The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Window Gardener
Heaths strike freely from cuttings. Take the tops of the young shoots, about an inch in length; prepare a pot or pan of heath soil; cover this with silver sand to the depth of half an inch; insert the cuttings about half their length, as thickly as you please; cover them with a glass, and frequently wipe the moisture from the inner surface of the glass; keep them slightly moist, and shelter from the direct rays of the sun.
When rooted, pot off the cuttings into small pots filled with heath soil, with the addition of a little more sand than is used for the old plants; as soon as the season permits, plant them out to make growth. In re-potting plants or cuttings, care should be taken never to sink the crown of the root lower than it was before; rather raise than sink it.
There is no plant which makes a greater show, or proves more attractive as a specimen, than the erica. In England, it is grown in the greatest perfection, some of the plants being twelve feet high, and eight feet in thickness. Can more superb object than such a plant be imagined, when in full bloom?
From over five hundred varieties, we cannot be expected to give all that are deserving of cultivation; as before remarked, none are destitute of beauty. The periods of bloom are from January to November; indeed, we may have heaths in bloom every month in the year. The following list contains a select variety in colors : —•
White or Light-Flowered. Arborea, Margaritacea, Grandinosa, Bowieana, Jasminiilora, Conferta, Yestita alba, Odorata, Ventricosa, Pellucida, Wilmoriana, Caffra alba.
Red Flowers, Gracilis, Ignescens, Mediterranea, Caffra rubra.
Scarlet or Crimson. Ardens, Cerinthoides, Hartnelli, Splendenss Coccinea, Vestita fulgida, Tricolor.
Purple Flowers. Amoena, Mammosa, Melanthera mutabilis, Propendens tubiflora.
Lilac. Baccans, Suavolens.
Yellow. Cavendishii, Depressa, Denticulata.
Green-Flowered. Gelida, Viridiflora, Viridis.
For window culture, the varieties succeeding best are Caffra rubra and alba, Margaritacea, Arborea, and Mediterranea.
We have been thus diffuse in treating of this plant, because it is a general favorite, yet never seen in good condition in the parlor. The plant is very hardy, yet impatient of the least neglect. A single day's omission to water, or a drenching, with poor drainage, will kill the plant; yet it will languish for months, and all your care will fail to restore it. If the hair-like roots once become parched or sodden, the plant will die.We do not recommend it for a window plant, yet its beauty is worth all the care required; and will not some be fired by ambition to make the heath a window plant ?
