Just what plants will be most suitable depends on the exposure. For the shady side of the street, the more delicate kinds of plants may be used. For full exposure to the sun, it will be necessary to choose the more vigorous-growing kinds. In the latter position, suitable plants for drooping would be: tropeolums,* passifloras,* the single petunias, sweet alyssum, lobelias, verbenas, mesembryanthemums. For erect-growing plants: geraniums, heliotropes, phlox. If the position is a shaded one, the drooping plants might be of the following: tradescantia, Kenilworth ivy, senecio* or parlor ivy, sedums, moneywort,* vinca, smilax,* lygodium* or climbing fern. Erect-growing plants would be dracenas, palms, ferns, coleus, centaurea, spotted calla, and others.
After the plants have filled the earth with roots, it will be desirable to give the surface among them a very light sprinkling of bone-dust or a thicker coating of rotted manure from time to time during the summer; or instead of this, a watering with weak liquid manure about once a week. This is not necessary, however, until the growth shows that the roots have about exhausted the soil.
In the fall the box may be placed on the inside of the window. In this case it will be desirable to thin out the foliage somewhat, shorten in some of the vines, and perhaps remove some of the plants. It will also be desirable to give a fresh coating of rich soil. Increased care will be necessary, also, in watering, since the plants will have less light than previously, and, moreover, there may be no provision for drainage.
Porch-boxes may be made in the same general plan. Since the plants are likely to be injured in porch-boxes, and since these boxes should have some architectural effect, it is well to use abundantly of rather heavy greenery, such as swordfern (the common form of Nephrolepis exaltata) or the Boston fern, Asparagus Sprengeri, wandering jew, the large drooping vinca (perhaps the variegated form), aspidistra. With these or similar things constituting the body of the box planting, the flowering plants may be added to heighten the effect.
The inside window-garden, or “house plants.”
The winter window-garden may consist simply of a jardinière, or a few choice pot-plants on a stand at the window, or of a considerable collection with more or less elaborate arrangements for their accommodation in the way of box, brackets, shelves, and stands. Expensive arrangements are by no means necessary, nor is a large collection. The plants and flowers themselves are the main consideration, and a small collection well cared for is better than a large one unless it can be easily accommodated and kept in good condition.
The box will be seen near at hand, and so it may be more or less ornamental in character. The sides may be covered with ornamental tile held in place by molding; or a light latticework of wood surrounding the box is pretty. But a neatly made and strong box of about the dimensions mentioned on page 337, with a strip of molding at the top and bottom, answers just as well; and if painted green, or some neutral shade, only the plants will be seen or thought of. Brackets, jardinières, and stands may be purchased of any of the larger florists.
The box may consist of merely the wooden receptacle; but a preferable arrangement is to make it about eight inches deep instead of six, then have the tinsmith make a zinc tray to fit the box. This is provided with a false wooden bottom, with cracks for drainage, two inches above the real bottom of the tray. The plants will then have a vacant space below them into which drainage water may pass. Such a box may be thoroughly watered as the plants require without danger of the water running on the carpet. Of course, a faucet should be provided at some suitable point on a level with the bottom of the tray, to permit of its being drained every day or so if the water tends to accumulate. It would not do to allow the water to remain long; especially should it never rise to the false bottom, as then the soil would be kept too wet.