106 WINTER GREENERIES AT HOME. 



ested in winter greeneries at home, and add to liis stock 

 the coveted pots. 



AN OUTSIDE QUESTION. 



Yes, I fully agree with you concerning your venerable 

 neighbor. Any old lady who has kept a solitary " Jeru- 

 salem Cherry " safely through the winter by carrying it 

 down cellar every cold night, deserves all the help you can 

 give in making the most of her little summer garden of 

 "only three or four small beds." It is no wonder that 

 you propose for her something "finer than Hollyhocks, 

 Bouncing Bets, and Bachelor's Buttons." And who 

 could help sharing your interest in the question, " What 

 plants can she have which will give the most bloom with 

 the least labor ? " This question might safely be left to 

 the combined wisdom of the young florists, who, if I re- 

 member correctly, *' have no trouble with their plants in 

 summer-time," and are already surmounting the diffi- 

 culties of winter. But as you have generously taken me 

 into your counsels, I must contribute my share by sug- 

 gesting one of the many possible answers. 



Geraniums are of course the first to be mentioned. 

 They are cultivated so easily, and their flowers are so 

 brilliant, abundant, and enduring, that no garden, large 

 or small, can well dispense with them. They are now 

 used almost everywhere for summer decoration, either in 

 windows, or in groups outside. Here they seem to take 

 the lead of all the flowering plants cultivated in our City 

 Parks, where it is important to produce the most strik- 

 ing effect " with the least labor." You can probably have 

 ' nothing better for the " small circular bed " than a well 

 arranged group the tall scarlet variety in the center, and 

 the smaller Zonales at the outside. 



For one of the "borders near the gate," I presume 

 you will select four or five healthy Verbenas of different 

 colors one of them to be white for the sake of its f ra- 



