267, 268. Plants thai are always perfect are of most use for indoor decoration. Boston ferns, screw pines, rubbers and begonias are handsome at all seasons. 

 Many flowerfng plants are unsatisfactory when out of bloom and require more light than the foliage plants 



Ever Beautiful Window Plants— By Millie F. Lupton ;s 



WHY THE "DECORATIVE" FOLIAGE PLANTS THAT DO NOT FLOWER ARE SUITABLE FOR THE WINDOW GARDEN, 

 AND THE KINDS THAT ARE EASIEST TO GROW— SIMPLE RULES FOR SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT OF INDOOR PLANTS 



Photographs by Henrv Troth 



FOR years I grew flowering plants in my 

 windows and had much success, but 

 all the while felt that the work involved was 

 not repaid by the results, for after the 

 blooming period very few of my plants were 

 ornamental. A plant which is always beauti- 



269. The best all-round plants for moderately 

 lighted windows are NorfolK Island pine (Araucaria 

 ezcelsa), Boston fern, rubber and the Bourbon palm 



ful would be a constant delight so I turned 

 my attention to decorative plants. I believe 

 I thought also that there would be much less 

 work attached. I have learned better than 

 that, but I do feel better paid for my labor. 



THE EASIEST PLANTS TO GROW 



My first effort was with a small Boston 

 fern (Nephrolepis exaltata,va.r. Bostoniensis), 

 the easiest of all decorative plants for indoor 

 culture. If you can't grow a Boston fern do 

 not attempt anything else; it responds 

 readily to care and adapts itself to almost 

 any surrroundings. I promptly put mine 

 in a corner where it "looked pretty" and 

 immediately cooked the tender end of 

 each frond — there were only five or six — 



because it was too near the radiator, so 

 it was placed in a window to die. But 

 it lived! Imagine my delight when one 

 morning, after poking gently around in the 

 soil with a hairpin, I discovered a number 

 of dainty green heads popping up here and 

 there. 



This was eight years ago, and to-day that 

 same plant is still my pride. 



A CONTINUOUS SUCCESS 



It came to me in an ordinary flower pot, 

 but, as I saw it did not require great depth of 

 soil and did need surface room, I repotted 

 it into fern dishes as its growth required, and 

 nearly every year have had to get a higher 

 pedestal for it to stand on, until now it 

 occupies a sixteen-inch fern dish, which, 

 with the pedestal, stands fifty inches high, 

 and some of the fronds still rest on the floor. 

 The plant has been repotted three times, using 

 a mixture of some wood-earth, some well- 

 rotted barnyard manure and rich garden 

 soil. The only other fertilizer that has 

 been used is ammonia. This I try to put 

 on once a week, allowing one tablespoonful 

 of the ordinary household solution to a 

 gallon of water. 



THE TROUBLESOME SCALE 



The scale is the only insect that has given 

 any trouble, but as it attacks the old fronds 

 first it is kept under control by breaking 

 off the old fronds as soon as they are infested 

 and picking off the few insects scattered over 

 the rest of the plant. It is not altogether 

 harmful, serving as a warning to remove 

 the old fronds and so put vigor into the 

 new growth. 



The last fronds taken off my plant meas- 

 ured sixty-three inches in length, and for 

 178 



every one taken off five or six new ones 

 seemed to spring up. As the whole plant 

 increased in size the fronds grew correspond- 

 ingly rugged, the majority of them now 

 measuring all of seven inches across. 



CONDITIONS THAT MEAN SUCCESS 



A supply of air is most important. Plants 

 cannot do without it at night any better 

 than people can. Each day the weather vane 

 must tell you which window to open or 

 close, and you must be just as willing and 

 ready to rush downstairs in the night to 

 close the window on a pet plant when a 



270. A NorfolK Island pine gives variety to the 

 indoor plant collection. Keep it in a moderate warmth, 

 water freely, but don't let water remain in saucer and 

 put away from direct sunshine 



