Cactus Culture for Amateurs - Being Descriptions of the Various Cactuses Grown in This Country, - With Full and Practical Instructions for Their Successful Cultivation by W. Watson
page 22 of 225 (09%)
page 22 of 225 (09%)
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would far exceed anything ever accomplished when they are kept
permanently in pots. Out-of-doors.--There are some kinds which may be grown out of doors altogether, if planted on a sunny, sheltered position, on a rockery. The most successful plan is that followed at Kew, where a collection of the hardier species is planted in a rockery composed of brick rubble and stones. During summer the plants are exposed; but when cold weather and rains come, lights are placed permanently over the rockery, and in this way it is kept comparatively dry. No fire-heat or protection of any other kind is used, and the vigorous growth, robust health, and floriferousness of the several species are proofs of the fitness of the treatment for this class of plants. In any garden where a few square yards in a sunny, well-drained position can be afforded for a raised rockery, the hardy Cactuses may be easily managed. To make a suitable rockery, proceed as follows: Find a position against the south wall of a house, greenhouse, or shed, and against this wall construct a raised rockery of brick rubble, lime rubbish, stones (soft sandstone, if possible), and fibrous loam. The rockery when finished should be, say, 4 ft. wide, and reach along the wall as far as required; the back of the rockery would extend about 2 ft. above the ground level, and fall towards the front. Fix in the wall, 1 ft. or so above the rockery, a number of hooks at intervals all along, to hold in position lights sufficiently long to cover the rockery from the wall to the front, where they could be supported by short posts driven in the ground. The lights should be removed during summer to some shed, and brought out for use on the approach of winter. Treated in this manner, the following hardy species could not fail to be a success: |
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