FLOWER GARDEN

Type: Perennial Flower

Species: 388

Height: 5 – 10 cm

Growing: Patagonia, Mexico

Flowers: Yellow

Kingdom: Plantae

Unranked: Angiosperms, Eudicots, Asterids

Order: Lamiales

Family: Calceolariaceae

Genus: Calceolaria

CALCEOLARIA. The herbaceous calceolaria is grown in pots for greenhouse decoration in May and June; the flowers are brilliantly coloured and make a striking display Seeds are sown in May and June in pots of finely sifted sandy soil, and the plants are grown in a cold, shady frame during the summer. In autumn they are placed in the greenhouse, a temperature of 45 to 50 degrees being suitable.

The dwarf shrubby calceolaria, in yellow, bronze and other shades of colour, is a favorite summer bedding - plant; it is not quite hardy except in warm, sheltered places, and is propagated by cuttings set in boxes of soil in a frame in September. Planting is done in May Golden Gem is a favourite variety. There are several charming small - flowered calceolarias which are invaluable for the greenhouse in summer: chief among them are integrifolia, amplexicaulis, Burbidgei, and Clibrani The John Inncs strain of calceolaria provides plants 18-24 in. high, which bear small flowers in many colours. The shrubby kinds are increased by cuttings taken in late summer, the others from seeds sown in May. The seed is very small and, in the. case of choice varieties, is expensive. The com post is of loam, peat and silver sand placed in a box on a layer of broken crock, as shown in c and d, Fig. I, and moistened by sinking the box in water.

The seed is spread over the surface and covered with a little of the finest silver sand, as in b, Fig 1. The box is kept in semi-shade in the greenhouse covered with a sheet of glass, as in a, Fig. 1, and when the plants arc up they are removed to a frame, as in Fig. 2, kept there well watered until potted when the leaves arc about an inch long, as in Fig 3, and later transferred to a flowering pot, as in Fig. 4. A good mixture is one part each of loam and decayed hotbed manure to half a part of silver sand. Propagation of the shrubby varieties is by cuttings taken late in autumn with long heels sliced almost perpendicularly from the parent plant, as in Fig. 5, and inserted in a cold frame, Fig. 6.

The plants should ho grown in a warm, moist position close to the glass. They last well in a cool atmosphere, but are very susceptible to fog. When they have died down for the period of rest, they should be kept very dry, or the bulbs will rot.

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