(Ihe Christmas fousc ^ (Harden 
t 9 t - z 
lovely delicate pinks. Mme. Recamier, per¬ 
haps the best of the double whites, makes a 
very compact, sturdy plant. Silver-leafed 
Nutt, very recently introduced, is, I believe, 
destined to be one of the most popular of 
all geraniums. It has the rich flowers of 
S. A. Nutt and leaves of a beautiful dull, 
light green, bordered with silver white. I 
am chary of novelties, but was not disap¬ 
pointed when I got my first plants of this 
variety. 
The sweet scented geraniums are valu¬ 
able for their delicious fragrance and also 
the beauty and long keeping quality of the 
leaves when used for table decoration with 
other flowers. Rose and Lemon (or skele¬ 
ton) are the two old favorites of this type. 
The Mint geranium with a broad large leaf 
of a beautiful soft green, and thick, velvety 
texture, should be better known. All three 
must be kept well cut back, as they like 
to grow long and scraggly. 
The “ivy-leaved” geraniums have not yet 
come into their own. They are my favorite 
of all the geraniums. The leaves are like 
ivy leaves, only thicker and more glossy. The flowers, which are 
freely borne, contain some of the most beautiful and delicate 
shades and markings of any flowers, and the vines are exceeding¬ 
ly graceful in habit when given a place where they can spread 
out or hang down. 
Another plant for a sunny window that for sheer abundance 
of bloom, perpetual color and cheer, is the humble petunia. And 
it will thrive with the slightest of care. It is, however, a little 
coarse, and some people object to its heavy odor. The flowers are 
both single and double, each having its advocates. Both have 
been vastly improved within the last few years. Certain it is that 
some of the new giant ruffled singles are remarkably beautiful, 
even as individual flowers; and the new fringed doubles, which 
come in agreeable shades of pink, variegated to pure white (in¬ 
stead of that harsh magenta which characterized the older style), 
produce solid masses of bloom, even where only one or two plants 
are grown, so that it is not necessary to mass them for good effect. 
Another good “sunny 
plant” is the “flowering 
maple” (Abutilon). It 
is an old favorite among 
house plants, but not 
seen now as generally 
as it deserves to be. It 
i s practically ever- 
blooming, which at once 
marks it as highly de¬ 
sirable. The pendulous 
flowers are very pretty, 
coming in shades of 
pink, white, yellow, and 
dark red. The foliage 
is also beautiful, espe¬ 
cially that of the varie¬ 
gated varieties, than 
which very few plants 
are more worthy of a 
place in the window gar¬ 
dener’s collection. New 
plants, which will grow 
and bloom very rapidly, 
are propagated by cut¬ 
tings rooted in the fall or spring. Give the 
plants, when indoors, plenty of light. 
The varieties are numerous. Some of the 
best are Santana, deep red; Boule de Neige, 
pure white; Gold Bell, yellow; Darwini tesse- 
latum; Souvenir de Bonn and Savitzii (va¬ 
riegated). 
Other well-known plants doing well in the 
sunny window are callas, alyssum mesem- 
bryanthemum, English daisies, some of the 
Begonias (those used in the summer for 
bedding), impatiens, and such foliage plants 
as vincas, dracenas, tradescantia. 
Most of the flowering bulbs will also do 
well in full sunlight, and this class of plants 
is one of the most attractive of all for the 
window garden. 
The winter garden is not complete without 
a vine or two to add that charm which vines 
alone can give to the general effect. Nothing 
else can make the other plants look so nat¬ 
urally in place, nor form such an attractive 
frame for the outlook from the room (or the 
inlook from the outside, for that matter), as 
a vine trained up and about the window. 
And, furthermore, no other plants can make such a display for 
the amount of pot room required. 
The thunbergia, sometimes called the “butterfly plant,” is the 
best all-round flowering plant for the house. The flowers are 
freely produced, average an inch to an inch and a half across, 
and cover a wide range of colors, including white, blue, purple, 
yellow and shades and combinations of these. Its requirements 
are not special and the vines grow rapidly when allowed to run 
in the house. It can be grown from seed, but cuttings make the 
best plants. 
Thunbergia laurifolia has flowers of white and blue; T. fra- 
grans, pure white; and T. Mysorensis, purple and yellow. 
The swainsonia, although really a shrub, may be trained up in 
vinelike form, and bears beautiful clusters of sweet-pea like 
flowers, white or light pink. The foliage, also, is remarkably 
pretty, and as the flowers are borne freely for a long time, and 
will soon begin again if the plant is cut back quite severely at 
the close of the flower 
ing period, it makes a 
very unusual and de¬ 
sirable plant for house 
culture. 
Next to the helio¬ 
trope, and as old a fa¬ 
vorite, is that marvelous 
scented shrub, the lemon 
verbena. It is very 
hardy, but will, like the 
heliotrope, drop its 
leaves under adverse 
conditions. A single 
leaf will scent up half 
the room. Another 
flower especially desira¬ 
ble for fragrance is the 
heliotrope, an old and 
universal favorite. A 
plant well cared for will 
last for years, but one’s 
stock may be readily in- 
(Continued on page 
399 ) 
One cause of trouble is dust on the leaves. 
Wipe them with a moist cloth 
The sweet-scented geranium is an old 
favorite well worth growing indoors. 
Do not let it grow scraggly 
Another view of the plant shown at the 
left after it has been pruned to pro¬ 
duce healthy growth 
( 356 ) 
