=Plant Choice=: No plant will live long without light—few will thrive without more or less sunlight. The green-and-white Aspidastra is the hardiest in this respect. Plants used for interior decoration must be often shifted, set in light, fertilized, and bathed till thrifty, while others in good condition take their places. Weekly changes will maintain a proper effect. Palms and ferns are most satisfactory for such uses; flowering things get ragged very quickly. Begonias carefully tended and not allowed to dry out nor get hot make a brave showing. So do wax-leafed woody things—dwarf orange and lemon trees, rubber trees, dwarf evergreens and box trees.
=Plants for a North Light=: Fuschia stands pre-eminent, next to that thrifty ferns, ivy of both sorts, dwarf evergreens, spiderwort, moneywort, and trailing box vine. An hour or two of sunlight will suffice for all these, other conditions to their mind; also, in their season, for pansies, violets, and the dwarf Japanese morning glories so wonderful in color and texture.
=Filling Window Boxes=: Make fast, put a layer of broken pot over the bottom, upon that a very thin layer of excelsior. Cover two inches deep with fine earth, then arrange roots of your trailers along the outer edge and bank up with more earth. Next put in the plants, crowding them rather thickly, pack earth around and about them, water freely, make sure all plants stand straight, then shower plentifully, using a fine sprinkler. Water every day—twice daily in very hot weather—shower every other day, and fertilize once a week. This if the plants thrive. If they turn a sickly yellow, starve a bit, after watering plentifully with water a little too hot to bear your hand in.
=Choice of Window Plants=: Flowering geraniums deserve first place for a season’s bloom. White and pink ones smothered in green look better against a red brick wall than scarlet or crimson. But scarlet and white, or scarlet and crimson with feathery green, such as asparagus sprengeri, are beautiful against white walls, brown or buff ones, or any sort of stone. Pansies with alyssum edges are lovely while they last. Choose them for early spring, putting in geraniums or primroses later. Potted bulbs show beautifully in window boxes with edges of trailing green. Rose geraniums in window boxes help to drive away flies. Piazza boxes in midsummer have nothing more effective than the savage splendors of gladioli. Plant in double row, starting the bulbs in pots and setting out when a foot high. Nasturtiums also make a splendid show. So do all the tribe of begonia, provided the sun is not too hot. Morning and evening rays suit them.