HOT WEATHER PLANT AND FLORAL NOTES 



WM. HUNT, ONT, AGRI. COLLEGE,, GUELPH. ♦ 



A GOOD method of disposing of a few 

 window or house pot plants during 

 the summer is to place the pots with the 

 plants in them in an ordinary window-box 

 made deep enough so that the rims of the 

 pots are about on a level with the edge of 

 the box. Fill in the spaces around the pots 

 with common moss or sphagnum moss ; the 

 latter can be obtained at any florist's. The 

 moss should not be packed too tightly in the 

 boxes or it will rot and decay. 



I have known sawdust to be used for 

 packing around the lower part of the pots, 

 about an inch in depth of moss being used 

 on top of the sawdust. The main idea of 

 putting either of the materials mentioned 

 around the pots is to prevent a too rapid 

 evaporation of moisture. Tnis evaporation 

 is one of the great troubles plant growers 

 have with pot plants when they are stood out 

 singly on a window sill or on a veranda, as 

 we often see them, and where they often 

 suflFer for want of sufficient moisture at the 

 roots, no matter how frequently they are 

 watered. By filling in around the pots as 

 suggested, the plants give very much less 

 trouble in watering, than if stood about 

 singly, and the plants thrive much better, as 

 more natural conditions are given them in 

 this way. Besides this, a tastily filled box 

 of even ordinary window plants, with its 

 carpet of green moss, has a very pretty 

 natural looking appearance in a window. 

 This plan of mossing window boxes is par- 

 ticularly suited for houses that have little or 

 no garden accommodation for pot plants in 

 summer. 



Azaleas, palms, fuchsias, aspidistra, leo- 

 pard plant (Farfugium grande), umbrella 

 plant, tradescantia or Wandering Jew 

 plant, and ferns are among the plants that 

 would do well in the mossed box, more es- 

 pecially in windows or verandas facing the 

 east of north. Agayes, cactus, echeverias. 



vincas and similar plants succeed well in 

 south and west aspects. Care should be 

 taken to have holes bored in the bottom of 

 the box to allow of free drainage, or the 

 moss will soon become soddened and rotten, 

 a condition not desirable either for the 

 health of the plants or their owners, 



HOUSE PLANTS IN JARDINERES. 



The fancy jardinieres so extensively used 

 now for pot plants in house decorative work, 

 are often the cause of the premature decay 

 and loss of pot plants. Too often the plants 

 are kept constantly — oftentimes when not 

 necessary — watered, and no thought is given 

 as to what the surplus water that the plant 

 does not take up is doing, until perhaps the 

 plant begins to look sickly, or maybe the 

 unpleasont odor of stagnant water is de- 

 tected, or in some very neglectful cases that 

 I have known, tJae surplus stagnant water 

 has actually run over the top of the jardi- 

 niere before it was noticed. More plants 

 are injured both in winter and summer, es- 

 pecially palms, by the accumulation of stag- 

 nant water in jardinieres than is supposed, 

 the summer months being the worst in this 

 respect, as there is no fire or artificial heat 

 to dry up surplus moisture. 



Examine plant jardinieres at least once a 

 week, and throw out all the water found in 

 them, and rinse them out with clear 

 cold water. The plants, as well as the 

 health of those living in the house, will not 

 be endangered, as undoubtedly they are 

 where plant jardinieres are neglected and 

 not looked closely after. 



The same remarks will also apply to cut 

 flower vases and jardinieres. The water in 

 these should be changed every day. If the 

 ends of the flower stems are cut off about an 

 inch every day it will help to preserve the 

 flowers for a longer time than if the stems 

 are not cut off. 



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