Vines to Grow Indoors 
THE ATTRACTIVE DECORATIVE RESULTS OBTAINED BY THE 
USE OF VINES AS HOUSE PLANTS—WHAT VINES ARE ESPECIALLY 
FITTED FOR THIS PURPOSE AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS 
BY F. F. Rockwell 
Photographs by H. H. S., Nathan R. Graves and others 
The large purplish 
flowers of coboea are 
easily produced 
I T has always been something of a 
puzzle to me to know why the 
vines are not more commonly seen in 
houses where plants are kept. 
Several of them are among the very 
easiest plants to grow, but that is only 
their first claim to consideration. The 
most important argument in their favor 
is that with vines you can get decora¬ 
tive effects which cannot be had from 
any other house plants; eff ects not only 
unique but lasting. A flowering plant 
has its ups and downs. It may be cov¬ 
ered with bright flowers today, and tomorrow be but a mass of 
foliage. A well-grown vine, on the other hand, one can fit into 
the general scheme of a room's decorations, where its singular 
beauty will remain an attractive feature throughout the winter. 
The decorative possibilities with vines are limited only by one’s 
ingenuity in training them. A pair of flowering Thunbergias, 
for instance, trained up tbe sides of the window, where they will 
get ample light to bring out the beautiful flowers, forms a decora¬ 
tive scheme that will at once attract and please the eye and never 
grow monotonous. I have seen an ivy, led up as a single stem, 
and woven in natural graceful curves across a transparent white 
curtain, that made the most artistic, graceful tracery of living 
green imaginable. 
The Coboea Scandens is the most rapid growing flowering 
plant for the house, attaining, under the best conditions, a length 
of twenty to thirty feet. The saucer shaped flowers, which are 
frequently two inches across, are purplish in color and very 
pretty. The coboea is easily managed if kept properly trained. 
As the plant in proportion to the pot room is very large, liquid 
manures or fertilizers are desirable. Either seeds or cuttings 
will furnish new plants. The former should be placed edge down, 
one in a two-inch pot and pressed in level with the surface. They 
will soon need repotting, and must be shifted frequently until 
they occupy six or eight-inch pots. Coboea Seandens variegata 
is a very handsome form and should be tried without fail. 
The Thunbergia, sometimes called the "butterfly plant,is the 
best all round flowering vine 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; keep growing on during summer into a somewhat 
bushy form, as the vines will grow rapidly when allowed to run 
in the house. It can be grown from seed, but cuttings make the 
best plants. Root early in spring, and by having a succession 
of rooted cuttings blossoms may be had all winter. Thunbergia 
laurifolia has flowers of white and blue; T. frangrans, pure 
white; and T. Mysorensis, purple and yellow. 
The ivy vines are the most graceful of all, and with them 
the most artistic effects in decoration may be produced. I have 
always wondered why they are not more frequently used, for 
they are in many respects ideal as house plants — they produce 
more growth to a given size pot than any other plants; they 
thrive in the shade ; they withstand the uncongenial conditions 
usually found in the house and are among the hardiest of plants 
suitable for house culture. And yet how many women will fret 
and fume over a Lorraine begonia or some other refractory 
plant, not adapted at all to growing indoors, when half the 
amount of care spent on a few ivy plants would grace their 
windows with frames of green, giving a setting to all their other 
plants which would enhance their beauty a bundred per cent. 
The English ivy (Hedera helix) is the best for house culture. 
A form with small leaves, H. Doiierailensis, is better for many 
purposes. And then there is a variegated form, which is very 
beautiful. Large cuttings, rooted in the fall, will make good 
plants. Hedera helix arboreseens is known as the Irish ivy and 
is a very rapid grower. 
The German ivy [Senecio scandens) has leaves the shape of 
the English ivy, and is a wonderfully rapid grower and a great 
{Continued on page 70) 
Many beautiful effects may be had with pot-grown ivy by training it 
up the wall over the woodwork 
A removable lattice of wire is attached to the molding, and upon 
this the ivy has climbed, and from the box on the floor 
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