May 22, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
597 
WINDOW GARDENING. 
At a recent meeting of the Clonmel Industries 
Association, Mr. W. J. Murphy read a paper on window 
and town gardening as an industrial pastime, from 
which we take the following extracts :—Gardening is 
said to be the purest of human pleasures—the one 
solitary amusement of which its votary never tires— 
which may be pursued from earliest childhood to 
tottering old age, without once causing its devotee to 
look back with regret ; but, on the contrary, the real 
zest and enjoyment increases as our knowledge expands, 
and our success in managing our favourite plants is 
more fully realised. As these observations are princi¬ 
pally intended for those resident in towns, and who, in 
many instances, either from circumstances or choice, are 
confined to what they may successfully grow within the 
limits of a window, I propose considering the subject 
under the following heads :—1. Windows and window 
arrangements of suitable plants ; 2. The most suitable 
same water being used over and over again, being self¬ 
acting by its own pressure. The case was partially 
shaded except in front. The balcony was a blaze of 
brilliancy, creepers running up on both sides, such as 
Vitis purpurea and Ampelopsis Yeitchi; while Clematis 
festooned overhead, and drooped over the ornamental 
front of the balcony. Indiarubber plants, sweet Ver¬ 
benas, Fuchsias, Begonias (foliage and dowering), with 
Coleus and the more hardy Palms alternated. So much 
for a window garden in one of the finest streets of the 
most brilliant city in the world. Yet, a gentleman 
told me the whole window arrangements (florally) did 
not cost a £5 note. This is one of the lessons I would 
emphasise—bright and gorgeous effects are often owing 
more to taste than lavish expenditure, and this is cha¬ 
racteristic of the French. 
I was subsequently shown an elaborate window 
arrangement in Oxford Street, London, in which, a 
gentleman for a few hours displayed, some rare Orchids 
beautiful window effects are not dependent on great 
wealth, nor on flowering plants alone, but that a more 
lasting result can be attained by combinations of foliage 
and flowers. 
2. The Most Suitable Window and Room-plants 
and theih General Treatment. 
I have given illustrations of typical window and 
balcony gardens from Paris, London, and Dublin ; I 
now propose to mention what our local and artisan 
friends can have nearer home. The person who would 
succeed in growing to perfection any plant whatever in 
red “scrabby” pots on a window-stool in the open air 
would deserve a prize. One day’s hot sun will roast 
the roots, if not watered—while a heavy shower, will as 
a rule, make them water-logged. A box is better, 
either with soil to put the plants in, or without soil, to 
drop the pots into. In either case holes should be bored 
through, to allow superfluous water to pass away. 
Various contrivances have I seen to take the water 
Sai.piglossis sinuata. 
plants and their general treatment ; 3. In-door or 
Room Plants. 
1. Windows and their Arrangements for 
Plants. 
People who have never been out of a local town like 
Clonmel can have no conception of the perfection 
attained in the culture of window plants in Paris, 
London, Dublin, and even in smoky towns in Lan¬ 
cashire. Take an illustration from each. I once 
stopped in the Rue de Rivoli, Paris, to watch a lady 
move out a glass window or “ Wardian ” case from the 
drawing room to the balcony. It was on rails ; the 
window was accurately poised on pulleys ; a pressure of 
the finger sent it up, and a similar pressure sent out 
the glass case from inside. It was the autumn, and 
though the days were very sultry, smart frosts fre¬ 
quently supervene at night ; hence the advantage of 
such an arrangement. The case contained principally 
Ferns—in the more shaded inside corners were Killarney 
Ferns, and a fine specimen of Todea superba. In this 
case, centrally situated, was a miniature fountain, 
throwing its spray to the top, and catching it below in 
a small basin, where some gold fish disported ; the 
—nothing imposing, except to the initiated—yet one 
Cattleya, I was told, cost 200 guineas. I mention this 
by way of contrast, and as characteristic of wealthy 
London. I am not sure if a window box noticed in Merion 
Square, in Dublin, the cost of which must have been 
merely nominal, was not as effective and telling, though 
it contained no flowering plant, its brilliancy being 
dependent on foliage. Sunk in the box were fine 
specimens of Coleus, of the richest tints, capable of 
being lifted readily and taken inside if storms threat¬ 
ened to shatter the soft foliage. Alternately with those 
were small plants of Berberis, Mahonia, Choisya ternata, 
variegated Aucubas, and variegated Euonymous, while 
at each end like feathery sentinels, waved two handsome 
specimens of Acacia lophantha. The box and window 
stool were draped with variegated Ivy, and running up 
from a lower story and skirting the window sides was a 
sweet water Vine with brilliant foliage on the one side, 
and the Passion Flower—Passiflora coerulea—on the 
other. This was not far from a brilliant balcony of 
flowers tended by “Speranza,” whose poetry many 
Irishmen and women are proud of. I have thus given 
three illustrations taken from three of the finest cities 
in the world, in some respects typical, and showing that 
drainings away. An ingenious person can always 
manage that. One great advantage having the 
plants outside the windows of a room is that light and 
air is not impeded, and a further advantage is the 
evaporation from the box or plants, which might be 
injurious in a bedroom, passes away. As I have already 
stated, windows intended for plants should either be 
mounted on pulleys, to move readily up and down, or 
at least be capable of opening inwards. Windows only 
capable of opening outwards cannot be readily utilized 
when plants are being tended. Too constant watering 
is avoided by planting the edges of boxes or large pots 
with Sedums or hardy Saxifrages lining, or covering 
with moss. 
What is best to have in your boxes of soil is the 
next question ? I am not sure if I were limited to one 
annual alone, I would not noiv purchase a few pence 
worth of Mignonette ; keep the surface moist until it 
commences to grow, and have something to scent our 
rooms and the air all round, until cut off by frost next 
December. A greater variety would be produced by 
having Asters or Stocks, or some other handsome annual 
growing through the Mignonette ; or the edging of blue 
Lobelia, with Sweet Peas, Canary Creepers or Nastur- 
