Indoor Gardening | by Eben E. Rexford

THIS book is not a scientific treatise on plant-culture. Nor is it the work of the professional plant-grower. It aims to give, in plain and simple terms, such information as the amateur gardener stands in need of.

Title	Indoor Gardening
Author	Eben E. Rexford
Publisher	J. B. Lippincott Company
Year	1910
Copyright	1910, J. B. Lippincott Company
Amazon	Indoor Gardening

Flowers Are Lovely; Love Is Flower Like

Foreword: THIS book is not a scientific treatise on plant-culture. Nor is it the work of the professional plant-grower. It aims to give, in plain and simple terms, such information as the amateur gardener stand...

I. Soil For Pot Plants: MANY persons who love flowers have been prevented from attempting the culture of plants in the house because they have felt themselves unable to satisfactorily decide the question of soil. They have b...

II. Pots And Saucers: WHILE the ordinary clay pot is doubtless as satisfactory as anything that can be used to grow plants in, all things considered, I would not say the severe things against glazed pots that many writers ...

III. Drainage: If there is any one thing about amateur floriculture more earnestly advocated and urged by writers on plant-growing than drainage, and more systematically ignored by the parties to whom the advice is ...

IV. Potting And Repotting: SAID a woman to me, not long since, While I'm convinced there's a knack to flower-growing that not all of us can fully attain, I'm convinced there's a special knack to transplanting and repotting pla...

V. The Use Of Water: THE question of watering plants is a perplexing one to most amateurs. They want to do this part of the work of plant-growing properly, but nowhere can they find any rules to tell them the precise amou...

VI. The Use Of Fertilizers: MANY amateur gardeners are under the impression that their plants need feeding when they begin to languish, or when they show a disposition to rest, and the first thing they do is to apply a fertilize...

VII. The Resting-Spell Of Plants: MANY-perhaps I would be justified in saying most- mistakes made by amateur gardeners might be avoided if they were to familiarize themselves with the various habits of their plants. One of the most co...

VIII. Plant Propagation: MOST plants adapted to cultivation in the house are propagated by cuttings, by division of the root, or by seed. Comparatively few, however, are grown as seedlings, as plants from seed can not be d...

IX. Pruning And Training: FEW amateur gardeners give much attention to the pruning and training of their plants while they are small. Here is where they make a serious mistake. Both should begin while the plant is tractable, a...

X. The Diseases Of Plants: FEW plants are exempt from disease, and these exemptions are seldom worth cultivating, which is simply another way of saying that all desirable plants are subject to ills of one kind or another. Some ...

XI. The Insect Enemies Of Plants: PLANTS suffer more, I think, from the attacks of insects than from disease. Few plants are exempt. We seldom find any collection wholly free from them in spite of the many and determined efforts on th...

XI. The Insect Enemies Of Plants. Continued: The red spider is not always red. He sometimes wears a brown coat, sometimes a brick-colored one. But his methods of operation are always the same. It is an easy matter to discover him after one knows...

XII. What Windows To Grow Plants In: THOSE who set out to grow plants in the house for the first time often make some serious mistakes by selecting kinds not adapted to the windows in which they propose to grow them. Too often they ta...

XIII. Wintering Plants In The Cellar: MANY summer-flowering plants adapted to amateur culture can be carried over the winter more safely in the cellar than elsewhere. There is no reason why they should be allowed to retain a place in the ...

XIV. The General Care Of House-Plants: THE care given most collections of house-plants consists, I am sorry to say, of watering in haphazard fashion, keeping them in a temperature many degrees too high for health, and zealously preventing ...

XV. The Summer Care Of House-Plants: MANY persons who grow house-plants are under the impression that they must be turned out of doors during the summer. Some turn them out of their pots and plant them in open ground. Others put them alm...

XV. The Summer Care Of House-Plants. Continued: Plants intended for next winter's use should receive much of their training now, while they are in a period of active development. Pinch them back to make them bushy, and compact, and symmetrical. Enc...

XVI. Plant Rooms: WHILE plants can be grown with great satisfaction in the ordinary living-room if one is willing to give them the proper amount of care and attention, it is quite true that they can be grown much more ...

XVII. Seedlings In The House: WHILE the house-culture of plants grown from seed intended for outdoor use, may not be, in a strict sense, a phase of indoor gardening coming under the proper scope of a book of this kind, it may not ...

XVIII. Getting Ready For Winter: WE do not mind drafts, and air-currents, and the liberal admission of cold air through cracks and crevices about windows and doors, and the floors, in spring and summer and early fall, but we must not...

XIX. How To Treat Frozen Plants: IN spite of the carefulness with which the amateur gardener guards her plants against cold weather, they may be frozen on some night when the thermometer falls to the below-zero mark without any warni...

XX. Window And Veranda Boxes: THE window-box was at first designed to serve as a substitute, on a small scale, for the garden which many flower-loving women of the cities can not have. But the time has gone by for such narrow limi...

XXI. Begonias: WHEN a plant enjoys the popularity which the Begonia can justly pride itself on, it may be set down as certain that it has many and very positive merits. We find the favorite flower occupying a place ...

XXI. Begonias. Continued: Rubra is an old variety, but still one of the best. It has very thick, dark green foliage, attractive in itself, and flowers of a bright coral-red, produced the year round in great profusion. This var...

XXII. The Fuchsia: THERE is no more popular plant for culture in the window-garden than the Fuchsia, and yet we seldom see it grown well there. Generally it is a scraggly, sprawling specimen, with few branches and infer...

XXIII. The Geranium: WE are told that the Geranium is becoming so common that many who like to be exclusive in all matters pertaining to themselves, do not care to grow it. I am glad of this, because the plant is too go...

XXIV. The Chrysanthemum: THE Chrysanthemum is, next to the Geranium, the most popular flower of the present day, without doubt. Its popularity was a sort of fad at the beginning, when the florists exhibited blossoms nearly a ...

XXV. Roses And Abutilons: WHILE the Rose is much more difficult to grow well in the living-room, than most other plants, women who love flowers will attempt its culture, because one fine blossom amply rewards them for a great ...

The Abutilon: This is one of the old stand-bys-a plant deserving a place in every collection. This for several reasons: It is of easy culture; it is a free bloomer; it is a really beautiful plant, and insects seldo...

XXVI. Palm-Culture: EVERY woman who likes plants thinks she must try her skill at Palm-growing, because every other woman in the neighborhood is doing so. Sometimes the re-' suit is very satisfactory. Oftener, I am sorry...

XXVII. Ferns: NO collection of plants can be considered complete if it does not include some member of the Fern family. Perhaps the most popular variety is the Boston Fern, catalogued as Ne-phrolepis Bostoniensi...

XXVIII. The Azalea And The Amaryllis: AT holiday and Easter-time the Azalea is one of our most popular flowers. Thousands of plants are on sale in our cities, for presentation to flower-loving friends, and for house and church decoration....

XXIX. Other Desirable Plants For Amateur Culture: Cyclamen This plant is an old favorite. It is neither a bulb nor a tuber, but is a corm, very much like the Gladiolus. Its flowers range from almost pure white to pink, with tips and markings of ri...

Tuberous Begonias: This class of Begonias blooms in summer, and rests in winter, the old top dying entirely away. The flowers of most varieties are much larger than those of the fibrous-roofed sorts, and generally much ...

Gloxinias: These plants have tubular flowers of exceedingly rich colors. These colors run through many shades of scarlet, purple, and rose to pure white. Most of them are marked most peculiarly with contrasting ...

Coprosma: This is a plant of recent introduction, but its good qualities will make it a favorite as soon as it becomes better known. It is of very easy culture, doing well in a soil of loam and sand. It require...

Plumbago: This plant deserves a place in every collection, for three reasons: It is of the easiest culture-it is an almost constant bloomer-and its flowers are very beautiful. In shape they are very much like t...

Carnation: This plant is too well known to require any description here. Most amateurs undertake the cultivation of the greenhouse varieties, and generally fail with them because they give too much heat, too muc...

Marguerite Carnation: This variety of Carnation is grown from seed each season. It is primarily intended for the decoration of the outdoor garden, but repeated trials of it in the window-garden have proved it to be an exce...

Ficus: This is the well-known and always popular Rubber Plant. It is one of the best of all plants for the amateur who desires something for the decoration of the hall in winter and the veranda in summer, as...

Agerattjm - Aedisia: Agerattjm An annual highly prized in the summer-garden, but equally as desirable for winter-flowering. Its flowers are of a dainty shade of lavender-blue. Young plants can be obtained by breaking o...

Jerusalem Cherry - Aucuba: Jerusalem Cherry Another fruit-bearing plant which has great popularity in winter. Easily grown from seed. Start your plants early in the season in order to have them for bearing size by the follow...

Oleander: An old-time favorite which has never lost its popularity. Large plants are magnificent for porch-decoration in summer. In winter they can be stored in the cellar. Bring to the light in March, and appl...

Calla: Another old favorite, and justly so. On account of its large, tropical foliage it is very attractive when not in bloom. When it sends up flower-stalks three and four feet in length, crowned with what ...

Cestrum: A plant for the plant-room, of shrubby growth, bearing long spikes of greenish-white flowers, which are not at all showy. At night they give off a rich, powerful fragrance. This variety-catalogued as ...

Coleus: Everybody is familiar with this plant. It can be made very useful in the house in winter, its richly-colored foliage making it a good substitute for flowers at the season when few plants are in bloom....

Farfugium - Genista: Farfugium Farfugium grande, better known as Leopard Plant, has long been a favorite with those who admire variegated foliage. It has large circular leaves of dark green spotted with yellow. The lea...

Heliotrope: An old favorite, which no plant of modern introduction has been able to displace. It is a free bloomer. Its flowers are of varying shades of purple-blue and lavender. It is not a showy flower, on acco...

Pelargonium: A member of the Geranium family whose flowers rival the Orchid in beauty of color. The late Peter Henderson used to say that this was the showiest plant he had any knowledge of, and that he would rath...

Tuberose: One of my special favorites for fall-flowering in the house. Flowers borne in spikes a foot or more in length, at the extremity of tall stalks. Color pure white. The petals have the texture of wax. Th...

Valotta: This plant is a fall-flowering member of the Amaryllis family. It can always be depended on to bloom in late August and September. Its flowers are not as large as those of the hybrid Amaryllises, but ...

Chinese Primrose: This is a standard plant in most window-gardens. It is a free and constant bloomer, and will give the best of satisfaction if given the right kind of treatment. It likes a porous, spongy soil, well dr...

Primula: The Primula is really a Primrose, but is so unlike it in habit that we put it in a class of its own. Primula obconica is one of the most florif-erous plants I have any knowledge of. It begins to bl...

Hydrangea: This plant is too well known to need a detailed description here. When well grown we have nothing capable of giving stronger effect. For porch and veranda decoration it stands at the head of the list....

Petunia: The single Petunia of the garden makes an excellent winter-bloomer in the window-garden. It may not be quite as showy as the double variety, but it is far preferable to that, as it can be depended on ...

Salvia: This is another garden flower that can be made to do excellent work in the house in winter if properly treated. Look the old plants over, and select a shoot of small size that can be broken away fr...

Oxalis - Lysimachia: Oxalis The Oxalis is a charming plant for a hanging basket because it blooms so freely, and requires so little attention. O. rosea is a bright pink variety. O. alba has a pure white flower. The bes...

Tradescantia: Another old stand-by of quick growth and strong constitution, flourishing where most other plants would soon fail. It will grow in any soil, but it will be found most satisfactory if given one of only...

XXXI. Some Good Decorative Plants: PERSONS get into ruts in their selection of plants for decorative purposes, as they do about most other things. In nearly every home, at the present time, where any plants are grown, we find the Palm....

XXXII. Bulbs For The Winter Window-Garden: MANY a fl ower-lovinff woman who passes the shops of the florists in our great cities, along about holiday time, can not resist the temptation to pause before the windows in which Hyacinth and Tulip, ...

XXXII. Bulbs For The Winter Window-Garden. Part 2: Paper White Early and sweet. Trumpet Major Yellow and white. Large. Superb in every way Van Sion Rich, luminous yellow. A most magnificent kind. Horsfieldii Golden yellow and crea...

XXXII. Bulbs For The Winter Window-Garden. Part 3: A favorite flower of all lands is the Lily, and the variety we force so extensively, nowadays, is quite the peer of any, with its large, trumpet-shaped blossoms of purest waxen white and most exquisit...

XXXII. Bulbs For The Winter Window-Garden. Part 4: A succession of bloom can be secured by potting bulbs at intervals of ten days or two weeks. Be sure to wrap those you hold in reserve for future plantings in thick paper to prevent light from gett...

XXXIII. Vines For House Culture: ONE of the most popular plants, among ama-tuers, is Asparagus Sprengeeri. This is perhaps not so much a vine, in the strict sense of the word, as it is a plant of drooping habit. It sends out branches...

XXXIV. Room Decorations: IF one has plenty of material at her disposal it is a comparatively easy matter to decorate a room with growing plants. (Here is another argument in favor of the plant-room.) But if one is limited as ...

XXXIV. Room Decorations. Continued: Use your largest plants on the hearth. Place a tall one at one side to extend the greenery up to the mantel shelf. Then a vine to run across above the glass and droop at the opposite side. In this way...

XXXV. The Knack Of Bouquet-Making: SOMETIMES I cannot help thinking that the successful bouquet-maker is, like the poet, born, not made. It is true that one may so educate the eye for color that combinations may be made which are along...

XXXVI. The Parlor Fernery: FERNS, as we all know, are more difficult to grow than many other plants, but this does not prevent the lover of fine plants from wishing she could grow them. The question is often asked, Isn't there...

XXXVII. The Amateur Gardener's Implement Outfit: IN order to facilitate work among her plants, and lighten the labor of caring for them as much as possible, every amateur gardener ought to provide herself with a watering-pot, spray-pump, florist's s...

XXXVIII. Hints And Suggestions: THE amateur gardener should always keep a few pots on hand of the various sizes most likely to be useful. There will be breakages, old pots will be outgrown, newly started plants will have to be provi...

Other Books by Rexford: The Home Garden THIS book ie intended for the use of those who have a little piece of land upon which they would like to grow vegetables and small fruits, but whose knowledge how to go to work in t...