Solving Sweet Peas

It is not in the least too early to sow a few pots or boxes of Sweet Peas. A choice may be made from the varieties named in a previous part of the present chapter, but let me here emphasise the desirability of making full use of the beautiful range of pink and rosy varieties which we now have, because they look so well under artificial light. Countess Spencer, Constance Oliver, Chrissie Unwin (but this is nearer cerise than pink or rose), Edna Unwin, Sunproof Crimson, Zarina, and Mrs. Hardcastle Sykes are all charming. The grower might get some 6-inch pots, and put half-a-dozen seeds equidistant in each, covering them 1/2 inch deep. A greenhouse shelf, or a frame, will suit them until April, when they can be planted in the garden.

Flotvering Plants For Rooms

One who has a warm greenhouse need never be without a few pots or vases of plants in bloom that can be drafted into rooms. Even without glass, flowers can be had at most seasons by growing bulbs in bowls of peat-moss fibre, but January flowering is doubtful. Roman and other early Hyacinths, early Tulips, various Narcissi, Azaleas, and Freesias can be pushed on in a warm greenhouse, and transferred to the rooms when they approach the flowering stage. The little Freesia is the least conspicuous of the flowers I have named, but many will like it the best on account of its delicious odour.

A Splendid Arum Lily

All lovers of the white Arum Lily, which botanists (who really ought to set a better example) have given several names to, notably Calla aethiopica, Richardia aethiopica, and Richardia africana - all lovers of this beautiful plant may not be aware that there is a form vastly superior to the ordinary in profusion and continuity of flowering, although a little smaller. It is called the Godfrey, after a florist in charming Devon, who introduced it. There is no difficulty in having the Godfrey Arum Lily in bloom in January, and in fact the whole of the winter, if there is a warm greenhouse available. The puzzle would be to stop it flowering. It is as full of vigour as a Dorothy Perkins Rose is in summer. It simply riots in growth. As fast as one shoot develops, another springs up from the base. And flowers follow each other as fast as leaves. The reader who does not possess this valuable plant may buy it now. With a temperature of 500 to 6o° it will soon be in bloom.

Young Chrysanthemums

It seems a little hard to have to think about November in January, but gardeners are not as ordinary people. There are Chrysanthemum growers so enthusiastic that if they could have their way they would have every month November, so that they could always have their favourites with them. Murk, fog, drizzle, sleet - what are these to people who have the soul of artists? Do you see folk with rapt faces surging their way through the London streets in autumn? They are not, as you may have hastily surmised, speculators who have just heard good news at their broker's, but Chrysanthemum lovers on their way to a show, or to one of the displays in the public parks. Fog! Drizzle! They know nought of these. They live in a world as sunny as old Japan, whence the Chrysanthemum came ever so many years ago. Perhaps in November, probably in December, certainly not later than January, they will strike cuttings for the next display. These cuttings should be short and thick, and should be pressed firmly into sandy soil in small pots. If they can be kept under a cloche, or in a propagating box, they will root the quicker. Young plants that have grown from cuttings put in earlier should be exposed to air in January, and encouraged to grow with warmth, ventilation, and watering. When the cutting pots are filled with roots (and one can always judge of this by noting whether roots protrude from the drainage hole or not) the plants should be transferred to larger ones.