260 
Growing Holly from Seed 
The seed of Ilex or Holly can be stratified 
in moist sand. In nature it will germinate 
in one to three years. Due to its hard seed 
coat and dormant embryo, germination is 
usually slow and difficult. None of the 
mechanical methods to hasten germination 
seems to be effective here. : 
Probably the best treatment is to sow 
the seed in the fall, mulching it well during 
the winter. In the spring, if enough seed- 
lings have responded, they may be trans- 
ferred to permanent location, and the bed 
abandoned. However, ‘few or no_ seeds 
germinated, leave the bed, mulching it well 
again the second winter, and if necessary 
the third, when the seed should have shown 
results of the care. 
Stratify Ilex Opaca 
With Ilex opaca, it is best to stratify the 
seed first, for one month at 75 degrees Far. 
before sowing, or the seed can be buried in 
a mixture of sand and peat, to be forgotten 
until after the second winter, when it should 
be taken from the container, planted and 
covered with one eight inch of soil. 
Ilex does not thrive in a full sun location, 
but will do very well in part shade and part 
sun. This fact might indicate that germ- 
ination is not started by the spirng sun light 
or in other words it might be classed in with 
those seeds that do best in darkness while 
germinating. 
Plan Ahead in Growing Seedlings 
One trouble with most growers, especially 
on the more difficult seeds, is their impat- 
ience to get seedlings. The collection of 
the seed under present labor conditions is 
very difficult and uncertain to start with and 
then growers should maintain a_ suitable 
seed bed where they can plant seed as it does 
come and then wait until nature gets around 
to sending up the seedlings. It is much 
better to grow more seedlings than you need 
than worry about a few coming up on a 
certain set date. 
The requirement of an acid soil in the 
germination of Ilex seed, of course is very 
necessary and here lies another common 
The Hardy 
Like delicate butterflies poised for flight 
are the blossoms of the hardy cyclamen, as 
they brighten the garden in the dulf days 
of late summer and fall. Dainty and smal! 
in leaf and flower, they lack the obese glory 
of their greenhouse relatives and are happily 
at home in the cooler spots of the rock 
garden and in light shade or woodland. 
There is a number of species scattered 
around the Mediterraneum region from the 
Swiss Alps to Asia Minor and the Caucasus. 
Some flower in the fall, others in winter and 
early spring and most are hard to come by. 
Not all are hardy in the North, but the twa 
lovliest are both hardy and reasonably ob- 
tainable. 
Cyclamen europaeum has slightly marbled 
leaves almost exactly like those of the green- 
house varieties but on a smaller scale. On 
stems of at most four inches, flowers of 
bright crimson, inch-long, hover from Aug- 
ust until late in the fall. 
Cyclamen neapolitanum has jagged ivy- 
like leaves, beautifully marbled, which ap- 
pear with the flowers and vanish in the late 
winter or early spring. Its flowers are of 
clear rose-pink or rarely an exquisite white; 
in size of bloom and in height they match 
cause for failure. Too often a seed bed is 
made ‘acid’ in a few minutes. This is not 
the way to do this and failure usually results. 
It would be much better for you to lay out 
a permannt seed bed for acid loving plants 
and give the first year to its preparation. 
Care must be used to work into the soil at 
the start the vegetable matter most likely to 
give an acid reaction; all decaying forms 
an acid and this acid starts a reaction on the 
alkaline compounds making the resulting 
compound solible in water and thus available 
for food for the plant. If this is not immed- 
iately used it could be leached from the soil 
or what is more likely, revert back to an 
insoluable form, to eventually start the same 
reaction all over again. The surface of the 
soil should have a reasonble mulch at all 
times, especially during the summer. As.this 
shows signs of decay it can be worked into 
the soil to a depth of 6 inches or more. 
Care of the Seed Bed 
Care of course must be given to the de- 
struction of weed seeds, either by weeding 
or better if it can be treated with steam. 
If the bed can be burned well in the spring 
in the same manner as the tobacco seed heds 
are made, most of the top soil seeds will be 
killed. Of course no digging should be done 
on the bed after buring or you will have as 
many weeds as you had at the start. 
While the cost of the cotton cloth used 
on seed beds is a little costly, its use is very 
necessary, especially on fine seeds like tob- 
acco. The use of a lath covering is also 
necessary over seed beds during the summer 
months. 
The use of hard water on seed beds of 
the acid loving plants is another cause for 
failures. In some localities where the sub- 
soil is made up of a limestone formation, 
the water is heavily charged with minerals 
of an alkaline formation and if the hose is 
freely used the acidity of the soil would be 
neutralized. This is especially so on alkaline 
soils that you are attempting to make acid. 
It would be best to water with pond or rain 
water. 
Cyclamens 
Cyclamen europaeum. 
Less frequently available is Cyclamen 
coum, a tiny plant with much smaller 
flowers of intense magenta in very late wint- 
er or earliest spring. Its hardiness is quest-- 
ionable, but it, or a plant close to it, lived 
for some years in the open in central New 
York state. Cyclamen repandum has never 
survived to flowering in this same section, 
even when grown in the alpine house and 
other names which may be met are of even 
less reliably hardy species; all of these 
should, however, be completely hardy south 
ef Philadelphia or in other words in zone 
(V). 
Seeds of the hardy cyclamen all too often 
cause disappointment by failing to germ- 
inate, yet all that is necessary to secure a 
good stand is to soak the seeds in luke-warm 
water for 4 hours before sowing. They 
should be planted in pots containing an 
inch of drainage material at the bottom, and 
filled with a mixture of equal. parts loam, 
sand and either leaf mold or peat; a quarter 
inch of covering is ample. The pot should 
be covered with glass or building paper to 
preserve moisture and set in a cool place; 
freezing is unnecessary, but does not seem 
CENTAUREA 
americana 
—— 
to be harmful. In two to three months, 
after a tiny translucent brown corm has 
been formed, a single true leaf will appear. 
Now the pot should be uncovered and set 
in a lightly shaded position, and the young 
plants should be kept growing as long ag 
possible the first season. Eventually the 
cormlets will go dormant, and will remain 
in that condition until the next summer; 
during dormancy, they must never be allow- 
ed to dry out. It is probably best not to 
remove them from the seed pot until the 
little corms are at least a half inch across, 
when they are ready to be put into their 
permanent positions. They will flower in 
two to three years, depending on the a- 
mount of development made the first sea- 
son. 
Cyclamen prefer soil rich in leaf mold and 
lime, as well as some shade. Here they 
are grown at the base of the rock garden, 
on the north side of rocks. In England, 
they are often planted under trees and in 
the shrubbery, where the corms eventually 
grow to immense size and produce hundreds 
of blooms. As yet they are too scarce and 
precious in this country to be trusted in 
any but the choicest of positions, which 
must be carefully marked to avoid disturb- 
ance of the plants during their early sum- 
mer dormancy. 
PRIMULA SIKKIMENSIS 
It is not necessary for you to have to 
visit the Sikkim Highland in India to see 
the charming Primula sikkimensis, for it 
can be easily grown by anyone in_ this 
country. 
A packet of seed of this beautiful flower 
with its pretty leaves, silvery underneath 
and its white stems supporting a number of 
drooping yellow flowers. No more charm- 
ing display can be imagined than a colony 
of Primula sikkimensis. 
It is prfectly hardy but as a rule not 
long lived and thus it is well to have new 
plants coming along each year, at least 
every second year. The seed will germinate 
readily in the spring and should be planted 
in a rather peaty soil with plenty of sand 
and leaf mold. Give plenty of air when 
the seedlings appear and prick out prompt- 
ly when large enough, usually when the 
second leaves appear. 
Primula sikkimensis is a moisture lover 
and will do well in full sunshine if in a 
boggy location but should have partial shade 
and plenty of moisture during the dry period 
and when in flower. With good care it grows 
two feet high, blooms in the summer and 
lasts for a long time. 
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