Manual of Gardening Part 49

The foliage will need cleansing from time to time to free it from dust.

A bath tub provided with a ready outlet for the water is an excellent place for this purpose. The plants may be turned on their sides and supported on a small box above the bottom of the tub. Then they may be freely syringed without danger of making the soil too wet. It is usually advisable not to wet the flowers, however, especially the white waxen kinds, like hyacinths. The foliage of rex begonias should be cleansed with a piece of dry or only slightly moist cotton. But if the leaves can be quickly dried off by placing them in the open air on mild days, or moderately near the stove, the foliage may be syringed.

Some persons attach the box to the window, or support it on brackets attached below the window-sill; but a preferable arrangement is to support the box on a low and light stand of suitable height provided with rollers. It may then be drawn back from the window, turned around from time to time to give the plants light on all sides, or turned with the attractive side in as may be desired.

Often the plants are set directly in the soil; but if they are kept in pots they may be rearranged, and changed about to give those which need it more light. Larger plants that are to stand on shelves or brackets may be in porous earthenware pots; but the smaller ones that are to fill the window-box may be placed in heavy paper pots. The sides of these are flexible, and the plants in them therefore may be crowded close together with great economy in s.p.a.ce. When pots are s.p.a.ced, damp sphagnum or other moss among them will hold them in place, keep the soil from drying out too rapidly, and at the same time give off moisture, so grateful to the foliage.

In addition to the stand, or box, a bracket for one or more pots on either side of the window, about one-third or half-way up, will be desirable. The bracket should turn on a basal hinge or pivot, to admit of swinging it forward or backward. These bracket plants usually suffer for moisture, and are rather difficult to manage.

Florists now usually grow plants suitable for window-gardens and winter flowering, and any intelligent florist, if asked, will take pleasure in making out a suitable collection. The plants should be ordered early in the fall; the florist will then not be so crowded for time and can give the matter better attention.

Most of the plants suitable for the winter window-garden belong to the groups that florists grow in their medium and cool houses. The former are given a night temperature of about 60, the latter about 50. In each case the temperature is 10 to 15 higher for the daytime. Five degrees of variation below these temperatures will be allowable without any injurious effects; even more may be borne, but not without more or less check to the plants. In bright, sunny weather the day temperature may be higher than in cloudy and dark weather.

Plants for an average night temperature of 60 (trade names).

_Upright flowering plants,_--Abutilons, browallias, calceolaria "Lincoln Park," begonias, bouvardias, euphorbias, scarlet sage, richardia or calla, heliotropes, fuchsias, Chinese hibiscus, jasmines, single petunias, swainsona, billbergia, freesias, geraniums, eupheas.

_Upright foliage plants._--Muehlenbeckia, _Cycas revoluta, Dracoena fragans_ and others, palms, cannas, _Farfugium grande,_ achyranthes, ferns, araucarias, epiphyllums, panda.n.u.s or "screw pine," _Pilea arborea, Ficus elastica, Grevillea robusta._

_Climbing plants._--_Asparagus tenuissimus, A. plumosus, Coboea scandens,_ smilax, j.a.panese hop, Madeira vine (Boussingaultia), _Senecio mikanioides_ and _S. macroglossus_ (parlor ivies). See also list below.

_Low-growing, trailing, or drooping plants._--These may be used for baskets and edgings. Flowering kinds are: Sweet alyssum, lobelia, _Fuchsia proc.u.mbens,_ mesembryanthemum, _Oxalis pendula, 0. floribunda_ and others, _Russelia juncea, Mahernia odorata_ or honey-bell.

_Foliage plants of drooping habit._--Vincas, _Saxifraga sarmentosa,_ Kenilworth ivy, tradescantia or wandering jew, _Festuca glauca_(A) othonna, _Isolepsis gracilis,_(A) English ivy, _Selaginella denticulata,_ and others. Some of these plants flower quite freely, but the flowers are small and of secondary consideration. Those with an asterisk (A) droop but slightly.

Plants for an average night temperature of 50.

_Upright flowering plants._--Azaleas, cyclamens, carnations, chrysanthemums, geraniums, Chinese primroses, stevias, marguerite or Paris daisy, single petunias, _Anthemis coronaria,_ camellias, ardisia (berries), cinerarias, violets, hyacinths, narcissus, tulips, the Easter lily when in bloom, and others.

_Upright foliage plants._--Pittosporums, palms, aucuba, euonymus (golden and silvery variegated), araucarias, panda.n.u.s, dusty millers.

_Climbing plants._--English ivy, maurandia, senecio or parlor ivy, lyG.o.dium (climbing fern).

_Drooping or trailing plants._--Flowering kinds are: Sweet alyssum, _Mahernia odorata,_ Russelia and ivy geranium.

_Bulbs in the window-garden._

Bulbs flowering through the winter add to the list of house plants a charming variety. The labor, time, and skill required is much less than for growing many of the larger plants more commonly used for winter decorations (for instructions on growing bulbs out-of-doors, see p. 281; also the entries in Chapter VIII).

Hyacinths, narcissus, tulips, and crocus, and others can be made to flower in the winter without difficulty. Secure the bulbs so as to be able to pot them by the middle or last of October, or if earlier all the better. The soil should be rich sandy loam, if possible; if not, the best that can be got, to which about one-fourth the bulk of sand is added and mixed thoroughly.

If ordinary flower-pots are to be used, place in the bottom a few pieces of broken pots, charcoal, or small stones for drainage, then fill the pot with dirt so that when the bulbs are set on the dirt the top of the bulb is even with the rim of the pot. Fill around it with soil, leaving just the tip of the bulb showing above the earth. If the soil is heavy, a good plan is to sprinkle a small handful of sand under the bulb to carry off the water, as is done in the beds outdoors. If one does not have pots, he may use boxes. Starch boxes are a good size to use, as they are not heavy to handle; and excellent flowers are sometimes secured from bulbs planted in old tomato-cans. If boxes or cans are used, care must be taken to have holes in the bottoms to let the water run out. A large hyacinth bulb will do well in a 5-inch pot. The same size pot will do for three or four narcissuses or eight to twelve crocuses.

After the bulbs are planted in the pots or other receptacles, they should be placed in a cool place, either in a cold pit or cellar, or on the shady side of a building, or, better yet, plunged or buried up to the rim of the pot in a shady border. This is done to force the roots to grow while the top stands still, as only the bulbs with good roots will give good flowers. When the weather gets so cold that a crust is frozen on the soil, the pots should be covered with a little straw, and as the weather gets colder more straw must be used. In six to eight weeks after planting the bulbs, they should have made roots enough to grow the plant, and they may be taken up and placed in a cool room for a week or so, after which, if they have started into growth, they may be taken into a warmer room where they can have plenty of light. They will grow very rapidly now and will want much water, and after the flowers begin to show, the pots may stand in a saucer of water all the time. When just coming into bloom the plants may have full sunlight part of the time to help bring out the color of the flowers.

Hyacinths, tulips, and narcissus all require similar treatment. When well rooted, which will be in six or eight weeks, they are brought out and given a temperature of some 55 to 60 till the flowers appear, when they should be kept in a cooler temperature, say 50. The single Roman hyacinth is an excellent house plant. The flowers are small, but they are graceful and are well adapted to cutting. It is early.

The Easter lily is managed the same way, except to hasten its flowers it should be kept at not lower than 60 at night. Warmer will be better.

Lily bulbs may be covered an inch or more deep in the pots.

Freesias may be potted six or more in a pot of mellow soil, and then started into growth at once. At first they may be given a night temperature of 50; and 55 to 60 when they have begun to grow.

Small bulbs, as snowdrop and crocus, are planted several or a dozen in a pot and buried, or treated like hyacinths; but they are very sensitive to heat, and require to be given the light only when they have started to grow, without any forcing. Forty to 45 will be as warm as they ever need be kept.

_Watering house plants._

It is impossible to give rules for the watering of plants. Conditions that hold with one grower are different from those of another. Advice must be general. Give one good watering at the time of potting, after which no water should be given until the plants really need it. If, on tapping the pot, it gives out a clear ring, it is an indication that water is needed. In the case of a soft-wooded plant, just before the leaves begin to show signs of wilt is the time for watering. When plants are taken up from the ground, or have their roots cut back in repotting, gardeners rely, after the first copious watering, on syringing the tops two or three times each day, until a new root-growth has started, watering at the roots only when absolutely necessary. Plants that have been potted into larger pots will grow without the extra attention of syringing, but those from the borders that have had their roots mutilated or shortened, should be placed in a cool, shady spot and be syringed often. One soon becomes familiar with the wants of individual plants, and can judge closely as to need of water. All soft-wooded plants with a large leaf-surface need more water than hard-wooded plants, and a plant in luxuriant growth of any kind more than one that has been cut back or become defoliated. When plants are grown in living-rooms, moisture must be supplied from some source, and if no arrangement has been made for securing moist air, the plants should be syringed often.

All plant-growers should learn to withhold water when plants are "resting" or not in active growth. Thus camellias, azaleas, rex begonias, palms, and many other things are usually not in their growing period in fall and midwinter, and they should then have only sufficient water to keep them in condition. When growth begins, apply water; and increase the water as the growth becomes more rapid.

_Hanging baskets._

To have a good hanging basket, it is necessary that some careful provision be made to prevent too rapid drying out of the earth. It is customary, therefore, to line the pot or basket with moss. Open wire baskets, like a horse muzzle, are often lined with moss and used for the growing of plants. Prepare the earth by mixing some well-decayed leafmold with rich garden loam, thereby making an earth that will retain moisture. Hang the basket in a light place, but still not in direct sunlight; and, if possible, avoid putting it where it will be exposed to drying wind. In order to water the basket, it is often advisable to sink it into a pail or tub of water.

Various plants are well adapted to hanging baskets. Among the drooping or vine-like kinds are the strawberry geranium, Kenilworth ivy, maurandia, German ivy, canary-bird flower, _Asparagus Sprengeri,_ ivy geranium, trailing fuchsia, wandering jew, and othonna. Among the erect-growing plants that produce flowers, _Lobelia Erinus,_ sweet alyssum, petunias, oxalis, and various geraniums are to be recommended.

Among foliage plants such things as coleus, dusty miller, begonia, and some geraniums are adaptable.

_Aquarium._

A pleasant adjunct to a window-garden, living room, or conservatory, is a large gla.s.s globe or gla.s.s box containing water, in which plants and animals are living and growing. A solid gla.s.s tank or globe is better than a box with gla.s.s sides, because it does not leak, but the box must be used if one wants a large aquarium. For most persons it is better to buy the aquarium box than to attempt to make it. Five points are important in making and keeping an aquarium:

(1) The equilibrium between plant and animal life must be secured and maintained;

(2) the aquarium must be open on top to the air or well ventilated;

(3) the temperature should be kept between 40 and 50 for ordinary animals and plants (do not place in full sun in a hot window);

(4) it is well to choose such animals for the aquarium as are adapted to life in still water;

(5) the water must be kept fresh, either by the proper balance of plant and animal life or by changing the water frequently, or by both.

The aquatic plants of the neighborhood may be kept in the aquarium,--such things as myriophyllums, charas, eel-gra.s.s, duckmeats or lemnas, cabomba or fish gra.s.s, arrow-leafs or sagittaria, and the like; also the parrot's feather, to be bought of florists (a species of myriophyllum). Of animals, there are fishes (particularly minnows), water insects, tadpoles, clams, snails. If the proper balance is maintained between plant and animal life, it will not be necessary to change the water so frequently.

CHAPTER VIII

THE GROWING OF THE ORNAMENTAL PLANTS--INSTRUCTIONS ON PARTICULAR KINDS

In the preceding chapter advice is given that applies to groups or cla.s.ses of plants, and many lists are inserted to guide the grower in his choice or at least to suggest to him the kinds of things that may be grown for certain purposes or conditions. It now remains to give instructions on the growing of particular kinds or species of plants.

It is impossible to include instructions on any great number of plants in a book like this. It is a.s.sumed that the user of this book already knows how to grow the familiar or easily handled plants; if he does not, a book is not likely to help him very much. In this chapter all such things as the common annuals and perennials and shrubs and trees are omitted. If the reader is in doubt about any of these, or desires information concerning them, he will have to consult the catalogues of responsible seedsmen and nurserymen or cyclopedic works, or go to some competent person for advice.

In this chapter are brought together instructions on the growing of such plants commonly found about home grounds and in window-gardens as seem to demand somewhat special or particular treatment or about which the novice is likely to ask; and of course these instructions must be brief.

[Ill.u.s.tration: XVII. The peony. One of the most steadfast of garden flowers.]

It may be repeated here that a person cannot expect to grow a plant satisfactorily until he learns the natural time of the plant to grow and to bloom. Many persons handle their begonias, cacti, and azaleas as if they should be active the whole year round. The key to the situation is water: at what part of the year to withhold and at what part to apply is one of the very first things to learn.

ABUTILONS, or flowering maples as they are often called, make good house plants and bedding plants. Nearly all house gardeners have at least one plant.