340 



MANUAL OF GARDENING 



plants may be used. For full exposure to the sun, it will be 

 necessary to choose the more vigorous-growing kinds. In the 

 latter position, suitable plants for drooping would be: trope- 

 olums,* passifloras,* the single petunias, sweet alyssum, lobehas, 

 verbenas, mesembryanthemums. For erect-growing plants : ge- 

 raniums, heliotropes, phlox. If the position is a shaded one, the 

 drooping plants might be of the following: tradescantia, Kenil- 

 worth ivy, senecio* or parlor ivy, sedums, moneywort,* vinca, 

 smilax,* lygodium* or cHmbing fern. Erect-growing plants 

 would be dracenas, palms, ferns, coleus, centaurea, spotted calla, 

 and others. 



After the plants have filled the earth with roots, it will 

 be desirable to give the surface among them a very fight 

 sprinkling of bone-dust or a thicker coating of rotted manure 

 from time to time during the summer; or instead of this, a 

 watering with weak liquid manure about once a week. Tfiis 

 is not necessary, however, until the growth shows that the roots 

 have about exhausted the soil. 



In the fall the box ma}^ be placed on the inside of the window. 

 In this case it will be desirable to thin out the foliage somewhat, 

 shorten in some of the vines, and perhaps remove some of the 

 plants. It will also be desirable to give a fresh coating of rich 

 ssoil. Increased care will be necessary, also, in watering, since 

 the plants will have less light than previously, and, moreover, 

 there may be no provision for drainage. 



Porch-boxes may be made in the same general plan. Since 

 the plants are likely to be injured in porch-boxes, and since these 

 boxes should have some architectural effect, it is well to use 

 abundantly of rather heavy greenery, such as swordfern (the 

 common form of Nephrolepis exaltata) or the Boston fern, 

 Asparagus Sprengeri, wandering jew, the large drooping vinca 

 (perhaps the variegated form), aspidistra. With these or simi- 

 lar things constituting the body of the box planting, the flower- 

 ing plants may be added to heighten the effect. 



