The Sport of Raising Your House Plants from Seeds 
N. De PHILIPPIS, 
TEN POPULAR FLOWERING PLANTS FOR THE WINDOW GARDEN 
Gloxinia seedling eight 
weeks old 
ROWING at 
home such 
house plants 
as you have 
heretofore been ac- 
customed to pur- 
chase from the flor- 
ists presents a field 
of unusual oppor- 
tunity to the garden 
amateur having a 
reasonable share of 
patience. 
Patience, rather than elaborate equipment 
and costly preparations, is the essential in 
this sport of raising house plants from seed. 
A peculiar sense of affection and comradeship 
will arise within you for plants reared by 
your own efforts through the tender baby 
stages to full grown flowering specimens. And 
let me assure you right here that this is no 
attempt to persuade you to try the growing of 
difficult kinds. 
For all practical purposes, house plants 
may be divided into three classes, namely (i) 
foliage, (2) bulbous, and (3) 
flowering. It is not our 
purpose to consider foliage 
plants, such as Ferns, Rub- 
ber plants. Crotons, etc., 
nor bulbous plants, such as 
Hyacinths, Tulips, Nar- 
cissus, because their pro- 
duction is the work of spec- 
ialists in separate and dis- 
tinct industries. This also 
discounts all kinds of flower- 
ing perennial plants which, 
because of their nature, log- 
ically belong in the herba- 
ceous border but which are 
frequently grown as pot 
plants, such as Shasta 
Daisy, Chrysanthemums, 
Astilbes, etc. 
What is left, and upon 
which I would focus your 
concentrated attention, is 
easily grown flowering house plants of a 
perennial nature. They open many fascinat- 
ing possibilities to the man or woman with an 
indoor gardening instinct and in quest of a 
new winter sport. The flowers in question 
are Begonia (both fibrous and tuberous). 
Cineraria, Cyclamen, Geranium, Gloxinia, 
Helio- 
trope, 
I m p at- 
iens, Pri- 
m u 1 a , 
Schizan- 
thus, and Sola- 
num or Jerusa- 
lem Cherry. 
For our pur- 
poses the ten 
plants may be 
considered in 
two broad divi- 
sions according 
to the condi- 
tions they re- 
quire. Begonia, 
Cyclamen , 
Gloxinia and 
Primula need 
considerable heat to get properly started; while 
the balance thrive under “cool” conditions. 
THE WAY TO START 
The basis of all plant growth is the soil. 
Because the seeds of all the plants here con- 
sidered are very small, it will be necessary to 
have a seedbed that will be nearly ideal for 
the nursing of tender seedlings. After passing 
the seedling stage, most of these plants are 
as rugged as weeds. To start them right, 
use a soil composed of equal parts of leaf- 
mold, fine sand, and rich loam. If you have a 
regular compost heap or can secure soil from 
an old hotbed, you have just what is needed. 
Cineraria seedling three 
weeks old 
Typical “ flat ” with the young plants growing vigorously, 
and now ready to transplant singly into small pots 
>> 
Transplant the young seedlings from seed pan to “ flat ” as soon as they are big enough to handle 
a group 
of 
ten 
Fill your flat pans, or boxes, or pots with 
such soil and saturate it thoroughly with 
water. Sow seeds of Begonia, Gloxinia, 
Cyclamen and Primrose on top of the soil, 
cover with a piece of glass and shade with 
paper to prevent quick drying. Keep moist 
by either wetting the surface with a fine spray 
rubber sprinkler or by partly submerging the 
pot or pan in tepid water. Be careful not to 
let the seeds fall out of the envelope in a heap. 
Spread them broadcast or, if out of practice, 
mix them first with fine sand. Seeds of the 
other plants are even more easily handled. 
Sow in a similar soil and cover very lightly 
with the help of a flour sifter. 
Never let the surface dry out com- 
pletely; also don’t forget that air is 
needed regularly to keep the soil sweet. 
As soon as the seedlings appear, pick 
them out singly with a finely pointed stick and 
transplant into another flat or pan, about an 
inch apart each way. This is what the pro- 
fessional grower calls “pricking off.” Take 
as much soil along from the old seedbed as 
you can without disturbing the balance. 
Should the seedlings begin to “damp off,” 
cover the surface of the whole box with fine, 
dry sand or quickly shift all the seedlings. 
And while I think of it, don’t be in a hurry 
to throw away the 
soil in which the 
seeds were originally 
sown. Especially 
with tuberous- 
rooted Begonias, it 
pays to wait for the 
late comers. It is a 
significant fact that 
they invariably turn 
out to be the finest 
plants producing the 
largest and most 
brilliant flowers. I 
believe this holds 
true with all plants, regardless of kind or class. 
A thing of paramount importance with all 
the flowers considered here is to keep them 
going and growing. Don’t give them a 
chance to stand still for lack of food, or to 
become potbound. Feed certain classes re- 
gularly in a manner suggested later on, and 
shift from pans to small pots and from those 
to larger ones as rapidly as the plants require. 
Remember that the root growth of these 
plants generally equals the 
top growth. When a seed- 
ling plant spreads its leaves 
beyond the rim of the small 
pot, it is time to provide 
more roomy quarters. Rou- 
tine management for each 
plant follows. 
Fibrous Begonias. 
Generally sown during Jan- 
uary and February, the 
small seedlings are usually 
ready for first handling in 
thirty days from date of 
planting. They are ready 
for 2-inch pots when five or 
six leaves have developed 
and usually begin blooming 
100 days after seeds were 
sown. Planted out by the 
end of May, they will bloom 
all summer. If taken up 
by the middle of September, cut back to with- 
in six inches of base and planted in pots or 
even window boxes, all of the semperflorens 
class will bloom again around Christmas. One 
of the finest for this purpose is Begonia sem- 
perflorens compacta rubra. 
Tuberous Begonias require about six 
The seedlings as they grow in the seed pan. ready to 
" prick off” 
Gloxinia seedling twelve 
weeks old 
135 
