| Show I V 4 A 9 I I fl I 0 U r 0 LI W n W r o lV tiR L I Z J.- J. i FOR FOB LAST LAST- MINUTE LAST SHOPPERS Those of you who remember remember- two I da days s 's before Christmas th that t Cousin Nellie Neilie or Great Uncle Bob has been forgotten in the wild scramble to I provide gifts for everyone can ho no doubt find a beautiful and acceptable ble present at one of the shops sellIng selling selling sell sell- ing nursery things Potted rotted plants In particular will always be in good taste and will make a far more lasting gilt gift than many other articles articles arti art cles des which probably cost much more in price Of course the poinsettia is at the top o of the list when it comes to popularity in Christmas plants the reason for or that being its brilliant combination of the Christmas col col- col- col ors What we call the flower of of- the poinsettia is not really a flower but a collection of bracts the actual actual actual ac ac- ac- ac flowers are arc tiny round yellow ellow ones you ones you will wUl find them if you I I examine a bloom of this plant I One may keep a poinsettia year after year ear and have it put forth its ts gorgeous coloring every season Not only that but one may start innumerable new plants from the original one for it is frequently a tendency of this specimen to grow too tall tan and leggy and when it reaches this stage the tops of each stem may be cut off oft and started into nto new root growth in damp sand Cutting back the poinsettia w will I encourage it to branch out and to form a bushy busily and symmetrical plant while you will have a a. creditable creditable creditable credit credit- able supply of new young plants from front the rooted cuttings all ready to bloom in their turn turn-at the proper season Suppose you ou buy a cyclamen for fora a gift They are arc tho the extremely lovely plants with dark green almost almost almost al al- al- al most round leaves and with clusters clusters clus elus- of waxy-looking waxy blooms sprInging springIng springing spring sprIng- ing from the center of the plant plan each flower having the characteristic characteristic character character- form torm of at turned-back turned petals Colors are pink and red in several shades of each but most beautiful of all in my opinion especially for this time of year Is the pure white one I always think that the white flowers are more in keeping with the tho spirit of ChrIstmas Christinas and with its holy history than are the red or any hue If It you do give some lucky friend frienda a cyclamen explain that in a few months the plant will have done its part for or the season all flowers will have faded and the leaves will start to wilt and turn yellow but that this is not the end of the plant by any means It may be kept year after year Such a c cyclamen should be put outside when the weather is warm on Its side beneath a shrub or in some soma equally sheltered place with only enough water at wide intervals intervals intervals inter inter- vals to prevent the bulb from entirely entirely entirely en en- drying up Then in September it can be taken indoors again watered Watered watered wa wa- and started into new growth There are lucky people who have flowered lowered such a bulb year after year although the amateur canno cannot t always force such fine flowers Bu Buit's But t its it's worth trying anyway and even If no blooms come the foliage Is so so Handsome that the cyclamen would be worth growing for lor that alone Then there are the Jerusalem cherries about which I wrote a few weeks ago ago and the most charming and exotic azaleas and and English English- Ivy and such a wide variety of succulents and cacti that tha t everyone's taste may be suited Even if you have remembered everyone everyone every everyone one of your friends and relatives relative s with a gift it would be a grand Idea if you went vent out and bought bough t yourself a present of a choice flowering flowering flow flow- flowering ering or foliage plant |
