"THE SEASON" WINDOW-BOX 17 



great success for the sunny side of the street is to have 

 the whole house painted white, and to fill every box and 

 balcony with the lovely tendrils of Asparagus Sprengeri^ 

 and nothing else. This ripples over most luxuriantly ; 

 to look at it makes one feel cool on the hottest day. 

 After two hours' eye-strain at the Royal Academy no 

 sight could be more refreshing. The Sprengeri is 

 often used for pendant baskets, which it furnishes to 

 perfection. 



However handsome may be the receptacle for our 

 flowers, no arrangement is really so pretty as that which 

 gives them trailing blossoms and greenery to hang and 

 cluster over the hard edge. Campanulas are always 

 ready to do this gracious task, and can be had either in 

 pink or white to suit every requirement. 



If we live in a flat that has a good many windows and 

 aspects, we may enjoy a great number of different growing 

 plants. Before the kitchen-window I should have a box 

 for parsley and a herb or two. They make for grace as 

 well as use. Some herbs grow very prettily, and their 

 aromatic, refreshing scent (so unaccustomed in a town 

 drawing-room) will please more than that of the costliest 

 exotic. I have sometimes amused myself by making a 

 nosegay out of nothing but herbs. In a sick-room it is 

 priceless. Wormwood — the herb that in France is used 

 for making absinthe — is a very graceful grower, of pale 

 grey green not unlike Southernwood or Old-Man, bvit 

 finer, and it has a more delicate and subtle scent. Another 

 herb. Sweet Cicely, is often mistaken for a fern, though 

 it is softer and bears flowers. Mint, Balm, Sage, and 

 Rue make a pleasing bunch, and these herbs will grow 

 anywhere ; they are not afraid of London smoke. Parsley 

 is more difficult to manage, but is just as tricky in the 

 garden as in the box. It is perhaps as well to buy this 

 with our cabbages and cauliflowers. Some of the other 

 herbs are really not procurable in towns, however gladly 



