Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-30

We are beginning to suspect that
plant life has q wider tolerance than
many gardeners give 1t credit for pos
sessing.
Many flowers will do well In situa-
| lions where the books declare they will
be a rank failure. Others can stand
drought. although all the garden writer's
swear they cannot.
| Others will come through flourish
| ing, though watered often. much to
| the amazement, we suppose, OF those
! who so solemnly aver that such plants
must not get too much moisture.
We are led to believe that petunias.
! for instance. actually bloom better In
the shade than they do In the sun.
although their ancestors come from
sunny land.
Window boxes on the north side OF
the house have done better this season
! than those facing the glare OF the sun
all day long. We know several boxes
on the north side in which Rosy Morn
petunias have fiourished, whereas those
| in southern exposed situations have
appeared bedrabbled.
There are so many factors involved
in the apparently simple task OF grow
ing home flowers that 1t Is often dim
cult to be positive in such matters as
these. In the case of the petunias 1t
Is true that boxes on the south,
getting more sun. need more water !:
and 1t is probably equally true that
they get no more than Is commonly
given boxes on the north.
The result is that the dirt becomes
dried out. window boxes can stand
almost any amount of water during
really hot weather such as Washington
h no OF R0YpE
should have been drilled with several
inch wide holes at the bottom, to draw
off the surplus moisture. Given this
outlet, no amount of water seemingly
can be too great.
1t is amazing how much liquid a
flower box can stand. Probably more
home gardeners err in this regard than
in any other. II takes forethought.
of course. superimposed on genuine
interest-the latter must precede the
former, because every one knows how
easy 1t Is to forget to water the box"
During hot weather a window box
should be saturated at least every other
evening. until the water begins to drip
from the holes. A quart milk bottle
makes a most practical watering pot,
since IL may be poked into the foliage
without spilling the contents all over
the place.
About this time of the. year even
the most fiourishing window boxes VIII
begin to look rather sickly. We refer
to boxes planted to petunias, the most
popular and, everything taken into con-
sideration. the best flowers for the pur-
pose.
II the sickly branches are cut off.
thus giving the plants the equivalent OF
pruning, new growth will start at
once, and in few weeks the box Will
look as pretty as ever. Finely ground
steamed bone meal is good to use at this
time, say two handfuls to q box 3
feet long. One does not have to be
precise. The fertilizers which come in
tablet form we have found to be ex-
cellent. Used about once week, say
half a tablet to plant. these tablets
help to keep box In uniform bloom
until frost.
The uniformity of growth OF box
Of petunias. once they have begun their
true poisoning. is marvellous. Day
after day the box presents exactly the
same appearance II the flowers were
painted there they could be no fresher
or more plentiful. Those that fade are
replaced by others that open up, so
bItd1 CdSuhl ltSpcCtIUn each Jay tIlikIlb
make one think that they were the
same blossoms.
The most satisfactory varieties of
petunias, according to our experience.
are the "ruffled monsters" or giants of
California. as they are sometimes called.
Besides having exquisite and exceed
ingly large blossoms, these plants grow
bigger and better in every way. and
are not so likely to call halt In the
proceedings at this time OF year.
Well grown window box specimens
often reach a height OF feet. II they
are staked I'D with slender reeds, which