230 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



of the plants that fill it, while in actual use ; when become passe 

 their places being easily filled up again by a fresh supply. A special 

 advantage therefore attends this style of plant decoration : it may 

 be commenced or given up at any period, and the stock being small, 

 its removal or dispersion is attended with little trouble or loss. 



To begin with the furnishing of the " sill," there will be many 

 ways of doing this, according to its size, and the taste and means of 

 its designer. The first point, however, in any case will be to secure 

 the pots or boxes used from the possibility of slipping or being 

 blown off. To this end, a frame of some kind should be fixed out- 

 side round the sill, though to the lower windows in modern resi- 

 dences ornamental cross-bars are usually the rule. Where such are 

 not, a slender rod of iron will form a good frame, with a screen of 

 fine iron wire net inside. At a little distance from the wall a similar 

 rod may be used, following the shape of the window frame ; the 

 intervening space between that and the wall being also filled up 

 with wire net, after the manner of a trellis, on which to train up 

 climbers ; or an actual wooden trellis may be employed. Above 

 the window-frame, in the brickwork, hooks and staples should be 

 placed for the purpose of suspending hanging baskets filled with 

 trailers. We shall thus have an arrangement for the cultivation of 

 various interesting and ornamental subjects — climbers, trailers, and 

 pot plants. 



In dealing with such a garden as here described, it will add much 

 to the health and vigour of its tenant?, and prolong their lasting 

 qualities, if moss be packed between and on the surface of the pots, 

 thereby preserving moisture, and protecting them from the scorching 

 sun or cold winds. At each side of the " ledge," where upright 

 rods or trellis-work is fixed, climbers may be placed in large pots, 

 and trained up. Good and inexpensive kinds for this purpose may 

 be selected from the smaller variegated ivies, when it is resolved to 

 adopt an evergreen or permanent decoration : deciduous varieties 

 are Canary creeper, Cobea scandens, Convolvulus, Clematises, and 

 Tropscolums of all sorts, all of which will thrive in pots with small 

 demands upon attention or cultural skill. Wire baskets should 

 always first be padded with moss, whether the plants are grown in 

 pots or in natural soil. For these, there are likewise hosts of 

 appropriate occupants, such as Sedum Sieboldii, Tradescantia zebrina, 

 the old-fashioned " Mother of Thousands," ivy-leaved geraniums, 

 fuchsias in their season, " Love-lies-bleeding ; " where a drooping 

 crimson maroon-coloured contrast is required, Tropa3olums, Loniceras, 

 particularly the variegated Honeysuckle, and the like. While con- 

 sidering subjects of this habit, it may be well to call attention to 

 Passion-flowers, Virginia creeper, and AVisteria, as admirable area 

 plants where space, and aspect, and atmosphere exist, though too large 

 for small balconies or windows. 



There are so many artistic contrivances as receptacles for plants 

 in the present day, that there is little need for falling back upon the 

 old-fashioned wooden box, once the most ambitious piece of furni- 

 ture upon the window-sill. This used to be taken to a nurseryman 

 to be filled every year, and its advent was an event in many a town 



