In the summer, the plants are grown in the field, and not in pots, being transplanted from the cutting-box. The soil in which they are to be planted should be moderately rich and loose. Clean cultivation should be given throughout the summer. Frequently pinch out the tops.
The plants are taken up in September and potted firmly, and well watered; then set in a cool, partially shaded situation until root growth has started, and watering the plant as it shows need of water.
The usual living-room conditions as to moisture and heat are not such as the carnation demands, and care must be taken to overcome the dryness by spraying the foliage and setting the plant in a position not exposed to the direct heat of a stove or the sun. In commercial houses, it is not often necessary to spray established plants. Pick off most or all of the side buds, in order to add to the size of the leading flowers. After all is said, it is probably advisable in most cases to purchase the plants when in bloom from a florist, and after blooming either throw them away or store them for planting out in the spring, when they will bloom throughout the summer.
If conditions are right, the rust should not be very troublesome, if the start was made with clean stock. Keep all rusted leaves picked off.
Century plants or agaves are popular plants for the window-garden or conservatory, requiring little care and growing slowly, thus needing repotting only at long intervals. When the plants have outgrown their usefulness as house-plants, they are still valuable as porch decorations, for plunging in rock-work, or about rustic nooks. The striped-leaved variety is the most desirable, but the normal type, with its blue-gray leaves, is highly ornamental.
There are a number of dwarf species of agave that are not so common, although they may be grown with ease. Such plants add novelty to a collection, and may be used through the summer as noted above or plunged with cactus in a bed of tropical plants. All succeed well in loam and sand in equal parts, with a little leafmold in the case of the small varieties.
The more common species are propagated by suckers from around the base of the established plants. A few kinds having no suckers must be grown from seed.
As to watering, they demand no special care. Agaves will not stand frost to any extent.
When the head throws up its great stem and blooms, it may exhaust itself and die; but this may be far short of a century. Some species bloom more than once.
Chrysanthemums are of many kinds, some being annual flower-garden plants, some perennial border subjects, and one form is the universal florists’ plant. In chrysanthemums are now included the pyrethrums.