Shirley Hibberd

“ The noblest conservatory plants require far less skill and entail less expense to do them perfect justice than the ephemeral flowering plants that look so fresh and bright when thriving in a warm, damp, low-roofed house, when there is no fear of their being “lost” in a large perspective. The first step towards a proper recognition of the kind of embellishment required is to remember that a conservatory is not a stove, or a greenhouse, or a pit, or a hand-light, consequently it should not be used as any one of these things, or as all of these things combined. ”

“ Above all things, the conservatory should be attractive in the dull months of the year, and then its occupants should not be such as require a high temperature, for it is not well to take a vapour bath every time the mind desires refreshment in the midst of vegetable beauty. ”

“ There are many fine plants, showy, hardy, easy of culture, that are but ill adapted for the conservatory, and therefore the selection is not a matter of taste solely. We object to bedding plants, because they belong properly to other scenes, but first-class specimens are admissible while in their prime. None of the fast-growing and free-flowering of soft-wooded plants that are most esteemed as bedders are adapted for permanent occupation of the conservatory; for, irrespective of their unfitness in habit and associations, they will not thrive in such a structure. ”

“ The fuchsia is not strictly a bedding plant, for it loves not the dry soil and the burning sun as the geranium does, and thrives in the subdued light and constantly humid atmosphere of the conservatory. ”

“ How fortunate! for the free-growing fuchsias make superb pillar plants under glass, and harmonise with whatever other subjects have an equality of claim to shelter with them. Turning in another direction, it may be said that plants of the heath tribe are as unfit for permanent residence in the conservatory as geraniums and calceolarias are. They need more light, more air, less warmth, less humidity, than the more proper inmates of the house, and, therefore, if employed at all, should be as moveable furniture, brought in when perfect, and removed when the flowers begin to fade. ”

“ We employ the several structures enumerated, the conservatory alone excepted, for production simply; and, therefore, although a tasteful arrangement of plants is everywhere or everyhow to be desired, yet where production is the primary proposal, mere display is of secondary importance. On the other hand, we may, and do, and should employ the conservatory for production, but display is the matter of first importance, and therefore the conservatory claims the first labours of the “hand of taste.” If it be necessary to tie out a plant to a forest of rude stakes, it may be done in the greenhouse ”

“ Every season should supply new flowers to the conservatory. In the spring, potted bulbs will make a gay beginning, and if orchids are grown in the stoves the bulbs will be followed closely by some of the most resplendent of the family. As the season advances the greenhouse will supply pelargoniums, heaths, herbaceous calceolarias, and specimen petunias, and in autumn the pits will prove their usefulness by providing a glorious display of chrysanthemums. ”

“ A rabbit cooked a hundred different ways is tiresome, and the cooking must be very tiresome to the rabbit.
Above all things that contribute to make a gay conservatory, the best of the greenhouse climbers should be thought of. As a rule, it is a folly to grow any of these plants in pots; they should be planted out in borders of sufficient breadth and depth to encourage a free growth, and consistently with the aerial space at command for training them ”

“ The stove, the greenhouse, and the pit will severally contribute of their productions to enrich the covered garden. The most tender plants, when in flower, will bear without harm a temperature many degrees lower than that in which they have attained their full development, provided they are carefully prepared for it by removal in the first instance to an intermediate temperature, and during the whole time of their stay in the comparatively cool conservatory are supplied with less moisture than they had to promote growth in a higher temperature. ”

“ It will be understood, of course, that we regard as proper conservatory plants Dracænas, Palms, Agaves, Yuccas, Camellias, Acacias, Beaucarneas, Dasylirions, Azaleas, Oranges, Tree ferns, Bonaparteas, Lomatias, Rhopalas, and others of like character, notable for distinctness and elegance of outline, rather than for high colouriug, although amongst them we shall find some gay subjects. But we are no advocates for tameness and sameness in a conservatory. Given a sufficient breadth and variety of green furniture, and flowers may be employed with singular advantage. ”

“ It may suit the purposes of a botanical and experimental cultivator to plant in a conservatory as many kinds of climbers as there are rafters to afford them support, but a beautiful scene cannot be obtained by such practice. ”

“ It may indeed be gay with geraniums and calceolarias in the months of June and July, and a damp, cold, cheerless den during the remaining ten months of the year. It should be always attractive, and should at all seasons offer for admiration something fresh and good, and at all seasons it should be as destitute as possible of any exhibitions of manufacturing processes. ”