PAINTED-TONGUE
Family SOLANACEAE
Salpiglossis sinuata
Annual
A half-hardy native to Chile, that is quite distinctive
in character.
The plant is of an elegant branching habit growing
two to two and a half feet tall.
The leaves are oblong, and the flowers are funnel-shaped
with a wide throat.
There are many garden strains and varieties in
colours of primrose, scarlet, pink, yellow and
almost blue, all attractively veined and mottled.
Var. superbissima is non-branching and of a decided
columnar character.
For outdoor flowering, seed must be sown under
glass, temperature 65º to 75º F., in
March, the seedlings being pricked off singly
into two-inch pots and planted out when large
enough in early June, choosing a well-drained
soil and a position in full sun.
Seed may also be sown in August or September,
under glass, and the seedlings grown on in pots
for flowering in the following March or April.
Propagation is from seed.
The flowering season is in April and May under
glass and from June to September out-of-doors.
Salpiglossis
Half Hardy Annual.
Two feet.
Flowers of many colours, July to September.
An extremely beautiful but comparatively little-grown
annual.
The growth is rather slight and brittle; the leaves
are viscous; the flowers are trumpet-shaped, two
or three inches across, in colouring unlike any
other garden flowers.
Their tints include blue, brown, crimson, dark
red, deep purple, yellow, scarlet, cream or buff
and salmon; in most cases the ground colour is
laced or veined with lines of a second colour,
gold on blue or purple, or scarlet on buff.
Seed may be sown with the bulk of the half-hardy
annuals, about the end of March, in boxes of light
soil in a temperature of 60° to 70°.
The seedlings must be once transplanted, and put
out about a foot apart in the middle of May.
Except where the soil is cold and heavy, Salpiglossis
may be sown in the open towards the end of April.
Choose a sunny exposure with a nice tilth, sow
in shallow drills, thin out the seedlings to about
eight inches, and keep clear of weeds.
The plants will probably need the help of a few
slight sticks before they are fully grown. |
