Petunias are highly ornamental, profuse blooming, 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
easily 
GOMPHOCARPUS ARBORESCENS. 
This is a hardy perennial introduced from Natal. 
remarkable and - picturesque. 
resemble the well-known Waxflower (Hoya Carnosa). 
grow to a height of 2: feet. 
Sow in March, April, or May; also in September, Octobe 
cultivated garden favorites, effective and beautiful for the 
decoration of the greenhouse, while for planting out in beds or 
mixed borders they are unsurpassed. The brilliancy and 
variety of color, combined with the duration of their blooming 
period, renders them invaluable. 
Sow in March, April, or May, also in August, September, and 
_ October, in nice light soil, in shallow pans; cover very lightly, 
and place in a frame or greenhouse. 
When the seedlings come 
up, and as soon as they can be handled, prick out into similar 
pans rather thinly. 
pot singly into small pots. 
When they have made three or four leaves, 
If they are intended to be grown in 
pots, repot, when large enough, into six or seven inch pots, to 
flower in, or else plant them out into the ground 
The Hlowet Garden. 
Notes for the Month. 
There should be no lack of color inthe 
garden in January. We are now being 
rewarded for our labor by a wealth and 
profusion of bloom. We have but to 
maintain it through the hot trying 
months to follow. The operation of 
watering has become tedious and monoto- 
nous in the extreme, but if anything can 
afford us consolation it is the magical 
effect it has on the drooping flower and 
flagging leaf after blistering sun and 
withering wind have done their worst. 
There is often a lull towards evening, 
and in the softening light that follows 
the sunset, in the moisture laden atmos- 
phere we have credited, when the cooling 
spray of the hose has called back the 
color to the plants with an additional 
intensity, and caused a perfumed incense 
to ascend from the flowers, we are 
rewarded by rare moments of enjoyment. 
occupy a bed or patch. The bulbs may 
be lifted after the death of the foliag® 
January 1, 1909 
It is very 
The leaves and flowers 
They 
and November. 
Moments worth waiting, worth striving 
for. 
Dahlias and cannas are a host in them- 
selves for decorative purposes, but the 
luxuriant growth and weelth of blooms 
we desire above all things in them can 
only be encouraged and maintained by 
liberal supplies of water. In the case of 
the former, where the soil has not been 
well enriched frequent supplies of liquid 
manure should be given. Dahlias must 
be secured to stout stakes, one to each 
stem; their effect is spoilt at once if 
they are allowed to flop. | ' 
With smaller annuals it is better to 
rely on close planting, by which they 
support each other, and due attention to 
strengthening growth by pinching than 
to have the garden bristling with 
stakes. 
Daffodils require to be planted in fresh 
soil ocersionally. ‘Three years are cof- 
sidered long enough for the bulbs to 
and be immediately replanted, or dried 
and atored until February. Ground for © 
