The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

Window Gardener

Corypha australis is a noble plant, and of easy culture. All the Cycas are hardy enough to do well in the parlor. But by far the most beautiful is Seaforthia elegans, a very graceful plant.

Where plants are needed for effect, and little attention can be given, palms and agaves are eminently useful. All winter they need little care, and, provided they are well grown in summer, will only from November to April require an occasional watering; in fact, the care to give is, to see they are not over-watered. Of course we cannot give full descriptions of all; but, as a general rule, any green-house palm will thrive in the parlor, and well repay the little care it needs.

Hanging Basckets And Suitable Plants, And Treatment Of Ivy

WHAT a pretty amusement is the growth of plants in hanging baskets or pots ! It is very popular, and deservedly so. The beauty of the baskets, now fashioned in so many artistic designs, is almost sufficient to inspire a love of horticulture, if only for the sake of growing the plant in so pretty a pot. Yet we cannot urge the growth of plants in these baskets ; a porous pot is essential to the health of a plant, and most of these baskets are china, or glazed or painted.

Yet they may be used by setting the pot containing the plant inside of them. Another objection is, that having no outlet for the escape of the water, it collects in the bottom, and, unless there is very ample drainage, which is seldom the case, the roots are rotting in water while the surface is dry.

Potting in these vases is very simple. If the plant must be in the vase or basket, fill half full of broken potsherds; on these place a thin layer of moss, and fill up with prepared soil; shade the plant for a few days until well established, then hang it in the window, and water slightly every morning with a fine-rosed watering-pot; as the plant grows, dispose the branches to fall gracefully over the pot.

The plants most suitable for baskets are, —

The COMMON PERIWINKLE (Vinca Major and Minor), and the pretty variety with variegated leaves, This is an evergreen, and produces its pretty blue flowers in spring and early summer. There is also a white-flowered and a double varietye