Successes With House Plants 
FIVE EXPERIENCES IN GROWING VARIOUS PLANTS INDOORS—THE WHOLE STORY 
OF THE CARE AND TREATMENT THAT BROUGHT THE MOST SUCCESSFUL RESULTS 
Photographs by the Authors and Charles Jones 
Growing the Primrose 
T KNOW of no flowering plant more 
A apt to give perfect satisfaction in 
the winter window garden than the prim¬ 
rose. In certainty of bloom it far sur¬ 
passes the time-honored geranium, and 
in ease of culture its requirements are of 
the simplest. Good garden loam, well 
mixed with a little sharp sand and some 
leaf mould, together with good drainage 
and not too large a pot, are all the soil 
requirements, and as it is not a plant re¬ 
quiring a large amount of sunshine it 
may be grown successfully in windows 
not specially adapted to the majority of 
plants — a north window for instance. 
However, I prefer to grow primroses 
in an east window when practicable, but 
have had excellent success with them 
even in the trying conditions of a west 
window. Especially has this been the 
case with that variety known as Baby 
primrose. One plant of this species 
made the remarkable record of blooming 
all winter in a north window. It was 
planted out in a north window box in the spring, and continued 
to bloom all summer and the following winter bloomed almost as 
freely in a west window, thus giving nearly eighteen months of 
continuous bloom. 
Primroses may be grown very successfully from seed sown in 
the house in April in shallow flats, pricked out into larger flats 
as soon as large enough to handle, and when a couple of inches 
high potted off into thumb pots and plunged into boxes of damp 
sand in an east window. As often as the pots fill with roots the 
plants should be shifted carefully into pots a size—no more — 
larger, until by fall they should be well-grown plants in six inch 
pots, ready to give an abun¬ 
dance of bloom all winter. 
Or if one prefers, bloom¬ 
ing plants may be had of 
the florist in early winter, 
ready for immediate effect. 
The most satisfactory way 
to arrange the plants is to 
place the pots in window 
boxes, filling in the space 
between with sand kept 
damp but not wet, or if pre¬ 
ferred sphagnum moss may 
be substituted for the sand. 
In potting primroses the 
crown of the plant should 
be somewhat above the 
level of the soil so that 
water may drain away from 
instead of toward the 
crown, as too much mois¬ 
ture is apt to cause decav 
at this point; for this reason the plants 
should never be overwatered nor should 
water be allowed to stand in the saucers. 
As to temperature, the primrose is 
originally an alpine or boreal plant and 
still seems to prefer the cool weather. 
If kept in a room of about 50° F. it 
thrives best; when it becomes warmer, 
the blossoms do not last nearly as long. 
Where selection is made of the fern¬ 
leaved varieties of primroses it will be 
found an advantage to place the pots on 
brackets at the side of the windows; 
this allows the large, beautiful leaves, 
which are easily injured, to droop in a 
natural manner, and as much of the 
beauty of the plant depends on the per¬ 
fection of its foliage, this is of much 
moment. A box of the strong-colored 
red and the white primroses on tne win¬ 
dow sill, flanked with specimen plants 
of the fern-leaved on either side, make 
a beautiful window and one which is 
sure to excite enthusiastic admiration 
from all who see it. The varieties most 
successful for house plants are those of 
the Chinese (or Sinensis ) order. Obconica, Forbesi and verticil- 
lata are other varying types equally good. 
Ida D. Bennett 
Dutch Bulbs as House Plants 
’C'OR rooms that have a cool temperature there are no better 
A house plants than Dutch bulbs, and the fact that they suc¬ 
ceed where it is not warm enough for more tropical plants, is by 
no means their only good quality. Their flowers equal or exceed 
in beauty those of any other house plant; they have the great ad¬ 
vantage of being out of the 
way except during the 
period when they are ob¬ 
jects of special interest —- 
and after a season of forc¬ 
ing indoors they do good 
service as garden plants, 
where, being hardy, they 
do not demand the fussing 
necessary to keep more ten¬ 
der plants in proper shape 
for future results. Narcissi 
of the polyanthus type 
have not the hardiness of 
the other sorts, but have 
been wintered over out¬ 
doors with extra protection. 
Two or three bulbs of 
the same variety in a four 
or five inch pot give the 
most satisfactory results 
for amateur gardeners who 
An effective use of bulbs as house plants. The 
history of these plants is given in table below 
Table Showing a Succession of Bloom for Three Months at a Cost of Forty 
Cents. 
Season of Bloom. 
Jan. 9 to Feb. I- 
Jan. 28 to Mar. 1. 
Feb. 26 to Mar. 19. 
Mar. 25 to Apr. 4. 
Table Showing Six Pols of Bulbs that Gave Continuous Bloom from Christmas 
to Easter. 
Chinese lily .Nar. Oct. Last Nov- Second Dec. 23 to Jan. 12. 
Double Roman .Nar. Oct. Third Dec. Third Jan. 13 to Jan. 25. 
Grand Soleil d'Or.Na,r. Oct. Fiirst Dec. First Jan. 22 to Feb. 13. 
Mixed.Crocus Oct. Last Dec. Last Feb. 7 to Mar. 12. 
Von Sion .Nar. Oct. Last Feb. Second Mar. 7 to Mar. 25. 
Princess Marianne .Tulip Oct. Last Mar. First Mar. 23 to Apr. 12. 
Table Giving History of Bulbs Shown in Accompanying Photo. 
Mixed.Crocus Oct. Third Dec. Second In bloom Jan. 29. 
Von Sion.Nar. Oct. Third Dec. Last In bloom Feb. 13. 
(Raised as a water 
plant) 
Grape .Hy. Oct. Third Nov. Second In bloom Feb. 13. 
Roman .Hy. Dec. Third Jan. Last In bloom Feb. 13. 
Dutch Roman.Hy. Oct. Last Jan. Last In bloom Mar. 9. 
Variety. Planted. Brought to Light. 
Bulb. Month. Week. Month. Week. 
Paper White.Nar. Oct. First .Dec. First 
Garrick .Hy. Oct. Third Dec. Third 
Poeticus ornatus .Nar. Oct. Last Jan. Last 
Empress .Nar. Oct. Last Mar- First 
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