Give the peonies a chance in a hanging V T T T /* 1 1 Tit Lift some mint from the bed, pot it and 
basket or a vase of this kind between C TJ SC X O I* v_^/X(l XT X^l XX tS ,r ' m ^ own ’ an< ^ a bright s P of °f § reen * s 
HOW TO USE HARDY PLANTS INDOORS TREATMENT FORfSCRAGGLY GERANIUMS—MAK¬ 
ING THE WINDOW-BOX SERVE A DOUBLE PURPOSE—AN EXPERIMENT WORTH TRYING 
Luke J. Doogue 
A NY suggestion that would open up possibilities of increasing 
the supply of flowers for the house during the early spring 
months should certainly be in order, and this suggestion is to use 
hardy plants in the house and outside of the house fully flowered, 
in the spring months before the frost had gone. For the inside, 
keep them in the window in the sun; for the outside put them in 
boxes, the window boxes that you use for the usual summer 
plants. 
This is the plan. It can be carried out with a surprising de¬ 
gree of success. The idea of using hardy plants in the house 
seems so absurd to many of the admirers of these plants that they 
choke with indignation and reel off a thousand objections to such 
a proposition. Some of these same people are not aware of the 
fact that most of the large nurseries of the country, to meet an 
ever-increasing demand, are growing their 
hardy plants in pots so that the making of 
a hardy garden is not dependent on time 
or weather, as has been the case in the 
past. How often it has happened that an unlocked early spring 
with a burst of heat has suddenly brought everything into flower 
and leaf and suddenly terminated all planting operations? What 
tempers and plans were destroyed by such a happening! Happily, 
this is over. Surely, such treatment as potting hardy plants has 
resulted in a better demand for them, with no damage to their 
good qualities. 
If there is no crime in potting these plants for use in the gar¬ 
den, surely the dispensation could be stretched to allow some of 
them to get inside the house if such an entrance will tend to 
brighten the dull days of spring. 
There is as great a need of novelty in the manner of using 
plants as there is in handling any other commodity, and that ele¬ 
ment of novelty is always possible if a little serious consideration 
is given to the subject. 
A bed of geraniums planted out as they 
usually are is always a bed of geraniums, 
(Continued on page 281) 
This trollius was dug up in full bud and in a short 
time had sixty blossoms. It was a glorious sight 
T his is the sort of plant that makes window decoration 
a joke. They are used all too frequently 
Aquilegias in full bloom at the window. If properly 
cared for, these plants will last for several weeks 
262 
