THE GARDENING WORLD 
599 
September 14, 1907. 
- A Choice Alpine - 
c 
(Asperula 
Those who have a cold frame or two 
n their gardens can turn them to excel- 
ent account for the cultivation of a great 
•ariety of choice alpine and rock plants 
hat cannot very conveniently be grown 
n an ordinary herbaceous border, or even 
he borders of a villa garden. Under 
uch conditions the taller plants almost 
aevitably, sooner or later, overgrow the 
mall ones or gradually kill them by 
vershading them. A rockery or a cold 
rame is, therefore, the proper place for 
l. suberosa, a native of Greece, requir- 
ag rather dry conditions, especially in 
inter. The stems, leaves, and other 
arts of the plant are densely covered 
ith long, grey, woolly hairs, indicative 
f a dry country. The greatest.difficulty 
ith the plant, therefore, in our climate 
ould be to keep it dry’ in winter. Even 
lose who have no frame, but a rockery, 
Duld elevate a pane of glass over the 
lant, so as to throw off rain and snow 
uring winter. 
The plant only’ grows about 2 in. or 
in. high, and forms a dense cushion of 
•owded stems and covered with small 
•aves of the character above stated, and 
lese short stems terminate in a cluster 
: pink and white flowers not unlike a 
ouvardia in miniature. A compost can 
; made up for the plant consisting of 
.’o parts of loam, one part of leaf mould, 
id one-fourth part of sand. 
If the intention is to grow it in pots or 
nail pans, these should be well drained 
suberosa). 
and the surface of the drainage covered 
with moss or some of the rougher nodules 
of the compost. In potting, make the 
compost fairly firm, leaving about \ in. 
at the top for watering. During winter, 
this, and other hardy' plants in pots, may’ 
be plunged in ashes or cocoanut fibre to 
prevent the pots from getting broken by 
frost during a severe winter. In the Mid¬ 
lands and North this would be more es¬ 
sentially necessary than in the South. 
Under these conditions practically no at¬ 
tention is necessary except ventilating the 
frames during mild weather. During 
wet periods the sashes should be merely 
tilted up at the back, but in fine weather 
they may’ be. taken off altogether. 
When the plant commences growing 
in spring the protection of a cold frame 
enables every’ stem and flower to come 
perfect, notwithstanding what the weather 
may’ be outside. The grower can then 
enjoy’ hardy’ flowers in great variety. 
-- 
Prolific Crab Tree. 
A Crab Apple tree in Chalfont Park 
V. ood, Bucks, mentioned in Mr. Stephen 
Springall’s new book, “ Country Rambles 
Round Uxbridge,” last y’ear bore a crop 
of 35,000 Apples. A thousand Apples 
were counted, and the tree was found to 
have fully 35 times as much area as that 
occupied by the thousand. 
Allamanda 
grandiflora. 
c 
No Stove is Complete 
Without This. 
The Allamanda family are indispen¬ 
sable for decorative uses in glasses, with 
a frond of Maidenhair Fern ; also for table 
decoration their effect is simply charming. 
They are vigorous growing, rambling 
plants. From June to November a 
wealth of blossoms is produced in clus¬ 
ters. The flowers are very large, bell¬ 
shaped, and of a rich golden yellow, in 
common with most other climbers. Some 
of its recommendations are that it can 
be pruned severely back every year at a 
time when the house is being thoroughly 
overhauled in winter. Another point in 
its favour is that insects seldom attack it. 
Allamandas love an abundance of sun; 
the shoots should be trained near the 
glass, as such a position, being well ex¬ 
posed to the light, conduces greatly to the 
formation of the flower buds, and they 
are thus best trained over the roof of the 
house, and thus serving as a shading in 
summer to plants underneath them. At 
this time remove some- of the surface soil 
and apply a top dressing of loam, leaf 
mould, and rotted manure in equal parts, 
adding sand, soot, and a 6-inch potful of 
bone meal to the barrow load of compost. 
Give a good watering. New growths will 
soon be evident, and these must be loosely 
tied to the trellis when sufficiently long. 
Liberal applications of water must" be ap¬ 
plied to the roots when the growth is well 
advanced, and attention given to the tying 
Asperula suberosa. [Maclaren and Sons. 
