Saucers or jardinieres should be emptied as a rule an hour after the plants have been watered, though where ferns seem to flourish most when allowed to stand in water, it is well to continue the practice. In very hot weather, this is undoubtedly of benefit to many plants, but in the winter the soil of all pot plants should err on the dry side, cold and damp together often proving fatal.
GOOD FOR TWO-THIRDS OF THE YEAR. There are some first-rate plants which refuse to look well for the coldest part of the year (unless one is possessed of an hot-house), but which are really capital for brightening our rooms for at least eight months in the twelve. Of these, the asparagus “fern” is perhaps the most useful. It is a lovely and graceful plant, which bears cutting, and it lasts so long, both in and out of water. Being, however, in reality a stove plant, amateurs who have no warmed green-house must not expect to keep it in thoroughly good health during the winter, but so soon as the spring appears, new green stems will shoot up in all directions, and the old fronds will soon be replaced by bright green feathery plumes of infinite grace.
Pteris wimsetti is a charming room plant.
Young eucalyptus plants are also very pretty for decorating a room, and are supposed to be good as a disinfectant. Their habit of growth is uncommon, and very charming to watch, as they quickly reach to an effective size, and make large handsome plants to set in the corners of reception rooms. It is best to bring them up by seed, which should be sown in February or March. Spring is the best time to buy room-plants.
CHAPTER XVIII
Various Hints
Artificial manures—Labelling—Cutting off dead flowers—Buying plants—Tidiness in the garden, etc.
With far the larger half of our population the question of cost comes into everything. There are so many claims on our purses, that the money spent on recreations can only be a small part; moreover, is always liable to be drawn on at any moment. Somehow, the money laid out on a garden always seems to be grudged, especially when it is for such things as manure, so that if that item can be reduced, so much the better.