CHAPTER VIII 



CARE OF HOUSE PLANTS DURING SUMMER AND 



FALL 



House plants should not be put out of doors at 

 the North before the first of June. Cool nights and 

 late frosts are of frequent occurrence through the 

 month of May north of New York City, and whoever 

 puts plants out very early, as many do, may wake up 

 some morning and find them nipped. 



The question is often asked : What is it best to 

 do with our plants during summer? Whether to keep 

 them on the veranda, to sink the pots containing them 

 in the ground, or turn them out of their pots. I have 

 tried all three ways, and from my experience I would 

 advise the amateur to keep the plants in pots, in some 

 sheltered place, through the summer months. It is 

 true that plants in pots will require more attention 

 than they would if planted out. But the advantages 

 are, that you have them where they will require more 

 or less care, and, knowing this, you will not be likely 

 to neglect them. And when fall comes, your plants are 

 in the pots, and there is no lifting and potting to be 

 done, a process which always results in a severe check 

 to a plant at the very time when it ought to be steadily 

 going ahead. I spoke of neglect. Right here let me 

 say that it never pays to neglect a plant. You may 

 save a little in labor by doing so, but you lose in the 

 development of the plant, and I never advise any 

 method of caring for plants which would encourage 

 neglect. 



Most persons seem to think that it doesn't much 

 matter how plants are carried over the summer. They 



