WINDOW GARDENING. "|05 



In making your choice of plants avoid the costliest favorites of the green- 

 house ; i. e., it is better to take something which will thrive with ordinary cul- 

 ture. Greenhouse plants need more care than the window-gardener can usually 

 give. A healthy flowering Geranium is more popular with nine out of ten than 

 a Camellia, and is in proportion as much easier to grow. 



A great trouble among amateurs is too great a fancy for seed-grown plants ; 

 i. e., they purchase florists seeds, and aim to grow their own plants by sowing 

 the seed in the basket. It is hardly necessary to say failure is the general rule, 

 except in the case of a few climbing plants, which will grow well anywhere. If 

 the amateur does not know enough about propagation to grow his own plants, it 

 is much better to buy them already started from a good florist. 



The list of plants may be arranged in several very distinct classes, as follows : 



1. Climbing Vines — 



The Tropceoliim Lobbianum, flowers plentifully in winter, and its brilliant red 

 flowers are very attractive. 



The Morning Glory will grow readily in a sunny window, and its flowers are 

 indeed a glory. A small vase can be used to plant the seeds, and it can be sus- 

 pended with ribbons. 



The vine of the Sweet Potato is very graceful. Quite a good many who have 

 admired a basket covered with its leaves have felt a little chagrined to find it was 

 nothing after all but a Sweet Potato vine. The tubers can be set into a glass 

 small enough to keep the root three or four inches from the bottom. Fill the 

 glass with water, and place it in a warm room ; give it two or three hours of 

 sunshine each day, and in two or three weeks it will begin to grow. All through 

 the winter it will continue to develop its glossy green leaves in profusion. The 

 Discorea Batatas is the best species for home culture. 



Among other climbing plants are Senecio Scandens, (German Ivy,) a very free 

 grower; Lonicera Aurea Reticulata, with fine yellow variegated foliage. 



There are no finer plants in general to be used than the Coboeas, Maurandias, 

 Lophospermums, and Trop^eolum. The Variegated Leaved Cobaea is a great 

 favorite, either to dangle from a basket or clothe a trellis. 



For Drooping or Trailing Plants the list is quite extensive. Lysimachia. or 

 Moneywort — old, and hardly yet superseded. 



Saxifragas, Sedums, 



Linarias, Lobelia, 



Yellow Flowering Gazanias, Tradescantia, 



Mimulus Moschatus, Nierembergia, 



Mimulus Tigrinoides, Verbenas, 



Ice Plant, Mesembryanthemums, 



The Partridge Vine, Dew Plant. 



The Strawberry Vine is a rapid runner, with leaves shaped like the strawberry, 

 but much smaller. Its flowers are white, and its seed-pods are formed of 

 bright, cherry red berries, which render the plant very ornamental. 



The Cranberry Vine has been used for basket purposes with great success ; its 



