Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 137, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1915 — Tropical Plants for Indoor Winter Garden [ARTICLE]

Tropical Plants for Indoor Winter Garden

With'a little care, a number of tropical plants may be grown indoors, and during the winter they, are a particularly attractive addition to a bay window or conservatory garden. Various kinds of palms, rubber plants, oleanders, aspidistras and cacti are easily kept in good condition indoors if given the proper attention and not permitted to be exposed to frost, according to the Department of Agriculture’s horticulturists. Palms are much used for interior decorations where there is no direct sunlight. Regular watering is essential, with especial care not to overwater. It is better with most palms to keep them a little dry than too wet. Where a pot is in a jardiniere especial care must be exercised not to have them too wet. While small, wash the foliage occasionally with soadsuds made from a good soap. Immediately follow with a thorough rinsing. When too large for this, spray the tops frequently with clear water. Browning at the tips usually comes trouble at the roots. First, overwatering; second, worms on the roots; third, lack of plant food. The first is the trouble in nearly every case. The ' worms that gave the trouble is not the ordinary earth worm, but a little white harmless looking creature that emerges into the air as a small fly. Dissolve a piece of quicklime as big as a tea cup in three gallons of water. After it is through sputtering and the milky mixture has cleared, pour off the clear part and soak your soil with it. Do not dilute, for the soaking should be thorough. To provide plant food, stir small quantities of bone meal and wood ashes into the surface or in place of ordinary watering occasionally use manure water or ammonia water (a teaspoonful of ammonia to a quart of water). Trim off the brown tips, as they will never recover.- If the leaves turn yellow, look for scale on the under side and be sure you are not overwatering. Wash the scale off or spray with kerosene emulsion or whale-oil soap, or some nicotine preparation. Do not repeat too often. If a palm grows three new leaves a year it does well. Rubber plants are especially satisfactory to grow where there is a good light without direct sunlight Water often enough to keep the soil moist but do not under any circumstances permit water to stand about the roots nor allow it to become "bone dry." A potted plant set in a jardiniere needs especial care not to overwater. Wash the foliage frequently with soap suds made from good soap. Rinse thoroughly at once.

Repot occasionally as the pots become full of roots. Feed once in two to four weeks with dilute nitrate of soda (a heaping teaspoonful dissolved in water) or ammonia water or manure water as described for the palm or some prepared plant food. Oleanders may be treated more or less as are palms. Aspiridistras are most ornamental. They should be kept rather drier than palms and rubber plants. Cacti require rather dry sandy soil