The Rural Voice, 1993-10, Page 43be on a house of that period.
Additions: People generally want to
get every square foot of space in an
addition and therein lies a fatal
mistake, Rutledge says. If you're
putting on an addition to the back or
side of the house, don't make it flush
to the outside wall dimensions of the
main house. Make it enough smaller
so that the eave of the addition still
comes within the outer wall
dimensions of the main house. This
is easier for the builder (flush comers
are hard to build) and helps maintain
the integrity of the building (it just
plain looks better). If you need more
room, extend the addition further to
get the extra square feet.
The volume of the addition should
be scaled to harmonize with the older
portion of the house. Ceilings in this
part of the house would traditionally
not have been the 10 -foot height of
the main house so lower ceilings can
be put in these rooms in proportion.
Don't try to cram too much in.
There's a tendency now to have three
"living rooms", Rutledge says with a
formal living room, a family room
and a "great room" similar to the old
recreation room. Then people want
main floor laundry rooms and larger
kitchens with attached dining areas
and that all drives up the size of
houses and the costs of housing.
Many farm homes want a separate
office area to "get the business out of
the kitchen" and that's a legitimate
reason to get a bigger house, he says.
Most of all, keep it simple.
"There's a desire to have it all,"
Rutledge says, that sometimes causes
people to put so many architectural
details into a building that it becomes
a stew instead of an elegant meal.
"Architectural style is a certain set of
details that go together and have a
certain oneness. The desire to have it
all doesn't work. Things end up
fighting each other. I often end up
pulling clients back, saying 'I think
that's enough.' Err on the side of
plainness."
Often, he says, it's better to
renovate what's there than to build
new. "Most things on an old house
are repairable. Usually it's more
economical, more sympathetic and
more architecturally correct to
renovate."0
Next month, John Rutledge will
provide some tips on retaining the
style of the inside of your house.
Gardening
A picture is worth a thousand plans
by Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
I have been busy getting my house
plants that have been vacationing
outside, repotted and relocated indoors.
While I was deciding what could be
saved and what could be sacrificed to
Jack Frost, I came upon one of our
more important summer plants — a large
scented geranium. I have had this
particular plant for four years now and
as a rule have not noticed many of them
for sale in the garden centres until this
summer. Part of its popularity is
reflected in its name "Mosquito" plant.
There have been claims made that
setting pots of this particular geranium
around your patio or deck could help
ward off mosquitoes. In our yard the
mosquitoes make a bee line for my hus-
band. He ends up sporting large, tender
welts from their stings. Therefore
Klaus was quite interested in the repel-
lent properties of this plant and in the
early summer could be seen with the
potted plant placed almost beneath his
lawn chair. I don't think that this year
was particularly heavy with mosquitoes
but the plant seemed to help a bit
although I must point out Klaus still got
a few stings when he wasn't looking.
For those of you who paid hefty
sums for this repellent you may be con-
sidering taking some cuts or moving
the whole pot indoors for next year.
Scented geraniums should be treated
like the more popular flowering gerani-
ums. The cuttings should be made
from side branches of the parent plant.
Cut, or in the case of a geranium they
could break off easily. Allow for two
to three leaves to be removed leaving at
least two to three leaves above the soil
line. Let the cutting sit for 24 hours to
dry the cut edge or allow it to heal. You
can then dip the cutting into a root
hormone but it is not essential, and pop
the cutting into a mixture of coarse
sand and peat moss. Press the soil
around the stem ensuring the leaf nodes
that were exposed when the leaves
were removed are completely covered.
Cuttings may wilt from lack of
moisture since they have no roots yet.
To help them along, place the pot of
cuttings inside a clear plastic bag. Keep
in bright light but not direct sunlight.
In about three weeks the roots should
form and you can remove the bag. A
gentle tug of the cutting will tell you if
roots have been established. If not,
replace the bag for a couple of weeks.
Be careful not to overwater since it
takes little to rot them.
Scented geraniums are not very
fussy about their soil. They like it rich,
and well -drained and the one feature I
enjoy is the one where they don't like
much water. I have a habit of letting
things dry out too much but geraniums
seem to bear with this problem. You
should fertilize monthly with an all-
purpose water soluble fertilizer.
I have several scented geraniums on
my window sill. One is lime -scented,
another lemon, and a third is supposed
to be chocolate, but I am hard pressed
to really pick it out. Their flowers are
small and delicate and are not some-
thing you would grow the plant for. A
subtle brush with your hand on their
leaves releases the scented oil. It really
is quite pleasant. The lemon -scented
geranium is commonly called
fingerbowl.
There is an oakleaf geranium but it
is the leaves that attract growers. It has
an almond scent. Rose is probably the
most popular and as the name implies
has a lovely rose scent.
In case you are wondering what pur-
pose you could put all these plants to,
the list is varied. The dried leaves are
used in teas and potpourris; the fresh
may be used in baked goods, cold
drinks and jellies. We have used the
leaves to gamish desserts and salads
but I am afraid I often forget to cut
them until I have the first spoonful of
dessert in my mouth!
Scented geraniums are quite an
intriguing plant to have both in and out
of the house. You could consider seeds
but they may take as long as 50 days to
germinate. Check out members of your
local horticultural society for someone
who could get you started with a cut-
ting. Scented geraniums are a real old
fashioned house plant that many homes
once had gracing their window sill. If
you want to investigate additional
varieties, Richters from the Uxbridge
area have a delightful collection that
may interest you.0
Rhea Hamilton -Seeger, in addition w
working in advertising production for
The Rural Voice, raises two children, and
is a skilled cook and gardener.
OCTOBER 1993 39