SHOWY VERBENA

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 329, 14 April 1928, Page 26

SHOWY VERBENA

DIFFERENT METHODS OF CULTURE Considering their all-round capabilities, it is not easy to understand why verbenas are not as popular as they were years ago in the time of tbe old florists, who, recognising their worth, used them for bedding, for culture in pots and for window boxes and baskets. When we sow a packet of seed in February or March we cherish no suspicion of failure germinate, because we have become accustomed to raising plants in this way. We cannot realise that there was once a time when our predecessors prepared their plants in a different manner. Layering shoots from bedded out plants was a favourite method of keeping a stock and it was carried out much in the same way as we do in regard to strawberry runners to-day, and usually took place late in August or early in September. The plan was to choose promising shoots and peg them down in pots of sandy soil, near a joint, making a slight incision under the joint, and when rooted, sever from the parent plant and place the pots in a cold frame: It was almost useless to attempt to take up old plants after they had been in the open ground, as they did not shift well and invariably died off. Propa-gation from cuttings was also a favourite method of perpetuating verbenas, and these cuttings were procured as early as possible at the end of the summer and rooted in a frame. Such plants formed stock for further cuttings to be propagated in spring. We, in these days, have no occasion to go to all this trouble, for, like any other half hardy annual, one may get a collection of splendid varieties from a mixed packet of seed, which, if sown, will produce plants that will grace the garden, and make a brilliant show of colours for months to come. The seed may be sown at once in boxes in the shade and transplanted when about five inches high; they range in colours of scarlet, blue, white, pink and salmon.