THE USE OF GROWING PLANTS FOR TABLE DECORATION

The woman who takes pride in making the family table attractive at all times finds nothing quite so effective for this purpose as flowers, and these she cannot always afford.

But she need not be without material for beautifying the home table if she has windows in which plants can be grown, for there are many plants that are quite as attractive as flowers. But a good many persons have not yet learned that they can be made satisfactory substitutes for cut flowers, because they have not taken the trouble to study the thing out. They have heretofore depended on cut flowers for table decoration, as have their friends, and it has not occurred to them to get out of the rut they are in and think out new ways and means for making home pleasant.

A well-shaped, medium-sized plant with fine foliage will add quite as much to the appearance of any table as a vaseful of flowers that would cost several times as much. True, it may lack the brilliant coloring of the flowers whose place it takes, but that does not prevent it from being beautiful, and beauty is what we aim at when we supplement the attractions of fine table-linen, sparkling cut glass, silver, and dainty china of the well-arranged table with the added attraction of plants and flowers.

One of the best plants for this purpose is the variety of asparagus catalogued as plumosus nanus. It is more commonly known as asparagus fern, though it is not even a most distant relative of the fern family. It has foliage so fine that it has all the delicacy of lace, and is more like a mist of green than like ordinary foliage. It sends up frondlike growth that spreads out symmetrically on all sides of the pot. Pruning is seldom required to bring it into or keep it in proper shape. A plant of it, with its pot hidden by a pretty jardiniÈre or wrapped in tissue-paper will be in perfect harmony with any table fittings. If a bit of bright color is desired, three or four roses or half a dozen carnations with their stems thrust into the soil in the pot will furnish it. If the housewife provides herself with three or four plants of this asparagus, she will at all times have something at hand with which to make her table attractive. In this way she will become independent of the florist and his fancy prices. These plants are of the easiest culture, and succeed wherever geraniums can be grown.

At holiday-time several plants that make excellent table decorations are on the market. One is ardisia, with rich, dark-green foliage, and scarlet berries that are quite as brilliant as flowers. Another is the Jerusalem cherry, with pretty foliage and a profusion of crimson fruit. These plants remain in attractive condition for weeks, and the woman who invests in them has something with which to make her table as attractive as it would be if two or three dollars had been expended in flowers that would last for only a few days. It will be seen that it is economy to buy plants of this kind. Where there are several there is opportunity for variety, thus ruling monotony out of the question.

Cocos Weddelliana is a small-growing palm with delicate, feathery foliage. One might call it a "baby" palm because of its small size. A plant of it always adds distinction to the table on which it is used. This, like the asparagus, the ardisia, and the Jerusalem cherry, readily adapts itself to ordinary window culture.

Begonia Gloire de Lorraine is a most beautiful flowering plant. It bears its dainty pink blossoms so profusely and in such wide-spreading panicles that the pot in which it grows is often entirely hidden by it. Its color is charming by daylight, and under artificial light it is lovely beyond description. I know of no other pink flower that is as satisfactory by lamplight. When an especially dainty and out-of-the-common decoration is wanted for the table, nothing superior to it can be found. This begonia can be obtained from most florists in fall. If care is taken to remove it from the table to the window after it has done decorative duty, it will remain in bloom during the greater part of winter. But it must not be left on the table long at a time. Neither should any of the other plants named, for they will suffer if kept away from good light very long.

Primula obconica is a most satisfactory plant for table use when in full bloom. Its trusses of pale lilac, soft pink, or pure white have such a wild-woodsy air about them that they are always sure of such attention as American Beauties seldom get. The baby primrose is a miniature edition of P. obconica, and it is one of the most lovable flowers imaginable. Like its larger relative, it is a free and constant bloomer, and on this account will be found very useful as a table ornament.

Small specimens of auricaria, with heavy, dark-green foliage much like that of our native hemlocks and balsam, make a novel decoration. This is the plant that the children delight in calling the Christmas-tree plant, because of its shape and its evergreen foliage.

During fall and winter, when fruit and vegetables are plentiful, very pleasing table decorations can be made from them. On Thanksgiving Day such an arrangement will be found very appropriate.

A friend of mine who has no windows at which flowers can be grown well, but who, in spite of that, is determined to make her table attractive, lays in a supply of bittersweet berries during the fall, and "everlasting flowers," like gomphrena, helichrysum, cockscomb, and others whose petals are strawlike in texture, and from these she contrives some really charming decorations for her table. Where there is a will there is always a way, you know.

It will be seen from what I have said above that many plants can be grown in the windows of the living-room that can be used with fine effect in table decoration. I would advise making a collection of such varieties as I have named for this especial purpose. With such a collection to draw from no woman need be at loss for decorative material, and while her plants are not doing duty on the table they will be making her windows attractive, thus serving a double purpose.