Part 5

What every gardener needs is a watering-pot with a long spout. This will make it an easy matter to apply the water close to the plant, where none will be wasted.

Never use a nozzle on your pot when watering plants in the garden. That will scatter the water over a wide surface, and so thinly that but little good will result from the application.

VIII

WINDOW-BOXES

Blessed be window boxes! They are excellent substitutes, on a small scale, for a garden, and almost any woman can have them, while a real garden is out of the question for a majority of the women who love flowers. A garden on the ground is one of the impossibilities for most women in the city who could well afford one, so far as financial ability is concerned, but she can make her windows so attractive with flowers and "green things growing" that she will not greatly miss the garden in a crowded city whose every foot of land is worth thousands of dollars and therefore cannot be given up to anything as unprofitable, from a pecuniary standpoint, as flower-growing.

The culture of plants in a window-box seems an easy thing to the person who sees plants growing luxuriantly in it. But it is not as easy as it looks, because the beginner in this phase of gardening seldom studies conditions before undertaking it. It generally takes one or two seasons of mistakes and consequent failures to make one a successful grower of plants in window-boxes. But after repeated failures the amateur generally discovers what was wrong in her treatment, and after that the probabilities of failure are slight.

The cause of failure nine times out of ten is lack of sufficient moisture in the soil. A box exposed to air on all sides, as most window-boxes are, parts rapidly with the water that has been applied to it, and before one suspects the actual condition of things the soil in the box becomes so dry that the plants wilt. Then a little more water is applied, and the plants revive temporarily, but next day they wilt again, and shortly this alternation of a good deal of drought and a small amount of moisture results in the death of the plants.

A box a foot wide and a foot deep and four or five feet long will require a large pailful of water daily. If you want to grow good plants in boxes don't form the habit which prevails to a great extent among amateur gardeners--that of applying a small quantity of water whenever you happen to think of it. A small amount makes the soil look wet on its surface and deceives one into thinking that because it looks wet there it must be in proper condition below. Examination will convince you of this mistake. Always apply enough water each time to saturate all the soil in the box, and make it a rule to do this every morning or evening. If you go on the "every-time-you-think-of-it" plan the chances are that you will not think of it at the right time or as frequently as you ought to. Be regular in caring for your plants.

If those who complain of failure with window-boxes will use more water and use it frequently, they will have no trouble in growing plants in them, and growing them as well as they can be grown in pots. And they can grow almost any kind of plant. The soil used should be rich, to begin with, and later on in the season fertilizers should be applied to keep the plants well supplied with nutriment.

THE USE OF GROWING PLANTS FOR TABLE DECORATION

The woman who takes pride in making the family table attractive at all times finds nothing quite so effective for this purpose as flowers, and these she cannot always afford.

But she need not be without material for beautifying the home table if she has windows in which plants can be grown, for there are many plants that are quite as attractive as flowers. But a good many persons have not yet learned that they can be made satisfactory substitutes for cut flowers, because they have not taken the trouble to study the thing out. They have heretofore depended on cut flowers for table decoration, as have their friends, and it has not occurred to them to get out of the rut they are in and think out new ways and means for making home pleasant.

A well-shaped, medium-sized plant with fine foliage will add quite as much to the appearance of any table as a vaseful of flowers that would cost several times as much. True, it may lack the brilliant coloring of the flowers whose place it takes, but that does not prevent it from being beautiful, and beauty is what we aim at when we supplement the attractions of fine table-linen, sparkling cut glass, silver, and dainty china of the well-arranged table with the added attraction of plants and flowers.

One of the best plants for this purpose is the variety of asparagus catalogued as plumosus nanus. It is more commonly known as asparagus fern, though it is not even a most distant relative of the fern family. It has foliage so fine that it has all the delicacy of lace, and is more like a mist of green than like ordinary foliage. It sends up frondlike growth that spreads out symmetrically on all sides of the pot. Pruning is seldom required to bring it into or keep it in proper shape. A plant of it, with its pot hidden by a pretty jardinière or wrapped in tissue-paper will be in perfect harmony with any table fittings. If a bit of bright color is desired, three or four roses or half a dozen carnations with their stems thrust into the soil in the pot will furnish it. If the housewife provides herself with three or four plants of this asparagus, she will at all times have something at hand with which to make her table attractive. In this way she will become independent of the florist and his fancy prices. These plants are of the easiest culture, and succeed wherever geraniums can be grown.

At holiday-time several plants that make excellent table decorations are on the market. One is ardisia, with rich, dark-green foliage, and scarlet berries that are quite as brilliant as flowers. Another is the Jerusalem cherry, with pretty foliage and a profusion of crimson fruit. These plants remain in attractive condition for weeks, and the woman who invests in them has something with which to make her table as attractive as it would be if two or three dollars had been expended in flowers that would last for only a few days. It will be seen that it is economy to buy plants of this kind. Where there are several there is opportunity for variety, thus ruling monotony out of the question.

Cocos Weddelliana is a small-growing palm with delicate, feathery foliage. One might call it a "baby" palm because of its small size. A plant of it always adds distinction to the table on which it is used. This, like the asparagus, the ardisia, and the Jerusalem cherry, readily adapts itself to ordinary window culture.

Begonia Gloire de Lorraine is a most beautiful flowering plant. It bears its dainty pink blossoms so profusely and in such wide-spreading panicles that the pot in which it grows is often entirely hidden by it. Its color is charming by daylight, and under artificial light it is lovely beyond description. I know of no other pink flower that is as satisfactory by lamplight. When an especially dainty and out-of-the-common decoration is wanted for the table, nothing superior to it can be found. This begonia can be obtained from most florists in fall. If care is taken to remove it from the table to the window after it has done decorative duty, it will remain in bloom during the greater part of winter. But it must not be left on the table long at a time. Neither should any of the other plants named, for they will suffer if kept away from good light very long.

Primula obconica is a most satisfactory plant for table use when in full bloom. Its trusses of pale lilac, soft pink, or pure white have such a wild-woodsy air about them that they are always sure of such attention as American Beauties seldom get. The baby primrose is a miniature edition of P. obconica, and it is one of the most lovable flowers imaginable. Like its larger relative, it is a free and constant bloomer, and on this account will be found very useful as a table ornament.

Small specimens of auricaria, with heavy, dark-green foliage much like that of our native hemlocks and balsam, make a novel decoration. This is the plant that the children delight in calling the Christmas-tree plant, because of its shape and its evergreen foliage.

During fall and winter, when fruit and vegetables are plentiful, very pleasing table decorations can be made from them. On Thanksgiving Day such an arrangement will be found very appropriate.

A friend of mine who has no windows at which flowers can be grown well, but who, in spite of that, is determined to make her table attractive, lays in a supply of bittersweet berries during the fall, and "everlasting flowers," like gomphrena, helichrysum, cockscomb, and others whose petals are strawlike in texture, and from these she contrives some really charming decorations for her table. Where there is a will there is always a way, you know.

It will be seen from what I have said above that many plants can be grown in the windows of the living-room that can be used with fine effect in table decoration. I would advise making a collection of such varieties as I have named for this especial purpose. With such a collection to draw from no woman need be at loss for decorative material, and while her plants are not doing duty on the table they will be making her windows attractive, thus serving a double purpose.

DECORATIVE PLANTS

There are few homes nowadays in which at least one plant of ornamental foliage cannot be found. I know of many in which some have had place so long that they have come to be considered as members of the family. Especially is this true among German people, who have an especial fondness for bride's myrtle and English ivy. In many of these homes I have found finer plants than I have seen in any greenhouse. I am not sure that they do not get more care than the children of the family.

The myrtle to which I refer has small, fine foliage, evergreen in character, of a rich, glossy green. It branches freely, and in two or three years becomes a good-sized shrub. It does not bloom very freely, but this does not detract much from the value of the plant, as its flowers are small and not at all showy, though really quite pretty in their snow-white purity. The real value of the plant is in its foliage. It can be kept growing the year round, or it can be wintered in the cellar. In summer a plant of this kind will be found very effective for porch decoration.

The English ivy is our best evergreen vine. It is one of the few plants that can be grown successfully in rooms where there is not much direct light. Indeed, I have seen it trained across the ceiling, in German homes, where the light seemed insufficient to meet the requirements of any plant, and there its leaves were as dark in color as those of most other plants are when standing close to the glass, and seemed to be quite as healthy. Two or three times a year, the owners told me, the vine was taken down, coiled up for convenience in transit, and taken out of doors. There it was spread out upon the grass and left until the rain had washed it clean. Because of the thick, firm, leathery texture of its foliage it seemed immune from the bad effects of dust, hot, dry air, and the absence of direct light. When well grown it is a plant that any one might well be proud of. For training up about the ceiling of the bay-window it stands at the head of the list of vines adapted to house culture.

Sometimes scale attacks both myrtle and ivy. When this happens heroic measures must be resorted to in order to head off permanent injury. In the chapter on "The Insect Enemies of Plants" a remedy is suggested that seldom fails to produce most satisfactory results.

Palms are universal favorites. There are but three varieties that I feel justified in recommending for amateur culture. These are the arecas, especially A. lutescens, Latania borbonica, better known as the "fan palm," and the kentias, belmoreana and fosteriana.