New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1916-01-12
INDOOR WINDOW BOX.
Ferns, Ivy, Smilax, and Geraniums
Easily Grown-Flowering Plants
Require Special Conditions.

plants is so small that it may safely be
ignored if the room is ventilated as it
should be. On the other hand, the win
dow box will furnish much interest and
pleasure through the period when out
door gardening is impracticable.
A good depth for an indoor window box
is 10 to IL inches. The larger the body
of soil, the easier to maintain uniform
moisture conditions.
Cover the bottom of the box with
stones and broken pottery to give drain
age, and cover this with layer of moss
to prevent the soil above from working
down through the stones. The drainage
and moss should take up 2 to inches.
The soil should come to within an inch
and half or 2 inches of the top of the
box.
Those who do not have gardens will do
we'll to get potting soil Of the nearest
florist. If it is desired to prepare it, one
part compost, one part good loan, and
one part sand should be used. The COM
post should be COW manure and good
turf rotted together for year and turned
two or three times in the interim.
Well-decomposed leaf mold would answer
as a partial substitute for the compost.
In regions where the forests have large
share of beech, maple, elm, Eastwood,
and ash, the best potting soil is woods
EARTH" This is soil from a sheltered
position in the woods, and has large
proportion of leaf mold. Oak and chest
nut leaves do not decay into mold as
readily as those mentioned above. One
twentieth part bone meal is good adj
dition to the mixture. If the loan is
very heavy, containing much clay, it's
proportion should be somewhat di-
minished. If the loan is light and sandy,
reduce the amount of sand, or in some
localities omit it altogether.
Place the top of the box level with the
window ledge so as to get as much light as
possible. 1t may be fastened with
brackets, placed on a table, or on legs.
Keep drip pan beneath to prevent water
from soiling the floor. The box may
rest directly above the drip pan on legs
half an inch to an inch high, or it may
be water-tight with the exception of hole
at one end to let out the excess when
watered.
Allow the top of the soil to become
quite dry once in while. Experience in
watering will teach the owner to regulate
the supply. The boxes may need water
ing every day in sunshiny weather,
especially toward spring, or at least every
other day, but in cloudy midwinter
weather they may not need it oftener
than once week.
In steam-heated rooms a receptacle
containing water should be kept on the
radiator, so that the air will not become
too dry.
Select plants with the same general
requirements, as plants of different
character demand different treatment.
It requires more care through longer
season to produce blooms in window
box than to grow good foliage. Flower
ing plants are exacting, and will not as a
rule find enough light in the ordinary
living room, even though placed near
the window, although they may do we'll
in conservatory.
Vines are among the most satisfactory
plants for window box. Among those
that can be trained up over the win
dow to make an attractive green frame
are English ivy, German ivy, and
smilax. The first two are grown from
cuttings, which are best started in spring,
while the smilax is best started in late
winter from seed. Rooted plants of all
of these may, however, be purchased
from florists. Strings to support the
vines are necessary.
Geraniums when grown with these
vines are attractive as foliage plants, but
are not likely to give much bloom in a
soil moist enough for the vines. To
induce bloom, geraniums should be
SAOWIl LII q oCPdl C1CS UoA VI LII pOCS.
Begonias are admirable plants for
growing in window boxes. The foliage
OF all begonias is attractive, but especially
so are the beautifully marked leaves of
the Rex variety. The Beefsteak, Gloire
de Lorraine and other varieties may be
expected to grow we'll and to flower under
the conditions that suit the vines already
described.
Ferns in variety are available for the
window box and may be selected at any
florists to suit the taste of the grower,
but dwarf varieties are better suited for
the room available. Ferns may be
grown with begonias satisfactorily. Both
require temperature lower than the
average living room.
Coleus is another group Of plants that
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