2 3 4- THE FLOWER GROWER'S GUIDE. 



asters, candytuft, eschscholtzias, godetias, mignonette, sweet alyssum, scented stocks 

 and other annuals. If any of these are sown where they are to flower they must be 

 early and freely thinned out, crowded plants soon failing. It is desirable in many 

 instances that a few quick-growing showy climbers be also planted or sown at the ends 

 of window boxes, these being trained up rods or strings on each side for festooning the 

 windows. For this purpose such plants as the yellow Tropa3olum peregrinum, the 



scarlet T. Lobbianum, Convolvulus major and sweet 

 peas are suitable. During the winter these boxes can 

 be filled with ornamental-leaved, berry-bearing and 

 flowering shrubs, also small conifers, as recommended 

 for the beds, and in the spring their places may be taken 

 by a variety of flowering plants, bulbous rooting or 

 otherwise. See "Winter Bedding. 



Balconies likewise admit of beautification by plants 

 in tubs, boxes and pots. In the warmest positions 

 there may be grouped, during the summer, several 

 of the hardier palms and ferns mentioned in connec- 

 tion with the sub-tropical garden, also fuchsias, Zonale 

 pelargoniums, begonias, marguerites, heliotropes, 

 Nicotiana affmis, musk and stocks — some of these 

 largely on account of their perfume. For very cold, 

 shady balconies neat conifers in tubs are to be pre- 

 ferred, and these may be effectively arranged in the 

 warmer balconies during the winter, associating tree 

 box, hollies in variety, aucubas, euonymuses, mahonias 

 and other hardy evergreens with them. Tubs are preferable for those positions, 

 because they absorb or part with moisture less readily than do pots, and also owing 

 to their being frost-proof, which cannot be said of pots. It should also be remem- 

 bered that abundance of water and occasional surfacings of artificial manure are 

 needed during the summer, and water ought to be given at least once a week during 

 the winter, unless frost prevail. The balcony pillars and exposed trellis and lattice 

 work ought to be covered with hardy and tender flowering climbers and ivies, all of 

 which will be found to succeed best if planted out as advised in the chapter on Climbers 

 (page 147). In pots and boxes they quickly become starved, not infrequently becoming 

 objects to be pitied rather than admired. 



Fig. 115. Vase and Balustrade 



ATTRACTIVELY FURNISHED. 



