THE GARDENING WORLD, 
495 
July 20, 1907. 
Address: The Editor, The Gardening 
Vorld, 37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may 
over any branch of gardening. Questions 
hould be as brief as -possible and written on 
•ne side of the paper only; a separate sheet 
>f paper should be used for each question. 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
Garden Plans .—Gardeners who would make 
he best use of this column are invited to 
repare and forward to us a rough outline 
’.rawing or plan of their gardens , indicating 
he position of beds and lawns, the charac- 
STOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 
2016. Cyclamens Not Thriving. 
I have some Cyclamens which I have in 
yin. pots. They do not seem to do. I 
hould be glad of a few hints on their cul- 
ure. (Grateful.) 
November is usually the month in which 
o sow Cyclamens, but if you have not a 
jreat command of heat you could commence 
1 month earlier by sowing in October in 
rots or pans of light sandy soil. Space the 
;eeds about one inch apart each way and 
ust press them into the soil, covering them 
ibout a quarter of an inch deep. Maintain 
i temperature of 55 to 60 degrees at night. 
As soon as they germinate, keep them near 
:he glass. Indeed the pots or pans might 
re placed on a shelf at once. When they 
lave made two or three leaves you could 
irick them off into pots or seed pans about 
[t ins. apart each way and keep them grow- 
.ng till spring by maintaining the above 
.emperature with a slight rise by day. When 
he days lengthen and become warmer they 
.vill require a shift into 3-in. pots, potting 
:hem off singly and keeping them close to 
the. glass, with plenty of air. When the 
weather becomes sufficiently warm the pots 
may be stood in a cold frame, continuing 
:he treatment we have just mentioned, and 
shading the glass during bright weather. 
Attend to them regularly in the matter of 
i.vatering. By July they should be ready to 
.hift into 5-in. pots, in which they should 
lower, though if the plants are unusually 
large you could put the best ones into 32 
size pots. The compost at the second and 
:hird potting should consist of equal parts 
ff loam and leaf-soil, with plenty of clean 
(silver sand to make it porous. The corms 
hould be about half-covered with soil, 
leaving the top quite clear to avoid the 
lamping of the flowers. They should still 
be kept in a light and airy place, near the 
glass, with plenty of air. Give a liberal 
supply of water when they are making pro¬ 
gress in fine weather and syringe the plants 
in the morning and again in the afternoon 
when closing the frames to keep the foliage 
clean. Indeed, all through the growing 
season you are liable to be tormented with 
j green fly, thrips and red spider upon the 
foliage unless you are very vigilant in keep¬ 
ing them down. If the syringing is not suf¬ 
ficient you should let the foliage get dry 
and lightly fumigate the frame before leav¬ 
ing off work in the evening. A good plan 
against red spider and thrips is to make up 
a solution of strong soapsuds and take the 
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 
plat 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 piled, with the 
name and address of the sender, and will be 
consulted by the Editor whenever an enquiry 
is sent. 
plants in the hand one by one and dip the 
foliage right into the soapsuds to make sure 
that every part is wetted. If you follow 
out these directions you should have a fine 
display of Cyclamens commencing about 
November. Your chief difficulty at the pre¬ 
sent time is owing to the lack of sunshine 
to make the plants grow, unless, indeed, 
they may be infested by some of the above- 
mentioned pests. This you should see to. 
You should also make sure that the compost 
is not too heavy by containing too much 
loam and not pressed too firmly in the pots. 
FERNS. 
2017. Maidenhair' Turning- Brown. 
I shall be very glad if you will kindly 
tell me -the cause of the enclosed Maiden¬ 
hair Fern turning brown. I have a Grape 
Vine in my house that contracted mildew and 
I have been using sulphur. Do you think 
it would be through the fumes? (Grate¬ 
ful.) 
We have no doubt that the Maidenhair 
Fern has been browned by the sulphur fumes 
in the house. This is more likely to hap¬ 
pen if the Ferns are wet at the time, and in 
any case various kinds of fumes will spoil 
the fronds of Maidenhair Ferns, especially 
when they are still young. Sulphur fumes 
from a furnace or stove will also destroy 
them in a short time. Nicotine fumes in 
various forms will also bring about the same 
evil. The best plan to avoid it is to shift 
the Maidenhairs into another house when 
about to fumigate, putting them back the 
next day. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
2018. Is Bridal Wreath Hardy? 
A friend showed me some Bridal Wreath 
which he had grown out of doors and 
flowered. It was not the common one, but 
a pink variety. Is it known to be hardy 
in this country? I never heard of it be¬ 
fore. We grow the white one in the green-, 
house. (H. Pollard, Pembroke.) 
There are two pink species and one of 
them is hardy in most parts of this country, 
provided it is planted in w^ell-drained soil. 
This one is Francoa appendiculata. The 
Bridal Wreath proper (F. ramosa) is more 
properly a greenhouse plant in most parts 
of the country, though it will succeed in 
the more favoured parts where the climate 
is mild during winter. On the sea-shore in 
many parts of the country it may be, and 
is, often grown like a border plant in the 
garden. Your best plan would be to make 
an experiment in your locality by putting 
out a plant or two in spring to let it get 
established before winter. 
2019. Propagating Anchusa italica. 
I have a very fine plant of Anchusa italica 
(Dropmore variety) which has flowered 
splendidly. It has thrown up five spikes 
about 5 ft. high. It appears to be seeding 
well. Will you please tell me the best way 
to propagate this. If by seed, when is the 
best time to sow and should it be in a frame 
or the open. Are the seedlings likely to 
come true? (Chixgford, Essex.) 
The principal and best way of propagating 
this plant is by seeds. These should be 
sown in light sandy soil, either some time 
in March, and when the seedlings are fit 
to handle prick them off into boxes, planting 
them out some time in May. Another way 
is to sow the seeds as soon as they are ripe 
so as to get the plants some size this au¬ 
tumn, and you may be able to get them into 
bloom next year. In any case the plants 
will be larger than those sown in March. 
Seeds of this kind are better sown in boxes 
or seed pans under glass rather than in the 
open as they are so liable to mishap when 
put into the open ground. We should pre¬ 
sume that a fair amount of the seedlings 
would come true to character so that when 
they come into bloom you can mark the best 
and select seeds from them only. We pre¬ 
sume that your variety merely differs from 
the ordinary one in the size of the flowers, 
and that might be due largely to cultiva¬ 
tion and the soil in which they are planted. 
In any case a selection of the best will give 
you a fair supply of good forms. 
2020. Lobelia Kathleen Mallard. 
Your correspondent, D. V. E., states in 
the July 6th issue of The Gardening \\ orld 
that whereas the above-named plant could 
only, be purchased last year- at 6d. per plant, 
it can be had this year for is. per dozen 
plants. As the leading growers are to-day 
asking is. each for these plants, and quite 
small ones too, I should be most pleased to 
know where your correspondent can pur¬ 
chase at the reduced rate he mentions. (R. 
S., London, S.E.) 
We are surprised that your nurseryman 
is charging so much for Lobelia Kathleen 
Mallard as it is easy enough to propagate 
and has now been sufficiently long on the 
market for most people who deal in these 
things to get hold of it. On looking over 
some of the lists of bedding plants we find 
that one dealer offers it at 2s. 6d. per dozen, 
which would mean 2^d. per plant. Another 
dealer offers it at 2s. per dozen in the nur¬ 
sery or 2d. per plant, with 3d. extra when 
to be sent by post. We think there is some 
misconception with regard to the value of 
this plant unless you have misread the quo¬ 
tations of your nurseryman. 
2021. Verbenas Not Making Progress. 
I am anxious to show some Verbenas on 
August 21 st and shall be much obliged if 
you will help me. They have now been 
planted out for six weeks, but do not make 
so much progress as I should like. Should 
I take off all buds for the present till the 
plants grow larger and stronger? Should 
I use weak liquid manure (Fertility) once a 
week ? The flowers seem to come out better 
in water if gathered when only four or five 
are out on a truss. Is this right, or is the 
flower apt to lose colour? (M., Sussex.) 
We should not advise you to take off any 
buds after this date because if the weather 
continues relatively cold, windy and wet the 
chances are that you would have no flowers 
at all. In order to get the plants to grow 
larger you can take off those trusses which 
have expanded flowers or are on the point 
of expansion, but we should not take off 
any of the trusses which are younger than 
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