16 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
GIFTS 
OF T FIINGS 
THAT GROW 
Before ordering any of the gifts shown 
below, please read the instructions on 
page 20. Thank you. 
( 200 D Handmade leghorn box. birchbark trim¬ 
ming. 14" high; Arabia, adiantuni , maranta, 
tradesoantia and Dieffenbachia; $10 to $15 
( 2002 ) Trimmed with ribbon, it holds dracae¬ 
nas. crotonas, pandanus. kentia palms and 
ferns. $15 to $25, according to size. This. $25 
B ROMIDICALLY speaking, the love of 
gardening never dies. Once a gard¬ 
ener, always a gardener, is literally true, 
provided the initiation into the cult has been 
genuine and provided also that a reasonable 
opportunity to dig and plant and watch has 
succeeded it for a time. 
Even in the dead of winter, when all the 
outdoor garden sleeps, it needs but a faint 
suggestion to rekindle our enthusiasm for 
the trowel and spade and seed packet. 
So it comes about that gifts of things that 
grow are peculiarly acceptable at Christmas 
time. Christmas is not usually considered 
much of a garden anniversary, I know ; but 
one cannot hut imagine that Santa Claus, 
during his long summer holiday, is as jolly 
an old planter as one could hope to meet. 
Why shouldn’t he turn as true a 
furrow with his reindeer as can we 
with our sober teams or still hum¬ 
bler wheel-hoes ? I can see him out 
( 2002 ) j n this hanging floircr bowl of green Vene¬ 
tian pottery are bird’s-nest ferns and a china 
bird. 12" diameter , $3.75 complete 
in his tomato patch, too, tying up the vines 
with strips of last year’s Christmas stock¬ 
ings, and judging the ripeness of the matur¬ 
ing fruits by comparing them with his own 
cheeks. One never sees a picture of the old 
gentleman in his shirt sleeves, but surely he 
must have them. And I know he hangs his 
fur-trimmed coat over a pine fence after 
spading up the ground for the beds. 
Why not make this a garden Christmas? 
You can do it in several ways: 
First, you may bring into the Christmas 
celebration for yourself and for your 
friends all the products of the indoor gar¬ 
den which you can. No other gifts can 
better express the spirit of the day than 
flowers. They are the physical embodiment 
of happiness and good-will. 
But in selecting your plants for 
Christmas gifts, do not make the 
mistake of choosing those which, 
while they may look indescribably 
( 2004 ) white enamel pot. little girl 
in red and green; tree border 
red and green. 6 y 2 " high. $5 with 
Norfolk pine tree 
(2005) Imported china hotel in Ivstre and china 
turtle flower holder are yellow. $6. < 2502 > In two 
shades of dull violet, to order, one week. $6.50. 
8" diameter. Flowers from Schling 
( 2000 ) The little snruce grown 
from seed just fits its imported 
Florentine jar, which is 5%" in 
diameter. $3 complete 
