HOUSE PLANTS” 
_ WATERING, BEGONIAS, ETC. 
Rew or dry pots should be soaked in water before potting ere so as to fill the pores, 
or they will absorb moisture from the soil and dry out the roots. It is a good plan to pro- 
tect potted plants with covers or set them inside of a second pot to keep plant from drying 
out. The roots near the sides of the pot are easily dried in sun or draft. Covers or double 
pots: shade them. Covers can be made of rice matting, and various other materials, or pot 
covers can be, purchased ready made. Set small. plants in’ small pots repotting on into ; 
larger 81ZeS, as the old pots fill up with roots. Never, Son a small 1 plant | in a large: pot, as 
the soil is apt to sour or become sodden. 
Regarding watering, there is no regular rule as to tive) “Water thoroughly whenever 
surface is dry. Plants in vigorous growth require frequent watering ; give them enough 
to soak through the ball and run out of the hole in the bottom of the - ‘pot... One good 
watering is worth a dozen where the water only goes over the surface and around the sides 
of the pots. If the leaves shrivel and turn yellow, it indicates that the soil has been too 
dry ; iS they turn yellow without shriveling, it means too much water; if ae plant looks 
sick and neglected, it shows a failure in following these directions, | 
‘Plants need air and sunshine, but should never stand ina draft or be exposed to drying 
winds or hot sun. . Pot plants are. greatly benefited if moved outside occasionally in the 
cool moist air at night, or ina gentle rain, They enjoy a thorough spraying on their — 
leaves once or twice a week. Ferns should never be sprayed over head. at night, the 
water standing on their foliage spots them, especially Adiantums. Early morning is the 
most favorable time; the soil canbe watered at any time necessary. No plants should be wat- — 
ered and left in the sun, as it will burn them and leave white spots on the leaves. ere 
are especially sensitive, as their native home is inthe ‘shade. 
EE begonias in pots or in the garden look shabby, after long. hlooming: cut back to in- . 
gues new and vigurous growth. Surface watering in the garden causes plants to seek the 
surface, where they dry out when the sun shines hot, while deep diate invites them to 
seek water below, the natural place to find it. — 
Cannas are among our most showy and useful bedding ‘plants, They have a ee 
period in the late fall and early winter months, when they are dormant. At this time the 
old foliage should be cut away, and they ean be divided and eee without injury. 
ce this period we can ship them dry. 
“The Belladonna lily grows in winter and spring, ‘then the. foliage ‘dies. down, and the: 
flower stems and blossom appear, so the leaves and flowers are never seen in company ~ , 
_ with each other. The best time to plant these bulbs is pee ney are ripened in fall, or 
after the leaves die down in the’ epnne: 
“i TRIBUTE TO MRS. SHEPHERD? S GARDENS. 
- [Extract from the Sunday Los Angeles Times,’ Magazine Section, July 6, 1902.] 
Mrs. Théodosia B.. ‘Shepherd’s home is not far from the old mission vardens of San 
Buenaventura, where still. stand the hoary olive trees and the two stately sister palms planted 
more than a century ago by. the Spanish Padres. Herelies Mrs, Shepherd’s garden, flooded 
with sunshine and fanned by the softest sea, reezes. Here grow rare palms from Australia 
and Guadalupe as well as the graceful bamboo” and the Strelitzia reginae from the Cape of « — 
Good Hope, its splendid coloring seeming a sunbeam incarnate. Here a great tree fern 
rises in semitropic beauty, and here flaunt scarlet poinsettias, the rainbow cosmos and the 
giant flowering canna. Myriads of carnations, “the divine flower,” fillthe air with spicy 
perfume. Purple heliotrope riots in long stretches of porgee and great beds of Belladona, 
Amaryllis dazzle the eye with their richness. 
Over great frames and across lath houses are thrown veils of blossoms of the magnificent 
Bignonia venusta, the rich magenta rose bracts of the Bougainvillea, the intense violet blue 
“of the Ipomea Learii, or the rare and snowy Mandayilla grandiflora. Masses of glossy fol- 
iage, long, trailing, graceful branches, showy colors in flaring yellow, trumpet like flowers, 
or airy clusters.of Ipomea. “ Heavenly blue,” or rich rose-pink and scarlet blossoms of 
passion vines all charm the eyé with their effective and exceeding ioveliness. In the, 
shadow of the lath houses, or growing near them in the open air, a hundred varieties of 
captivating begonmias run riot, in myriads of exquisite flowers. While Flora has done much 
to these gardens, art has added greatly to her work, for Mrs. Shepherd has lived so many 
_years close to the heart of nature, and has so truly been her interpreter, that through these ~- 
~-years of careful selection and the ate of cross- Dsl waite ates she has evolved many new 
types of flowers. 
