September 7, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
593 
each flow* is perfectly clear of its neigh¬ 
bour. The older style of showing them 
with white paper collars round their necks 
on boards is still very much practised, and 
of course where the schedules indicate 
this system, they must be staged this way, 
but to my way of thinking the former 
style is far more effective, and I hope that 
the time will come when all Carnations 
will be shown with long stems in vases. 
There are now a very large number of 
really excellent varieties, and each year 
sees more finer varieties placed on the 
market, but a few good ones are as fol¬ 
lows:—Tree or Perpetual: Mrs. Leopold 
de Rothschild (pink), Flora Hill (white), 
Lady Carlisle (pink), Uriah Pike 
(maroon), Winter Cheer (scarlet), and 
Duchess Consuelo (yellow). American 
varieties: Mrs. T. W. Lawson (pink), Pre¬ 
sident (dark crimson), Enchantress 
(blush), Lady Bountiful (white), Oriflame 
(fancy) one of the very best, and Melba 
(blush pink). A. E. Cresswell. 
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 ais 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 mahe 
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. 
'rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs 
ROOM PLANTS. 
2158. Scented Plants for Window. 
I am desirous of growing some agreeable 
looking flowers (scented, if possible), in my 
office. I have tried Sweet Peas, but they 
only coma to very weak plants and do not 
bloom. The window is like the enclosed 
diagram. Facing the window there are, of 
course, other buildings about 20 ft. distant. 
The height of the window is about 7 ft., 
but we never get any direct sunlight, al¬ 
though it is very bright. The walls oppo¬ 
site reflect plenty of light. I want, of 
course, to know what I could grow in pots 
as well in winter as summer. If you can 
help me in any way I shall be very grate¬ 
ful. (Reresby, Kent.) 
The absence of sunshine makes it almost 
impossible for any flowering plants to 
bloom satisfactorily, especially such soft- 
stemmed and leaved subjects as Sweet Peas. 
Plants with evergreen leaves succeed better 
in such positions than those in which the 
leaves are thin and short-lived. We have 
selected a number of plants, many of which 
might bloom, although they could hardly 
be regarded as decorative on account of the 
flowers. The leaves are very gratefully 
scented, and we think they are the most 
likely plants to give you satisfaction under 
the conditions you mention. The window 
offers good opportunities, except that direct 
sunshine is deficient, and that is necessary 
to strengthen the stems and give sufficient 
vitality to enable plants to bloom freely. 
For instance, you can grow such things in 
pots as the sweet-scented Verbena (Lippia 
citriodora), and a number of the scented¬ 
leaved Pelargoniums, including P. Radula, 
P. denticulatum, P. tomentosum, P. fra- 
grans, P. citriodora, and several hybrids 
which may be obtained from the florist. If 
they are grown in pots of moderate size and 
get a fair amount of ventilation, they should 
grow, slowly and retain their leaves all the 
winter. A very delightfully-scented plant 
which may be grown in pots is Mentha Re- 
quieni, but as a plant it has no show what¬ 
ever, being only about 5 in. above the soil 
even when in bloom. It is a kind of Mint, 
though few people recognise it as such. A 
tfiember of the Blue Gum family, namely, 
Eucalyptus citriodora, has lemon-scented 
leaves, and, we believe, would succeed in a 
window, although it would require to get 
renewed from time to time when it gets too 
tall. It may often be obtained from florists 
in London. There are also several sweet- 
scented, old-fashioned plants which might 
thrive under those conditions, but they are 
less certain to do so than those we have 
already named, for the reason that they are 
hardy herbaceous plants and more liable to 
get drawn. Nevertheless, their foliage is 
delightfully scented and were almost uni¬ 
versally grown in cottage gardens thirty or 
forty years ago. Some of them are still 
grown, however. They include Old Man 
(Artemisia Abrotanum), Balm (Melissa offi¬ 
cinalis), Round-leaved Mint (Mentha rotun- 
difolia), Penny-royal (Mentha Pulegium), 
Costmary or Alecost (Tanacetum Balsamita), 
the Balm-scented Chrysanthemum (C. Bal¬ 
samita) and Lavender (Lavandula spica). 
Various species of Thyme are very sweetly 
scented, but they do not take kindly to culti¬ 
vation in windows, as the leaves fall off. 
2159. Hyacinths for Glasses. 
Would you please be kind enough to name 
a dozen Hyacinths of different colour suit¬ 
able for flowering in glasses? I have a 
window facing west which gets plenty of 
light and sunshine all the afternoon. Would 
they do in this without fire heat in winter? 
(J. Robertson, Suffolk.) 
Hyacinths would bloom well under the 
conditions you mention, provided you keep 
them close to the glass while making their 
growth. It would be a good plan, perhaps, 
to allow them to start in a cupboard or in 
a dark place, because then the flower spikes 
get a little in advance of the leaves and 
maintain their position, provided the plants 
are then grown under suitable conditions. 
When the spikes are showing well, stand the 
glasses close to the window, so that tney 
will have plenty of light and thereby pre¬ 
vent the foliage irom getting drawn. Only 
in very severe weather would it be neces¬ 
sary to remove the glass and bulbs into the 
interior of the room. The following varie¬ 
ties should succeed, namely, Grandeur a 
Merveille, La Grandesse and Mont Blanc 
(white); King of the Belgians, Norma, Gi- 
gantea and Charles Dickens (rose, red or 
pink) ; Lord Derby, Grande Maitre and 
Queen of the Blues (blue); King of Yellows 
and Ida (yellow). 
FERNS. 
2160. Nephrolepis exaltata elegantis- 
sima. 
Can you tell me through the medium of 
your much-esteemed paper where I could 
get the Fern Nephrolepis exaltata elegantis- 
sima ? 1 also take this opportunity to say 
that The Gardening World has been of the 
greatest assistance to me in this, my first, 
year at gardening, especially with Sweet 
Peas, which have surpassed all expectations. 
(Cubano, Cheshire.) 
Several nurserymen and florists have now 
got this plant, and no doubt your nurserj'- 
man would be able to get it for you, even 
if he does not grow it. If not, you should 
be able to obtain it from Messrs. H. B. May 
and Sons, Dyson’s Lane, Upper Edmonton. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
2161. Verbenas and Delphinium. 
Will you kindly give me the desired in¬ 
formation re the following : Verbenas and 
Delphiniums from seed this year now only 
6 in. high, but healthy plants. What must 
I do to keep them through the winter ? 1 
have a small cold frame. (Doubtful, 
Herts.) 
We are afraid you will not be able to 
keep Verbenas even in a cold frame if it 
happens to be a severe winter. We presume 
the Verbenas are some of the strains of the 
florists’ varieties, and if so, they require a 
greenhouse from which frost is excluded. 
The Verbenas may be grown as annuals by 
those who have the command of fire heat 
and who can thereby sow them under glass 
about the end of February or beginning of 
March. By means of heat they can be 
brought along quickly and during the sum¬ 
mer they flower well. There is nothing like 
making experiments, however, and you can 
lift your Verbenas, pot them in as small pots 
as you can conveniently get them into and 
try to winter them in your cold frame. 
Give plenty of air during the cold weather 
to keep them hardy. If the winter is a mild 
one it is just possible you would bring them 
through unharmed, and they would com¬ 
mence to bloom early by being planted out 
about the end of May. The Delphiniums 
are hardy and may be left where they are. 
You cannot expect them to get strong enough 
from seed in one season to bloom, but if 
they have plenty of room they should bloom 
well next year. See that the slugs do not 
eat the crowns during next spring. 
216 2. Cosmos Not Flowering:. 
I have Gosmea or Cosmos now 2 ft. high, 
but with no sign of a flower. What can I 
do to bring them on to flowering? (Doubt¬ 
ful, Herts.) 
