22 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
that in the open. You will never get really 
acquainted with your plants until you have 
lived in the same house with them, willy- 
nilly, through many bleak days. You will 
find that the gradual but wonderful develop¬ 
ment of a single new stalk, the opening of 
a single bud in a cluster of a score or more, 
may hold a more absorbing, fascinating in¬ 
terest than you have heretofore found in 
the blossoming of a whole section of plants 
in a garden. You will feel perhaps not 
unlike the wise caliph of olden days who 
traveled abroad in disguise that he might 
meet his subjects as equals: In your out¬ 
door garden you have studied your plants 
from above; in the windowsill you will 
meet them, as it were, on the same level, 
and come to know all the little secrets of 
their existence and development, and the 
things they have to struggle against to be 
strong, healthy, happy plants. 
What the Plants Will Require 
The conditions which will be required 
for success in the indoor garden are light, 
moisture, warmth, fresh air and protection 
from insects. For most flowering plants 
you should have full sun at least part of 
the day, but there are a number of good 
foliage house plants for places where there 
is plenty of light without direct sunshine. 
The heat in the room where you expect 
to keep your plants should be under control 
so that you can maintain a temperature of 
from 40° to 60° at night. Even with 40° 
as the minimum, you can grow most of the 
ordinary house plants provided they can be 
protected during especially cold winter 
nights from frost striking through the win¬ 
dows. This may be done either by moving 
them away from the glass or by placing 
loose papers, a sheet or a blanket just in¬ 
side the glass. Plants which are listed as 
“stove plants” or “tropicals” will as a rule 
require from 50° to 60° as a minimum tem¬ 
perature. The great number of plants 
which are satisfactory for house use, how¬ 
ever, are to be found among the cooler- 
blooded varieties. It is often feasible to 
cut off the baywindow or end of a room 
where the winter garden may be situated 
with screens or curtains extending well up 
One of our most valuable winter blooming 
indoor plants is the Primula obconica. 
When potting, the plants should be set 
fairly deep 
Its creamy white masses and delicate per¬ 
fume make the spirea a valuable addition. 
It needs a well drained pot and plenty of 
moisture 
to the ceiling so that part of the room may 
be kept warmer than the rest of the house 
at night and better suited for the plants. 
Moisture, perhaps, is the factor most fre¬ 
quently neglected in keeping plants healthy 
indoors. Fortunately it is the one which 
can most readily be controlled. So far as 
moisture is concerned the greatest source 
of trouble is ignorance of what the plants 
require. In the first place moisture in the 
air is as essential as moisture in the soil. 
In the ordinary living-room, particularly if 
it is steam-heated, the air is usually so devi¬ 
talized and vitiated that plants cannot suc¬ 
ceed although they may have the best of 
care in other respects. It may seem at first 
that plants should live and thrive in any 
atmosphere in which human beings live, but 
the fact that the latter can and generally 
do get out into the fresh air several times 
a day while the plant remains in the same 
atmosphere night and day, is usually lost 
sight of. By all means keep the atmosphere 
in which your winter garden is made as 
near a condition of normal moisture con¬ 
tent as possible. This can be done by 
having a large pan or bowl of water evapo¬ 
rating on every radiator or near any stove 
in such rooms where plants are kept. 
Providing moisture in the soil is just as 
likely to be overdone as underdone. A 
good many plants pass the winter in a semi- 
dormant condition and use very little mois¬ 
ture from the soil. Plants in active growth 
and producing blossoms, of course, require 
more. In every case, however, thorough 
drainage must be provided as a water-satu¬ 
rated soil will prove fatal in a very short 
time. It is quite possible to drown plants. 
Clean Air and Leaves 
Another condition very likely to prove 
fatal to plants kept indoors is air poisoned, 
even very slightly by escaping coal or illumi¬ 
nating gas. Though the amount may be so 
small as to be imperceptible to the nostrils 
the plants that are very sensitive and have 
to breathe this air continually are constant¬ 
ly “ailing,” though the cause be unsuspected. 
Your indoor plants should be kept scrup¬ 
ulously clean at all times. Insects propa¬ 
gate more rapidly and injure plants more 
quickly indoors than out. There are avail¬ 
able sprays for use on a small scale, and if 
one will go to the slight expense of keeping 
one of these on hand and watching the 
plants carefully there is very little danger 
of injury from this insidious source. 
Tile Flowers to Plant 
In addition to giving your plants a favor¬ 
able environment you should decide, as soon 
as you determine to have a garden indoors 
at all, what kind of a garden it will be. 
Many persons make the mistake of attempt¬ 
ing to have a little of everything. This is 
poor judgment, especially where space is 
limited. Do not attempt to grow plants 
which require a temperature of 60° at 
night and a particularly moist atmosphere, 
where you can give only 40° and cannot 
prevent the air from getting drier than it is 
in a greenhouse. The truth which is be¬ 
coming to be very generally realized in out¬ 
door gardening, viz., that a number of 
plants of the same habit and color are more 
effective than a “collection,” is also largely 
true in indoor gardening. Restrict the 
number of things you attempt to grow. 
Especially if you are a beginner at the art, 
aim at having perfect specimens rather than 
an extensive assortment. 
Single plants in jardinieres, or even in 
plain pots and saucers, displayed in places 
of advantage about the house are very ef¬ 
fective. Such places, however, are usually 
not ideal so far as light, temperature and 
other conditions affecting growth are con¬ 
cerned. If you have a bay window or spe¬ 
cial flower room to which such plants can 
be brought back for a week or so after 
being displayed for a while in a somewhat 
less congenial spot, it is an easy matter to 
keep them in good condition and still have 
the use of them in places where they are 
most ornamental and desired. 
If you have a large bay window, a small 
conservatory or a lighted room which can 
be to a large extent devoted to plants you 
may find more pleasure in making your 
winter garden of a general nature, including 
in it specimens of as many things suitable 
for house culture as you have room for. 
(Continued on page 54) 
Resembling the heliotrope is the bantana 
or viburnum, an excellent plant for winter 
blooming. It requires a fairly warm spot 
for best results 
