ARECA, ARTEMISIA, ASPARAGUS 259 



from seed into a salable plant. Being less expensive than a 

 Kentia we often use it when filling indoor window boxes, or even as a 

 single plant in a 4-, 5- or 6-in. pot. As a rule it doesn't last as well, 

 as a house plant, as other palms do ; then again we find customers 

 who appear to have better luck with it than with almost anything 

 else. It doesn't pay to grow your own plants from seed; you are 

 better off purchasing the different sizes wanted from the palm 

 grower. 



ARTEMISIA LAGTIFLORA 



Ry the first week in September the perennial border isn't usually 

 overcrowded with flowers, that is, if you depend on perennials 

 entirely. At any rate, it would be well to have there a few plants 

 jof Artemisia lactiflora. Here you have a stately plant with from 4- 

 to 5-ft. stalks of Spiraea (Astilbe)-like flowers of a creamy color and 

 sweet odor. No matter what else you may have in the border, these 

 Artemisias will help to make the whole setting more beautiful. 

 Increase from divisions of the old clumps, which can stand a little 

 Winter protection. 



ASPARAGUS 



The average retail grower doesn't pay nearly enough attention to 

 Asparagus Sprengeri, which constitutes one of the most valuable and 

 useful of florist's greens. He will insist on trying to grow Carnations 

 or other cut flowers on a bench that is, perhaps, too shady or too warm, 

 and instead of devoting it to this Asparagus will keep on buying the 

 cut green at a high price, and at the same time get no returns from what 

 he does grow on that bench. 



I don't want to imply that you should pick out a dark corner 

 to grow Asparagus in, or a spot where nothing else will thrive, but, 

 especially in older houses, there are usually places where a few plants 

 could be grown either in benches, boxes, pots or hanging baskets, 

 the cut greens of which will bring greater returns than anything else. 



Green of some sort you need every day in the year, whether 

 you think best to charge for it or not when putting it along with 

 a dozen Carnations, Roses or Freesias. A box of flowers is hardly 

 ever complete without Asparagus, and there are times during the 

 I Winter months when the green you purchase comes as high as the 

 flowers themselves; or being cut in California or Florida it is anything 

 but satisfactory by the time it reaches you. There are a good many 

 florists who save themselves quite a shock by not keeping a record 

 just for one year of what money is paid out in the purchase of cut 

 | Asparagus. True, you may not be able to grow as good stock as 

 the man who devotes houses to its culture, and it may be cheaper 

 to buy what cut strings of Asparagus plumosus you need. Rut with 

 Asparagus Sprengeri, even in a small way and with not the best of 

 success, you can make it pay and pay well. 



