Chapter I: Front Matter

HANDBOOKS OF PRACTICAL GARDENING--XIX

EDITED BY HARRY ROBERTS

THE BOOK OF TOWN AND WINDOW
GARDENING

THE BOOK OF
TOWN & WINDOW
GARDENING

BY

MRS F. A. BARDSWELL

JOHN LANE: THE BODLEY HEAD
LONDON AND NEW YORK. MCMIII

WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

TOWN-GARDENING
PAGE
London in summer-time--Bought flowers _versus_ growing
plants--Plants that do well in towns--Gardens of the
suburbs--Some of their joys 1

CHAPTER II

THE EARLY WINDOW-BOX

Spring gardening in the window-box--Bulbs: gold, white,
and blue--Moss carpets, dainty beds--Flowers that grow
well together--Some combinations--Encouragements 8

CHAPTER III

“THE SEASON” WINDOW-BOX

Not to start summer flowers too soon--Not to buy plants
that have been forced--Not to be like everybody else--_Asparagus
Sprengeri_--A kitchen window-box--Herbs--The
watched pot--Prize window-boxes at Exeter--The
nursery window-box--Seed Song 14

CHAPTER IV

BALCONY-GARDENING

Pot-plants--Climbers--Tubs--London in June--The pleasant
balcony--Practical hints 20

CHAPTER V

ROOF AND BACK-YARD GARDENS IN THE CITY

St Andrew’s Rectory garden, Doctor’s Commons--“Struggles
in Smoke”--Roof-jungle at the Home for Working Boys,
at Bishopsgate Street, E.C.--Amateur gardening among
the slates and chimney-pots--City gardens--Tempting
the sea-gull, land-bird, and butterfly 26

CHAPTER VI

PLANTS FOR THE CITY POOR

Window-box Society, St. Cuthbert’s Lodge, Millwall--Mr.
Cadbury and his operatives--Town board schools--Gardening
at Crook’s Place Board School, Norwich--Country
board schools in England and in Germany--Helping the
poor--Miss Jekyll and the factory lad 31

CHAPTER VII

THE BEGINNER

Choosing the window-box--Making it--Placing it--Filling
it--The hanging basket--Cleansing--Watering--The
Fern window-box--Virginia Stock 36

CHAPTER VIII

FOLIAGE PLANTS FOR TOWNS

The window-box and the man in the street--The advantages
and merits of the foliage-plants--Which to order 44

CHAPTER IX

FOG, FLOWERS, AND FOLIAGE

Air--Fog--What urban fog is made of--Darkness--Poison--An
analysis from Kew--Can we counteract effects of fog?--Mr.
Toope at Stepney--Fog-filters--What plants suffer
least?--Professor Oliver’s report on ferns in fogs--Bulbous
plants--Precautions--Coal-smoke Abatement Society--Resolutions 48

CHAPTER X

THE LADY DECORATOR AND THE FLOWER-GIRL

Arranging flowers--Balls, dinner-parties, weddings--Fashions
in flowers--Dyed flowers--Flowers as symbols--Primrose
Day--Floral trophies--The early and mid-Victorian
bouquet--Street-selling flower-girls--Buttonhole-making--A
skeleton parasol in France 55

CHAPTER XI

THE SMALL SUBURBAN GARDEN

A good word for it--The motor-car--Corner houses--Making
the most of a small garden--Turf--Trees--Back and
front gardens--Individuality--Good taste 62

CHAPTER XII

“NEXT DOOR”--A PARENTHETICAL CHAPTER

Garden etiquette in Suburbia--Codes and
customs--Barriers--Brides--Music--Children--Bonfires--The
family wash 71

CHAPTER XIII

GRASS, GROUND, OR GRAVEL

The new suburban garden--The restful garden--_Country Life_
on English and Continental suburban gardens--The lawn
and flower-beds--Grass walks 75

CHAPTER XIV

FERNS AND WILD FLOWERS

The hardy fernery--How we made our own--Wild flowers for
the fernery--The fernery all the year round--Amusing
May--The Pale Osmunda--The neglected fernery of
London and the suburbs--Roadside Ferns and hedge-haunters 80

CHAPTER XV

CREEPERS AND CLIMBERS

The Vine and Fig-tree--_Ampelopsis Veitchii_--Trellis-work--Wire
netting--Supports--Roses, Jasmine and Magnolia--The
Passion-flower--Hops and Honeysuckle--Morning
Glories--“Ivy Lane” 88