Instructions in gardening for ladies

by Mrs. Loudon

Fuchsias are another family of plants that may be cultivated with very little trouble. Fuchsia globosa is at once the hardiest and the handsomest kind. F. virgata is also tolerably hardy. All the Fuchsias require a light, rich soil, or a mixture of rich sandy loam and peat; and regular watering, as when the outer roots are once withered, either by want of moisture, or by exposure of the pot to the direct rays of the sun, the plant generally dies. For this reason the Fuchsia is not so well adapted for a window plant, as many others. Fuchsia fulgens differs considerably from the other species, and will not flower well unless in the open ground, and with a sunny exposure. It is also tuberous rooted, though woody in its stem. It is easily propagated; and even a leaf taken off without injuring the part of the petiole which was attached to the stem, has been known to grow and form a plant. Several handsome hybrids have been produced, by applying the pollen of F. fulgens to the stigma of F. globosa, F. conica, and F. gracilis. It may here be mentioned, that whenever hybrids are to be raised, by fertilizing one plant with the pollen of another, the anthers of the flower that is to produce the seed, should be removed with a pair of scissors, before they burst. The pollen from the other flower which is to form the hybrid, should be afterwards applied with a camel-hair pencil to the stigma of the flower, which is to produce the seed; and a bit of thread should be tied round the flower-stalk, in order that the seed-pod may be saved, and set apart. All hybrids may be made in the same manner; but it must always be remembered that flowers will not hybridize properly, unless they are naturally nearly allied.

Calceolarias.—Perhaps no plants have ever been hybridized more extensively than these. The principal parents of the numerous and splendid plants that we are continually seeing produced, are C. corymbosa, and C. arachnoidea, the one a yellow, and the other a purple flower; but there are many other species that have been crossed and re-crossed with these, so as to form a very great variety. C. bicolor has a very large pale yellow-and-white flower; and it has been the parent of some very fine hybrids and varieties. All the calceolarias require rather a rich soil; and the usual compost is two parts of thoroughly rotten dung, one part of leaf mould, or old turf, and one part of white sand. The ingredients of this compost should be well mixed together, and broken fine, but not sifted. All the Calceolarias require plenty of water, and abundance of light and air; and they will all flower best when planted in the open ground. They are, however, very subject to be attacked by a kind of aphis; and when kept in pots, they should be frequently syringed.

Myrtles should be grown in a soil composed of peat and loam, in which the former predominates; they should be regularly watered, and frequently syringed. Some persons nip off the tips of the young shoots, to make the plants grow bushy; and though it has this effect, it is a bad practice with the flowering kinds, as it prevents them from flowering. A better plan is to make cuttings, and first to plant them in very small pots, gradually changing them into larger ones, till the plants have acquired a bushy habit of growth.

Mimulus.—Some of the kinds of plants of this genus are very handsome, particularly the hybrids raised by the nurserymen from M. cardinalis, M. roseus, M. luteus, and M. guttatus. These species are all herbaceous, and all natives of South America, Mexico, and California. They are all nearly hardy, and though generally grown in a green-house, they will stand quite well in the open air, dying down to the ground in winter, but sending up fresh and very vigorous shoots in spring. When these plants are grown in the open ground it should be in a shady moist situation; and when they are kept in pots, they should always stand in saucers half full of water. This water should, however, be changed every day, and when given to the plants it should always be as nearly as possible, of the same temperature as themselves. The little musk plant, Mimulus moschata, requires the same treatment as its more showy brethren. As all the species of Mimulus have been found in their native habitats growing in coarse sand or gravel on the brink of a river, this kind of soil should be chosen for them in pots; and the soil in which they are grown can hardly be too poor, provided they have abundance of water. In Chili, the inhabitants eat the leaves as a kind of vegetable. The shrubby kinds of Mimulus; viz., the common monkey plant, M. luteus, and the scarlet-flowered species, M. puniceus, are now considered to belong to a new genus called Diplacus. They are both natives of California; and in their treatment they should be considered as green-house plants, and have rather a better soil, and less water than the true kinds of Mimulus.

Hydrangea Hortensia is another plant, that when grown in a pot, requires to have the saucer kept half full of water. There are several species, most of which are hardy shrubs, but Hydrangea Hortensia, the kind usually called the Hydrangea, is a native of China, and only half hardy, though it will live in the open air in sheltered situations, or with a very slight protection. This plant was named Hortensia by the botanist Commerson in compliment to Madame Hortense Lapeaute, the wife of a French watchmaker. The Hydrangea, when the colour of its flower is to be pink, should be grown in a rich loamy soil; but when the colour of the flower is wished to be blue it should be grown in peat. In both cases the plant should be pruned every year, and the old wood cut out; so that the wood which is to produce the flowering shoots should never be more than two or at most three years old. Cuttings strike readily at any season when the plant is in a growing state; if put into a rich soil and kept moist they will root in a fortnight, and flower in a month.

Succulent plants.—There are very few things in gardening respecting which gardeners appear more to disagree than in the treatment of succulent plants. Nearly all these plants are natives of the sandy plains in the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, where they are subjected to alternate seasons of extreme wet and extreme dryness. Cultivators attempting to imitate this, have grown their plants in poor sandy soil, and kept them entirely without water at one season, while they have been inundated with it at another. The fact is, that when we attempt to imitate nature, we should remember that the attempt is useless unless we can do so in every particular; and also that the plants we have to cultivate, have been nursed up into so very artificial a state, that if they were transplanted to their native plains they would probably perish, like a poor Canary bird, which a mistake of philanthropy has turned out of the cage in which it has long lived. For this reason, we must adopt the mode of treating succulents, which the best gardeners find most successful, without troubling ourselves to discover why it is so different from the natural habit of the plants. This mode of treatment is, then, to grow the plants in a rich loamy soil, kept open, as it is called, by the addition of lime rubbish; and to give the plants water all the year, but more moderately when they are in a dormant, than when they are in a growing state. They should also have as much air and light as possible. The water should never be suffered to stand in the saucer of any succulent plant; but it should be given regularly, diminishing the quantity a little every day as the season for rest approaches. If the water be suddenly stopped the leaves of the plants will shrink and become flaccid, and when this is the case, the plant generally dies. A deficiency of air on the other hand will cause the plant to damp off. All succulent plants are very soon affected by frost.

The Australian plants, of which so many beautiful kinds have been introduced within the last few years, should nearly all be grown in a mixture of sand and peat; and they should have their pots filled one-third with potshreds. They all require abundance of water, but they will all perish if water is retained about their roots. Most of the Australian plants are very tenacious of life, and if cut down when they appear dead, they will generally spring up again from the collar or the roots.

The principal climbing plants grown in pots are the Maurandyas, the Lophospermums, the Passion-flowers, the Rhodochiton, the Eccremocarpus, the Ipomæas, and the Cobæa. There are, however, several others, all of which are very handsome. The greater part of these require a rich light soil to make them grow rapidly, and to be kept in small pots to throw them into flower. The Bignonias or Tecomas should be grown in equal parts of loam and peat; and this compost will suit the Polygalas, and other showy climbers. The Sollyas and Billiardieras should be grown in peat, and frequently syringed to keep off the green fly. The Thunbergias are very liable to be attacked by the red spider. Many of the shrubby climbers may be treated as annuals, and raised from seed every year in January, and planted out in June; but they do still better treated as biennials, and sown one year to flower the next.

CHAPTER XII.

CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS.