74 Milady's House Plants 



gorgeous plants bloom in the Summer can be and are 

 reproduced indoors in the Winter, excepting the 

 bright sunlight, the natural efiFort should be to supply 

 all of that commodity that is available. This is a 

 simple Hne of reasoning and yet the point is so often 

 missed, for we find these sun-loving plants languishing 

 in dark corners or behind heavy curtains with no 

 possibility of their flowering until the next Spring 

 and Summer. If the Winter is unusually cloudy, it 

 is useless to expect much bloom from the Geranium 

 under the best artificial conditions. If, however, the 

 average sunlight prevails, they will flower profusely 

 through October, November, February, March and 

 April and sparsely during the Midwinter months. 

 To get the best result, plants should be grown in 

 pots ail Summer from slips or cuttings taken in May. 

 These, at the time they are brought into the house 

 in the FaH, will be nice, sturdy little plants 8 inches 

 or ten inches tall, with two or three shoots and in 

 not larger than five-inch pots.- Large pots conduce to 

 rank, sappy growth; smaU pots to the kind of growth 

 that produces flowers, yet enough soil must be there 

 to enable the plant to grow during the Summer, so a 

 four- or five-inch size is considered the happy me- 

 dium. A bay window facing south is the only aspect 

 for the Winter and the plants should be placed on 

 a shelf so that the leaves touch the glass and should 

 be left there without disturbance. Their leaves will 

 all face, in a short time, toward the window, because 

 it is the upper surface that has the machinery for 

 turning the sunlight into flowers and if the plants 

 are persistently turned around so as to shdw nice 

 faces to the room, they will quickly exhaust their 

 strength, in the vain endeavor to have their own way. 



