THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



129 



strengthened by iron braces. Good ash, elm, 

 or oak bark make a suitable covering. 



Boxes of pottery, if they can be had, will 

 be found the very best of all, because they do 

 not leak at the corners and decay, but the} 1 

 are expensive and rather heavy. 



Window boxes should be strongly made, 

 because they have to support a heavy weight 

 of soil. They should be of inch boards fitted 

 together as carefully as the skill of the gar- 

 dener allows, or better still, made by a car- 

 penter, otherwise the sides will warp and 

 allow the water to run through too freely, 

 eventually washing out and exhausting the 

 soil. Drainage is to be supplied by holes 

 bored in the bottom of the box, six inches 

 apart, and covered with pieces of broken 

 flower pots, charcoal, or bits of broken stone 

 to provide passage for the water, and yet 



312. A window framed in green by (he aid of trel- 

 lises and a window box. Marguerites, Vinca major, and 

 geraniums, with coboea on the trellis. The front of 

 the box is finished in natural bark 



keep the soil from wearing out — in exactly 

 the same way as pots are "crocked." 



The best window boxes should be the full 

 length of the window casing outside with a 

 minimum depth and width of one foot. If 

 these divisions must, for the sake of economy, 

 be reduced to six inches wide and nine inches 

 deep, the growth of the plants will not be so 

 luxuriant. The more soil there is, the less 

 liable are the plants to become dried out in 

 the hottest summer days. If the window 

 sill is not wide enough to support a foot-wide 

 box, provide brackets to carry the necessary 

 extra width. 



THE SOIL AND MANAGEMENT 



Give the plants good soil to grow in. The 

 ideal mixture for flowering plants and vines 

 is one-third regular garden soil (or soil found 

 directly under the sod in a fertile pasture), 

 one-third compost or well-rotted manure, 

 and one-third sand. If it cannot be had, use 



the richest garden soil you can secure and 

 mix half as much sand with it. For foliage 

 plants, such as ferns, begonias, and cala- 

 diums, omit the compost or manure, and 

 use instead well-rotted leaf mold. Planting 

 is done as in beds, the soil having been first of 

 all made firm in the boxes. During the heat 

 of the summer months, after the plants in 

 the boxes have been growing long enough to 

 have a net of roots, the application of a weak 

 liquid fertilizer — manure-water the color of 

 weak tea — will help to keep the flowers and 

 vines in a thriving condition. Bone meal, 

 scattered lightly over the surface of the soil, 

 may be used instead, or chemical fertilizer 

 in strength of one ounce to five gallons of 

 water once in three weeks. 



Window boxes exposed to the action of 

 sun and wind on all sides require a great deal 

 of water during the summer, especially if 

 they are on southern exposures. They 

 should be thoroughly watered every day. If 

 the drainage has been properly provided for, 

 there will be no danger of the soil turning 

 sour. In the heat of summer, too, the earth 

 may shrink away from the sides of the box, 

 thus leaving a channel of escape to the water, 

 without properly soaking the soil. If the 

 surface, however, is kept open, and the centre 

 of the box kept a little lower than the sides, 

 this danger will be avoided, and it is not likely 

 to occur if attention to water is persistently 

 given and the box never allowed to dry out. 



Don't crowd the plants. If your box has 

 a surface area of four square feet, for in- 

 stance, about the right proportion would be 

 five erect plants, such as geraniums, and 

 three vines. The wider you make your box 

 the more plants you will be able to grow. 



The growth and beauty of your plants will 

 be greatly stimulated by keeping the window 

 above the box open as much as possible. If 

 the sun beats down on the plants in a south 

 or west window box, and is in turn reflected 

 by the glass of the windows, it will create a 

 condition trying even for tropical plants, 

 and for most plants such a condition would 

 mean almost certain death. If the wind is 

 allowed to sweep over them, they will stand 

 any reasonable amount of heat and moisture. 



SELECTING THE PLANTS 



In choosing the plants we ought to con- 

 sider the color of the house and not get a box- : 

 ful of magenta flowers that shriek at our pea- 

 green walls. Another principle is to avoid 

 the use of too many colors in such a limited 

 space. For example, if you like geraniums 

 and vines, use only one variety of geranium. 

 If more than one color is used in a box it is 

 important to have a number of white-flowered 

 plants, as white flowers and green foliage are 

 Nature's peacemakers. Flowering plants 

 should be where the sun will shine upon them 

 each day for a good many hours; foliage 

 plants, ferns, and the vines that love shade, 

 on all windows fronting the north and on 

 most of those facing the east. 



There is no point in describing the mate- 

 rials, because "descriptions don't describe" 

 and it is far better to see the flowers at the 

 local florist's or study the pictures on the win- 

 dow-garden page of the leading catalogues. 



313. The awning is rolled back most of the time 

 so that sun-loving plants can be flowered (here. Later 

 the cannas in the jardiniere will be a blaze of red 



For boxes exposed to the sun all the varie- 

 ties of geranium — scarlet, cardinal, salmon- 

 pink and white — are good. The blue helio- 

 trope and the dwarf ageratum, the white 

 snapdragon, the white Maurandia vine and 

 the various verbenas, may be used in com- 

 bination with the geraniums or without 

 them. 



On the north side of the house Dayton uses 

 large quantities of trailing fuchsias, ivy 

 geraniums, Japanese morning glories, fancy 

 caladiums, training vincas, and begonias. 

 No better or more beautiful foliage plant for 

 northern exposures can be found than 

 Asparagus Sprengeri. 



Boston ferns, Russelia, and many of the 

 foliage plants may also be used in boxes 

 looking toward the east. Omit geraniums 

 and use nasturtiums or Thunbergias in com- 

 bination with snapdragons, Maurandia, helio- 

 tropes, wild cucumber and Manettia vines. 



For south or west window boxes no plant is 

 more satisfactory than the S. N. Nutt gera- 

 nium, with its rich vermilion blossoms, or 

 the Bruant with its vivid scarlet blooms. 

 Purple ageratums and heliotrope are also 

 favorites. Among the most satisfactory white 

 flowers in Dayton's experience are snap- 

 dragons, petunia, and Drummond phlox. 



314. On a northern exposure, but in full light, 

 umbrella plant, centaurea, geraniums, vinca, and 

 asparagus thrive 



