Cannas may be started any time in April or May. The old-fashioned tall-growing varieties may be put in the open ground early in May. Cover with three or four inches of soil and protect the bed with a little rough manure if the nights are cold, the finest of the manure being left to enrich the soil when the plants are up.

The large-flowering French and Orchid-flowered Cannas are delicate and very sensitive to cold and damp and should be started in the house with heat. Divide the roots into points and pot separately in leaf-mould, or they may be placed in baskets of sand set in a warm, sunny place and kept constantly moist; this is the simplest and best way of handling them. Cannas are less likely to mould or decay in sand than in soil, and it is easier to keep a uniform degree of moisture in the baskets than in the small pots. The baskets should be partly filled with fine white sand and the roots laid in place, points up, as closely as convenient, and sufficient sand added to cover them. They must not be planted out until all danger of frost is past and the nights are warm, and they should then be handled very carefully to avoid injuring the tender roots. Give them a soil of muck or heavily manured loam and abundance of water. The most convenient place for starting bulbs of all kinds is a warm upstairs room, over a kitchen or elsewhere, with a south or west light. A wide shelf may be arranged under the windows and one’s entire supply of bulbs started there in pots and baskets out of the way. Seeds of flowers and vegetables may also be started there to advantage.

Dahlias are best started in the baskets of sand, putting the bunches in whole, with the crown just below the surface of the sand. When they have sprouted and the weather is warm they should be removed from the sand and carefully divided. A number of tubers will have failed to start, while others will have thrown several shoots. If the number of plants is not sufficient more may be secured by grafting part of the green shoots into the dormant toes. Remove a shoot, cut the end to a wedge shape, remove a corresponding wedge from the crown of a toe and insert the shoot; it should rest in the toe an inch or more and be placed in the ground at once—drawing the earth around it snugly that the scion may be in no danger of separating from the toe before it has formed a union. Only one shoot should be left on a tuber, and the removal of the extra ones for grafting is a distinct gain. Whenever it is necessary to divide the roots a portion of the stem with a well-defined eye must be given to each division, otherwise there will be no top growth; the toes will root, but they will not grow. For further directions see chapter on growing Dahlias from seed.

Caladium esculentum, or Elephant’s Ears, is a native of the Sandwich Islands, where it furnishes a staple article of food called Poa. The root when cooked is like a potato. It is better to start separately in pots an inch larger than the bulbs, setting the top of the bulb just above the surface of the soil. Pot with muck or good compost and keep moist and warm. They respond to heat and moisture the most readily of all dormant bulbs, beginning to grow at once and making steady progress, the root growth keeping step with the top much more uniformly than is usual with bulbs that are wintered dry. It is an ideal plant for the amateur, as easily grown as a hill of corn. If fine plants are desired only those bulbs showing a live centre-shoot should be used. If the winter conditions have been favourable the bulbs will show a strong centre-shoot or rolled-up leaf; where this has decayed or dried off there will frequently be side-shoots which are worth saving when the supply of bulbs is small, and which will produce fair results, but for really good plants the centre-shoot is necessary.

Plant out when all danger of frost is past, in muck if possible, or in heavily manured loam; the more freely they are watered the finer will be the growth. Old bulbs should give leaves three feet or more in length and correspondingly wide.

Single specimens are fine in pots, vases, or tiles, but they are really seen at their best in large clumps on the lawn, or edging beds of Cannas or other subtropical plants.

They are easily wintered and multiply very rapidly; and, as much better effects can be obtained by planting largely of one variety, an effort should be made to have a generous supply. Aim for a tropical luxuriance of effect—whether the plants used are Cannas, Caladiums, Ricinus, or all three.

Tuberous Begonias should be started at the same time as the Caladiums, Cannas, and other tuberous plants. Pot singly in small pots of leaf-mould, setting the tuber level with the surface of the earth, but shaping the soil away from it toward the edge of the pot that water may not settle around it. The side showing a slight depression is the top. Often it is difficult to determine this, in which case the bulb may be laid on the surface until growth begins and the fact can be determined, when it may be potted. Do not keep too warm, as that induces a leggy growth; a temperature of about 60° is right.

Bed out, when all danger of frost is past, in partial shade. In England it is claimed that they will stand the hottest sun, but the atmosphere of England is very different from our dry air, and the tuberous Begonia does better with us if shaded. Where there is no natural shade an awning of cotton cloth during the hottest part of the day answers every purpose. Gloxinias are started the same as tuberous Begonias and require practically the same treatment, but more heat. Fuller cultural directions are given in the chapter on growing from seed.

Fancy-leaved Caladiums, though belonging to the same family as C. esculentum, bear little resemblance to that sturdier branch, being small in growth, gorgeous in colouring, and exceedingly delicate. Unlike the Crotons and Coleus, which revel in full sunshine, they develop their beautiful colours best in partial or complete shade. They do, however, love a warm atmosphere and must be guarded against sudden chills and draughts. They are very desirable for window-boxes on the north side of the house, for growing in sheltered nooks, and for warm, sheltered positions on porches. Several may be grouped together in a ten-inch pot very effectively, as they require but little room. They may be brought inside in the fall, and kept growing until they show signs of resting, when water should be gradually withheld until the leaves have ripened. The pots should then be set away in a warm, dry place—as a shelf in a closet—until wanted the following spring.

Such wonderful things have been accomplished in Gladiolus culture that one scarcely recognises the old favourite. All along the line, size, colour, texture, markings show the effect of a high state of cultivation and careful hybridising. The Childsi are, perhaps, the finest; while several of the strains of giant Gladiolus show wonderful size and colour. They increase rapidly, and one should buy a few bulbs each year so as to maintain a high standard.

When ready to plant, remove all loose husks, dead roots, and stalks, leaving the bulb clean and fair. Plant directly in the open ground, sufficiently late for frost to have gone by the time they are up. Plant the bulbs eight inches deep in fine leaf-mould, or a mixture of muck, loam and old manure, or even well-enriched garden loam. Planted deeply they will not need staking—an important point in growing Gladioli; nor will they be so much affected by cold, heat, or draught as in the case of shallow planting, and may be planted earlier and left much later in the fall, giving the bulbs more time to ripen.

They should be cultivated frequently during the summer or well mulched and supplied with water as needed. No seed should be allowed to form, as the plants make new bulbs each year, sometimes several, and that, with the production of flowers, is enough for one plant. A plant that seeds freely will not produce as many or as good bulbs. Take up in the fall before the ground begins to freeze, and put in a warm, sunny place for a few days to dry. Remove the stems by cutting off six or eight inches above the bulb, but do not attempt to pull or break them, as that will injure the new shoot which lies just inside the old stalk. Tie in bunches and hang in a dry, cool place, free from frost, or store in paper sacks.

Montbretias resemble the Gladioli in flower and foliage, but are very slender of growth. They throw long, graceful sprays of brilliant scarlet, orange, and lemon, very desirable for cut flowers. The flowers open successively, as do the Gladioli, and are in bloom a long time. They may be grown in the corners of the Gladiolus bed with good effect. The culture is the same, except that the Montbretias are not planted so deeply—about three inches. They multiply very rapidly—about fourfold, and are as easily cared for as the Gladioli.

Tigridias (Shell Flowers) are beautiful in colour, and odd in shape, and rather gorgeous in effect whether set singly or in groups. The colours are a pure white, white with lilac, purple and white, yellow and orange with dark spots, white with a brownish spot on a yellow ground, and rose colour. The flower remains open for only a day, but as there is always another to take its place it is not missed. They would better be started in the house in pots and bedded out when frost is past, as, planted in the open ground, they sometimes fail to appear. Lift and dry in fall and store in a dry, warm place during winter, examining occasionally for mould or grey lice. The leaf much resembles that of the date-palm, being ribbed and pointed at either end.

Summer-blooming Oxalis are very desirable plants for borders. They are extensively grown in parks and public gardens, but are little seen in private grounds. They are the most easily raised of all the bulbous plants and increase in a manner quite alarming, each bulb forming a long tuber resembling a white radish in general appearance, and covered with small bulbs—probably fifty—the top being crowned with one large bulb, the source of the season’s florescence. These bulbs are not a solid body, as would appear at first glance, but are made up of hundreds of minute scales like a lily bulb. Added to its interesting character below ground is its rather remarkable performance above ground. It comes into leaf and blossom two weeks after planting, about the time the first tiny tips of other bulbs appear.

One great advantage of this precocity of growth is that Oxalis may be substituted when for any reason other border plants have failed to come up and it is necessary to replace them in a hurry. Often a hardy border plant winter-kills and one keeps waiting for it to start until it is too late to get plants from seed, then the little Oxalis comes to the rescue.

Buy them by the hundred and set about three inches apart and about two inches deep. Take up in the fall and put in a sunny place to dry, turning often; when dry remove from the centre tuber and sort, saving the largest bulbs.

Crinums and Amaryllis

For the past year or so an unusual amount of interest has been shown in this magnificent class of plants, followed in many instances by grievous disappointment, as, led away by the glowing descriptions of the dealers, investments are made in bulbs whose proper culture is entirely unknown. It is to be regretted that dealers sending out bulbs requiring special treatment—as the Crinums—do not give instructions for their culture. It would save a vast amount of disappointment, complaint, and distrust. Unfortunately many florists do not themselves understand their requirements; they merely purchase the bulbs from other dealers, and publish trade advertisements and illustrations.

Seen in bloom under proper conditions and treatment it is not strange that florists wax eloquent in their praise, and invest heavily in bulbs which they sell to an ignorant and confiding public. There is, however, little difficulty in growing the Crinum—indeed, I know of no plant more easily grown, once it is understood.

Most of the complaints show that there has been no effort made to study the nature of the plant. A little study would show that an immense bulb like Crinum ornatum must have a generous supply of roots to sustain it; that these roots must have time to grow, commensurate with the length of time the bulb has been out of the ground, and that not much could be expected of it until these conditions were fulfilled. These facts are obvious from a study of the dry bulb, other facts are only arrived at after experience with the Crinum as a plant.

The root growth is quite in keeping with the size of the bulb; it forms great quantities of fleshy white roots as thick as pipe-stems, which are very impatient of disturbance and should be left practically unmolested for a number of years. When a bulb is prepared for market these roots are all removed. It is not strange that when called upon to rally from the shock of dismemberment and to replace the entire root growth it should sometimes fail to bloom as readily as expected. Often only a portion of the former roots start again, and this must be taken into consideration when anticipating bloom.

When a dry bulb is received from the florist it should be potted at once in a pot two inches larger in diameter than the bulb, that is, one allowing one inch of space between the pot and the bulb all around. Good potting soil, loam, leaf-mould, or muck, good sharp sand and old, well-rotted manure should be used. I do not think the muck absolutely essential, except in the case of C. Americana, which may be grown in pure muck, but good fibrous loam and sharp sand must be used. Place an inch or two of drainage material in the bottom of the pot, covering with sphagnum moss to keep the water from washing the soil into the drain and clogging it; fill within an inch of the top of the pot with soil; press the bulb into it, making a depression the shape of the base of the bulb and a couple of inches deep; line this hollow an inch deep with clean white sand, replace the bulb, water, and give a warm, sunny position. The bulb may be lifted and examined daily without injury, to note the root development and to watch for signs of blue-mould, which is apt to attack the Crinum if slow in rooting and which, when it appears, should be carefully wiped off. As soon as the root growth has fairly commenced the bulb must not again be disturbed, as there is then danger of injuring the root. This inspection shows the root development the bulb is likely to make, and gives an idea of the probable florescence. The bulb is planted on top, and not in the soil, but if it makes the root growth it should that will hold it as firmly as though it were entirely embedded.

Usually a bulb will bloom in about three months from potting, sometimes sooner, but it is better to allow it a margin of time. Few leaves are made up to blooming time, but after the bloom has faded the foliage grows rapidly and, in the case of large bulbs, is really magnificent. When the foliage begins to fade and turn yellow at the tips the growth for the season is practically over, and water should be gradually withheld, and the plant allowed to rest. From this time on give only sufficient water to keep the plant from going dust-dry. Enough water may be given to keep the roots from shrivelling but not sufficient to induce top growth. Soon after starting it will be noticed, perhaps, that the bulb has shrunk and grown smaller and somewhat soft. As the foliage dies it becomes firm and hard again, the strength of the top has returned to the bulb from which it came, and it is at this period that it makes its own growth and prepares for another season of bloom, readiness for which it will announce by beginning to grow though water be withheld. The top earth—which should be dry at this time—should be removed as far as possible without disturbing the roots, and replaced with good, rich soil. Water freely, and when the buds appear give a little weak liquid manure once a week. The second blooming will be much finer than the first, as the plant has now sufficient root growth to support both stalk and blossom.

Should the bulb outgrow its quarters it may be shifted into a pot two sizes larger, care being taken not to disturb the roots. In this way the Crinum may be grown on from year to year, shifting when really necessary, renewing the top-soil each year without disturbing the roots and allowing it seasons of complete rest. This is the whole secret of Crinum culture—undisturbed root action and well-defined seasons of rest and growth. It requires a warm, sunny window in winter, and an eastern exposure in summer, where it will get the full morning sun and be protected from rough winds which injure the foliage. In protected situations certain varieties, as C. Kunthianum, hold their great leaves erect and are very fine; they will not do this when exposed to wind. Care must be taken to protect them from heavy rain, as water settling in the leaves sometimes causes the bulb to rot. I have lost some very fine specimens from this cause. A protected sand-box is an ideal place for them, as the evaporation from the wet sand supplies just the moist atmosphere they like. They may be wintered in a warm, dry cellar, but, if the cellar is at all cold or damp, it will be better to keep them on the back of the plant-stand or on a shelf in a closet where they may be inspected frequently.

Crinums are such expensive floral luxuries that it pays to take good care of them. Many varieties make few offshoots, and hence can never become cheap, but there is a distinct pleasure in possessing something rare and fine.

Unfortunately much confusion exists in regard to the two Crinums, Kirkii and ornatum, and the same bulb is often offered under different names. The dealers themselves seem to have no clear idea as to which is which. I believe, however, that ornatum is distinguished by a pink stripe through the centre of each petal, while the corresponding stripe in Kirkii is reddish-purple; these two are the most uncertain and unsatisfactory of all Crinums in the hands of the amateur.

C. Moorei, also often offered as ornatum or Kirkii, is one of the choicest Crinums and a native of South Africa. Its flowers, produced in umbels of from ten to twelve, are of a soft, delicate blush with a pink bar through the centre of each petal. It is deliciously fragrant, and the large bulb and handsome foliage much resemble C. ornatum. C. erubescens is another rare tropical species, having umbels of as many as a dozen lily-like flowers of a claret-purple outside and a soft pink inside with filaments of dark red. It is a free bloomer of easy culture. C. Capense rosea has the reputation of being the most easily grown of any Crinum, and is quite hardy with protection as far north as St. Louis. It is said to winter in the cellar like a Dahlia. Farther north it should be given the same care in winter as other varieties. The flowers are numerous—white flushed with rose with a pink stripe through the centre, and more drooping than the flower in other species. C. scabrum, often called Christ and the Apostles, having thirteen flowers, produces an abundance of pale-green foliage beautifully waved and crimped. It has usually two flower scapes at once, flowers much like the old Annunciation Lily, but with a longer tube, so that the outer row droops. The six broad petals are pure, sparkling white with a light red stripe down the outside of each and a pink one on the inside. This is one of the most desirable varieties. C. fimbriatum—Milk-and-wine Lily—is much like C. Kirkii in habit and appearance, but smaller, the flowers being but three or four inches in diameter, the foliage more erect and sword-like.

C. pedunculatum grows to a magnificent size, fine specimens averaging six feet in height and width. Its flowers, of pure white with purple anthers, are formed in umbels of thirty or more; the petals are narrow and the flowers exquisitely fragrant. It has a queer stump-like bulb which grows to an immense size, and is an evergreen, producing its flowers at intervals through the year like C. Americana, which has also pure white, fragrant flowers, the petals long and narrow. The latter, when in bloom, throws up one immense spike in the centre of the foliage, giving the plant the appearance of a great rounded bouquet. It is a native of the Florida swamps, and should be grown in muck with considerable moisture, blooming best when pot-bound. C. grandolia, or augustum, is the finest of all the Crinums: one grown in Florida “with leaves six feet long and correspondingly wide, with a crown of bloom the size of a bushel measure.” Its umbels of flowers, thirty or more in number, with broad petals eight inches long, make a magnificent display. The buds are a purplish-red, the flowers, when open, a blood red outside, and a delicate, satiny flush inside. The bulbs grow to an immense size.

C. Kunthianum, another of the large-growing Crinums, is highly to be recommended for amateur culture, being much more easily managed than either ornatum or Kirkii. It is evergreen, and has broad strap leaves of a bluish green that, in the house, are held erect, and for this reason it presents the finest appearance of all Crinums. It throws up a tall spike crowned with ten or twelve large, lily-like flowers of a rosy white with crimson stripes through the petals.

The general treatment of Amaryllis is the same as for Crinums. Disturb the roots as little as possible, and give as complete seasons of rest as the plant seems to require. When it is apparent that they are trying to rest they should not be forced to grow, but aided to sleep by judicious withholding of water, tempering of the light, and the like. Evergreen Amaryllis, like the Aulica platypetala, do not need these periods of complete rest, but they need a partial rest, and as long as no new leaves appear should be watered moderately and the roots left undisturbed as long as possible. Remove all offshoots that have grown to any size when the plant starts to grow and the top-soil is being renewed, and pot them off in small pots an inch larger than the bulbs. The number of fine hybrids have increased so rapidly of late years that it is impossible to describe them separately, as many of them are flaked and splashed with colour in a wonderful manner. Of the old-time favourites it is doubtful if any excels the A. Johnsonii, and a collection of Amarylli might well begin with this.

Tuberoses should be started in a warm place where they will not be exposed to draughts or chills. Before potting, take a sharp knife and remove all the old root and hard substance about the base, leaving but a thin layer below the bulb. Unless this is done, growth will be either delayed or prevented, as the new growth cannot push through this hard substance. Pot singly in four-inch pots and keep moist and warm until growth begins, when they may be given a position in a sunny window, and encouraged to grow until time for planting out in the open ground, after all danger of frost is past. If it is not desired to plant directly in the open ground they may be shifted into six-or eight-inch pots and plunged in the ground. They must be plunged to the brim, or over, and will require more water than when growing in the ground. If they are still blooming at the approach of frost they may be lifted and removed to the house. Others that have been bedded out may be lifted, potted, and brought in, and will bloom as freely, though not as quickly, as those in pots. Disturbing the roots does not seem to interfere at all with the process of bloom.

The double pearl Tuberose blooms but once, and it is hardly worth while, unless one has much room and time, to try to bring the small bulbs forward to the blooming stage, as they must be cultivated for two or three summers and cared for for as many winters. The variegated leaved, however, blooms from year to year, and should be taken up in the fall and stored in a warm, dry place. This variety is single, but very fragrant and pretty. Tuberoses do well in the Gladiolus bed, and their pure white spikes are very attractive among the more brilliant flowers, but they should be planted in clumps and not scattered among the Gladioli.