The Amateur's Greenhouse and Conservatory/Chapter 11
CHAPTER XI.
THE ERICA AND THE EPACRIS.
If we could take a census of failures in plant growing, we should probably find the greatest proportion of the whole number associated with the Erica and the Epacris. It must be confessed that to be thoroughly successful with these beauties a somewhat broader exercise of judgment and patience is required than with many other classes of plants that are equally popular and perhaps, in their way, not less beautiful. But above all things steadfastness is essential to success, for a few small errors, omissions, or eccentricities of management, may destroy in a wonderfully short space of time the results of the best cultivation ever seen or heard of. The greenhouse heaths require no subtlety of superintendance, and in respect of their cultivation there is really not a single solemn secret to be divulged. All that needs be told about them may be comprised in one short chapter, and whoever will carry out our instructions faithfully, may, by the practice of patience and an observant habit, rise to the highest excellence in this fascinating and most remunerative branch of practical horticulture.
To begin with the multiplication, it must be first of all remarked that as a rule it is far better to buy than to make stock of ericas. But we are bound to suppose the amateur anxious to propagate his choicest varieties, and the best course, perhaps, for him to follow will be to put the ugliest old plant of each sort required into a temperature of 50° in the month of January. The reason for selecting the ugliest plants is that subjecting the plants to heat is bad practice, and handsome specimens deserve better care than to be forced for making cuttings. When the young shoots are three quarters of an inch in length, slip them off with the thumb, and then remove the lower leaves and they will be ready for potting. Prepare for them five-inch pots with plenty of carefully packed
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| ERICA VESTITA COCCINEA. | ERICA AITONEANA. |
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| ERICA TORTULIFLORA. | |
drainage, and a mixture of equal parts peat and sand and half an inch of pure sand on the top. Put into each pot as many cuttings as it will hold and place the pots under hand-glasses in a temperature of 50°, and from the first air them regularly, and after every airing wipe the hand-lights to remove the condensed moisture from the glass. It is a common practice to cover the cutting pots with bell-glasses, but it is injurious, and thousands of cuttings are lost annually from this cause alone. Watering is very important: you must give sufficient to keep the sand and soil always moderately moist, never wet and never dry.
As soon as the cuttings are rooted pot them in smallest 60-size in a mixture of fibry peat and one fourth sand. Pot them firmly and with the greatest care, and immediately shut them up in a cold frame for a fortnight, after which time ventilate them cautiously, and in the course of a fortnight put them out on a bed of coal-ashes and pinch out the point of every one to induce a bushy habit of growth. In September take them to the greenhouse, keep them close to the glass and freely ventilated, and during the winter use no more artificial heat than is necessary to exclude frost or to dispel damp, and permit of air-giving in wet weather. In April shift into five-inch pots and put them into a cold frame. In a mouth from the shifting put them out on a bed of coal-ashes. Do not stop any of them except for some special reason, for the natural growth is most to be desired. When the growing points of the shoots are nipped out once or twice during the second year’s growth, the result is a confusion of the shoots and it is impossible to see the flowers to advantage. When no stoppage is practised, a plant of E. hyemalis in a six-inch pot will produce from twenty to thirty strong shoots eighteen inches in height, each of which will form perfect pyramids of bloom at the proper season. It is most injurious to shade the plants during the summer; they ought to be fully exposed to the sun at all times.
In making a selection of heaths, the resident in or near a town should give preference to the free-growing showy sorts, as they suffer but little through exposure to atmospheric impurities, but the slow-growing or very hard-wooded sorts require a pure air and are some degrees more difficult to manage. To ensure success, we must begin with a cool, light, airy span-roof house, or a good pit with piping enough to keep out frost, but a rougher structure may be turned to equally good account if it is weathertigbt and airy. Tbe three greatest enemies of ericas are darkness, damp, and artificial heat.
The greenhouse heaths may be divided into two classes—the hard-wooded slow-growing kinds, which are fairly represented by E. ventricosa, and the soft-wooded free-growing kinds, equally well represented by E. hyemalis. The species and varieties of the first section are mostly summer flowering plants, and those of the second section mostly flower in winter. The general management of both groups is the same, but the particular management differs in accordance with their difference of habit.
The bulk of the hard-wooded kinds flower in May, June, and July, and as soon as they go out of flower they should be taken out of doors and placed in the full sun, on a bed of coal ashes. The soft wooded kinds may be taken out of doors earlier. There must, however, be no haste in taking them into the open air, especially if they are grown in a pit or a house by themselves, or in company with such things as Aphelexis, Hedaromas, and Eriostemons, where they can have a continued circulation of air around them, and full exposure to the light. In wet seasons they should be kept entirely under glass. When kept in-doors through the summer, tilt the lights both at the back and the front if in a pit, and if in a house the front or side lights must be thrown as wide open as possible, and the top ventilators opened when there is no danger of the wet reaching the plants in sufficient quantities to saturate the soil, or wet it deep enough to deceive the cultivator. Otherwise the plants will receive considerable benefit from genial showers. The mechanical operations, such as preparing the soil, potting, and so forth, must be carefully performed, and particular attention must be paid to the provisions for drainage. The peat must be of a tough texture, not at all greasy, free from moss, and if of a bright brown colour all the better. The sand must be sharp and free from lime and iron; the cleanest siliceous grit imaginable. The plants must be potted quite firm and watered with the utmost regularity; if dry for a day or two and then supplied with an extra dose to make up for lost time you will soon be rid of the trouble of keeping them. At every watering the whole body of the soil in the pot should be wetted, and there should be no more given until it is nearly dry again. In case you do find a pot dry and capable of music when struck with the knuckle, plunge it to the rim in a vessel of water until bubbles cease to rise from it, by which time it will be moistened throughout.
In stopping and training, experienced heath-growers display great dexterity, but the beginner would be wise to permit
EPACRIS MINIATA SPLENDENS.
every plant to assume its own natural form, giving a little aid with sticks and wires to direct the growth symmetrically and carefully, avoiding the slightest distortion or display of the harness employed. The subjoined figures show how widely heaths vary in character and growth, and how nearly impossible it is to improve their contour by any kind of pinching and pruning. The free growing kinds bear the knife the best, and they are as easily spoiled as improved by it.
The Epacris may be grown in the heath-house or pit, and requires nearly the same treatment. The points which demand special mention are the pruning and repotting. The time to prune is immediately after the plants go out of flower, when those that have an erect habit should have the flowering shoots cut back to within a few inches of the old wood, but those with a pendulous habit should be merely shortened into shape. As soon as the new growth is an inch long, repot them and shut them up rather close to promote their establishment in the new soil, and be particularly careful not to give them too much water. It is no uncommon event for the epacris to die after having been repotted, the consequence in one case of being put out in heavy rains, in another of being exposed to a burning sun, and in yet another from being clean forgotten, as camellias often are when put out of doors for the season. If they are put out at all, let it be in a shady damp place, such as the north side of a close hedge or wall, and in a spot where they will frequently “meet the eye” of those who are responsible for their well doing. It is better, however, to keep them in a cold pit all the summer because of the ease with which they can be quickly sheltered from heavy rains. The lax growing kinds are well adapted for training on wire balloons, and they make the loveliest specimen plants an exhibitor can give his mind to. As for training generally, the less of it the better if real beauty is valued at a higher rate than the forms furnished by fashion and formality.
The accompanying figure of Ceratostema speciosum will probably amuse the adept in heath growing who may honour these pages with attention. It is a new and extremely beautiful ericaceous plant, a native of Ecuador, where it occurs as an epiphyte. The flowers are vermilion red, tipped with yellow. It requires the same treatment as the Cape heaths.
CERATOSTEMA SPECIOSUM.