Scarlet salvia combined with euphorbia, better known as "snow-on-the-mountain," will be found very effective, the white and green of the euphorbia bringing out the scarlet of the salvia most vividly, and affording such a strong contrast that a bed of these two plants will always challenge admiration.
The euphorbia will be found a very useful plant for almost any place in beds or borders where something seems needed to relieve the prevailing color. It deserves more attention than it gets.
The impression seems to prevail that many plants ought to retain their old leaves indefinitely. They will not do this, however. Leaves ripen after a time, and the plant will shed them, as all deciduous plants shed theirs in fall. Therefore if you find the lower leaves on your ficus turning, yellow and dropping, don't be frightened. The plant is simply going through one of the processes of nature.
But if a good many of the leaves fall all at once it will be well to look for some other explanation of the plant's action. The loss of foliage may come from lack of moisture in the soil, or the roots of the plant may be pot-bound. Examination will show if either is the case. If the soil is found to be dry, more water should be given. If the pot is filled with roots, repot the plant, giving it more root room. The owners of plants should take all these things into consideration before coming to any conclusion as to what the cause of trouble is. Unless they do so there will have to be "guesswork" relative to it, and that is never safe or satisfactory. Trouble may come from overwatering, or from lack of good drainage, or a soil deficient in nutrition. You see, it is necessary to study these matters from several angles, so to speak, as the trouble complained of may have its origin in any one of the conditions mentioned, and not much can be done to remedy matters until one has made an examination that brings to light the facts in the case. These known, it will be a comparatively easy matter to determine the treatment required, for the conditions that are found to exist will, to a great extent, indicate in almost every instance the remedy needed.
Some good vines for window-box culture are:
Madeira vine.—Heart-shaped foliage of a rich, glossy green. Very rapid grower.
Tradescantia.—Green, green striped with white, and olive striped with Indian red. Quick grower.
Vinca Harrisonii.—Dark-green foliage, edged with yellow.
Senecio.—More commonly known as German ivy. Pretty, ivy-shaped foliage of a clear, bright green. Very rapid grower. Needs frequent pinching back to make it branch freely.