PLANT OF THE MONTH 
BRIGHT LIGHT 
As February arrives and with it 
many a bleak day, the color ana 
form of the tropics seem to fade 
from our gardens—but not if the 
property has a cluster of SENECIO 
PETASITIS blazing through the 
gloom! Bright golden spires of 
small daisy flowers emerge from 
reddish buds which surmount the 
large velvety leaves of this peren- 
nial from Mexico, bringing warmth 
and color into the midseason gar- 
den at a time when such brilliance 
is at a premium. 
Our plant of the month, while 
at its most impressive in a mass 
planting, will, singly, develop into 
a specimen some six feet high 
and as much across in a sunny lo- 
cation, requiring moisture but ac- 
cepting a variety of soils, though 
of course responding to a certain 
fertility with best performance. 
$3.75 in five gallon containers. 
QUIRED 
tively low prices. The plants range 
in maturity from near flowering to 
two to five years from flowering 
and represent a wide distribution 
of color all in vigorous plants of 
special interest to the collector of 
Cattleyas. 
H ugh Cvans 
There are some plants with such robust consti- 
tutions and happy dispositions that they will endure 
vicissitudes and treatment to which many things 
ordinarily will succumb. Being loose in the ground, 
however, is a situation in which no plant should be 
lett, for if this lasts any length of time without 
the plant being aided and this condition remedied, 
the decease of the plant is a foregone conclusion. 
Whenever this circumstance occurs the soil 
must be tamped and firmed down thoroughly 
around the trunk or stem and a proper stake and 
tie supplied; in the case of a heavy or tall subject, 
a guy with proper wires in at least two quarters 
should be supplied, and in no case must any plant 
be left to swing loose. It is obvious that when the 
stem or trunk of a plant is swinging back and forth, 
loosening the soil around the trunk, the roots are 
being loosened in the ground, something no plant 
can stand. During windy weather and particularly 
in heavy soils the condition alluded to is apt to 
occur, and the plant must have help without delay. 
e 
Tropical Snowflake 
(Continued from front page) 
protection, in spite of most early writing which 
stressed the importance of simulating the ‘warm, 
damp jungles of Malaya''—the country of its origin. 
The species or variety of Trevesia_ illustrated 
and which we offer, we believe to be T. Micholitzii. 
(We are indebted to a very kind and cooperative 
friend in Europe for not only the identification but 
also the seed itself of this Trevesia). As with many 
another uncommon plant some uncertainty, not to 
say, confusion, exists with respect to the positive 
classification of the various Trevesias, but we'll 
stick to the above name, or simply, ‘Snowflake 
Tree.” 
In case you find room for this fascinating shrub 
or small tree we recommend a loose leafy soil with 
plenty of food and water, in afternoon shade or 
filtered sunlight. The flowers are curious but of no 
great interest. Trevesia's ultimate size may reach 
10 or 12 feet but we suggest that plants be headed 
back long before they reach that height, except in 
an unusual .setting. $7.50 in five gallon containers. 
M.E. 
