CHAPTER XII.
THE CAMELLIA, AZALEA, AND RHODODENDRON.
These three noble evergreen shrubs agree well together in the same house, and a few of the hardier kinds of heaths may be grown with them. They differ in their several requirements it is true, and therefore we must appropriate to each a separate paragraph; but the differences are few and small and easily bridged over by careful management. It is so desirable the amateur should experience something in the nature of sympathy for his vegetable pets, that we embrace every opportunity of indicating idiosyncrasies, or say, their constitutional peculiarities, and to these indications, however partial or imperfect they may be, we invite the especial attention of the reader. The three plants now to be considered are so nearly hardy that they may be grown well in an airy house without the aid of artificial heat, but we do not recommend such an extreme procedure. If, however, there is heat sufficient to exclude frost, they will be safer, and will attain to a finer condition both of leafage and bloom than if unaided. They are all characterised by a profuse production of flowers in the winter or early days of spring, followed by a free growth of new wood on which the flower-buds of the next season are formed; and then they take a decided rest, making no more sign of activity than the slow swelling of the flowerbuds preparatory to the next display of their glorious colours. They need less air and light than heaths; and camellias are somewhat famed for their enjoyment of old conservatories, the roofs of which consist of heavy rafters and small squares of very dirty glass while the floors are quagmires, and the walls are clothed with the vegetation that belongs to damp and ruin. We must confess that we have seen gigantic camellias covered with flowers “thick as hail,” in houses so dirty and dark that it was like visiting one’s grave to enter
