Window Boxes, Hanging Baskets and Rustic Stands* 



William Hunt, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph 



ANY aspect rather than a direct 

 south aspect is best for a window 

 box, a north or east aspect being 

 the best. If the windows face the south, 

 the box should be shaded by an awning 

 for a few hours in the hottest part of the 

 day. In a window facing the south and 

 fully exposed to the direct and concen- 

 trated heat of the sun against the build- 

 ing the greater part of the day, it is im- 

 possible to have complete success with a 

 window box, even if filled with the hardi- 

 est sun-resisting decorative plants. 



POT PLANTS IN BOXES 



Plant lovers, especially in cities and 

 towns, are often at a loss to know what 

 best to do with house and window plants 

 in summer, having no space out-of-doors 

 perhaps to stand the plants in the shade 

 for a change and rest. By placing the 

 box outside of an east, north or west 

 window, standing the pots in the box 

 (arranging the plants properly for effect) 

 and packing moss around them, almost 

 all house and window plants can be very 

 much improved in appearance, with but 

 little care and attention. The moss pre-* 

 vents a too rapid evaporation and keeps 

 the roots of the plants cool and moist. 

 Common moss from the bush or sphag- 

 num moss can be used for this purpose. 

 This is a much better plan than standing 

 the pots on window sills and exposed 

 verandahs, where the sun and wind com- 

 pels constant and copious waterings, the 

 plants oftentimes suffering badly even 

 when attended to regularly, in the mat- 

 ter of watering. 



VERANDAH BOXES 



Verandah boxes are made in a similar 

 manner to window boxes, differing pos- 

 sibly in shape, so as to suit the require- 

 ments of the position they are to occupy. 

 If used on the floor of the verandah, it 

 is well to set the boxes in large trays 

 or pans made of galvanized iron, to pre- 

 vent rotting the floor, as well as for 

 cleanliness. 



HANGING BASKETS 



The ordinary earthenware hanging 

 basket should have the bottom con- 

 structed so as to form a saucer, in order 

 to avoid the troublesome, unpleasant, 

 and dangerous operation of either lifting 

 the basket down, or of flooding and dam- 

 aging the floor of the verandah every 

 time they are watered. Several potteries 

 have adopted the style of having a sau- 

 cer as part of the basket, but in most 

 specimens that I have seen, the saucer 

 is rather too narrow and shallow to be of 

 the best possible use. The holes through 

 the bottom of the basket into the saucer 



•A continuation of Mr. Hunt's article that ap- 

 peared in the February issue. The best plants 

 for filling window boxes, etc., will be dealt with 

 next time. 



placed there for drainage purposes, are 

 also often too small and too few in num- 

 ber to fully serve the purpose for which 

 they are intended. 



For a lawn and exposed position, I 

 prefer hanging baskets made of wire. 

 As a rule, the ordinary wire baskets sold 

 are not deep enough to be serviceable. 

 The wire basket should be lined at time 

 of filling with thick wads of moss placed 

 round the basket with green side out- 

 ward. The soil and plants can then be 

 filled in the same as when using an 

 earthenware basket. The moss helps to 

 conserve the moisture in the soil and pre- 

 vents a too rapid evaporation. Plants 

 succeed better in wire baskets than in 

 earthenware ones and should be more 



Rustic Stand for Plants and Flowers 



Bottom of an apple barrel, fifteen inches deep, 

 covered with native bark 



used than they are, if only for this rea- 

 son. 



EUSTIO STANDS 



Rustic stands are one of the most ef- 

 fective and easily obtained features of 

 lawn decoration. A rustic stand can be 

 made of the crudest and commonest 

 materials, if a little artistic and original 

 taste is made use of in connection with 

 their make up. A tub part of a barrel 

 or a box of suitable strength and size 

 can be transformed into a really pretty 

 and effective rustic adornment with a few 

 pieces of common lichen or moss-covered 

 pieces of bark from our native trees 

 nailed around them ; or can be covered 

 with cork bark, if something more un- 

 common or elaborate is required. Small 

 pieces of cedar saplings split in two 

 with the tops pointed so as to represent 

 a rustic picket fence and nailed on the 



tubs also makes a pleasing and effective 

 stand for the lawn. 



One of these rustic tubs or boxes 

 placed on a piece of round timber of pine 

 or any native tree, with the bark left 

 on so as to look as natural as possible, 

 will make a very effective and pleasing 

 object placed around the lawn or grass 

 plot, when filled with flowers and trail- 

 ing plants. The piece of timber used 

 should be sunk into the ground a little, 

 if not large enough to stand firmly of 

 itself. The box or tub also would be 

 better if fastened down to the stand 

 with a piece of wire in two or three 

 places to prevent it being blown or 

 pushed over. 



Fossil stones, or large rough stones, 

 can be used very effectively as stands 

 for above purpose. An old hollow trunk 

 or pollard of a basswood or other tree, 

 about two feet six inches in height, also 

 makes an effective rustic adornment 

 when filled with good soil and plants. 

 One of these last named filled with scar- 

 let salvia and trailing plants makes a 

 most conspicuous and pleasing object on 

 the lawn in summer time. 



Rustic stands can be purchased at most 

 of our large feed stores in several de- 

 signs. The ordinary wire stands are not 

 very ornamental and not suited for pot 

 plants out-of-doors, especially in an ex- 

 posed sunny position, as the plants dry 

 out too rapidly in them. If these stands 

 were constructed so that moss could be 

 packed around the pots, they would at 

 least have the merit of being useful, if 

 not ornamental. 



lEON VASES OB STANDS 



Many of the iron urns or stands one 

 sees on lawns are of themselves quite or- 

 namental, but are expensive and not at 

 all adapted to grow plants in successful- 

 ly. The basin or urn is usually too shal- 

 low to allow of sufficient soil to grow 

 plants in. Iron also being a conductor 

 of heat, the soil dries out very rapidly. 

 A deeper basin, eight to ten inches in 

 depth — according to size of urn — and the 

 sides made perpendicular instead of slop- 

 ing, and more holes in bottom of basin 

 for drainage, are desirable points to 

 make iron lawn vases a success for 

 growing plants in. The basin could have 

 a temporary lining of thin wood fitted 

 around inside. This would prevent to a 

 great extent the rapid drying out of the 

 soil and be very beneficial to the plants. 



CEMENT VASES 



Lawn vases made of cement with pieces 

 of stone or fancy pebbles placed all over 

 the surface — so as to present a rough, 

 natural-looking surface, also make a very 

 effective lawn decoration filled with 

 plants. 



