| Show rs C ami md care and V 4 sw 41 specimen Manda lanum THE WINDOW GARDEN by EBEN E REXFORD it may not seem reasonable to the reader to treat of winter inter window gardens in madeu midsummer miner but a careful consideration of the subject from ray my ant of view will convince the flower floer loving person I 1 feel quite sure that this article Is timely look over the window gardens of your neighbors in winter anen they ought to be at their beat to give the fullest degree of satisfaction and I 1 think you will find the majority ot of them far from satisfactory the plants will be email small much too email small to be ornamental and if it you keep an eye on an them throughout the season you will find that few of them reach the flo flowering stage before march which Is to say that most saddens caimens in the ordinary y house collection of plants givel few or no flowers at a t the period when a window gar den should afford is Ls the greatest amount of pleasure what we aim at Is flowers in winter inter not in the spring ft hen the blossoms of the outdoor garden are at hand said a woman to me not long since 1 I dont si sie e why it Is that I 1 cant have flowers in the winter some of my friends have and they don t take halt as care estre of their plaits as I 1 do why some of them don dont t repot their plants at all still I 1 notice they havi flowers from them and I 1 go over al all my plants just before winter sets in and repot them and cut them back or start new one ones and take pains to give them the best soil and am so careful about watering and fertilizing and airing but most of them will not ba som tor for me they look healthy and they grow well but ohe che care for just leaves pow now this womans failure to obtain flower flowers from her plants was explained by three words she made use of just before winter the attention she gave tho the plants at that period came several months too lato late the fact Is as anyone will voll readily see when they come to think the matter over a plant cannot be satisfactorily sati stac developed in two tho or three months not much ran can be expected from a plant that Is not made ready for winter until that season Is about upon us in order to a good collection of 0 good sized plants for the winter inter one must begin to gt ready during tbt summer by the term good sized I 1 do 40 cot mean large plants in the usual sense of the word but rather plants of sufficient development to justify ono one in expecting dowers from them for the holidays age la Is often a more important factor in punt plant culture than mere size young plants seldom bloom while development la Is taking place most moist rapidly they must get their growth so tp to before we a can expect them to bend their energies to the tho production of flo aers era therefore I 1 advise the tha omer of a collection of house planta plants from which she wishes to secure flowers floers all through the thel winter inter seon season to get the plants under way say now nos if some of them are large cut them back and allow them to renew themselves wholly ae 0 to o branches during tho the months between een now and winter report now it necessary and shift such ai a seem to need larger pots pets if it young plants are to be used procure them at dofice and keep them going ahead steadily do not be so anxious to secure rapid development that ou fall into the error of overfeeding simply aim to bring about a strong healthy growth and as long as a plant seems to be making such growth do not make use of the fertilizers some persona u are under the impression that all plante plants for winter use must be young ones such la in net the case however hoever cearold year old plants fa Ls a general thing are much preferable to the young ones there are exceptions as lo 10 the case of b chinese primroses prim roses primula ca and others of a habit similar in borne respects to our annuala annuals bui but for the majority of plants adapted to house culture like geraniums hello bello tropes be belonias beson gonias las asparagus in variety and carnations older plants should always be chosen this summer I 1 start the geraniums which I 1 intend to depend upon for winter flowers a year from the coming winter inter the person who preaches young plants for winter holtring Hol flo ering sering to 0 o you docs does not take into consideration the fact that a plant started this season from a cutting will have but fe few w branches by winter later and a plant that tha t has but few branche branc hc cannot give many flowers because ample flowering surface meana meano many b branches ranches therefore Ther etore instead of a f letting the ge you start this blos 8 0 in a the v inter later keep pinching them back to produce a sufficient nuat number ar of branches bratic bea to give ive th ta desired amount of flowering su bace r aa plu ola i |
