Los Angeles herald., 1910-08-07
GARDENING AT THE WINDOW

For the woman who has not room
enough for a garden or who has not
the time or inclination to garden, but
who is a lover of flowers, the window
box is a great boon. 1t it she may
grow any of the flowers which are
her favorites or ferns which are al
ways charming. BY looking well to
the location of the boxes before plant
ing she will have little trouble. Prefer
ably raise flowers of the commoner
sorts which grow without especial
care, and leave the rare ones to the
professional florist, who has every
convenience for growing them
1t matters little what kind of
box you use. Anything strong enough
to hold the soil will answer your pur-
pose quite as we'll as the expensive
boxes the florists offer for sale. L
have seen just as fine plants growing
in pine boxes picked up at the stores
for five cents, as in boxes of tile or
terra Gotta that cost ten dollars. The
box isn't the thing upon which sue
cess depends-it's good soil and proper
care.
In the city you can buy good COM
post for your box from the florist
at a very reasonable sum. In the viii
lage or country, you can get good soil
without buying it. If it does not seem
rich enough add a dish of fine bone
meal "a teacupful to a box a foot wide
and five or six feet long) to the loan;
or, what is better, if available, make
use of old, black. we'll rotted manure,
using it in the proportion of third
with ordinary garden soil.
You cannot grow good plants in
soil that has but little nutriment.
What you want is vigorous, luxuriant
growth and rapid development, and
this calls for a rich soil.
Be sure to see that your boxes are
fastened securely in place or sudden
wind may come up and spoil the work
of many weeks. A box full of wet soil
is heavier than you would think, and
should be very securely braced to De
perfectly safe.
Nearly all ordinary plants can be
grown successfully in the window box
if they are given proper attention. or
course, some plants need more care
than others, and care of different
kind, and these requirements are not
fully understood until one has had some
experience with them. Begin. therefore,
with those that will require only the
most ordinary case.
Do not let a desire to have something
out of the common, or a little Detter
than your neighbor's, lead you to make
the mistake of attempting the culture
of varieties requiring special treatment
Keep in mind the fact that common
plant, we'll grown, is a great deal more
satisfactory than a rare plant which
seems always to be protesting against
the treatment it receives at your hands.
German ivy is very satisfactory for
the edge of the box. 1t is rapid
grower, with leaves shaped like those
of the English ivy. 1t grows readily
from cuttings. AS soon as a plant gets
a good start, pinch it back to make 1t
throw out branches. Let these drop
over the box to suit themselves, or
festoon them along its length until 1t Is
hidden by the foliage.
Nasturtiums, when allowed to droop,
answer the double purpose of flower.
ing plant and vine; the same is true of
single petunias.
The pink ivy-leaf geranium, with its
dropping branches, rich foliage ana
profuse quantities of bloom, is one of
the very best plants for the window
hoy. Combine the white Marguerite,
or "Paris daisy" with it, and the effect
is extremely delightful; the contrast
of coIors and habits in the two plants
makes their combination an ideal one.
Two other very desirable dropping
plants for window box culture are To-
heIia with blue flowers, and sweet ayls-
sum. with white blossoms. These can
he grown easily from seed, so can mas
turtiums and petunias
For boxes having an exposure TO the
south. the heliotrope is an excellent
nIant as il blooms freely and constant
" and has a delicious fragrance.
Regonias are good window box plantS,
as are also fuchslas.
The value Of the. geranium for WIN