Balcony Gardening. 87 



full of healthy plants, instead of one filled with sickly 

 specimens in pots of all sizes, may be maintained. 



In arranging a balcony for growing plants, boxes of 

 a suitable size should be made to fit into convenient 

 places. These should be tin-lined or tarred inside to 

 prevent the wood rotting. Large holes being made at 

 the bottom, and the boxes raised a few inches on 

 blocks to allow the water to pass away freely. 



The outside may be covered with the bark of the Date 

 Palm or virgin cork nailed on to the wood and varnished, 

 or a coat of green paint could be given. Large pieces 

 of concave pottery should be placed over the holes 

 inside the boxes, and smaller pieces, to the depth of two 

 or three inches, should be laid on the top for drainage 

 covering them with a thin layer of dried grass or long 

 manure to prevent the soil from washing down, and then 

 fill the boxes to within two inches of the top with a 

 compost of rich, sandy soil and a little decomposed 

 manure, which can be obtained from a garden or nursery. 

 The boxes should be well watered and filled with 

 hardy, dwarf plants or annuals, with a plant ot 

 Stephanotis, Hoya, or Ivy trained round the rails or on 

 bamboo canes up the wall ; and trailing plants, such as 

 ivy-leaf Geranium, Saxifraga sarmentosa, Tradescantia 

 discolor, &c., may be allowed to hang over the side. 

 The boxes should be watered daily, and the plants 

 syringed morning and evening when the sun is off them 

 and a dressing of fresh soil and manure should be added 

 when the compost in the boxes becomes exhausted, and 

 the plants sheltered in winter by a mat. 



PLANTS SUITABLE FOR A SHADY OR MOIST 

 POSITION. 



Adiantum Capillus-veneris Arum Lilies 



(on rocks) Aspidistra lurida 



ALchmea fulgens Caladium esculentum 



Agapanthus umbellatus Chlorophytum elatuni 



A. albidus Cyclamen 



An emones Hemerocallis flava 



Amaryllis H. fulva (Day Lilies) 



