722 



THE WINDOW GARDEN. 



"I suppose you won't want to miss seeing the 'baby 

 orchid ?' " There was a twinkle in the eye of the guide 

 as from a group of gushing young women in the next 

 room floated out : "Oh, mamma ! do look at the dear 

 little baby in the middle ; isn't he too cute ?" 



'■ I make it a point never to refer to the baby orchid," 

 replied the American Gardening reporter, " but I think 

 I shall have to break my rule this time." 



Like a cool breeze came the remark from a well- 

 poised young woman : " How can they make such a fuss 

 over that thing ? I think it is simply hideous— those 

 ugly browns and greenish yellows, and that sprawling 

 infant, if they choose to call it by that name !" 



All the halls were filled with boxes of seed-packages 

 and bulbs and pots of hardy perennials in bloom. Every 

 bench and alley was bordered with Asparagus phtmosus 

 nanus. A plant that will take the place of maidenhair 

 ferns and smilax, and that is more lasting than either, is 



indeed a "find," and 50,000 fine specimens of this as 

 paragus attest the firm's belief in it. 



This year's importation of Australian tree-ferns is the 

 finest ever noted. If anything in green can be prettier 

 than two of the fine houses, 25x100 feet each, filled, the 

 one with Araucaria excclsa, the other with Adiantum 

 Farleycnse, it must be in the imagination of the be- 

 holder. The latter is called the finest of all the ferns, 

 and this house is claimed to contain the finest lot in the 

 whole world. The araucaria forms a miniature Christ- 

 mas tree, with frond-like branches. It is perfect in form, 

 and will stand a very low temperature. 



Mere mention of even all the specialties in the 21 

 orchid-houses and 27 exotic and chrysanthemum-houses 

 is impossible. Suffice it to say that the mammoth Short 

 Hills establishment is a show in itself at any time of the 

 year, and always worthy a visit. 



Nclu Jersey. C. S. Valentine. 



THE WINDOW-GARDEN. 



HOW TO KEEP 



INDOW-ANNUALS. — In repot- 

 ting plants that have been 

 bedded out all summer, it fre- 

 quently happens that seeds or 

 I tiny plants of annuals are 



' taken up in the soil, and the 



— i^ i. way they thrive and bloom if 



left to grow in the pots is 

 something wonderful. For en- 

 terprise and adaptability, an- 

 nuals take a first premium. 

 It is hard to pull them up and 

 throw them away, when you 

 see how faithfully they are 

 striving to make your window bright. And some of these 

 annuals are really very fine for the window. The blue 

 phacelias are charming pot-plants, not so much on ac- 

 count of their neat little flowers as for their abundant 

 fern-like foliage. They need an abundance of water, 

 however, and appropriate for themselves moist corners 

 in window-boxes that are too cold for the greenhouse 

 plants. Browallias seem to spring up from seed in every 

 window-box I have. They come into flower very quickly, 

 and it is impossible to pull them up after their cunning 

 little blue and white flowers begin to nod at you from 

 the window-sill. 



Sweet alyssum makes a pretty, snowy fringe for border- 

 ing large pots containing other plants ; and mignonette — 

 whoever had too much of it, in winter or summer ? Seeds 

 scattered over the top of pots and boxes any time in win- 

 ter will come up and bloom in a few weeks. 



I shall not recommend cobaeas for the window, much 

 as some people like them. They grow all over other 

 plants, and almost smother them before any purple cobaea 

 flowers are produced. One winter's affliction with an ex- 

 uberance of cobaea was enough for me.- Cypress vines and 



morning glories are much prettier for window drapery. 



Winter Roses — Some of us are quite proud when we 

 can coax fine roses into bloom in winter. It can't be 

 done unless the plants have a warm, sunny southern 

 window, good soil, plenty of fresh air, and enough mois- 

 ture in the air to keep the buds from drying up after they 

 begin to unfold. If roses stand in an east kitchen win- 

 dow, where they can be sprayed regularly, window and 

 all, little danger threatens them from either insects or 

 blighted buds. Sometimes when choice rose-buds sulk 

 and refuse to expand, they may be coaxed into full blos- 

 soms by gently breathing into them, carefully manipulav 

 ting the calyx, or spraying and watering with water a 

 little warmer than usual. A really fine, fragrant tea- 

 rose is well worth all the trouble. The polyanthas do 

 not require so much coaxing for winter flowers as the 

 teas, nor so warm a temperature. 



Foliage Plants. — A fine foliage - plant, clean and 

 healthy and well colored, is quite as beautiful as a flow- 

 ering plant, and it has the advantage of being bright all 

 the time. The mottled beauties do well in north win- 

 dows, where carnations, geraniums, callas, etc., find it 

 too dark and cold. In such windows one can group 

 crimson - streaked dracasnas, farfugiums with shining' 

 leathery, yellow-dotted leaves, aspidistras, some of the 

 smaller brightly-painted caladiums, and others, accord- 

 ing to taste and fancy. Cyclamens have leaves as beau- 

 tiful as any of these, and cyclamens bloom well, too, in 

 north windows. Their flowers always remind me of 

 cunning little rabbits with the ears buttoned back. The 

 snail's favorite feeding-ground is just on top of cyclamen 

 bulbs, where all the young leaf and bud-stems spring up. 

 They must be watched for and removed, or they will 

 sadly mutilate fine plants. The housekeeper's foliage- 

 plants, like her light bread, are always on hand and 

 ready for any emergency. 



