PENTSTEMONS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 5, 31 January 1912, Page 40

PENTSTEMONS.

Rapid strides have been made during the past few years in the development of this ’-charming perennial, and it is a subject well worthy of the attention which the hybridiser has bestowed upon it. One fails to recognise the Pentstemon of twenty years ago in the present-day Most of the garden varieties have evolved from Pentstemon Hartwezi and P. Cobaea. and they provide a range of colours and shades to suit all tastes, varying from the purest of whites and most delicate of rose shades to the deepest of crimsons, purples and carmines. Their propagation is simple, and may be effected either from seeds, cuttings, or division of the roots. The latter method of increasing the stock is not to be recommended, the best results being obtained from cuttings. Early in "March, is the best time to take them, and they should be inserted under hand-glasses in a good, sandy bed. Dibble them in firmly, and let them be well watered with a heavy rose, to avoid leaving a space between the base of the cutting ami the soil beneath, the latter state of things inevitably resulting in failure.

When raised from seed the latter should In* -own in September in the greenhouse or under hand-glasses. and when the -eedlings are big enough to handle they -hould be potted off into 3-in pots, and placed in a cold frame until planted out. A few of the strongest seedlings will bloom the first year, but one must not e\|M’<t niirh until the second season, when a good -how of flowers may be looked for. Where no green house is available, the seed may Im* sown in the open ground during October and Novemh»r. Pent-temons like a sandy loam, with which has been incorporated plenty of well decaved manure, and they are -iibjei-ts which repay the trouble of lilwral manuring. Above all, as before intimated, the soil must be well drained.