December 14, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
789 
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- 
STOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 
2437. Rearing Young Fuchsias. 
I have some nice young Fuchsias in the 
greenhouse which I should like to grow— 
some into pyramids and others as standards. 
What is the best way to get a good start, as 
1 think I could manage them afterwards? 
(T. H. Meads, Shropshire.) 
They are not likely to make any growth 
now before the temperature rises in spring. 
You should, therefore, prepare pots and com¬ 
post towards the end of February or begin¬ 
ning of March. Make up a compost of two 
parts fibrous loam, one part leaf mould, half 
part well rotted cow manure, and half part 
sharp sand. At that time the plants will be 
resting, so that you can remove most of the 
soil from the roots of the plants. You will 
then be able to re-pot some of them into the 
same sized pot. This will give you plenty 
of room for shifting in the future without 
having to start with large pots. In the case 
of plants which will readily form pyramids 
you should stop them when 1 foot high, un¬ 
less the lower part is already bushy. In any 
case, if the leader inclines to run away with 
a long, spindling stem, the best plan is to 
stop it and get side shoots regularly as ad¬ 
vance is made. Stragglers amongst the side 
shoots should also be stopped in order to 
regulate growth and keep the plants of regu¬ 
lar outline. Standards may be allowed to 
run up to the required height before the 
leader is stopped. The side shoots may be 
kept in subjection, but if left for a while 
to strengthen the stem, it will be an advan¬ 
tage. The head is formed by stopping the 
leader at the desired height, and several side 
shoots will be given off, and these in turn 
may be stopped to lay the foundation of a 
bushy head. Keep the plants well exposed 
to light, and ventilate regularly whenever 
the weather permits to make growth sturdy. 
In order to keep these plants growing, you 
should re-pot them several times during the 
course of the summer, and that will urge 
them to continue making growth. Even 
during one season you should get plants of 
both these forms of some considerable size. 
ROOM PLANTS. 
2438. Sea Sand for Geraniums. 
I have quite a number of Geraniums in 
pots which have grown so large that they 
seem to require larger pots. I can get plenty 
of sand from the sea beach. Would this- 
answer the purpose, as I can get it quite fine? 
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 sail 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. 
Please tell me also what is the right time 
for re-potting window plants. What sort of 
mould should I use? (Geranium, Devon.) 
The sand from the sea beach should 
answer, but you should take it for prefer¬ 
ence from a situation where it has been ex¬ 
posed for some considerable time to rain and 
the weather generally. You could, however, 
wash it in a box or barrow so as to get rid 
of any salt which might be present. The 
latter, being soluble, it is only necessary to 
let the water drain away from the sand ; or 
if the barrow is close, you can stir up the 
sand in the water, pour the latter out, and 
then put some more clean water on it. Two 
or three washes like this would be an advan¬ 
tage in getting rid of fine dust or clay, as 
well as salt. Do not select fine sand, if you 
mean that which is like flour. That which 
is quite coarse or sharp will answer the 
purpose much better than fine floury sand. 
Some time in March would be a suitable 
time for re-potting Geraniums grown in a 
window. A suitable compost would consist 
of three parts good turfy loam, one part of 
leaf mould and well-rotted cow manure, and 
quarter part sand. Mix this thoroughly to¬ 
gether before using it. 
FERNS. 
2439. Ferns for Back Wall of Green¬ 
house. 
I have an ugly back wall in my green¬ 
house which I would like to cover, and have 
been told that Ferns would answer the pur¬ 
pose, but am in a fix as to how they should 
be treated to make them grow there. Any 
information would be thankfully received. 
I may add that some Ferns in pots are a. 
poor colour. How can I improve them? 
(A. B. Stocks, Middlesex.) 
The way to get Ferns to grow on the back 
wall of a greenhouse is to fix some strong 
wooden pegs there, iron ones would be better, 
and something of the nature of vine eyes 
would be suitable to drive into the wall at 
intervals, and then fasten some strong wire 
netting to the vine eyes. The next process 
is to fill this space between the wire netting 
and the wall with soil. A compost of good 
material should be made up consisting 
chiefly of fibrous loam and leaf mould, with 
sufficient sand to make it porous. In filling 
this soil into the space between the wire 
netting it will be necessary to use moss in¬ 
side the wire netting to prevent the soil 
from falling out. The best plan, therefore, 
is to begin at the base of the wall and fill 
it gradually to the top. At the same time 
you can plant some Ferns in it at regular in¬ 
tervals, and if you succeed in growing the 
Ferns under these conditions the Ferns will 
sow themselves and young plants will spring 
up freely. Some of the moss named Sela- 
ginella kraussiana might be planted at in¬ 
tervals, and that will root into the moss 
while it grows. During the summer months 
it will be necessary to water the wall fairly 
frequently, either by means of a garden 
engine or a syringe. The Ferns you already 
have may have been too much exposed to 
sunshine, and if so, that would account for 
their poor colour. Possibly, also, they re¬ 
quire re-potting into fresh soil, and this 
could be done in spring. These Fern? in 
pots could be stood along the base of the wall 
covered with Ferns, if that would furnish 
them with a little shade, otherwise a good 
plan would be to select the most shady part 
in the greenhouse and place the pots there. 
FLOWER GARDEN . 
2440. Planting Solomon’s Seal. 
Which is the way to plant roots of Solo¬ 
mon’s Seal, so that the plants bend the right 
way? (R. S. T., Sussex.) 
We should plant them with the ends of the 
underground rhizome pointing in the direc¬ 
tion in which you wish the stems to hang. 
We do not think, however, that this would 
always determine the direction of the stems, 
as it is largely a question of the greatest 
amount of light. In whatever situation they 
are placed they can contrive to bend the 
young growing stem in such a direction that 
the upper side of the leaves will face the 
auarter from which they get the most light 
during the day. We have seen some Solo¬ 
mon’s Seal planted not far from a wall, but 
they were quite away from the wall by at 
least a foot; nevertheless, the stems turned 
so that the leaves faced the direction whence 
they obtained the most light. 
2441. Flower Border on a Bank. 
I am going to make a flower border on 
the top of a hank, newly made, facing 
south-east. The ground is peat and sand. 
Will Roses, hardy flowers, and annuals grow 
on it? (A. T. Granger, Kent.) 
No doubt Roses would grow in a more or 
less peaty soil, but they do not, as a rule, 
give much satisfaction when grown in such 
material. Neither peat nor sand makes a 
good soil for Roses. If there is plenty of 
depth, you could, of course, improve the soil 
both before and after planting the Roses. 
This could be done by adding clay or heavy 
soil approaching that condition. You will 
have less difficulty with the hardy flowers 
and annuals, but even they would profit by 
the use of dressings of heavy soil if the 
present material is entirely made up of peat 
and sand. It is largely a question of manur¬ 
ing and dressing with substantial soils, as 
to what you can get out of a peaty border. 
ROSES . 
2442. Rose at the Foot of Ivy. 
Do you think it possible for a Rose to do 
well planted at the foot of an Ivy so that the 
flowers and foliage of the Rose would mingle 
with the Ivy? (A. H. D., Staffs.) 
We do not think that Roses do at all well 
mixed with Ivy. In the first place, the 
Ivy would keep the plant from getting air 
and, in the second place, light would be 
obstructed. If the Ivy grows strongly it 
would require a great amount of attention, 
otherwise it would completely cripple the 
Rose in the course of a year or two. There 
is no saying what might be the case by 
giving close attention to this mixture, but 
as soon as ever it suffers neglect then the 
Ivy would get the master}-. We should ad¬ 
vise you, therefore, to plant it where it will 
have every chance of getting a due share of 
light and air. 
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