Daily Republican., 1883-09-24
Winter Flow oru.

Winter Flowers.
People who wan. howers In winter
should lose no time in potting them.
From all indications winter will COM
me nee early and probably be severe,
At any rate flowers will grow better In
pots now if properly cared for than in
the open ground, and by potting them
now they will start of with vigorous
growth and be ready to bloom when
real cold weather comes that would
freeze them out of doors. We frequently
hear people say that they would pot
more flowers but the pots cost so much.
There need be no difficulty about this,
for there is hardly family that cannot
rake up dozen or so of old tomato OF
fruit cans about the premises which are
just what are needed. They can be paint
ed any desirable color and thus what are
considered nuisances are turned to real
account and become ornaments when
properly arranged in window or upon
flower stands where the sun strikes
them. The opinion that flower plants
do better in metallic, especially tin cans.
than earthen pots, is fast gaining ground
We have kept geraniumsin both during
the winter, and we are prepared to pro
nounce in favor of Tin cans.
All that is needed to prepare tin
can for flower plant is to puncture the
bottom of it with two or three holes to
make vent for water and air. One
great difficulty experienced by those
who love flowers and have quite num-
ber of varieties is how to save all of
them. Without a flower observatory or
a green house it is useless to attempt to
save all. A few of the hardy, choice
varieties may be saved with profit and
pleasure without much trouble. 1t is
useless for those having beds of coleas
and verbenas to spend time and take
the trouble in trying to save them in a
sitting room or parlor where the fires
are allowed to 60 out at night and
where the temperature drops below
forty degrees. There are other flowers
more hardy that can be saved with less
trouble and expense. Amongst these
stands the geranium first.
1t is a flower that never fails if prop
erly treated. 1t is hardy and can stand
considerable of cold, and if encouraged
by moderate temperature, will send
forth beautiful clusters of flowers 10
cheer the lonely hours of winter. Il
there are more geraniums than can be
potted, they can he saved by taking
them up by the roots bandaging them
in paper and hanging them away in q
cellar that is not as cold as an iceberg
1t will take them little longer to start
when planted out in the spring, bu
when they commence to grow they
spread themselves with amazing vigor
and beauty. The fuchsia can also be
saved during the winter to a good ad :
vantage, and will send forth a prolific
supply of ear drops when kindly
treated. The sweet alysum ranks
amongst the hardy winter plants, and
a pot or two of the oxalis will give
variety to window of plants.
Bulbs are always hardy. 1t is get
ting late now but hyacinth-bulbs if
potted now can be made to bloom by
Christmas. After all there is nothing
more beautiful than the hyacinth or the
Due Won Thol tulips. The modest little
crocus and snow drop make happy
blending of winter beauty. We have
tried them and we know what we are
saying bnt we cannot give all the de-
tails in a newspaper editorial. We are
satisfied howev, that variety of bulb
flowers are less trouble than any other
and will givethe greatest satisfaction to
the lover of flowers during the winter.
Those who wish to experiment in winter
flowers should write for ca alogue of
winter bulbs to Hiram Sibley & Co. =,
Rochester, New York. We tried his
bulbs laso winter and were cheered with
beautiful and fragrant flowers during
the whole winter. These catalogues
are sent free upon application and con-
tain a vas amount of information rela-
tive to the culture of bulb flowers.