IV 



DECEMBER 



FLOWERING PLANTS FOR WINDOW GARDENS 



For the beginner at in-door gardening no plant is safer to 

 experiment with than the geranium, the most popular of 

 house plants. Small geraniums recently started from cut- 

 tings may be set directly into the soil of the window-box at 

 a distance of about ten inches from one another. Under 

 favorable conditions of heat and light they will grow rapidly, 

 and in order that their growth may be symmetrical the win- 

 dow-box should be turned end for end about once a week. 

 The single or semi-double varieties are really more attractive 

 than the double ones, and it is generally better to include 

 in one box only one color, although if there is a combination 

 of white flowering geraniums with those of another color the 

 result is generally satisfactory. The geraniums will thrive 

 in a window of almost any exposure, although in windows 

 looking south or east they are more likely to blossom freely 

 on account of the abundant sunshine. 



One of the most charming and effective groups of plants 

 for in-door use during the winter is that of the primulas or 

 primroses. The forms most generally grown by the florists 

 are varieties of the Chinese Primrose. The plants grow 

 from seeds sown in early spring, the seedling being changed 

 from smaller to larger pots through the summer, so that by 

 autumn they are in five or six inch pots. They come into 

 blossom in early winter and in many cities form a large part 



