262 
GREENHOUSE 
FEBRUARY IN THE GREENHOUSE 
Temperatures for the month can be 
40-45 degrees at might 
the day and be just a little more free with 
the water as plants start to grow. Also 
ventilate a little but only on sunny days and 
then only around noon. 
It is time to repot such plants as ferns, 
palms, fuchsias and hardy carnations. Most 
any plant chat needs repotting and is start- 
ing to show growth can be repotted. 
SEEDS TO SOW: Acacias, Alonsoas, 
Amaryllis, Balsams, Tub2rous and Fibrous 
Begonias, shrubby Calceolarias, Perpetual 
and Marguerite Carnations, Celosia, Celsias, 
Gloxinias, Salvia, Schizanthus and Strep- 
tocarpus. Keep the temperature on these 
from 55-65 degrees. Cuttings of the Chry- 
santhemums, also the early flowering sorts, 
for outdoor planting, Perpetual Carnations, 
Fuchsias, Pelargoniums and many others, 
will root well this month in the regular 
propagating frame. 
GREVILLEA ROBUSTA 
Here is a first class house plant and 
easily grown. Sow seeds in March and pot 
singly into pots; when in 3” pots, they can 
be carried over summer in a cold frame 
and then shifted to 5” pots. A cool house 
is good. 
RICINUS or CASTER OIL BEAN 
Ricinus seed should be sown in April, in 
small pots, as they quickly form a large 
mass of roots after germinating. 
The variety Gibson has blood-red foliage. 
TORENIA FOURNIERI 
A half hardy arnual and 
be started indoors as 
season to bloom. 
seed should 
it requires a good 
The plant is erect in its 
growth; its flowers come in shades of 
violet. It is an excellent bedding plant. 
Sow seeds the middle of March, allowing 
the seedlings to gain a good size before 
potting. 
There are two species, T. asiatica and 
T. Bailloni, that make good basket plants, 
they being of a precumbent growth. 
COBAEA SCANDENS 
While they are perennial, they are usually 
grown as an annual. Plant the seed in 
February or March. As.,they germinate 
quickly, it is best to plant each seed in 
a 2” pot, placing the seed in edgewise, so 
that the top edge can be seen. 
They make very pretty vines and can ba 
used in many places. 
PLUME POPPY 
(Becconia cardata) This hardy 
ous plant is of ar 
herbace- 
imposing appearance, 
growing to 10 feet. The plant has a gray- 
ish green appearance. 
Sow seeds in April, potting off the seed- 
lings when small. 
ASCLEPIAS TUBEROSA 
As the seedlings grow very slowly, it is 
best to sow a few seeds in each pot, with 
rather firm soil, allowing them to remain 
potted a year before planting out. 
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and 50-55 during ~ 
VENIDIUM 
fastuosum 
ZINNIA 
Fantasy 
LIMONIUM 
sinuatum 
MIRACLES from DUST 
By Mrs. Patricia C. Ffoulkes, Florida. 
Dust-fine seeds are really not so difficult, 
proper methods and time fix it. Time, for 
after planting, seed pots are left until the 
seedlings are big enough to handle, 60 
to 90 days. THIN SOWING IS THE KEY, 
and prior sterilization of pot and soil in 
which seed is planted. 
To do it the easy way, you'll need: A 
coffee can, a 5 inch azalea or squatty pot, 
a wooden box with a pane of glass; some 
peat humus; a trifle of decent soil (Gif good 
potting soil is not handy, the dime store 
has it, mixed and already sterilized); a teas- 
poon of builders sand. A wick for the pot 
is fine. You can do without the wick or 
make one from fibre glass wicking sold for 
oil stoves. It’s wide enough to cut in %4 
inch strips. Sterilize soil, peat, sand and pot 
in oven, 250 degrees for one hour. 
How to Sow the Seeds 
A coffee can exactly supports the squatty 
pot (a 34 pot as known in the greenhouse), 
leaving a bottom reservoir for water. Pack 
pot with damp peat humus to within one 
inch of the top. Next comes 42 inch potting 
soil, then a topping of peat which was forc- 
ed through a 1/8 inch wire mesh screen. 
Pot filled to the rim, tap to settle. Mix 
seed in a teaspoon of DRY builder’s sand. 
Crease a piece of stiff paper makes a sower. 
Hold paper on a slight down angle, tap 
sand and seed out thinly. Sand shows 
area covered and helps to keep thinly 
sowed. Do not cover seed, but press down 
the soil surface to firm the seed in contact 
with the humus. Most seed germinate in a 
month or less but keeps coming up after 
that time. 
Treatment during Germination 
Have water in the coffee can enough to 
reach 34 inch on the bottom of the pot 
(unless you are using a wick to carry moist- 
ure up). Put pot, in the coffee can, in wood- 
en box. Place a pane of glass over the box, 
this holds an even temperature and humidity. 
Glass should not come down tight; arrange 
air space for ventilation. A slant to the box 
by a brick under one end lets water accum- 
ulation run down the glass, drip outside, 
not into the seed pots. Location for the 
box should be in a shady place which you 
would choose for any delicate plant. All 
assuming outside temperature runs 60 de- 
grees or more. With lower temperature 
you will need to locate your box on a porch 
Or some protected place. These are tender 
plants; frost and freezing won’t do. If you 
have a real greenhouse, skip the box. 
After 90 days, you will have many tiny 
plantlets to pot up for blooms in 8 months. 
As many will work out their own methods, 
just a few hints here. Start with 2 inch pots, 
increase as the plant grows, to a 5 inch size, 
(not from a 2 inch to 5 in one shift) for 
blooming. Pot in not too rich soil at first 
(increase sand in the mix). Soil formula: 
3 parts garden soil, 2 parts well rotted 
manure (aged a year), | part builders sand, 
1 part peat humus. Sterilize whole mix in 
your oven, spread in trays, 250 degrees 
(180 is better) for one hour, 3 weeks before 
use. Add 4 inch pot of bonemeal to a 
bushel- of soil. Mix wants to be rather 
loose and well drained. 
Gloxinias and African Violets 
Gloxinias take more light and sun than do 
African Violets but not full sun. Gloxinias 
form a tuber which takes a rest period after 
blooming so withhold water then. The 
tuber wiil start again when it is ready; you 
can also propagate Gloxinias by leaf cuttings, 
as African Violets do, with the exception 
that Gloxinias form a tuber. The leaf 
dies and the tuber sprouts within a few 
weeks, sometimes longer after the leaf fades. 
The seeds you have purchased are enough 
for one pot, spread them out into several 
of the coffee can-pot combinations. If the 
seed is sowed THINLY the plants will not 
need transplanting for 90 days and the pots 
will need no care except to keep the water 
level even in the can. With a sterilized 
soil medium to start, a lot of troubles are 
saved. This method has worked for us 
and we hope you will find it helpful. 
REMARKS: You will have to agree Mrs. 
Ffaulkes knows her growing. Besides Glox- 
inias and African Violets, she grows Day Lil- 
ies and is well known for her hybridizing. 
We thank her for her excellent cultural re- 
marks. Ed. 
FERTILIZING THE YUCCA 
The commonly grown Yucca filamentosa, 
or Spanish Bayonet, is pollinated by the 
moth Pronuba yuccasella. This moth gath- 
ers the sticky pollen at night, rolling it up in 
a small ball, two or three times the size of 
its own head. It then flies to another 
flower, where it pierces the wall of the seed 
pod and deposits its eggs. After this, it 
gets the ball of pollen and sticks it down 
into the flower, so that it is sure to be pollin- 
aied and that seed forms in the flower on 
which her eggs are to hatch. If this flower 
was not fertile the larva would starve when 
they were hatched out. 
There are many very interesting things 
done in the insect world. 
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