Growing Stock And Many Other Flowers

There are annuals and biennials of this name; and, if I were to choose amongst all the annuals and biennials, I should certainly choose the Stock. Elegant leaf, elegant plant, beautiful, showy, and most fragrant flower; and, with suitable attention, bloom, even in the natural ground, from May to November in England, and from June to November here.

The annuals are called ten week Stocks. And of these there are, with a pea green leaf, the Red, White, Purple and Scarlet, and, then, there are all the same colors with a Wall flower or Sea Green leaf. So that there are eight sorts of the annual Stock. Of the biennials, there are the Brompton, of which there Me the Scarlet and the White; the Dutch, which is Red; the Queen's, of which there are the Red and the White; and the Twickenham, which is Purple.

As to propagation, it is, of course, by seed only. If there be nothing but the natural ground to rely on, the sowing must be early; the earth very fine and very rich. The seed is small and thin, and does not easily come up in coarse earth. If the plants come up thick, thin them, when very young. And do not leave them nearer together than six inches.

They, however, transplant very well; and those that have not place to blow in may be removed, and a succession of bloom is thus secured. If you have a green house, glass frame, or hand glass, you get flowers six weeks earlier.

The biennials are sown at the same time, and treated in the same way. They blow the second year; but, if there be great difficulty in preserving them, in the natural ground, through the winter in England, what must it be here! Indeed, it cannot be done; and yet, they are so fine; so lofty; such masses of beautiful and fragrant flowers; and they continue so long in bloom, that they are worth any care
and any trouble. There is but one way: the plants, when they get ten or a dozen leaves, must be put into flower pots.

These may be sunk in the earth, in the open ground, till November (Long Island,) and when the sharp frosts come, the pots must be taken up, and placed out of the reach of hard frost, and where there is, however, Pun and air. When the spring comes, the pots may be put out into the natural ground again; or, which is better, the balls of earth may be put into a hole made for the purpose; and thus the plants will be in the natural ground to blow.

In this country they should be placed in the shade when put out again; for, very hot sun is apt to tarnish the bloom.

SYRINGA, or Mock Orange

A very stout shrub, with blossoms much like that of the orange, and with a powerful smell. It is propagated from suckers, of which it sends out a great many.

SWEET WILLIAM

A very pretty flower. Makes a fine show. Comes Double by chance; and is very handsome whether double or single. It is propagated from seed, the plants coming from which do not blow till the second year. The Sweet William root does not last many years. It may be propagated by parting the roots; and this must be done to have the same flower again to a certainty, because the seed do not, except by chance, produce flowers like those of the mother plant.

TUBEROSE

This is a bulbuous rooted plant that sends up a beautiful and most fragrant flower. But, even in England, it cannot be brought to perfection without artificial heat in the spring. If got forward in a green house, or hot-bed, and put out about the middle of June, it would blow beautifully in America. It is a native of Italy, and the roots are brought to England and sold there in the shops. It is propagated and managed precisely like the Hyacinth, which see.

TULIP

Beds of Tulips vie with those of Carnations and Auriculas. They are made shows of in England, and a single root is sometimes sold for two or three hundred guineas. And, why not; as well as make shows of pictures, and sell them for large sums? There is an endless variety in the colors of the tulip.

The bulbs, to have the flowers one, must be treated like those of the Hyacinth. The tulip may be raised from seed; but it is, as in the case of the
Hyacinth, a thousand to one against getting from seed a flower like that of the mother plant.

VIOLET

This is one of the four favorites of the Spring in England. It is a little creeping plant, that comes on banks under the shelter of warm hedges. The flower is so well known to excel in sweetness, that, "as sweet as a violet" is a phrase as common as any in the English language. There is a purple and a white.

Abundance of seed is borne annually by both; and the plant is perennial. If you propagate from seed, the flower does not come till the second year; but, one plant, taken from an old root, will fill a rod of ground in a few years.

There is a little plant in these woods in Long Island, with a flower precisely like that of the purple violet; but, the leaf is a narrow oblong, instead of being, as the English is, in the shape of a heart; the plant does not creep; and the flower has no smell.

WALL FLOWER

It is so called, because it will grow, sow itself, and furnish bloom in this way, by a succession of plants, forever, upon old walls, where it makes a beautiful show. It bears abundance of seed, plants from which produce flowers the second year. Some come double, sometimes. If you wish to be sure of double flowers, you must propagate by slips of double flowering plants.

There are the yellow and the wixed, partly yellow and partly red. All have a delightful smell, blow early, and are generally great favourites. I am afraid this plant, even with covering, will not stand the winter out of doors in America, unless in the south front of a building, and covered too in severe weather; for, even in England, it is sometimes killed by the frosts.

Learn about heather plants and purple passion plant at the Plants And Flowers site.

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