204 
Mignonette. This yellowish-green flower is unat- 
tractive, but most fragrant. Better spikes are grown 
in the window garden than outdoors 
and straggly, pinch back, as is necessary. 
In the summer time you must decide how 
you wish to grow the plants—as dwarfs, 
or as vines. 
To grow a handsome pot plant which can 
be used for decoration anywhere in the house, 
shift the young plants to a 5- or 6-inch pot, 
and use a good, rich, but well-drained soil. 
When the new growths are a foot or so long 
pinch out the end. This will keep the plant 
dwarf and shapely. 
To grow as a vine, plant in boxes just like 
smilax, and be very particular that the soil 
and boxes are well drained. 
The seeds of this asparagus are expensive, 
because it does not fruit freely. 
IN FLOWER ALL THE YEAR 
Of course you will want flowers, as well as 
green foliage. Perhaps the very best all- 
purpose flowering plant is Primula obconica, 
var. grandiflora, which is not tender, and 
blooms the whole twelve months. It is the 
most graceful of all primroses. Its large, 
single flowers are borne in clusters on the 
tops of stems which are four to ten inches 
high, and their pale white cheeks just tinged 
with blue or blushed with rose. In well- 
grown specimens the indrvidual flowers are 
often an inch and a half across. The leaves 
are almost round, sometimes four inches in 
diameter, borne on long stems, and forming 
a rosette supporting the flower stalks. The 
hairs on the leaves are irritating or poisonous 
to some people, which accounts to some ex- 
tent for the plant not being more popular. 
Certainly it will grow in a more varied range 
of temperature, and flower longer than any 
other house plant. 
Sow the seed any time from January to 
March. It may be sown later, but unless you 
have a coldframe in which to shade the seed- 
lings, the young plants will be more dif- 
ficult to manage. By May the seedlings 
should be ready for thumb-pots. A few days 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
after potting, give abundance of air—though 
keep shaded—and never allow them to get 
dry. Syringe on bright mornings, and after 
the middle of September keep at a tempera- 
ture of about 50° at night. In_ potting 
and repotting—they will require several 
shifts—take care not to press in too firmly 
about the roots, and not to cover the crowns 
of the plants. 
FLOWERS FOR FRAGRANCE 
The one plant which will give the greatest 
amount of satisfaction on more distinct 
counts than any other in the window is the 
cherry pie ({elioltropum Peruvianum). The 
beautiful purple color of the flowers combined 
with the sweet spicy perfume (whence its 
English name) and the long period of bloom 
combine to make this an ideal window 
garden plant. 
Originally the heliotrope flowers were 
For flowers all the year rouud grow Primula obconica. 
The foliage is poisonous to some people 
violet colored and borne in trusses about two 
inches across, but now, after much improve- 
ment by breeding, they are also to be found in 
several shades of purple and even white, 
and the individual trusses six inches across. 
Grown in pots or boxes a plant will ul- 
timately cover a space about eighteen 
inches square, and attain a height of a foot’ 
or fifteen inches. 
If you want to do something a little un- 
usual grow a few of the plants to a tree form 
by the method described in the April GARDEN 
MAGazInE, page 142. When handled this 
way four crops of flowers can be had from 
one plant from May to October. Such 
plants are extremely useful for hall and 
porch decoration. 
Sow the seeds at any time from February 
to May and grow the plants in pots all sum- 
mer, as the heliotrope objects to removal or 
any interference with its roots. 
If the plants are kept in the dwelling house 
during the summer, give as cool and moist 
an atmosphere as possible, for though they 
like sunlight, too much dry heat will scorch 
both leaves and flowers. Pinch back the 
plants wanted for winter flowers so as to give 
JANUARY, 1907 
them a stecky form and to prevent them 
from making flowers in the summer. If 
possible plunge them outside in the flower 
border, turning them once in a while to pre- 
vent their rooting through the hole in the 
bottom of the pot. Take into the house 
upon the approach of cold weather. Plung- 
ing means planting pot and all in the soil, 
up to the rim. This keeps the roots cool. 
Measured by fragrance alone I believe 
that the mignonette (Reseda odorata) is by 
far the best window plant for home raising. 
The pyramidal flower heads are unattractive 
in color but they exhale a most delicious odor 
—there is nothing else just like it. 
Mignonette is very hard to transplant; in- 
deed it is impossible to do it without giving 
the plants a check, and the secret of grow- 
ing good mignonette lies in growing it on 
without a check at any stage of its growth. 
For winter bloom sow the seeds in July, 
August, or September. July-sown seed will 
bloom in November. Instead of sowing in 
flats sow directly in pots. 
Prepare as described for flats as many 
2-inch pots as you wish plants to grow. 
Make a slight depression in the soil in the 
centre of each and drop into it two or three 
seeds, covering lightly with soil. When the 
seed has germinated (about two weeks) 
thin to one plant to a pot, retaining the 
strongest. When the pot has become filled 
with roots shift to 4-inch pots and as soon as 
these are full of roots shift to 8-inch pots. 
When giving this last shift put a 2-inch layer 
of drainage. Be very careful not to over- 
water or the soil will sour, but on the other 
hand mignonette must never get dry—that 
would cause a check. For the same reason 
never allow the plants to become pot bound. 
The old-fashioned snapdragon (Antirshinum majus) 
has gorgeous flowers of yellow, white, or crimson. 
Sow seeds now, plant outdoors for flower all sum= 
mer; lift and cut back for winter bloom 
