Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-06-22
PORCH FLOWER STANDS
UP-TO-DATE FANCIES FOR OPEN
AIR PARLORS
Plants and Good Ideas of Arrange.
ment-Hansfng Baskets, Dwarf
Oaks and Running Vines.

Written for The Evening Star
No one is SO far away from green fields
and running brooks but that some taste of
the beauties of nature is possible. Window
gardens and hanging baskets will accom-
modate choice specimens of plant life.
The decorative possibilities of the city or
suburban porch have been studied in al
most every line Porch furniture in all
grades from the qualities in simple painted
woods to the elegantly enameled wicker or
reed ware, is sold at price so reasonable
that the day has gone by when the handy
man of the house may fiaunt his genius and
peril the lives of family and friends with
fearful and wonderful porch chairs con-
structed from discarded barrels and empty
soap boxes. Hammocks may be purcn ased
so cheap that highly recommended pat
terms for making the aforesaid airy
couches from old blankets or empty coffee
sacks, buoyantly expanded with barrel
hoops, are no longer passed from feminine
hand to feminine hand, and the saving in
surgeons bills seems to justify the change.
NO, the march of civilization has 2d-
Vanced summer interest to such topics as
the best methods of giving porch teas or
ways to increase the collection of hardy
pillows, which form so powerful an auxii-
iafy to the display of lovely womln's
charms when she reclineS in the hammock
is stretched upon the wicker porch couch
or Tolls in the low easy chair Rugs and
draperIeS make the summer porch look
what it has really come to bean open-air
sitting room-but the real individual out
door touch should be found in the display
OF plants Never has the cultivation of fine
specimens of the floral kingdom been so
much of fad as now. Fashionable women
delight In it, for half the pleasure of being
successful flower grower comes from the
envy one skill excites in the unsuccessful
Only refined woman can successfully
cultivate flowers. Notice the garden of the
female OF coarse. callous disposition. Even
the gorgeous blooms with which she decks
herself on gala occasions soon droop and
wlther away in her uncongenial atmosphere
| In their sensitiveness to personal associa-
| tons flowers almost seem to be possessed
| of souls.
Nearby Exhibition
| The porch during summer offers an adj
mirable opportunity for exhibiting ones
| skill as flower grower. In so many pic
| turesque settings can the plants be dis
| played that their elegance is, il possible.
much enhanced.
Flower stands of all materials are admis-
! sible. The most picturesque are Of home
handiwork-the rustic with foundations of
| wood to which bits of tree branch twig
and bark are nailed as a covering.
border of Towering vines planted so
| that they fall over the sides of the box or
run up the rustic handle of twigS that is
| sometimes added forms one of the pleasing
| ways of framing the plants used in the
| stand Flowering verbenas, geraniums,
ETC., are commonly utilized for the center
| but doubly happy effect is achieved If
| plants fragrant as we'll beautiful form
part of the porch collection. The lemon
verbena, rose geranium, mignonette, sweet
| 1eaved pe1argonium and heliotrope are
among such specimens. Honeysuckle sweet
| peas and other fragrant vines planted out
| side porch climbers will add to the
sweetness of the nook. Care must be taken
however. that one odor does not antagonize
another, for some flower scents are SO pow
| erful as to prove sickening when combined
! with others-for instance the heavy odor
| of the honeysuckle and that of heliotrope
| do not blend WELL
| Hanging Baskets.
| Stands supplied with brackets for the
accommodation of separate pots may be
purchased at the florists may be imi-
tated blythe home carpenter The wood
should be painted a sylvan green.
| If 1t is to hold a miscellaneous assort-
ment of flowers a large box made with
fanciful supports is favorite for porch
gardens. Long boxes fixed to the ends or
sides of the porch are sometimes incon-
venient and, on the whole present too ex-
| tensive display of vegetation to harmonic
well with the idea of the porch being a
mere sitting room.
Screws should stud the porch ceiling at
regular intervals, and from these hanging
baskets of various sorts may be suspended
Hanging baskets, like the stands NAV be
of home manufacture. An old wooden bowl
or tin pail or basin painted green and well
overhung with vines will serve as bas-
ket when nothing better can be secured
Frames of wire purchased in the shops
cost very little, and when lined with moss
and filled with flowers and vines make
ideal flower receptacles. Baskets of earth
enware painted to represent bits of log are
pretty. Others may be made at home of
real log followed out with chisel and
smoothed at each end. The homemade log
| basket is easily finished, for couple of
screw hooks in the sides and a chain to
hang it up by all that is needed to
| complete it. OF course, a couple of holes
must be bored to allow the water used in
| moistening the soil to drain out. Rustic
baskets covered with bark and bits of
| branches and twigs are too common to
need description. Bamboo, cane or terra
Gotta and even cork baskets may be bought
| in the shops Swinging bowls of glass for
the accommodation of aquatic plants such
| as the water hyacinth and the water
| poppy, make an agreeable variation in the
character of the decorations.
Best Selections.
Dwarf lobelia nasturtium, asparagus,
petunia, with its velvety salver-shaped
| flowers; the passion flower, with it's exquis-
| tie blossoms and tendril-tipped branches;
| the rondeletia and the different kinds of
| torenias and mignonette make excellent
borders.
| Among the vining plants may be men
| toned the cissus, with it's velvety green
leaves marked with white; the tradescan-
tia, bright, prettily variegated plant: the
| gray or red-tipped sedum, the trailing
| beautifully veined ittonia, a native of
| South America; money wort, the vinca a
species of periwinkle; the ivy-leafed ge-
rantum,- smiiax. nignonette and the ivies.
| Uprights and Dwarfs.
The upright plants that lend themselves
with good effect to the identifying of the
Il