered, on the lawn in front 
of my windows next year. I intend to plant 
them wide apart on a ground of some 
flowering plant that will show them off. The 
edging may be the same or different, as you 
think best. (F. Mason, Yorks.) 
The Begonias may be planted out at the 
beginning of June, and with this object in 
view you should start them in a gentle heat 
for that purpose some time in April or even 
March. As a groundwork for them you 
should get a packet of seed of Alyssum mari- 
timum compactum and sow this in gentle 
heat in March and transplant them info 
boxes when they have made a rough leaf or 
two. When established in the boxes trans¬ 
fer ‘them to a cold frame early in April. 
After they have got hardened to their situa¬ 
tion give plenty of ventilation during the 
day and night as well towards the end of 
May. You can plant them immediately after 
the Begonias are planted. They will make 
■nice little plants, closely hugging the 
ground, and for immediate effect might be 
planted 6in. apart. They can either fill the 
whole bed or the latter might have an edging 
of blue Lobelias. The flowers of the Alys¬ 
sum are white and sweet scented. 
2421. Treatment of Montbretias. 
Do you think that Montbretias would 
grow here? The soil is fairly .heavy, but I 
could lighten it with manure if that would 
answer the purpose. I want to get a bright 
display in autumn when our people are here. 
Will I have to lift and store them every 
year and if so when should I replant them? 
(J. B., Forfarshire.) 
We think there is no reason why the Monf- 
bretias should not succeed perfectly well 
with you, especially if you take care .to pre¬ 
pare the soil beforehand, adding plenty of 
leaf mould or old potting bench soil to be 
mixed with the top 4-in. This would improve 
the character of your soil, and the leaf 
mould would help it to retain the moisture 
during summer. If the soil is poor trench 
it and keep the best on .the top. Well rotted 
manure could be put in the lower trenches, 
so as to be quite clear of the corms of the 
Montbretias. Plant -them 31m. deep and 3.H1. 
to 4i,n. apart. There is no .necessity for 
lifting the corms in winter, until the bed 
gets crowded after two or three years. You 
can then lift and plant the best bulbs more 
widely apart, which will give them a fresh 
spur of growth. Do not be in any great 
hurry to cut down the leaves in autumn, as 
they serve to give protection, though you can 
use ashes or leaf soil to keep off frost. 
2422. Flowering- Narcissi Twice in a 
Sub-Tropical Climate. 
Gan Narcissi be flowered two years run¬ 
ning in the same pots in this sub-tropical 
climate? Narcissi will flower in the 
ground (some of them, not all) in this sub¬ 
tropical climate, but the next year no flowers 
result. Last year I got some Emperor bulbs 
and flowered them in pots, and they did 
quite satisfactorily, as I put them in a place 
where they only got morning sun. When 
finished I dried them off and put them in a 
cod place under cover till this autumn, when 
my man watered them. I also got new bulbs 
for flowering, and as the old bulbs showed 
no sign after a month’s watering, and I 
wanted the pets, I turned them out. I found 
the man had planted them almost at the bot¬ 
tom of the pots, that thev were full of roots, 
and just started growing. I planted them 
