Can Rhododendrons and Azaleas be grown on the alkaline soils of the Midwest and Great Plains area?

Have you ever come home from work dog-tired on a cool evening and smelled fried potatoes and onions? In my book, they belong alongside freshly baked bread as a “welcome-homer.”

Layering is a safe, sure, simple way to increase many types of plants, and particularly the climbers and danglers with which this book is concerned. The first requirement is that the plant have long, lax or drooping stems – which vining plants do. The rest is easy, because the stem is not severed from the parent until the new plant is well rooted and can survive on its own. Humidifying devices, bottom heat, and close protection are seldom called for.

Most Enthusiastic gardeners agree that gardening is a grand adventure with thrilling experiences at almost every turn. Yet as I look around among my gardening acquaintances. I am amazed to find that many miss much of the joy of their hobby by limiting their activities to the few short months of summer.

Home gardeners find that rooting scented-leaved geraniums is not always easy. Often they have a favorite plant they want to propagate and after several attempts meet with failure. Among the many kinds, some root very easily, while others are very tricky.

Chill November winds spur us on to get things done before the ground freezes in cooler sections of the country. Now is the time to finish cleaning up gardens before the appearance of the first snow or colder weather.

Ideal plants for those value fragrance rather than color, are the scented-leaved geraniums.

In my garden one of the joys of autumn is Cyclamen neapolitanum, a small hardy relative of the larger florist’s cyclamen. Dainty, soft pink to pale lavender pink flowers appear like a flock of butterflies in late August or early September and last until hard frost. There is also an ethereally lovely pure white, C. neapolitanum album.

The pseudobulb, a green, banana-like object at the base of the leaves, is a very interesting and vital part of the orchid plant. In it the food and moisture obtained from the air and water (the orchid’s sources of nourishment) are stored.

There are three basic elements of a soil mixture for indoor plants, each available in different forms, and each needed in varying proportions by different types of plants. The following is a basic recipe that should be varied depending on a plants requirements. For example, for plants that like soil “rich in humus,” you would double the quantity of humus. For a “sandy soil mixture,” double the amount of sand.