THE HOME FLORIST. 



HANGING BASKETS AND GARDEN VASES. 



The plants of drooping, trailing and climb- 

 ing habits are, with scarcely an exception, of 

 easy growth, and always interesting and at- 

 tractive, if planted where their peculiar 

 growth can be accommodated. The proper 

 situations are afforded by hanging baskets 

 and garden vases, which, with judicious 

 planting, form very effective means of 

 adornment. Hanging baskets are becom- 

 ing very popular, because they are so easily 

 given a place where they will thrive, 

 accommodating themselves to positions such 

 as being suspended from a piazza, or tree, or 

 a trellis on the side of a house or in front of 

 a window afford, thus enabling thousands 

 of plant admirers to possess a luxuriant 

 growth of plants, and also flowers, who for 

 want of a garden would be deprived of 

 the pleasure. Another recommendation to 

 their general introduction, is their slight 

 cost, which, indeed, need be very little 

 aside of the cost of necessary plants, where 

 a person possesses any skill at construc- 

 tion. A piece of strong wire, shaped and 

 fastened into a circle, and several yards 

 of lighter wire attached to it and woven into 

 a sort of basket or dish-shaped structure, 

 which, with being moss-lined, will answer 

 for holding soil, is all that is necessary for 

 producing the most beautiful effect. The 

 manufactured earthen hanging pots, rustic 

 and wire baskets, if of tasty design, are 

 beautiful for this purpose, but where their 

 expense might be an objection, such a home- 

 made basket will do quite well. Persons 

 unacquainted with plants and selecting for 

 this purpose should discriminate between 

 droopers or trailers and climbers, and the 

 upright growing plants which are to be 

 used as "body" to the display, such as 

 Begonia, Centaurea, Geranium, Cuphea, 

 etc. By carefully reading descriptions 

 you will scarcely fail to make a suitable 

 selection. I will suggest that it is scarcely 

 possible to stock a hanging basket, much 

 less a garden vase, with plants grown from 

 seed, as seventy-five or even more out of 

 every hundred cultivators who have made 

 the attempt could testify. The trouble is, 

 that seed-grown plants cannot be reared strong enough by spring to make any show ; besides 

 only a few are suitable, Sweet Alyssum, Thunbergia, Petunia and Maurandia being the best that 

 can be recommended and these should be sown very early. 



For adorning the lawn, the terrace or the garden, nothing can be finer than a vase of chaste 

 design, made of iron, stone or earthenware, and planted with droopers around the edge, and 

 Geraniums, Heliotropes, Abutilons, Fuchsias, Caladiums, Cannas, or other attractive flowering 

 and showy plants in the center. Vases are usually somewhat costly, being manufactured from 

 expensive material, but by removing them into a shed or outhouse at the approach of winter 

 they may do service for a lifetime, on which account they arc not so expensive after all. 

 Many people prefer a rustic vase to any other kind ; these need not be costly, as they are 

 readily made in winter with the use of a few tools, from material procured from the woods. 



Culture and Treatment. The culture of vases and hanging'baskets is nearly iden- 

 tical. I desire to impress upon the minds of those who have their care in hand, the import- 

 ance of supplying them with an abundance of water at all times ; especially during hot 

 weather, water should be poured on them in sufficient quantity to thoroughly moisten every por- 

 tion of soil every time it is required. This is about the only matter in which vases and baskets 



Fig. iq. A Hanging Basket of Plants. 



