Petunias
The petunia, like the fuchsia and the pelargonium, has gone a little out of fashion. Yet many of the plants which have re- placed it in favour—zinnia, antirrhinum, nemesia—are less satis- factory in every way. It has few, if any, of their faults : suscepti- bility to wilt or rust, shortness of flowering season, liability to sudden collapse. It thrives in hot weather. A bed of a very old favourite, Rose of Heaven, was planted out in May of last year. On the day of planting it showed two flowers, the next day twenty, within a week two hundred. It continued to flower until late October. No finer plant exists for the hot, dry bed against the wall of the house. There is nothing so good for the window- box as the florid velvet of Californian Giant. This year Flaming Velvet joins Rose of Heaven and responds by behaving in the same delightful way : one flower on the day of planting, ,and within a week scores of soft sunshades of royal maroon.
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