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A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Photo by Nathan R. Graves Co.

A LITTLE GARDEN OF FAIR FLOWERS

A LITTLE GARDEN
THE YEAR ROUND

WHEREIN MUCH JOY WAS FOUND
EXPERIENCE GAINED AND PROFIT
SPIRITUAL AS WELL AS MUNDANE
DERIVED WITHOUT LOSS OF PRESTIGE
IN A PRACTICAL NEIGHBORHOOD

BY

GARDNER TEALL

NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
681 FIFTH AVENUE

CopyricutT, 1919,
By E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY

All Rights Reserved

2 ao?
Dias
1B" |
UEL 26 1919

Printed in the United States of America

Oc.As559161

rw”v |

EAB »" Dee /

TO
MY FATHER
WILLIAM ALLEN TEALL
THIS LITTLE BOOK IS DEDICATED
IN MEMORY OF THE FIRST LITTLE GARDEN
I EVER KNEW

A FOREWORD TO THE
DEAR GARDEN-LOVER

A little garden square and wall’d;

And in it throve an ancient evergreen,

A yew-tree, and all round it ran a walk

Of shingle, and a walk divided tt.
TENNYSON.

LITTLE garden the year round—
~ how dear memory holds it in the
heart! What lessons it taught,

primer of all which you, Dear Garden-Lover,
will find in this little book! And if it chances
that you don’t skip prefaces, things the author
may say of the pages to follow, or return to
demand from him an explanation of your pos-
sible disappointments, let him confide to you
that he might never have ventured forth into
the realms of your generosity, had not the
kindly encouragement of your neighbors al-
ready put seal of approval on the various es-

vu

vii FOREWORD TO THE GARDEN-LOVER

says in garden literature from his own pen
which have faithfully served as quarry, when
here a stone and there a stone seemed as ready
as his craft could make it to lend strength to
the foundation of this little edifice.

This little book of a little garden the year
round seeks, in friendly way, not only to be
useful to every garden-owner, and to every
garden-beginner who looks forward to making
a garden of his own, but to convey some sense
of the joys of gardening, some realization of
the pleasures that find place in the heart and
soul of one who combines the companionship
of prose and poetry in the going about his
gardening, an occupation indulged in for rec-
reation, whose limits have taught him that a
world may be held in a nutshell after all, if the
experiences of his own are not forgotten, and
particularly if his trained, observant and sym-
pathetic eye is permitted to make its discov-
eries in the broader acreage of his fellow gar-
den-makers.

There can never be too many garden-lovers,
nor can there ever be too many garden books.
I turn to my gardening shelves and scan their
titles lovingly. They have taught me much,

A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND ix

have confirmed observations of my own and
even those with whom I have, in the mind’s
way, held dispute, still linger that I may do
battle with them, and thus renew confidence
in my own reputed prowess!

Perhaps some impatient garden-maker will
shrug shoulder at the things I find in a little
garden. Let him snatch at lettuces, confound
grubs, bully cabbages and drive potatoes to
his cellar with the lash of a hardened prac-
ticality that never gets above the stomach!
For him this little book is not! You, Dear
Garden-Lover, you I count upon, for you too,
I know will be thinking of the birds and the
flowers even while arranging your radish seeds
in orderly rows. And I shall be gratefully
appreciative to you, as I am to those who have
permitted me to draw upon the essays, of
which I have already told you, that I might
plan for you this little book.

Acknowledgments are due Mr. Charles AlI-
len Munn, Messrs. Munn and Company, Inc.
(publishers of American Homes and Gardens
during the editorship of the author), Messrs.
Condé Nast and Company, Inc. (publishers
of House & Garden, of which the author was

x FOREWORD TO THE GARDEN-LOVER

earlier Associate Editor), Mr. Richardson
Wright, Editor of House & Garden, Woman's
Home Companion; The House Beautiful,
Pictorial Review, The New Y ork Tribune, Art
& Life, and Messrs. Robert M. McBride &
Company for their courtesy in permitting the
author to draw upon the articles he has con-
tributed to the periodicals named for such of
the material as he has woven into this little gar-
land of garden thoughts and suggestions.

CHAPTER

I.
Er
III.
IV.

Ba

Vil.
IX.

A

iT.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.

CONTENTS

A LitrLte FLowrer GARDEN
MAKING THE LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN
SPRING FLOWER-PLANTING TABLE .
DaHLiAS

CosMos rt

AuTUMN FLOWER-PLANTING
AuTUMN FLOWER-PLANTING TABLE
PEONIES

GLADIOLI . eae

BULBS IN THE GARDEN .

Tue Hyactntu

A PERSIAN GARDEN .

Tue INpDoorR GARDEN

EVERGREENS AND FERNS FoR INDOORS .

GERANIUMS
THE VEGETABLE GARDEN .

A VEGETABLE-PLANTING TABLE
Tue SALAD GARDEN .

VINES .
CLEMATIS .

105
114
121
122
130
136

Xl

CHAPTER

XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
XXIV.
XXV.

XXVI.

CONTENTS

SHRUBS

EVERGREENS .

GARDENS AND ARCHITECTURE .
SuNDIAL MottTors

THrRouGH THE YEAR IN A LITTLE
GARDEN

L’Envor: Tue VESPER GARDEN .

PAGE

142
150
160
166

175
225

12.

13.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

A Lirrite GARDEN or Farr FLowErs

Frontispiece

A Littte Garpen Like Tus ONE Is A
Happy PosskEssIon . see

A LirrtLte GarpDEN WELL PLANNED

WuitrE Cosmos.

A GARDEN OF peas Is A Ge
or DELIGHT.

PrEoNIES SHOULD Have A pees IN EVERY
GARDEN .

A Tuure Borper Is ES Most
GorGceEous GIFT

FRAGRANT SNowy HYACcINTHS ARE SPRING’S
Most Perrect GARDEN GIFT
PLAN OF A PERSIAN GARDEN

A Harry Bepping ARRANGEMENT OF
GERANIUMS

VEGETABLE GARDENING IS NOT ALL
DRUDGERY

THe Cuiematis (C. Vinorstan) AS A

Porcu VINE . : Ae ig LOE RA BS

Suruss Do Mucu# To aati THE HovusE
TO THE LANDSCAPE.
xiii

FACING
PAGE

32

105

142

xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING
14. Evercreens Lenn NOositity TO THE 4%

GARDEN LANDSCAPE .. . ga, car eae
15. Tuere 1s BEAUTY IN THE STaeeh eee

GARDEN ARGH! Ge Sl x eee
16. Tur Perrect GarpEN SHouLD Have Its

Sun-Dran 0. e nS ae ee ne

17. A LirrLte GARDEN oF vere Furowers. 175

A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Photo by Nathan R_ Graves Co.

A LITTLE GARDEN LIKE THIS ONE IS A HAPPY POSSESSION

A LITTLE GARDEN
THE YEAR ROUND

I

A LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN

y \ HERE is a lovely garden nestling in
a quiet valley of the Connecticut
countryside that I shall call Kvery-

man’s garden, because here one finds, season

after season, a world of delight in the delec-
table array of blooming things dear to the heart
of every one who holds close to him the memory
of Hollyhocks, Larkspurs, Columbines, Mari-
golds, Cockscombs, Poppies, Asters, Fox-
gloves, Canterbury Bells, Love-in-a-Mist,

Mignonette, Sweet William, Petunias, the

Zinnia and all the other beautiful flowers we

have called old-fashioned because we love them

best. Here one finds no orderly array of
I

2 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

stiffly designed flower beds, looking for all the
world like a patch-quilt for keeping Nature
covered up. Instead, great banks of Phlox,
clumps of Peonies, trellises of Sweet Peas, and
banks of Nasturtiums hold almost riotous sway
over the domain that stretches from doorstep
to the gate, which seems always swinging open
to welcome you to the wonderland it gives ac-
cess to. When you see the gorgeous blaze of
wonderful color before you, as though all the
gems of Aladdin’s command had been strewn
by careless but generous hand just there, you
will rub your eyes to make sure you are not
dreaming; that this little paradise is real, after
all. Whatever notions you may have enter-
tained about stiff borders, symmetrical edges
and formal garden lay-outs will vanish utterly
under the spell this garden casts around one,
and you will find that it can teach you more in
an hour than many another has taught you in
a season.

A few years ago—fifty if you will—we were
all imagining that we had no history; to-day
we realize we have made a great deal. We
cannot whirl through the countryside and catch
a glimpse of some old house, landmark of our

A LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN 3

Colonial era, that our hearts do not bound
up within us with the pride we hold in all we
have done since then. It is not because this
old pewter mug, or that old sampler, or these
quaint candlesticks evoke our admiration
merely in themselves for their intrinsic worth
that we bargain for them, collect them, and
carry them off with us, to adorn our houses,
with almost as much pride as the conquerors
of old brought back their spoils to adorn the
victory; it is because history and these things
have gone hand in hand, a thing we love to be
reminded of, the quality which lends to the
“antique” its chief charm. That, too, is why
we must have reproductions of the old things,
if the old things themselves are to be denied
us. So it is with gardens. The Englishman
may walk among his box-bordered geometri-
cies, his Yew-covered paths; the Italian among
his balustrated terraces, sentineled by Cy-
presses; the Hollander among his Tulip-beds,
the Spaniard within his arbors of Jasmine, the
Frenchman around his rows of Lilies, and the
northlander about his shrubbery, his Moss-
Roses and Forget-Me-Nots; but to the heart
of every American that garden of flowers is

4 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

the loveliest which carries with its perfume the
reminiscent suggestion of those gardens of our
cradle days, when Salem roasted witches but
overlooked the enchantments of her dooryard,
red with Four-O’Clocks, white with Candy-
tuft, blue with Batchelors’ Buttons, and when
the good folk of Boston Village, each over his
neighbor’s fence, discussed the newest Lark-
spur seed, the fantastic forms of the Gourd.
We love to be reminded, too, of Martha Wash-
ington’s garden at Mt. Vernon, of the bouquets
that used to come fresh with the morning dew
upon them to Mistress Dolly Madison, of the
garden where the brave Boys in Blue and the
brave Boys in Gray played in their happy
youth, taking little heed of the prophecy of
the relentless Dicentra—Bleeding Heart, in-
deed!

And so, when I come into a garden such as
this one, where on a Summer’s day the hum of
bees throws me into drowsy meditation and the
winds waft sweet music of the nodding stems
to listening ears, I say it is the best garden of
all—your garden, my garden—Everyman’s
garden.

A LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN 5

“If they to whom God gives fair gardens knew
The happy solace which sweet flowers be-
stow;
Where pain depresses, and where friends are
few,
To cheer the heart in weariness and woe.”

These words of a poet, whose name has long
since been forgotten, come to one as he strolls
through the banks of flowering verdure, but
only because we feel sorry for that poet of
long ago. He may have known lovely gar-
dens, but had he known this one, never would
the burden of his song have carried with it
suggestion of any plaint, but he would have
felt that spirit of all gardens whispering as the
genius loci to him, as in the exquisite words of
Francis Thompson’s “An Anthem of Earth”:

“Here I untrammel.
Here I pluck loose the body’s cerementing,
And break the tomb of life; here I shake off
The bur o° the world, man’s congregation shun,
And to the antique order of the dead
I take the tongueless vows; my call is set
Here in thy bosom; my little trouble is ended
In a little peace.”

6 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

How inseparable, indeed, are gardens and
poetry, poetry and gardens, though many there
be (they, perhaps, who are merely born with
the botanist’s eye, the agriculturist’s crop pro-
clivities, or the spademan’s muscle) who pre-
tend to find in the garden only the suggestion
of a deal of troweling, a scattering of seeds, a
turn at weeding, a thorn or two, and the trouble
of beginning it all over again, meeting the oc-
cupation or the necessity withal, as the case
may be, season after season and year after
year, but as a matter of business, as part of the
business of life, a duty performed well but
blindly, unillumined by the inner light that
sheds its radiance upon the joys of gardening.

Indeed, I know a man who has a yard full of
plants space-filling his summertimes. If you
should ask him why he plants them, he could
not tell you, though I suspect he is coming un-
der the spell of habit and that a few more years
will find him understanding that he has a gar-
den, not merely a Rose here, a Lilac there and
a row of Geraniums, causing him a deal of
grumbling and trouble, because he looks upon
them solely as agents in outvieing his neigh-
bor’s floral display; I say he cannot forever

A LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN 7

escape the heart-song his sorry garden is try-
ing to sing to hm—-sorry garden, for a garden
cannot make itself—he cannot escape it if he
has a soul, and I think he has. When I go
down his street and look over his fence at the
growing things beyond, for all the world a
garden of prim precision and joylessness, I
say to myself, “That is Noman’s garden,” and
I pass on with a sigh. I tried to talk to him
once about gardens—about mine. It was in
the early Spring, and I hoped to learn how
he had managed to make his Larkspurs taller
than mine, though his were not so blue. Alas!
Enough chemicals to have established a phar-
macy, and a grim determination that his gar-
den would look down upon mine,—that was
all I got out of him; he had never heard of
Omar Khayyam, of Francis Thompson, and
would have lost faith in Francis Bacon had he
known the great philosopher had “wasted” his
time in discoursing “Of Gardens.” For my
own part, I can dismiss the matter of Noman’s
garden from my mind as though he were a pur-
veyor of dried herbs, being, nevertheless, char-
itable enough to wish him well.

II

MAKING THE LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN

Everyman’s garden. Now and then a

whiff of clover-fragrance, of perfume
from the lovely fields beyond, cuts keenly to
our retreat, and the master of the garden
shakes his head laughingly and gives warning
that his flower-children will be jealous. So they
are; the next fluttering of leaves is turned by
zephyrs scented with the subtle incense of the
Columbine, the Honeysuckle or the strange,
sweet breath of the Dahlia. Then I tell the
master of this garden all the hopes and fears
I hold for my own. For two seasons now, I
tell him, I have been striving to rear my treas-
ured plants and bring them to maturity, that
they may frame the garden of my dreams.
He leads me to an old back porch screened with
Honeysuckle, Clematis, and stringed Morn-

8

| LOVE to sit out under the trees of

Photo by Nathan R. Graves Co.

A LITTLE GARDEN WELL PLANNED

MAKING THE LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN 9

ing-Glories. “Here,” he tells me, “I keep the
diary of my garden.” I look over his shoul-
der at the books he holds forth and find that
for many years he has jotted down with lov-
ing care therein all sorts of things every one
should know about his garden. Some of the
things I find written in these bulky notebooks
are much the same as the things the master of
Noman’s garden begrudgingly dispensed when
I pressed him for information. How differ-
ently it is with the master of Kveryman’s gar-
den! Eagerly I begin to compare notes, first
turning to his trim little entries under

SITES AND SOILS FOR THE GARDEN

“They must be weed-free.” We both agree
as to that. Weeds cannot be cut under and
allowed to hide their heads, ostrich-like. We
must not let the foolish things take silly ad-
vantage of us that way. We must root them
out in earnest, and burn them. Moreover, if
the garden plot we have determined upon is
neighbor to a weedy field, we shall be called
upon to exercise some vigilance over-fence. It
is a poor neighbor who will not lend hand to

10 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

organized effort in a community to root out
obnoxious weeds. We all know that nothing
is so injurious to a flower garden as too much
water, or too little. A garden spot upon a
slope with a southern exposure is ideal for a
site, permitting, as it does, access to sunshine
—all flowers need that—and proper drainage
often denied to the flat garden. We are re-
minded, too, of the havoc north and west winds
wreak upon Roses and other tender plants and
we must plan a hedge, shrubbery or some other
means of shielding our gardens in the direc-
tions of these winds. The owner of Every-
man’s garden tells me he chose its site away
from the road-front, for he not only wished his
flowers to be free from the dust clouds stirred
up by the vehicles constantly passing, but also
because, wishing to have the joy of spending
several hours each day tending his plants, he
sought a spot that would give him greater pri-
vacy than the road-front.

We both discovered, as every one who has a
garden comes to discover, that dirt is not soil
—at least not soil in the sense of the proper
source of nourishment for plants. With earth
made up of sand and clay and decayed vege-

MAKING THE LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN 11

table, called humus, plant life must be sup-
plied from these in proportion to the require-
ments of species. We usually refer to a very
sandy or a very clayey soil as a poor soil, and
one abundantly supplied with humus as good
soil. A poor sandy soil contains from 80 to
100 per cent. of sand, and as sand, unmixed
with vegetable or animal matter, supplies little
nutriment to plants, it stands to reason one
would hardly expect to make a lovely garden
out of a mere sandbank, or out of a stretch of
closely-packed clay, for though clay may con-
tain plant food, the roots of plants cannot get
to it unless the clayey soil is mixed with other
soil. ‘To a mixed sandy and clayey soil we
give the name loam. Such loam contains
from 40 to 60 per cent. of sand; if from 60 to
80 per cent. of sand, we call it sandy loam, and
if less than 40 per cent. of sand we call it clayey
loam. This loam is the basis of all good gar-
den soil. Drainage lightens the soil and per-
mits aération, which is so necessary to it; and,
freed from stagnant moisture, the earth be-
comes warmer and drier and more fertile, as
the bacteria which nitrify it and convert
manure into plant food can live in soil that is

12 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

properly drained and tilled in infinitely greater
quantities than in soil that stands neglected.
We must remember, too, that no amount of
commercial fertilizer will help our gardens if
the body soil is not put into a proper condition
to receive and take care of it; one might as well
try to strain tea through a basin of jade. The
owner of Everyman’s garden has written in
his notebook this quotation from Sorauer’s
“Physiology of Plants”: “The ideal condi-
tion of a soil is one which resembles a sponge
and in which it will retain the greatest amount
of nutritive substances and water without los-
ing its capacity for absorbing air.” 'There you
have it in a nutshell. The problem does not
seem so terrifying after all. We have only
to dig a bit in the garden area. If we find the
soil there too “heavy,” we shall know what to
do; too light, we shall likewise know how to al-
ter its condition; but in either event we shall
not forget that it will require frequent fer-
tilizing to keep it “up to pitch.”

DRAINAGE

I know of no better method of testing the
soil of the garden plot than that of digging sev-

MAKING THE LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN 13

eral holes to a depth of three feet and covering
them to prevent rain from entering. Then,
after several wet days, the covering may be re-
moved, and if water is found to have risen
within the holes it may be safely assumed that
the ground is not properly drained. For large
areas of garden soil runs of tile drainage pipe
will be needed if the water collects beneath the
top soil, but for small garden areas the soil
may be removed to a depth of some thirty
inches to receive an underbed of five inches of
gravel. Of course, in such an operation the
top soil must be restored to its original po-
sition.

FERTILIZING

It is not always easy for the garden begin-
ner to know just how much fertilizer the soil
requires. Perhaps he will discover that “over-
fed” Nasturtiums wither and die, but one can-
not seem to “over-feed” the jolly little inhabi-
tants of the flower-bed. Probably for the
average flower garden stable or barnyard
manure (that which has been heaped for at
least six months, until it is well rotted) will
prove sufficient. Stable manure, two barrow-

14 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

fuls, say, to a square rod being ample, or some-
what less if barnyard manure (better for dry
soils) is used.

Annuals bloom more freely the more fre-
quently they are cut. Sweet Peas, Mignon-
ette, Gaillardia, Nicotiana, Nasturtiums, Core-
opsis, Love-in-a-Mist, Sweet William—how
could we get along without them! Often it
happens that a severe winter wreaks havoc in
the perennial border. With the advent of
Spring we find bare spots in the garden bor-
ders where there should be plants. ‘Too late
it is to move other perennials to fill these gaps
and it is in such instances that we again real-
ize how very necessary the spring-planted flow-
ers are to every garden, as annuals can be used
for filling up the borders. Then our gardens
would have whole dreary stretches of flowerless
plants durmg those periods which await the
time of blossoming perennials were it not for
annuals. The newly made garden becomes a
joyful sight the first season by reason of a
profusion of properly planted annuals. ‘The
Spring weeks will be slipping by speedily, and
how glad the garden-beginner will be to have
given thought in time to Spring planting prob-

MAKING THE LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN 15

lems when he comes to realize that the peren-
nials he planted last autumn will not be suffi-
cient (the first season) to meet his expecta-
tions, and that the perennials he will be plant-
ing this Spring will not bloom until the second
season.

When seed is planted (see the Spring
Flower-Planting Table which follows this
chapter) the soil must be firmed down to hold
it in place. This assists the rootlets to take a
firm hold upon the germination. This firming
(accomplished by pressing the soil with a
board, removing the board, of course!) also
greatly assists the soil of the flower-bed to pro-
mote what Dr. L. H. Bailey terms “capillar-
ity,’ providing the surface soil with a means
to retain moisture to a greater extent than if
the friable, loose soil were left “open” at the
top for complete moisture evaporation.

FLOWERING MONTHS

Garden-beginners may find the following
memorandum of flowers to be found in bloom
in particular months of value and interest.
April: Bellis, Forget-me-not, and Primrose,

16 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

May: Adonis, Sweet Alyssum, Alyssum Sax-
atile, Iberis, Pansy, and Iceland Poppy. June:
Ageratum, Columbine (Aquilegia), Adonis,
Sweet Alyssum, Balsam, Bellis, Calendula,
Calliopsis, Candytuft (Iberis), Carnation,
Celosia, Clarkia, Coreopsis, Foxglove, Lark-
spur, Lobelia, Love-Lies-Bleeding, Love-in-a
Mist, Lupine, Pansy, Iceland Poppy, Oriental
Poppy, Salpiglossis, Scabiosa, Silene, Stock,
and Sweet Pea. July: Ageratum, Sweet
Alyssum, Antirrhinum, Aquilegia, Aster,
Bachelors’ Button, Balsam, Bellis, Calendula,
Calliopsis, Campanula, Candytuft, Carna-
tion, Ricinus, Clarkia, Coreopsis, Dahlia,
Forget-me-not, Four O’Clock, Gaillardia,
Globe Amaranth, Godetia, Larkspur, Lava-
tera, Lobelia, Love-Lies-Bleeding, Love-
in-a-Mist, Marigold, Mignonette, Monks-
hood, ‘Morning-Glory, Nasturtium, Nico-
tiana, Petunia, Phlox, Poppy, Portulaca,
Salpiglossis, Scabiosa, Schizanthus, Silene,
Stock, Sweet Pea, Sweet William, Thunber-
gia, Torenia, Verbena, Wallflower and Zin-
nia. August: Ageratum, Sweet Alyssum, An-
tirrhinum, Aster, Bachelors’ Button, Balsam,
Calendula, Calliopsis, California Poppy, Cam-

MAKING THE LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN 17

panula, Candytuft, Carnation, Castor Bean,
Celosia, Chrysanthemum, Clarkia, Coreopsis,
Cosmos, Dahlia, Four O’Clock, Gaillardia,
Globe Amaranth, Godetia, Gourd, Helian-
thus, Hollyhock, Larkspur, Lobelia, Love-
in-a-Mist, Marigold, Mignonette, Monkshood,
Morning-Glory, Nasturtium, Nicotiana, Pe-
tunia, Phlox, Dianthus, Poppy, Iceland
Poppy, Oriental Poppy, Portulaca, Pyreth-
rum, Rudbeckia (Golden Glow), Salpiglossis,
Scabiosa, Stock, Sunflower, Sweet Pea, Sweet
William, Thunbergia, Torenia, Veronica,
Wallflower and Zinnia.

The following flowers may be found in
bloom in the late months: Ageratum, Sweet
Alyssum, Antirrhinum, Aster, Balsam, Calen-
dula, Calliopsis, Candytuft, Carnation, Castor
Bean, Celosia, Chrysanthemum, Clarkia,
Coreopsis, Cosmos, Dahlia, Gaillardia, Go-
detia, Helianthus, Hollyhock, Larkspur,
Lobelia, Love-in-a-Mist, Marigold, Mignon-
ette, Moonflower, Morning-Glory, Nasturtium,
Nicotiana, Petunia, Phlox, Dianthus, Poppy,
Iceland Poppy, Portulaca, Pyrethrum, Rud-
beckia, Salpiglossis, Salvia, Silene, Stock, Sun-

18 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

flower, Sweet Pea, Thunbergia, Torenia, Ver-
bena, Wallflower and Zinnia.

COLOR GROUPS

‘As so much in flower gardening depends on
color effects, the following short list of flow-
ers, arranged according to color, has been com-
pued: White: Ageratum, Sweet Alyssum,
Columbine (Aquilegia), Aster, Bachelors’
Button, Balsam, Bellis, Campanula, Candy-
tuft (Iberis), Chrysanthemum, Clarkia, Cos-
mos, Dahlia, Foxglove, Four O’Clock, Globe
Amaranth, Godetia, Gypsophila, Hollyhock,
Annual Larkspur, Lobelia, Love-in-a-Mist,
Lupine, Monkshood, Moonflower, Morning-
Glory, Nicotiana, Pansy, Petunia, Phlox,
Pink, Poppy, Portulaca, Scabiosa, Silene,
Stock, Sweet Pea, Thunbergia, Torenia, Ver-
bena, and Zimnia. Yellow: Adonis, Alyssum
Saxtile, Calendula, Calliopsis (Coreopsis),
California Poppy, Chrysanthemum, Clarkia,
Dahlia, Four O’Clock, Globe Amaranth, Gail-
lardia, Helianthus, Hollyhock, Love-Lies-
Bleeding, Marigold, Nasturtium, Pansy,
Poppy, Portulaca, Primrose, Rudbeckia,

MAKING THE LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN 19

Secabiosa, Schizanthus, Sunflower, Thun-
bergia, Verbena, Wallflower and Zinnia.
Blue: Ageratum, Aquilegia, Aster, Bachelors’
Button, Campanula, Forget-me-not, Lark-
spur, Lobelia, Love-in-a-Mist, Lupine, Monks-
hood, Moonflower, Morning Glory, Pansy, Pe-
tunia, Sweet Pea, Phlox and Tornia. Purple:
Chrysanthemum, Clarkia, Globe Amaranth,
Petunia, Phlox, Dianthus, Morning Glory,
Sweet Pea and Veronica. Pink: Bachelors’
Button, Bellis, Campanula, Carnation, Chrys-
anthemum, Cosmos, Dahlia, Globe Amaranth,
Annual Larkspur, Lupine, Primrose, Silene,
Sweet Pea and Zinnia. ed: Bellis, Chrysan-
themum, Dahlia, Clarkia, Cosmos, Four
O’Clock, lLavatera, Love-Lies-Bleeding,
Morning Glory, Nicotiana, Pansy, Poppy,
Portulaca, Salvia, Sweet Pea, Zinnia.

FLOWERS FOR PARTLY SHADED LOCATIONS

Among those flowers which will succeed in
‘partial shade are to be noted the Antirrhinum,
Aquilegia, Bellis, Campanula, Coreopsis, For-
get-me-not, Larkspur (perennial), Monks-
hood, Moonflower, Morning-Glory, Pansy,

20 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Iceland Poppy, Oriental Poppy, Primrose,
Pyrethrum, Schizanthus and the Verbena.
This, of course, does not mean that these
species will thrive in locations on which some
direct sunlight does not fall for some part of
the day.

HEIGHT OF FLOWERING PLANTS

Another thing to consider in planning the
garden is the height which the flowering plant
is, under normal conditions, likely to attain.
Plants, for instance, which are comparatively
low-growing are Adonis, Bellis, Candytuft,
Pansy, Portulaca, Silene and Verbena. Those
of a little taller growth are Sweet Alyssum,
Forget-me-not, Marigold, Mignonette, Poppy,
and Primrose. Among the plants which com-
monly attain a height of twelve inches are
Ageratum, Alyssum Saxatile, California
Poppy. Still taller in growth are the Aster,
Bachelors’ Button, Carnation, Chrysanthe-
mum, Gaillardia, Globe Amaranth, Annual
Larkspur, Dianthus, Iceland Poppy, Pyre-
thrum, Petunia, Lupine, Love-in-a-Mist,
Godetia, Gypsophila, Calliopsis, Calendula,
Salpiglossis, Salvia, Scabiosa, Schizanthus,

MAKING THE LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN 21

Stock, Sweet William, Torenia, Veronica,
Wallflower, and Zinnia. Among those flower-
ing plants which reach in height to three feet
or more, one may note Antirrhinum, Colum-
bine, Campanula, Castor Bean, Celosia, An-
nual Chrysanthemum, Clarkia, Coreopsis,
Cosmos, Dahlia, Foxglove, Gourd, Helian-
thus, Hollyhock, Larkspur, Lavatera, Love-
Lies - Bleeding, Monkshood, Moonflower,
Morning Glory, Mallow, Nasturtium, Nico-
tiana, Phlox, Oriental Poppy, Pyrethrum,
Rudbeckia (Golden Glow), Sunflower, Sweet
Pea, and Thunbergia.

By carefully taking into consideration this
matter of height of flowering plants, the gar-
den-maker will be able to obtain much more
pleasing effects of “landscape quality” than
otherwise would be possible.

One of the commonest mistakes with garden-
beginners is to place low-growing plants which
are intended to be conspicuously in evidence
in positions where, as the season advances, they
become completely hidden away by plants of
much taller growth. In planting flower seeds,
mark the rows with neat labels of a durable
sort, so there will be no confusion later.

Til

SPRING FLOWER-PLANTING TABLE

PERENNIALS AND BIENNIALS

Plants, | Seeds,

Bloom Flower Inches | Inches Colors
Apart Deep
June-July | Aquilegia (Columbine).... 12 _— Various
uly Achillea..... 10 _— Various
May-June | Adonis. . : 6 ~- Yellow
Aug.—Oct Anemone. . 10 — White—Rose
May-Aug. | Bleeding- Heart (Dicentra). 26 —_— Crimson
June-July | Campanula.............. 10 Y% Blue—White—Pink
uly—Aug | Coral Bell............... 12 — Coral
Aug—Oct. | Chrysanthemum. . Seis 18 K Various
April-July | Forget-Me-Not... oes 6 BZA Blue
June Foxglove....... ts 12 yy White—Pink
Aug.—Sept. | Helianthus. . ate 18 —_— Yellow
ug. Hollyhock... 16 ¥, Drills} Various
June—Sept. | Iceland Poppy . 6 yy White to Orange
June-July | Larkspur..... 8 XK Blue—White—Pink
une Lupine 5 — Blue—White—Pink
May-Oct ansy 12 \¥% Various
May-June | Peony 48 — Red—White—Pink
July—Oct Phlox..... 8 ¥% Various
ug. eink a eaysiere 6 K% White to Rose
April—May | Primrose. . 6 _ Yellow—Pink
Aug.—Oct Pyrethrum 12 _— Various
Aug.Sept. | Rudbeckia idee 12 _— Yellow
Aug.—Oct. | Salvia..... eis 6 \% Scarlet
June—Aug. | Scabiosa.. . ae 8 = Blue—Yellow—White
June—Aug. | Silene....... tee 6 —_ White or Rose
July—Aug euepcregen: Baie 8 A Various
ug. Sunflower. 36 YY Yellow. :
July—Aug. | Sweet William. 10 Y% Red—White—Pink
June—Aug. | Verbena 8 —_— Various
ug. Veronica 6 _ Purple
March Wioletionsepicicrisieisicrelscsielsiers 6 _— Violet
July-Aug. | Wallflower........... 8 % Yellow—Brown

SPRING FLOWER-PLANTING TABLE 23

ANNUALS

Plants, | Seeds,
Bloom Flower Inches | Inches Colors
Apart Deep

May-June | Adonis:...............+: 6 — Yellow

June—Oct ASeratynmic, satis clam siciely 6 Y% Blue—White
Wule—Sept. ||) Aster. 2 Mieco ache vise a4 14 A Various

July Bachelors’ Button........ 8 84 Blue—White—Pink
June-Sept. | Balsam (Lady’s Slipper)... 14 A Various

June-Oct. | Calendula............... 12 K% Orange

Aug. California Poppy......... 10 4% Orange

June-July | Campanula (Bellflower)... 10 VA Blue—White—Pink
dune—Sept. | Candytuft............... 8 \% White

Aug. @astor Beaniss wclesrectersss 36 34 Green

Aug—Oct. | Chrysanthemum.......... 18 \y Various

aune—oept. | Clarkial. 0 %sccsesire ns oe 10 A White—Purple—Rose
June-Oct. | Cockscomb ne 10 YY Various

June-Oct. | Coreopsis.............2++ 12 \y Yellow—Brown
June Cormflowerc ne ce eee 10 yK% Blue—White—Rose
Alig —Sept.\|) Cosmosn.s esse cities csewens 24 VA Red—White—Pink
ALY — Se pbs || WP abal yay 3 evarsre: ccatct vay ate ell occhs 36 — Various

May DDSI 9:2 fechoyevo-nist Montes :etererne 10 os White—Pink—Rose
July-Aug. | Evening Primrose........ 10 — Yellow

July—Aug. | Four O’Clock............ 12 Yy Red—White—Yellow
July—Oct. | Gaillardia............... 12 \y Yellow—Red

July Globe Amaranth......... 12 A Pink

July—Oct. | Godetia..........cc000e. 12 4% White—Red
July—Oct.. | (Gourds... .c,c:0'.s0:0' « sie'05e3 14 % Various

Fey Uliy a | elias vaste v-le,8 eres en ctareicrel eaten 12 — White—Blue—Yellow
July AV ALET Ae Re a cvomtolicilente 8 A Rose

June-July | Larkspur.............0.. 8 yy Blue—White—Pink
June—Sept. | Lobelia................. cy \% Blue—Red
June-July | Love-Lies-Bleeding....... 10 A Scarlet

June-Sept. | Love-in-a-Mist........... 8 YY Blue—White
puly—Sept. | Mallow. 2 acest os cle es 10 -- White—Rose

Aug Oct. | Marigold. .......< 2.024660 6 YY Lemon to Orange
July—Oct. | Mignonette.............. 12 4% Whitish Green
July—Aug. | Monkshood.............. 8 — White—Blue
Aug—Sept. | Moonflower.............. 5 A White

July—Aug. | Morning Glory........... 12 A Various

July—Oct. | Nasturtium.............. 10 4 Various

July-Aug. | Nicotiana.... 8 A Red—White
Sily—Septe. |) PebuMiay oes sciesicle-c’s's sieve 8 Scatter | Various

AUF Octal EHOX ss)scercloccitcheivis oe oe 8 \% Various

SUly—Aupgs) | POPpy oles «sieve siete helelsixi0 5 \y Various

Suiv—Octs | Portulacas. oc. sccleee eens 5 4 White—Red—Yellow
June—Aug. | Salpiglossis.............. 8 Ky Various

July—Aug. } Schizanthus.............. 10 A Yellow—Lilac
wune—July ||| Stocks) «cleo ccclsivsie sraleis 6 YY White or Red
May-Sept. | Sweet Alyssum........... 5 K% White

June—Oct. | Sweet Pea....... Biaiejacetars 8 8,Trench| Various

July—Oct, | Zinnia... 6 sc cecscsacences 10 ¥% Various,

IV

DAHLIAS

HILE the Dahlia does not share
the conspicuous renown of either
the Rose or the Lily, or yet that

of the Chrysanthemum, it still remains in our
estimation one of the most beautiful and satis-
factory of the old-fashioned garden flowers and
one which no true lover of flowers should neg-

lect to plant in his garden. Unlike the Rose
~ and the Lily, it has not fragrance to boast of
nor has it the delicate texture of the showy
Chrysanthemum, although equally attractive
from a decorative standpoint, if not more so.
The soft loveliness of textural quality has had
much to do with the unusual vogue of the
Chrysanthemum, an attribute of almost paint-
er-quality; while in contrast to this is the
sculptural definiteness of the form of the
Dahlia. The Dahlia was first introduced into

2A

DAHLIAS 25

England in 1789 by Lady Bute. These speci-
mens did not flourish, and again the Dahlia
was brought into England by Lady Holland.
The actual bed in which these pioneers were
planted may be seen to-day at Holland House,
Kensington. The first Dahlias were single in
form, successive generations under cultivation
having produced the remarkable double varie-
ties that have made the modern show Dahlias
famous. Indeed, it is doubtful if more re-
markable examples of floral double composites
exist. Early in the nineteenth century a horti-
culturist succeeded in producing the Pompon
type of Dahlia. This gave a decided impetus
to the cultivation of the plant just as the ap-
pearance of the Cactus Dahlia did in 1880,
which was evolved by a Dutch Horticulturist
of Juxphaar.

While tastes in the choice of flowers differ,
it is doubtful if any flowers surpass the single
Dahlia varieties, no matter how showy the
other types may be. It is a fact that in those
countries where a sense of design is more prev-
alent with the public at large than it is in
America or in England, the Dahlia is most
popular. Its appeal is not one of sentiment or

26 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

sensuousness, but very truly one of design and
strong color. One must remember that Dah-
lias in the garden present quite a different
problem than may be suggested by a collection
of the flowers in an exhibition, and for this
reason the home garden-maker can well afford
to devote some study to the matter of the
choice of specimens for garden display.
Nearly all of the Dahlias of the single types
may be grown successfully by the amateur
gardener.

Dahlias should have a good garden soil,
which must not be kept overly moist else suc-
culence in the Dahlia plants and an over-tall
growth will be induced. A moderate watering
of once a week or so should prove sufficient.
However, these periodical waterings should
not be mere sprinklings, but should, instead,
soak the soil thoroughly. The earth must not
be allowed to become packed around the base
of the plant stems, for in keeping the soil
worked up by cultivation depends success in
Dahlia culture. Should the soil in which
Dahlias are planted be a sandy one, a top-
dressing composed of one part of nitrate of
soda to four parts of bone meal, well mixed

DAHLIAS 27

together, can be applied. This should not be
done before the plants are well above ground.
As to the quantity of this top-dressing to be
applied to the soil, it will probably be found
that one ounce of the mixture will be sufficient
for each square yard of the planted area.

On the other hand, it will be found that the
above mixture will probably contain too much
nitrogen for a soil of heavier character, one
into which, previous to the planting, stable
manure has been worked. For soil of this last
description the garden-maker will probably
find an equal-part mixture of bone-black and
acid phosphate, freely applied, highly success-
ful.

As to planting, the roots (either clumps or
divided) should be placed to a depth of six
inches below the soil, the earth just covering
the crown. In the process of division the roots
should be divided to a single eye. When grown
in beds Dahlias may be placed three and a half
feet apart. When the newly started plants
have attained a height of six or eight inches it
will be well to “pinch” the stem tops to encour-
age a bushy growth, which is more pleasing
than a scraggly one. As the growth advances,

28 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

the Dahlias should be supported by firm stak-
ing. Nowadays the more attractive gardens
pay great attention to the matter of stakes.
There was a time when it was considered that
a piece of lath stuck in the ground was sufii-
cient, but modern gardening is more careful
to employ neater accessories, hence the most
improved practice is to utilize painted stakes
especially planned for the purpose of support-
ing the more or less troublesome plant stems.

VARIETIES OF DAHLIAS

Among the varieties of Dahlias the follow-
ing are to be recommended: SINGLE DAH-
tias, white: Kckford Century (unusually
large flowers, flecked with pink and crimson),
Gigantea alba Century (snow white, a prolific
bloomer); pink: Rose Pink Century, Twen-
tieth Century (an exquisite flower showing a
blending of color from outer zone of white
through rose hues to a center of violet crim-
son) ; Evelyn Century, red: Cardinal Century
(one of the best deep reds and very large),
Wildfire Century (no Dahlia collection should
be without this), Poppy Century, Amy Baril-

DAHLIAS 29

let (a rich wine-red. The foliage of this va-
riety is very dark); maroon: Blackbird (a
lovely velvety hue. The petals of this variety
have bright red spots at their bases), Fringed
Maroon Century; yellow: Golden Century.

SHow Dautias, white: Grand Duke
Alexis (soft lavender tipped), Storm King
(early and free blooming), White Swan,
Penelope, Camellizfolia, John Walker, Lottie
Eckford (striped crimson) ; pink: Duchess of
Cambridge, Mme. Moreau, A. D. Livoni, Dor-
othy Peacock, Mrs. Gladstone, Susan, Wm.
Pierce; red: Red Hussar, A. Moore, Bon-Ton,
Crimson Globe, George Smith, Madge Wild-
fire (orange red); yellow: Arabella, Lemon
Beauty, Queen Victoria, Gold Medal.

Cactus Danuias, white: Snowstorm, Flag
of Truce, Frigga, Snowden, Flora, Pius
X; pink: Mme. H. Cayeaux, Aurora, Dor-
othy, Fritz Severn, Juliet, Pink Pearl, Mar-
guerite Bouchon (one of the largest varieties
known), Perle Hilde; red: Charles Clayton,
Gabriel, Harbor Light, Mrs. H. J. Jones,
Amos Perry, Floradora (dark velvety crim-
son), Standard Bearer, Barmen, Florence
Nightingale, Flame, H. Shoesmith; maroon:

30 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Uncle Tom; yellow: Cockatoo, Countess of
Lounsdale, J. B. Briant, The Pilot, Richard
Box, Golden Eagle, Johannesburg, William
Marshall, John H. Roach, H. Peerman, Coun-
try Girl, Lightship, Miss A. F. Perkins, Morn-
ing Glow, Prince of Yellow, Blanche Keith,
Mrs. Charles Turner, Valker.

DecoratTivE Daunuias, white: Virginia
Maule, Henry Patrick, Alice Roosevelt;
pink: Delice, Sylvia, Jeanne Charmet, Mrs.
Roosevelt, Mrs. J. G. Casett; red: Augusta
Nonin, Admiral Togo, Maid of Kent, Jacque
Rose, Lyndhurst; yellow: Golden Wedding,
Golden West, Yellow Colosse, Clifford W.
Bruton, Mrs. Hortung, Minnie McCul-
lough.

Pompon Dantas, white: Snowclad, Domi-
tea; pink: Little Beauty; red: Indian
Chief, Mars, Sunshine, Little Herman, Crim-
son Beauty; maroon: Darkness, Raphael; yel-
low: Amber Queen, Catherine.

PrEoNY - FLOWERED DAHLIAS, white: Prin-
cess Juliana, Cecelia, Hermine; pink: La
France, La Hollande, Mrs. Carter Lewis,
Marie Miletta Selma (resembles a Chrysan-
themum) ; red: Big Chief, Cleopatra, Sensa-

DAHLIAS 31

tion, King Edward, Roem van Nijkerk; yel-
low: Canary, Sunny Jim, Geisha.

Dahlia shows are becoming more and more
popular year after year, which offers to the
amateur an additional incentive in the pursuit
of this delightful specialty. The second and
third weeks in September usually find our
Dahlias at their best, and it is during these
weeks that local Dahlia shows are usually given
in consequence. ‘The plan of local flower-
shows in village communities has not yet re-
ceived the encouragement it should, but in a
village where three or four enthusiasts pursue
the culture of Dahlias, it would be compara-
tively easy and an interesting thing for these
amateurs to arrange for a little local exhibit.

V

COSMOS

A \HE Cosmos, unknown to our gardens
until a few years ago, has achieved
an extraordinary and enduring pop-

ularity. It holds a place of its own for dis-

tinctive beauty and utility, since it is equally
valuable for garden effects and for cutting.

Even garden-makers of experience are not
exceptions to the fact that it is not generally
known that the Cosmos may be grown in soil
far less rich than that required for most gar-
den plants. In fact, a very rich soil tends to
produce in the plant an overabundance of fo-
liage and too few flowers, as well as causes
late bloom. A more sandy soil is, in fact, pref-
erable for planting.

The Cosmos attains great size in California,
but our Northern seasons are somewhat too
short for full maturity for the giant varieties

32

Photo by Nathan R. Graves Co.

WHITE cosMos (C. bipinnatus)

COSMOS 33

there popular, although these may be grown
for their foliage as a backing to the earlier
varieties successfully brought to profuse bloom
in other sections of the country.

Of course, the Cosmos is propagated by
seeds sown in April indoors in flats, potted,
and then transplanted when the frost time is
definitely past. Recently varieties have been
introduced that will withstand a couple of de-
grees of frost, but the typical plants will not
survive such an experience. If seed is sown
in the open ground on the chance of a late
season, it must not be sown until there is no
longer any danger of possible frosts. The
plants should be 18 inches apart.

When setting out the plantlets, an abun-
dance of water should be supplied. The great
feathery overgrowth achieved by a Cosmos
plant is borne upon a comparatively brittle
stem, whence it is necessary to give the plants
stake-supports to prevent the summer winds
from “tumbling” them. Grown against wire-
fences, the Cosmos stems may be tied with
loops of raphia to the wire, which will give
them excellent support.

While Cosmos plants are often self-seeding,

34 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

fresh plantings are required from year to year
to prevent deterioration. The young plants
should be trained to a bushy form, symmetri-
cal in shape by “pinching.” If this is not done,
the plants will assume the scraggly nature of
wild flowers.

The clear white, yellow, soft pink, crimson,
and deep red varieties make the Cosmos a pop-
ular plant for cutting, as sprigs of the filmy-
leaved stems dotted with attractive decorative
flowers in these hues lend themselves effectively
for filling large vases. In the garden it is much
better to keep the separate colors massed to-
gether than to mix the different varieties. A
border of Cosmos seen across a lawn, or de-
fining a garden boundary, presents a beautiful
garden-note in the home landscape. Indeed,
the landscape effects to be obtained by a ju-
dicious planting of this lovely flower are infi-
nite in their variety and utility. Where there
is a scarcity of shrubs, either permanently or
temporarily, the Cosmos will be found an ex-
cellent annual to act as substitute. Of course,
the giant varieties would be utilized for such
purposes,

The Cosmos bipinnatus often attains a

COSMOS 35

height of ten feet, bearing white, pink, or crim-
son flowers. The Cosmos Hybridus listed by
seedsmen appears to be a trade name for mixed
varieties of the Cosmos bipinnatus. All the
yellow varieties are derived from Cosmos sul-
phureus, while the Cosmos diversifolius is often
called Black Cosmos. Some of the recent
Cosmos varieties that may be recommended
are: Lady Lenox (white), Klondyke (yellow),
Conchita (crimson), Marguerite (various
colors, fringed petals). While all varieties
may be planted south of the latitude of Middle
Illinois, the “safe” varieties for north of that
are the early flowermg mammoth ones.

VI

AUTUMN FLOWER-PLANTING

APPILY the time is passed when
H the American home garden-maker

simply looked upon the patch of
ground at his disposal as being merely a bit of
practice acreage in which, as fancy dictated,
he might plant here and there a few seeds of
flowers or of vegetables in haphazard confu-
sion or skimpy orderliness, feeling that the
whole matter was one of experiment, and that
failure on the part of the seeds to produce what
was expected of them, or even to come up at
all, was not attended with any disappointments
of serious consequence. That was the time when
the man of the house attended to the buying
of vegetable seeds, leaving to the housewife all
things connected with the seeding of the flower
garden. I do not know why it is that our
grandfathers and our grandmothers should

36

ithan

Photo by N

OF DELIGHT

A GARDEN

OF PERENNIALS IS

EN

A GARD

AUTUMN FLOWER-PLANTING 37

have looked upon all gardening as a pursuit to
be divided between themselves; why the raising
of vegetables should have been considered a
manly occupation or recreation and the grow-
ing of flowers not; but so it seems to have
been until comparatively a few years ago.
Now, fortunately, the joys of gardening
are shared alike by master and mistress,
the children, the young and the old, and a
statesman may wax enthusiastic over his gar-
den of rare Pinks or a milliner over her bed
of asparagus without any one’s criticizing the
choice of either in garden planting.
Nowadays, we do not confine our efforts to
Springtime visits to the grocery store for a
package of Petunia seed, a parcel of Sweet
Peas, or an envelope of Candytuft, content to
sprinkle it over a little dirt in a bed that occu-
pies a corner of the “yard,” sighing the while
that we cannot seem to raise the good old flow-
ers to the state of perfection they reached in
the old-time gardens of ante-bellum days, or
of Colonial heritage; instead we are happy to
have discovered the difference between those
flowers which have to be planted every year
—the Annuals—and those others—the Peren-

38 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

nials—which will continue to come up season
after season from the original stock when once
the seeds take root, and we have come to plan
for permanent gardens, that shall fill our hearts
with the joyousness their beauty will lend
throughout the season when Nature dons her
loveliest raiment. We have come, too, to un-
derstand that just sticking a seed or two or a
root into the ground anywhere is not all there
is to gardening. Year after year our study
of the ABC of home outdoor floriculture initi-
ates us into the simple mysteries of garden
craft, so that our gardens to-day are as lovely
as those that ever gladdened the sight of the
American home garden-makers of the early
period.

Autumn planting is an important part of the
maintenance of the home garden. ‘There are
not in the whole realm of the Goddess Flora
flowers more exquisite than the hardy species
that lend themselves so admirably to pera-
nent planting—the Sweet Williams, Delphin-
iums, Foxgloves, Canterbury Bells, Pyre-
thrum, Montbretia, Iris, Hollyhocks, Anem-
ones, Primroses, Saxifrage, and the like. Oc-
tober should be a busy month in every garden,

AUTUMN FLOWER-PLANTING 39

for this is an excellent time for dividing old
roots, re-arranging the clumps of hardy Peren-
nials where these need it, of filling gaps in
hardy borders, and of setting out new hardy
plants. Perhaps one of the commonest mis-
takes made by the garden beginner is to as-
sume that a small garden requires small plants
and that tall-growing and large flowering
plants are out of place in any but a large gar-
den. We have only to recall the wondrous
beauty of the English cottage gardens that
seem to be bursting with their glow of Holly-
hocks, Larkspurs, Sunflowers, and Chrysan-
themums, to realize how lovely a tiny garden
planted with striking flowers may be. Fol-
lowing this chapter is a table showing, in a
general way, the height attained by various
flowers suitable for Autumn planting when
these have reached their maturity. Not one of
the plants in this list would be out of place in
the small home garden if properly placed.
Under “location” those that require full sun-
light have that fact indicated by the word
“sunny,” and those that require less sunshine
by the words “less sunny,” though the garden

40 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

beginner must never expect success with plants
that hardly receive the sunlight at all.
When planning for Autumn planting one
must take into consideration the fact that in-
asmuch as the hardy perennials are to form a
garden that will, in all probability, remain un-
altered for some years (so far as its essentials
are concerned), it will be seen how necessary
it is that such gardens be prepared with the
greatest care and thought of their future as-
pect. First of all, thorough drainage must
be assured, after which manure must be worked
into the earth to some depth, preferably three
feet. A good way to prepare beds and bor-
ders for permanent perennials is to dig a trench
the size of the bed or border to the depth of
three feet, covering the floor of it with a five-
inch layer of rubble to assist drainage, and a
couple of inches of coarse ashes above this, fill-
ing up the trench with the bedding composed
of loam, manure, and sand. This will make
an admirable soil for setting out the hardy
plants. Of course, the earth of newly-pre-
pared beds and borders will settle somewhat
and will have to be evened off later by filling.
Where it is not possible to give to the beds

AUTUMN FLOWER-PLANTING 41

and borders such thorough preparation one
must still be sure that the soil in which the
plants are set is not poor or sour, and fertilizer
should be worked in where needed, although it
must be remembered that the soil should not
be over rich.

Seedlings grown from July sowing should
be set out without delay in order that they may
become established in their new environment
before the setting in of winter. In this con-
nection let the home garden-maker remember
that, although Autumn planting is now gener-
ally recommended, it is wiser in those localities
where the winters are long and severe to defer
planting until Springtime, as it often happens
that the season of snow and ice sets in too early
in such places for the newly-planted peren-
nials to get their start ahead of the severity
of the climate. There is an advantage in Au-
tumn planting that should always be taken into
account. October does not find one as rushed
as does the month of May, for in the Spring
the home garden-maker (who usually has only
a limited amount of time to devote to planting
and garden cultivation) finds the planning

42 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

of the seeded beds quite enough to take up all
of his leisure moments.

When working in an established hardy gar-
den for the purpose of removing and dividing
the roots of old plants, one must take care not
to damage any clumps of bulbs which might
remain hidden in the soil. As one garden-
lover put it: “Roots are to be fished out, not
to be speared!” In digging up a clump of
herbaceous roots, for resetting or for division,
all dead shoots clinging thereto should be cut
away. It is needless to say that all roots
should be handled tenderly. The garden-be-
ginner will come to learn that there is no gen-
eral rule that can be taught him for properly
separating old root clumps into numerous
parts, which, when set out, themselves become
sturdy clumps in the course of a few seasons,
again to be divided and reset. The garden-
maker must use his judgment and learn by ex-
perience and the intuition that will probably
come to his aid just how he may cut or break
up an established clump of roots into a number
of settings for fresh culture. This process of
root division refreshes the stock of any hardy
garden. If the old plants were not lifted sea-

AUTUMN FLOWER-PLANTING 43

son after season, they would eventually form
root-masses that would overcrowd the beds
and borders. Moreover, such plants as the Iris
would form a hard root-mass which would
give out a circle of leaves and flower-stems,
leaving the center bare, thus forming unsightly
patches of bare earth in the gardens.

Fortunately for the garden-maker, Peren-
nials present species adapted both for very
sunny, half-sunny and shaded locations, thus
offering a wide range of planting material both
in low-growing Perennials and in those of
taller growth. Again there are Perennials
that thrive in rich soil, those that are best
adapted to clayey soil, and still others that do
very well in sandy soil.

Among the hardy Perennials that require
less sunlight than the class in general are the
following interesting species: Monkshoods,
Anemones, Primroges, Violets, Saxifrage,
Funkia, Bleeding-heart, Lily-of-the-Valley,
Day Lilies, Hepatica, Vinca, and others that
will be found in the table following this
chapter.

Of the Perennials of low growth are to be
mentioned Arabis, Aubrietia, Hepatica, Bellis

44 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Perennis, and Myosotis, in connection with
which it is worth noting that the earlier peren-
nials do not, as a rule, attain as great height
as those which bloom after June. None of the
species Just mentioned attains a height of more
than six or eight inches. In arranging a border
or a bed of hardy herbaceous plants the table
following this chapter should prove useful, in-
asmuch as the garden-maker can there see at
a glance the various heights to which the peren-
nials listed attain and can, therefore, place
them in the garden with reference to the taller
species forming a background for those of
lower growth.

When arranging the permanent garden,
succession of bloom must also be taken into
consideration. In those states where Spring
brings forth growing things at an early date
one may look for Adonis, Columbine, Arabis,
Hepatica, and Trillium to blossom; in May for
other varieties of Aquilegia, for Anemones,
Bellis Perennis, Iris, Primrose, Campanula,
ete.; in June for Iris, Lychnis, Poppies, Sca-
biosa, Spirea Trollius, Veronica, etc.; in July
for Achillea, Centaurea, Funkia, Stokesia, Ve-
ronica WVirginica, etc.; in August for

AUTUMN FLOWER-PLANTING 45

Asclepias, Boltonia, Helianthus, Rudbeckia,
etc.; in September for Aconitum, Aster Amel-
lus, Chrysanthemum, Lobelia, Phlox Pani-
culata, Veronica Longifolia, Sedum, etc.; and
in October, Aconitum Autumnale, Anemone
Japonica, Chrysanthemum, etc., all these
species flowering somewhat according to the
climatic conditions in the matter of time.
Another matter for thought in planning the
permanent garden is that of color. One would
not care to have monotony in this respect,
therefore it is always well to plan carefully the
color-scheme of the garden-to-be as it will ap-
pear from month to month, always striving to
have each month’s array of flowers present
sufficient variety in the matter of color con-
trast, as this color contrast is a matter which
is of great importance in the planning of a
fine garden. Man has spent so much of his
time specializing, of segregating floral types,
varieties, and colors that the garden beginner
can easily go astray if he selects his plants with
reference to species only. Indeed, the modern
garden-maker must be something of an artist.
It is not enough that things planted come up,
grow, thrive, and endure that a garden will be

46 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

evolved; in the true sense of the word a garden
must be a spot where growing things give one
a sense of enjoyment. All the flowers in the
world wrongly placed hardly would do that,
even though, in their entirety, they suggested
pleasurable individual types. No, the true
garden-maker must be an arranger of flowers
as well as a putter-in-the-earth of plants, for
he must select from Flora’s palette such flow-
ers as represent the wealth of color Nature has
placed within range of his skillful hand.

VII
AUTUMN FLOWER-PLANTING TABLE

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48 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

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PEONIES SHOULD HAVE A PLACE IN EVERY GARDEN

VIII

PEONIES

TH all her fickleness, Dame F'ash-
ion seems never to have deserted
the Peony. Other garden flowers

may have been held in esteem one decade to
be slighted the next—even the exquisite Nar-
cissus was once neglected—but like the lovely
Rose, the Peony remains ever popular. Toa
certain extent the Peony owes much of its en-
during favor to its decorative foliage, although
its beautiful flowers are, in themselves, quite
enough to give this plant the distinction it
commands and the place it holds in our hearts.
We consider it an old-fashioned flower, but the
term only endears it the more to us for it is
ever new-fashioned as well. And what a
wealth of color its wondrous blossoms present
to charm the senses, and what perfect fra-
grance! There are the sweetly perfumed but
49

50 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

refreshing flowers of crimson, scarlet, purple,
salmon, pink, rose, cream, yellow and of white.
Then there are single, double and half-double
Peonies, fitting every whim in the choice of
form for petaled things. ‘There are, in
general, two sorts of Peonies—the Herbaceous
type and the Tree type. The former dies down
at the end of each season but comes forth again
with the advent of each spring. The latter
type by reason of its woody stems may be
classed with shrubs.

Peonies massed in beds or in hedges yield
an effective foliage display but at the expense
of the profusion and prolongation of blossom-
ing. For floral purposes they require that
plenty of space should be left between the in-
dividual plants. However, garden-makers can
fill in these gaps with the Lilies of tall growth
—Tiger Lily (Liliwm tigrinum), ete., or with
the tall growing Gladioli.

The following planting directions will prove
useful to the amateur Peony-grower: When
planting Peonies, the crown of the stock should
be placed some two inches below the surface
of the soil. The fertilizer used in the beds
should be well-rotted, as Peonies are gross

PEONIES 51

feeders. A top-dressing placed upon the
plants in November and forked into the beds
the following spring will be of much help
in encouraging growth. Peonies appreciate
a generous amount of water, especially in
the period of their bloom. When dividing
clumps, the division will be determined by
the number of tubers with eyes. There
should be as many divisions as there are eyes
to the tubers. ‘Tubers without eyes may also
be planted, as they often shoot forth after a
couple of years. As Peonies, when dormant,
stand the exposure during shipment and stor-
age remarkably well, the garden-beginner need
have little fear of ordering plants from a dis-
tance when that is necessary. I need not here
touch upon the other two methods of Peony
propagation, that of propagation by grafting
and that of propagation by seeds, as only the
professional garden-maker will be apt to start
Peonies by either of these methods. For the
garden of small extent the showy Pcéonia
officinalis, blooming in May and June, will
be a welcome feature. The flowers are very
large, dark crimson in color. Of the Peonia
albiflora (white through rose-color to crimson) ,

52 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

such varieties as Czarina (Rose), Festiva
Maxima (White), Victoire Modeste Guerin
(Rose), Duke of Wellington (White), Deli-
catissima (Blush), Alba Sulphurea (White),
and Humei Carnea (Blush) are recommended.

Peonies should not be disturbed from year to’
year but their undivided clumps left to develop
vigorous stalks. One sees the finest Peony
blossoms on those plants which have not been
moved about or which have not been removed
and replaced in the process of dividing. Of
this our old-time garden-makers were cogni-
zant as the wonderful Peony clumps in their
gardens that have come down to our keeping
attest.

I find the following varieties of Peonies very
dependable and free blooming: Albatre, Cour-
onne D’Or, Festiva Maxima (white), La
Tulipe (pale rose to white), Claire Dubois
(pink), Floral Treasure (rose), Madame
Emile Lemoine (white), Livingstone (pink),
Madame Emile Galle (white), Marguerite
Gerard (pink), Monsieur Jules Elie (pink),
Augustin D’Hour, Felix Crousse, La Grange,
M. Barrel, M. Krelage and M. Martin Cahu-
zac (red).

IX

GLADIOLI

7 | QHAT the Gladiolus is one of the most
beautiful of our summer-flowering
plants every one knows, producing

for us, as it does, every variety of shade and
color combination. What few realize is the
fact that Gladioli can be propagated as easily
as the potato, and with no more trouble in the
matter of winter storage. With the coming
of every spring there are always so many things
in the way of fruits, vegetables, shrubs, etc. to
attend to that the expenditure one plans is apt
to be claimed in the flurry of planting without
thought of the Gladiolus. Yet with very little
additional expense, work and patience one may
have a garden full of Gladioli after all.

Some of the seedsmen offer at a compara-
tively low price per thousand the little one-
year-old bulblets that need another season’s

53

54 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

growth to produce mature flowering corms.
One thousand of such bulblets will produce
from seven to nine hundred mature flowering
bulbs.

If you have not been able to save all of the
little bulbs you think you will need by a method
described later in this chapter, order your
additional supply from your seedsman early in
February, and instruct him to ship these bulb-
lets to you as soon as danger from frost is
past. Do this with all your seeds, plants, and
bulbs and the resulting increase in both the
quantity and quality of the goods you get will
be a revelation in prolific results. Most per-
sons wait till the rush of planting time comes
before they order, and then cannot understand
why some things have been damaged in pack-
ing or shipping.

As early in Spring as the ground can be
worked nicely, and as soon as all danger from
heavy frost is past, prepare your seed-bed as
you would prepare it for onion sets. Your
infant Gladioli should be set out just as you
would onion sets except that the rows must be
from eighteen to twenty-four inches apart,
and that the bulbs must be placed at least two

GLADIOLI 55

inches deep, and not more than half an inch
apart in the row. ‘Tend them carefully all
summer, keeping all the weeds out.

After the first heavy frost in the fall take
up your bulbs and put them in trays to dry,
leaving the tops on until they are thoroughly
dried, when they should be cut off about one
inch above the bulb. Next sack them care-
fully, usmg a Number 3 or a Number 4 paper
bag (such as those in which sugar comes from
the grocer’s), and putting two or three dozen
bulbs in each bag. ‘Tie the neck of the bags
tightly, leaving a surplus of cord from which
a loop should be made by which the bag is sus-
pended from a nail in the rafters of the vege-
table cellar. There they are to be left until
spring. Great care must be taken during these
latter stages to prevent bruising; every bruise
means a rotted bulb in consequence.

It is at the base of these larger bulbs that
the bulblets grow. A two-year-old bulb has
clustering around it a large number of the
smaller ones, sometimes from thirty-five to
fifty. If you have grown Gladioli previously
it will not be necessary for you to buy the small
bulbs as you may save those adhering to the

56 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

bulbs which have flowered the last season. Re-
move the bulblets, place in separate trays, and
as soon as they are dry store them just as you
did the larger ones except that two or three
hundred are put in each bag. It is not advis-
able to put a larger number in a bag as they are
apt to pack and heat, thus losing their vitality.
Care and patience are necessary if you would
save all of these little bulbs at harvest time on
‘account of their small size and the fact that
they do not adhere to the parent bulb very
firmly.

By this method, of course, only existing
varieties may be perpetuated. If one desires
to carry his experiments farther afield and into
the fascinating realm of hybridization, he
may buy seeds from the seedsman or may carry
pollen from one plant to another in his own
garden by means of a camel’s hair or red sable
brush. It will, however, be necessary to wait
an additional year for blossoms from seed.

After the seed has been secured, and about
the early part of March, prepare flats as you
would for any other delicate seedling. Plant
the seed in rows, cover with about one-sixteenth
of an inch of potting soil. Then cover each

GLADIOLI 57

flat with a pane of glass until germination has
taken place, after which remove the glass and
place the flats in the full sunlight, taking care,
however, to keep the temperature at about 70°
during the day and 55° at night.

When the second pair of leaves appears,
prick out into the greenhouse bench or cold-
frame and transplant to nursery rows as soon
as conditions out-of-doors are favorable.

In the fall treat the seedlings as you did the
bulblets, planting them in nursery rows the
second season. They will flower the third sea-
son and may be set out in your regular beds
at that time unless you object to an indiscrim-
inate riot of color in contrasting shades. In
that case plant again in nursery rows and label
each bulb as it blooms.

A good way to do this is to group the crim-
sons, scarlets, pinks, etc., numbering the differ-
ent groups “1”, “2”, “3”, etc., putting a label
with the number of the group to which it be-
longs opposite each bulb. In the fall they can
be placed in bags and the bags numbered to
correspond. Of course any especially desirable
bulb may have a distinctive mark and name and
be kept separate.

58 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

The Gladiolus is one of the most useful flow-
ers for fine color effects. You may have the
Salem for salmon pink, the Augusta for pure
white, the Madame Monneret for delicate rose,
the Nezinscott for bright scarlet, the Sellew
for crimson, the Canary Bird for yellow, and
so on through almost any shade.

‘0.

Graves C

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Nathan I

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LIP BORDER IS NATURES

ORGEOUS GIFT

7

[OST G

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xX

BULBS IN THE GARDEN

Y little garden would not seem a
M garden were the lovely Snow-
drops, Crocus, Daffodils, Jon-
quils, Hyacinths, Narcissi and Tulips to bloom
therein no more! “It is not merely the multi-
plicity of tints,” said Novalis, “the gladness
of tone, or the balminess of the air which de-
light in the spring; it is the still consecrated
spirit of hope, the prophecy of happy days to
come; the endless variety of Nature, with pre-
sentiments of eternal flowers which never shall
fade, and sympathy with the blessedness of
the ever-developing world.” ‘This garden of
the first flowers of springtime seems to be like
the rainbow in the heavens.

“In hues of ancient promise, there imprest;
Frail in its date, eternal in its guise.”
59

60 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

And how much of Spring we miss if we have
neglected to plant bulbs in our gardens! It
was Lucy Larcom who wrote

“All flowers of Spring are not May’s own;
The Crocus cannot often kiss her;

The Snow-drop, ere she comes, has flown—
The earliest Violets always miss her.”

These exquisite flowers are the first to re-
mind us of the season which, in the words of
Thoreau, is a natural resurrection, an expe-
rience of immortality.

The garden-lover who would have a few
bulbs for the season to come will find Octo-
ber’s days giving him opportunity for putting
them into the soil before the heavy frosts
strike into the earth. Snowdrops and Squills
will be the first to peep up with the Crocus
fast on their heels. Then Daffodils “that
come before the swallows dare and take the
winds of March with beauty” and Golden Jon-
quils and the Hyacinth and Narcissi will fol-
low in order with Tulips last. It is well to get
the best bulbs procurable, selecting them your-
self, if possible, and planting them early.

BULBS IN THE GARDEN 61

Solid “plump” bulbs are the ones to select.
Only firm bulbs should be accepted. By
“plump” one does not necessarily mean bulbs
of unusual size. A good plan to follow is to
plant both large and small bulbs of a sort at
the same time for the small bulbs will develop
and be productive when the older, larger bulbs
will have given way to their progeny.

Almost every spot in the little garden may
be utilized for bulb planting and as long as
the purse holds out there will probably seem
places for more! The Daffodils, Jonquils and
Narcissi lend themselves well to remaining in
the ground year after year and these develop
their own little “neighborhoods,” as it were,
while Tulips should be taken up every year,
in the spring when their leaves have withered
and dried off, stored away in a dark cold place
where neither frost nor mice can reach then.
The hardy Lily bulbs must not be moved at all.

Bulbs will thrive in almost any soil. This
is particularly true of bulbs that are lifted in
the spring and reset in the autumn. While
there is no hard fast rule to observe regarding
the depth to which bulbs should be plented,
their tops should be placed below the surface of

62 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

the soil a distance of about one and a half or
twice the measurement of their thickness
through. A variation of depth in separate
bulbs of a sort will nearly always produce a
slight variation of time in blossoming. This
procedure forms an interesting experiment.
Naturally the bulbs should be placed right side
up! The earth placed around them should be
free from lumps and carefully firmed down,
for the bulbs must be securely set for protec-
tion. Loosely planted bulbs seldom thrive.
The newly planted bulbs will take root growth
through the cool late autumn season. If
planted too early their top growth would ad-
vance to a point that would subject them to
an injury from frost. Lily bulbs (such as
those of Auratum and Speciosum) may go
into the ground late in August or in Septem-
ber. The garden-maker must be guided in
these matters as in others by an intuitive sense
of the fitness and advancement of the season.
Right after the first hard freeze a winter mulch
of several inches of dry leaves or boy hay
should be given as a protection to those por-
tions of the garden where bulbs have been set
out. They will, of course, have been marked

BULBS IN THE GARDEN 63

by label stakes. When Spring comes round
the mulch should not be removed all at once,
but a layer at a time, with intervening days.

Bulbs which are planted in the lawn for nat-
uralized effects will, of course, require to be
carefully handled when they spring up with
Winter’s departure as careless raking, and cer-
tainly early lawn-mowing, will prevent their
blossoming. Snowdrops, Squills and Cro-
cus are favorites for naturalized planting.
Narcissi, to my mind, are loveliest of all where
late, tall grasses are allowed to grow.

Of the Tulips the Darwin varieties have
come into great popularity in recent years.
These and the May-flowering Tulip are late
bloomers. For early Tulips those comprising
the Duc Van Thol section—crimson, scarlet,
white, pink, striped yellow and variegated—
are to be recommended. The _ grotesque
Dragon type of Tulips are interesting with
their laciniated petals and the new tall varie-
ties should not be overlooked.

Narcissi present several distinct types, prop-
erly including as they do, the Jonquil and the
Daffodil, the Poet’s Narcissus (single flower to
the stem) and the Polyanthus type, bunch

64 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

flowered. Once the garden-lover delves into
the love of bulb flowers and extends the hos-
pitality of his garden to their loveliness he will
have another joy added to his experience.

4 eeyeen

-
-
bere
“

7

Photo by Nathan R. Graves Co.

FRAGRANT SNOWY HYACINTHS ARE SPRINGS MOST PERFECT
GARDEN GIFT

XI

THE HYACINTH

VER since the lovely Hyacinth was in-
EL; troduced by seedlings and hybrids

from the Oriental Hyacinth (Hya-
cinthus orientalis) of the Levant, as long ago
as the year 1590, it has held a warm spot in
the hearts of all garden-lovers, not alone in the
affections of the Dutch florists, who have
brought it to such perfection, but quite as much
in those of American amateurs, who have found
it a flower of surpassing beauty, color and
fragrance in the early Spring garden. Like-
wise, the Hyacinth has come to be one of the
favorite bulb plants for indoor bloom—prob-
ably the most popular one of all.

Of Hyacinths there are many varieties, from
the exquisite little Amethyst Hyacinth of Eu-
rope, with its brilliant azure of pellucid hue
and its exquisite fragrance, to the great, fat,

65

66 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

wonderful ones that have helped to make the
gardens of Holland famous and gorgeous.
There is not a more beautiful flowering bulb
to be found for the purpose of planting for
naturalistic effects for lawn, field, meadow,
wood, hillside or rockery. The traveler in Ku-
rope finds joyous delight in coming upon the
Hyacinth in its native haunts. One will find
it in Greece and in Sicily, and sometimes in
Capri, wild upon the mountain-top. The
flower takes its name from Hyacinthus, son
of the Spartan king, Amyclas, who was killed
when playing quoits with the god Zephyrus,
through the treachery of the jealous Apollo.
The old Greek legend has it that from the
blood of Hyacinthus there sprang up a flower
to bear his name, on the leaves of which ap-
peared the exclamation of woe, AI, AI. There
is no reason why we should feel that we live
in so practical an age that while we busy our-
selves with the prose of flowers we have not
time for the poetry of their love. Indeed, it
is hard to understand how any one who loves
a garden and the plants therein can fail to take
an interest in everything, legendary or other-
wise, pertaining to each of them.

THE HYACINTH 67

Single Hyacinths invariably succeed better,
although many amateurs are just as success-
ful in raising double ones. Whites, blues,
pinks, reds, purples, and creamy yellows are
the colors of the Hyacinth, but of them all the
white is the most beautiful, though amateur
gardeners are apt to make the mistake of pass-
ing it up for the more showy varieties.

This is a great mistake, for there never yet
existed a bed, or border, or grouping of col-
ored Hyacinths that could afford to be with-
out the snowy purity of the white flowers,
lending just that note of contrast that one
needs to find in every bulb garden. If one
looks for mere color effect in massing, the
dumpy, short-stalked, “thick” double varieties
of Hyacinths may be employed. Their colors
are varied and lovely, and their fragrance per-
meating; but they quite lack the exquisite
beauty of the single varieties.

Fortunately, Hyacinths may be planted
late, even into November. One recommends
fresh bulbs each year, but that is not abso-
lutely necessary, though they must, in any
event, be “lifted” in May, after they cease
flowering. The finer bulbs send up flowered

68 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

spikes from ten to fifteen inches in height.
Hyacinths should be planted eight inches apart
and about five inches deep. Hyacinths should
be placed in the earth upon a little thin bed of
sand below the bulbs, and after being covered
with earth, should have the further protection
of a mulch, of either manurial dressing or
leaves. Evergreen boughs (cedars and bal-
sams) make a good covering throughout a se-
vere winter. When spring arrives the mulch
should be removed, not all at once, but gradu-
ally, so the earth below, which comes in con-
tact with the bulbs, will not be chilled too sud-
denly.

Hyacinths for indoors may be started in
deep pots in November. ‘The best potting soil
I have experimented with has been composed
of a compost prepared of one part of rich
loam, one part of thoroughly decomposed
barnyard manure, and one-half part clean,
coarse sand. The bulb crowns should be left
about half an inch above the surface of the
soil, and the root end should rest upon a base
of charcoal-covered potsherds. Press down the
soil firmly around the bulb and wet it thor-
oughly. Either “plunge” the pots or set them

THE HYACINTH 69

safely away in a dark, warm place, where the
soil may be kept fairly damp.

When the bulbs are firmly rooted (one may
tell by turning out a sample pot for examina-
tion) bring them to the light. The whitish-
green shoot, an inch or so in height, will soon
darken in color and will grow with great ra-
pidity, a few weeks’ time bringing forth the
flower spike. Hyacinths require liberal water-
ing when brought forth from their seclusion.
It is possible to grow Hyacinths in pure sand,
if this has been washed to free it from salt.
The Hyacinth-glasses, to be found at every
nurseryman’s or every florist’s, are devised for
the purpose of growing Hyacinths in water.
In experimenting I have found it a most sat-
isfactory method to keep the bulbs in damp-
ened moss for a preliminary period of two
weeks, placing the bulbs then on top of the
water-filled Hyacinth-glasses. This can be
done in a succession of weeks in November, and
will produce a succession of bloom. Remem-
ber, that the water should just touch the lower
part of the Hyacinth bulb, and rain-water
should be used for the purpose when it is pos-
sible to obtain it, changing it every ten days

70 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

and carefully supplying any deficiency caused
by evaporating in the interval. The bulbs
placed in Hyacinth-glasses must be kept in
some warm, dark place until the glass is half
filled with roots. Great care must also be
taken that the water in changing be the same
temperature as that of which it takes the place.
The water must never be too cold.

There is not much to be said about the mat-
ter of choosing Hyacinth bulbs, but the little
that is to be said is of great importance. One
should remember bulbs must be chosen not for
size, but for hardness and solidity, and the
bases must be thoroughly sound. Medium
sized, firm, hard and heavy bulbs are always
to be chosen for planting.

HYACINTH VARIETIES

The following varieties of Hyacinths may
be recommended to the _ garden-maker.
White: Alba Superbissima, Mme. Vander-
hoop, La Grandesse, Prince of Waterloo
(double), and Baroness Van Thuy]; pink:
Fabriola and Norma; reds: Robert Stieger,
Gertrude, Roi des Belges and Lord Welling-

THE HYACINTH cg

ton (double) ; blue: Leonidas, La Peyrouse,
King of the Blues, Czar Peter, Grand Lilac,
Baron Van Thuyl and Charles Dickens
(double). Ia Peyrouse is a very light blue,
and the Baron Van Thuy] very dark. Of the
yellow varieties, the King of the Yellows and
the Ida are among the most satisfactory. The
Hyacinths known as Roman Hyacinths are
usually sold by color and not by name at the
florist’s, for these Roman Hyacinths are not
distinct varieties, but miniature species of
some of the above. The Cape Hyacinth, with
its bell-shaped flowers an inch long, is also
fragrant and attractive, and the Grape Hya-
cinth (Muscari botryoides), blossoming in
April, finds its best variety in the Heavenly
Blue, though it is also to be found in white va-
rieties, as is the Wood Hyacinth (Scilla fes-
tales), which last is excellent for naturalizing,
and closely resembles the more prominent
Hyacinth of the bulb beds, though its spikes
are more loose and have not so many flowers.

XII

A PERSIAN GARDEN

I may not tell you!—a little garden nes-

tles by the side of a gently flowing
stream, whose clear, rippling music is only lost
when it meets the slow old river below, where
low-bending willow-trees whisper their dirges
to the waters. Above the little garden a long
row of yews touches a hedge, the other side of
which is reached by a stile. And if one fol-
lows this hedge to the right, he will be led into
a grove of sycamores, whence a winding path
leads to a stone wall with gate exactly front-
ing the side of a picturesque, old-world look-
ing cottage of stone. A turn in the river forms
the nearest boundary of the premises, but the
land which surrounds this cottage, extends at
least three-quarters of a mile in every direc-
tion. In front a noble line of elms borders

72

[ a quiet corner of the land—just where

er’ oe LER IANEO aU

Yywanu © e

PLAN OF A PERSIAN GARDEN

A PERSIAN GARDEN 73

each side of the long diverging avenue, an ave-
nue that ends by the quaint gardener’s cottage
nearly hidden in a raiment of ivy which springs
up at the very foot of great borders of Gera-
niums, flaming in their season.

Few other than its owner’s intimates, and
the children of the village, have had the good
fortune to stroll within these gates. The
vigilant “Arrington, a massive gardener with
a mighty manner, turns deaf ear to all others,
despite repeated orders to the contrary; for
it must not be imagined that the cottage har-
bors a disagreeable individual who desires no
communion with strangers. Not at all. It
is inhabited by a scholarly gentleman beloved
throughout the country because of his generous
philanthropy. But the weight of his years de-
mands a certain quiet, a fact unsuspected by
him, but which ’Arrington sedulously makes
certain.

The leisure of this gentleman’s vie de céli-
bataire enables him to follow unhindered the
ardor of his own enthusiasm for garden-mak-
ing. Others have been content with one gar-
den, or with several, but he has many, and fitly
might the goddess Flora and the goddess

74 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Pomona have regarded this acreage as a tem-
ple grove planted and tended to their worship.

I shall tell you of but one of these gardens.
Two stone walls running from hedge to stream
form the sides of the inclosure. As one en-
ters through an arch in the center of the hedge
—an arch that might have been copied from
some old Persian miniature—there is no mis-
taking this little spot for other than an Omar
Khayyam garden, which is confirmed by the
various inscriptions composed of rubai from
the Tent-maker’s own poesy.

A wide marble walk from the gardener’s
entrance crosses another like it, but not so wide,
at the center, where seven low broad steps of
white marble all around form the support of
the sandstone pedestal, surmounted by a bronze
sundial. Its inscription reads:

“The Bird of Time has but little way
To fly—and lo! the bird is on the wing.”

The marble walk is bordered with beds of
gorgeous Tulips and Hyacinths, and by the
Roses a marble column bears on its shaft these
lines:

A PERSIAN GARDEN 75

“TI sometimes think that never blows so red
The Rose as where some buried Cesar bled;
That every Hyacinth the Garden wears
Dropt in her lap from some once lovely Head.”

An interesting floral allusion in this garden
is a fringe of the purple Pasque Flower
(Anemone pulsatilla), sent thither from
Fleam Dyke near Cambridge where once it
grew plentifully, and I guessed rightly that
the owner of this garden intended these flowers
to suggest a parallel to Omar’s Roses, remem-
bering, as I did, that the Pasque Flower grows
on English soil only, where Danish blood has
been spilt.

Back of these beds Hawthorn trees form
lines to the stream and across the garden.

“Now the New Year reviving old Desires,
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,
Where the white hand of Moses on the
Bough
Puts out, and Jesus from the ground suspires.”

I have seen them in all the purity of their
white blossoming bringing back to mind the

76 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

words in Exodus. The central walk drops
into the stream with its third step.

“And this reviving Herb whose tender green
Fledges the river-lip on which we lean—

Oh, lean wpon it lightly! for who knows,
From what once lovely lip it spring unseen!”

Perhaps this “reviving Herb” of which old
Omar sings was the Dandelion, which every
one who has traveled in Persia will remember
to have seen there resting its gold crowns on
the cushion-banks of every Persian water-
course, glittermg reminders of home. To
make sure, Dandelions are here, but this gar-
den’s owner has taken another interpretation
so far as his fancy for arrangement is con-
cerned and there I found Violets by the river-
side instead of the Dandelions:

“The Violets by this river grow,
Sprung from some lip here buried long ago.
Ah, tread there lightly on this tender green—
Who sleepeth here so still thou neer will
know.”

The air of a Springtime morning is here
Jaden with the exquisite perfume of those Vio-

A PERSIAN GARDEN 77

lets, the memory of which even the later Roses
does not usurp. They enrich the silken sod
with their precious amethystine embroidery
and they lift their dear eyes to the blue
heavens.

Just where the wall meets the stream on
either side rise minarets of formal cypresses.
In another garden they would, perhaps, have
seemed misplaced, or tantalized by Marigolds,
or have seemed too sorrowful for riot of frolic-
some Phlox. But here they are proud of their
rubdi, and the stone garden-bench in the cool-
ness of their shadows is inscribed:

“Do you, within your little hour of grace,
The waving Cypress in your arms enlace,
Before the mother back into her arms

Fold, and dissolve you in a last embrace.”

The wild grape here runs riot over the gar-
den-walls, against whose bases great terra-
cotta oil-jars are placed. They might have
come from old Sarmacand! But now they
hold the most precious things in the garden—
Roses brought from Naishapur. On one of
these jars this rubai is incised:

78 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

“Shapes of all sorts and sizes, great and small,
That stood along the floor and by the wall;
And some loquacious Vessels were; and
some
Listened perhaps, but never talked at all.

From the center of the other wall a foun-
tain gurgles forth its cooling waters, which dis- -
appear again in a porphyry basin. Around it
the grapevines cling; yet one can make out

“Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit
Of this and that endeavor and dispute,

Better be jocund with the fruitful grape
Than sadden after none, or bitter, fruit.”

adorning a bit of the treillage.

A bed of late Tulips stretches before the
fountain, and in their season you will find by
the fountain a cup inscribed with this quatrain:

“As then the Tulip for her morning sup

Of Heav’nly vintage from the Soil looks up,
Do you devoutly do the like, till Heav’n

To Earth invert you—like an empty cup.”

Everywhere else are Roses and Grapevines,
—white, red and yellow Roses to glorify the

A PERSIAN GARDEN 79

Junes that come and go in this fair garden,
great clusters of white and purple grapes
which ripen with the early frosts. First the
Hyacinths and the Tulips awaken the garden;
then the Hawthorn blossoms greet the Violets.
After that this little paradise is a gorgeous
Rose garden, making early summer and again
the early autumn glisten with their jewels.
When the sweet Rose-leaves have been wafted
afar by autumn winds—perhaps to some
Naishapur; who knows!—the purpling fruit
of the Vine lends color rich and harmonious
the last yellowed leaves of yonder old Chest-
nut tree are blown into the garden to mantle
it with tapestry of rich brocade. Ah, what a
tree! Beneath its noble branches, branches
that have known two centuries, is a rustic seat
and there one reads:

“A jug of Wine, a loaf of Bread—and Thou
Beside me singing in the wilderness—
Oh, wilderness were Paradise enow!”’

And when one leaves this little garden there
come to mind the words of Kisai, Kisai who
lived before Omar saw light of day:

80 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

“The Rose is a gift of Eden’s bower,
Our minds in garden grow nobler far;
Why does this Rose-dealer sell his flower?
What is more precious than Roses are?”

XIII

THE INDOOR GARDEN

HE choice of plants for the indoor
garden is dependent upon many
things. There are house plants
which require a high temperature, others which
thrive better with less heat, plants which re-
quire an abundance of direct sunlight and
which will not flourish a day without it, and
other plants which do very nicely under less
exacting conditions. Recently a revival of in-
terest has been shown in indoor gardening.
The old-fashioned plan of filling a window so
full of plants that the glass was almost com-
pletely hidden by them has long since passed
away. Surely with indoor gardens, as with
everything else, a sense of disproportion is not
a thing to be desired, or, in these days of an
advanced knowledge of things artistic, to be
tolerated. Nothing could be more out of
81

82 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

keeping with harmony in decoration than a
window full to overflowing of house plants of
all descriptions, set in nondescript receptacles.

The modern house decorator has learned to
avoid any such atrocious arrangements, and
seeks to select plants for indoors with care-
ful thought as to the details of foliage, flower,
contrast and suitability. For instance, one
would not place fine-leaved and coarse-leaved
plants in close proximity where the effect of
contrast was not desired, nor would one place
a delicately foliated plant in a room so stern
and formal that the plant might seem like
a stranded exotic. Again, scarlet-flowered
plants would hardly be in keeping with a room
decorated with crimson wall paper or hang-
ings! nor would it be well to place plants, such
as the Tuberose or the Oleander, whose flowers
are strongly scented, in a very small room, as
their fragrance is oppressive in the confined
atmosphere of a small space. Musk is so of-
fensive to many persons that, lovely little plant
that it is, it would be well perhaps to omit it
from the indoor garden list. On the other
hand, there are plants whose flowers, though
they exhale a pronounced fragrance, are not

THE INDOOR GARDEN 83

objectionable, for, while their perfume is pene-
trating, it is delicate. In this class of house-
plants may be listed the Hyacinth, the Nar-
cissus, the Rose and the Lemon Verbena.

When choosing plants for indoor use it is
well to select some that will bloom continually,
so that there will not be the unhappy contrast
of a long no-flowering period following luxuri-
ous bloom. Many houseplants are chosen for
the beauty of their foliage alone, and when this
is the case they should be displayed in the most
effective manner possible. They should not
be.so placed as to screen the clusters of a Ge-
ranium, the blossom of a Rose or the flower of
a Camellia. It is also a great mistake to so
arrange indoor plants that, though possessing
a decorative appearance from the outside, they
present anything but an attractive note as re-
gards the decorative scheme of the interior.

Broadly speaking, plants for indoors may be
divided into two classes—flowering plants and
plants selected for the beauty of their foliage.
Occasionally beautiful flowers and foliage are
offered by the same plant, as, for instance, the
lovely waxen-leaved and pink-flowered Be-
gonia.

84 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Then, too, there are plants found in the in-
door garden which are cultivated more as curi-
osities of the vegetable kingdom than as units
of beauty. Under this head would come, of
course, the Ice Plant, the various spiney Cacti
and also the “Hen-and-Chickens” plant.
There will always be those botanically inclined
who will take a great interest in such curiosi-
ties of the vegetable kingdom, but these plants
need not be taken into more than passing con-
sideration by the one who selects plants to help
in carrying out a decorative scheme which may
depend upon floral or foliage features to infuse
it with that vestige of naturalness that so often
saves the inanimate from becoming oppressive.

Following is a list of plants for indoor gar-
dens from which selections may be made: Ca-
mellia, Daphne, Azalea, Cyclamen, Geranium,
Heliotrope, Rose, Fuchsia, Myrtle, Abutilon,
Calla Lily, Cuphea, Oleander, Jasmine,
Solanum (Jerusalem Cherry), Lemon Ver-
bena, Hoya (Wax Plant), Begonia, Oxalis,
Amaryllis, Hyacinth, Tulip, Daffodil, Narcis-
sus, Primrose, Cineraria, Stock, Wallflower,
Gloxiana, Pelargonium, Marguerite, Petunia,
Francoa (Bridal Wreath) and Amazon Lily

THE INDOOR GARDEN 85

(EKucharis Amazonica) among the flowering
plants. Of course, there are other indoor
house plants, but those mentioned above are
most generally cultivated. As the Hyacinth,
the Narcissus, the Tulip, the Daffodil and the
Jonquil are bulb plants they are to be consid-
ered for the flowers only, and not at all for the
foliage, in so far as permanency is concerned.
The Camellia, the Cineraria, the Azalea and
the Cuphea had best be chosen only by those
who have hothouses or conservatories.

A list of ideal flowering plants, easily grown
indoors, includes the Geranium, Oxalia,
Fuchsia, Heliotrope, Abutilon, Begonia, Prim-
rose and Cyclamen. ‘These, as permanent
floral “lares and penates,” may be augmented
from time to time throughout the various sea-
sons by forced greenhouse plants in full bloom,
added for their immediate effectiveness and
display qualities.

The Geranium is discussed in a later chap-
ter, but one may here remind the indoor gar-
den-maker that in buying plants only such as
look strong, stocky, and healthy should be se-
lected. Lank spindley plants should be re-
fused. By “pinching” the plants may be kept

86 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

bushy. As a general thing zonal Geraniums
are free from insect pests, although all yellow
leaves should be removed.

The Oxalis is easily grown, and is well
known by reason of the shamrock-shaped leaf.
The Oxalis Floribunda with its rose-colored
flowers, is the best for the indoor garden.

The Fuchsia is an old-time favorite, beau-
tiful in leaf and graceful in flower, though its
true blossoming season is in summer. Fuchsia
culture is not difficult, and although it is prone
to bud-dropping, this can be prevented if the
watering is carefully attended to. There are
both double and single varieties.

Heliotrope is also known to every one, and
is one of the delights of the indoor garden.
There are a number of varieties to select from.
If “pinching” is attended to the plants may be
kept compact, although it is often as lovely if
allowed to ramble. ‘The old-fashioned Helio-
trope, Heliotropwm Peruvianum, is the sweet-
est and most floriferous. Abutilon, the well-
known Flowering Maple, requires plenty of
light and water in summer, but not nearly so
much in winter. Finally, the Begonia is to be
considered. There are many varieties of this

THE INDOOR GARDEN 87

perennially popular house-plant. Without
doubt the best winter Begonia is the exquisite
Gloire de Lorraine, which produces an abun-
dance of pink flowers above its attractive
waxen green foliage. It will thrive in a tem-
perature as low as 65 degrees F. The Gloire
de Scealux is another beautiful pink Begonia.
The Rex Begonia is the most popular indoor
foliage plant, if we except the Boston Fern.

THE CARE OF HOUSEPLANTS

Although it is true that nearly all house-
plants are subject to visitations of injurious
insects, and to plant diseases, these enemies of
the window garden can easily be overcome if
you will give some little study to the matter
in order to learn what foes are the most for-
midable and how to deal with them. Indeed,
success at indoor gardening is greatly depend-
ent upon knowledge of this sort, which every
one may easily obtain by heeding the follow-
ing hints and suggestions, and by carefully ex-
amining every plant in the window from time
to time in order to note the first appearance
of its foes.

88 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Insects injurious to houseplants usually
make their appearance with the coming of the
young plant shoots. And it is then that you
must commence to look for them in order that
they may be dealt with summarily before they
increase, as they invariably do with marvelous
rapidity, often to the utter discouragement of
the indoor gardener.

Diseases of houseplants, such as mildew,
which arise from injudicious watering, drought
and drafts, show themselves when present.
This is also true of fungi. Mildew is most apt
to attack young shoots and new foliage.
When the leaves turn a sickly yellow, the roots
of the plant should be examined as the trouble
may lie there; if you do not find anything
wrong with the roots, try repotting the plant
in fresh soil, and it will then probably regain
its old freshness.

Aphids are the most troublesome insects to
be found bothering houseplants; then there
are the mealy bug, red spider, scale, earth-
worm, slug, leaf mining maggot, thrips and
wood lice.

These aphids, or plant lice, as they are com-
monly called, are tiny light or dark green flies,

THE INDOOR GARDEN 89

for in one stage in their metamorphosis, they
have wings. The green colored species pre-
vails upon the indoor plants. One remedy for
plants bothered by aphids is to fumigate them
with the smoke of burning tobacco. Any one
can make a fumigator with an old barrel, plac-
ing under it a tripod for the plant to rest upon,
and under that a pan with the burning tobacco.
Of course the infected plant must not be left
long in the fumigator, or it would have a speed-
ier end than even its aphid enemy could bring
it to. Before fumigating, be sure the leaves
of the plant are dry. Prepared tobacco paper
for fumigating purposes may be obtained from
almost any dealer in garden supplies. Do not,
as a rule, fumigate plants that are in blossom;
their insect enemies should not have been per-
mitted to remain so long upon them. You
may find it necessary to give house plants sev-
eral fumigations, but do not overdo the mat-
ter. The morning after the plant has been
fumigated, carefully syringe its leaves with
tepid rain-water. The green aphid is fre-
quently the main enemy of indoor ferns, par-
ticularly the lovely Pteris adiantoides.

The mealy bug appears on houseplants in

90 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

a small mass of white, which looks “cottony.”
It is a most difficult plant pest to overcome,
and an insecticide diluted with lukewarm water
is advised for destroying it. This should be
applied with a plant syringe. ‘Three table-
spoonfuls of petroleum to three gallons of
. soapy water makes an excellent insecticide for
exterminating mealy bugs. The solution must
be kept well mixed by frequent shakings while
in use, and then applied carefully. This treat-
ment is suitable for large plants; small plants
can be freed from mealy bugs by frequent
cleansings with a sponge dipped in soapy
water. Whale-oil soap is best to use in spray-
ing and washing solutions.

The red spider is a minute insect pest which
dry, hot rooms tend to bring forth. Also lack
of water at the roots of potted plants makes
them fall easy prey to this tiny enemy. Fre-
quent washing and syringing are excellent pre-
ventives, and when once this destructive insect
appears upon a plant, it should be sprayed
with the insecticide recommended above for
mealy bugs.

The common scale (Lecanium) is similar to
the aphid, and it frequently attacks Oleanders,

THE INDOOR GARDEN 91

Camellias, Oranges and like plants. Sponge
any plants attacked by it with a solution of
whale-oil soap and do this unceasingly, for al-
though a tedious process, assiduous sponging
alone will eradicate the pest. Let the water be
lukewarm, as warm soap-suds will finally con-
quer this troublesome insect foe.

When earthworms are in the potting soil,
they cause considerable damage to the roots
of houseplants. A good way to remove earth-
worms (their presence may be detected by ob-
serving the globular masses of excrement they
deposit on the surface of the soil) is to plunge
the flower-pots in lime-water as far as the
brims. In a short time the earthworms will
push to the top and may be removed by hand.

Plants procured from the greenhouse often
introduce slugs into the window garden. They
should be watched for carefully and trapped
by putting a piece of raw potato, thinly sliced,
on the top soil. This will attract the slugs,
and they may then be picked off. Also look
among the plants at night, for then slugs come
forth from their hiding-places.

The leaf-mining maggot is the larva of a
small fly, and bores into the leaves of such

92 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

plants as the Cineraria and the Marguerite,
greatly disfiguring them. Cut off and burn
badly infested leaves, and destroy each remain-
ing maggot to be found. This process re-
quires much patience, but houseplants at-
tacked by this pest can still be saved. Thrips,
like the red spider, are apt to appear on plants
that suffer from insufficient watering. As
water is one of the best discouragers of attacks
on houseplants from their enemies, you are ad-
vised that frequent leaf washing is one of the
best preventives for the insect pest, thrips.
When once thrips appear, treat your plants
as you would when infested with red spiders,
as suggested above, and you should have no
further trouble.

Differmg from insect foes are fungoid
pests; mildew is the only one that is likely to
attack plants ordinarily to be met with in in-
door gardens, excepting the greenhouse or con-
servatory.

The Rose is the principal houseplant that
suffers from the ravages of mildew. Sudden,
decided changes of temperature, or cold drafts
in the room, will bring out upon the leaves
small, white fungoid patches. 'To check the

THE INDOOR GARDEN 93

spread of mildew, dust plants that are affected
by it with flowers of sulphur.

While all known houseplant enemies have
not been enumerated above, those commonly
met with have, and the means of combating
them here described are the result of practical
experiences. Therefore the window-gardener
may have at hand for ready reference these
various suggestions of a practical nature that
will, it is hoped, awaken a wider interest in the
necessity of studying the matter if you would
have an indoor garden of healthy, beautiful
plants.

One of the greatest enemies known to indoor
flowers is dry heat, and plants should never be
set near a radiator. Rubber plants and palms
are very apt to dry up and their leaves will
erack. Much of this condition can be arrested
by washing the leaves once a week with a
sponge wet with milk. There seems to be Just
enough grease in the milk to feed the leaves,
and it will be found an added help to pour
either olive or castor oil on the roots of these
plants once every fortnight.

It must also be remembered that plants may
be as greatly injured by too much water as by

94 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

too little. Give them plenty of water, but only
when they need it. To tell when a plant needs
watering, knock the side of the pot with your
knuckles. If the sound is dull the soil has
water enough init. If the sound is hollow the
soil is dry.

When there is any doubt about whether the
plant needs more water or not, pour the water
into the saucer. The water will be taken up
by the roots if the plant needs it.

XIV
EVERGREENS AND FERNS FOR INDOORS

HILE nearly all of the plants in

the window-garden retain their fo-

liage, in effect, the year round, a
certain number of them actually do, and this
class of Evergreen houseplants deserves con-
sideration by itself, as indoor Evergreens are
not so widely known as they should be, nor are
they as often found among houseplants as
they deserve to be. Aside from their place
near flowering window-plants, indoor Ever-
greens lend themselves to table decoration, and
being especially suitable plants for hall and
stairway, are most useful in arranging decora-
tive effects when the house is being made ready
for some festal occasion. The most interesting
Evergreens of the indoor class are, perhaps,
the Araucarias, the most easily obtainable spe-
cies being Araucaria excelsa, better known by
its common name, the Norfolk Island Pine.

95

96 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

This distinctive plant is, in reality, a little tree
of coniferous habits, quite as lovely though not
so unusual and curious, as some of the dwarf
Japanese trees that have become more or less
the fashion. Its branches radiate like the
spokes of a wheel from the central stem, and
its rich, spiny foliage is a dark yellow-green. It
is the most symmetrical of the indoor Ever-
greens,

The Araucaria robusta is a more sturdy spe-
cies and it is more compact than the first named
while the Araucaria glauca is a handsome blue-
green leaved variety of the same species. The
indoor gardener may be interested to know
that the cousin to these Evergreens (the large
form of the Araucaria, known to botanists as
A. imbricata) is said to be the only tree which
the monkey is unable to climb. Small speci-
mens of the Araucarias are Island Pine, and
of other species of the Araucarias are compara-
tively inexpensive, and may be had from al-
most any reliable nurseryman. <A_ well-
started specimen will require but ordinary care,
as this Evergreen grows freely under almost
any conditions, where light, water and a little
heat can be given it. ‘The Araucarias must be

EVERGREENS AND FERNS FOR INDOORS 97

watered sparingly, and care must be taken not
to transfer them too rapidly to larger pots,
as they do not like frequent disturbing. These
Evergreens should be repotted only when one
feels sure they require more room than they
have already been given.

English Ivy is an Evergreen of the broad-
leaved variety, and although it has long been
one of the most popular plants in the window-
garden, it may not have been classed among
Evergreens by those who have not familiarized
themselves with plant divisions. The botanical
name of the English Ivy is Hedera heliz,
which it is well to know, in order that its vari-
ety, Hedera helix Canariensis, commonly
known as Irish Ivy, may not be chosen by mis-
take in place of it. This latter Ivy has much
larger leaves, but it is not nearly so attractive
for indoor growing, unless one is indifferent
to the pattern effect and merely seeks abun-
dance of foliage, as often is the case. The
English Ivy will stand a goodly amount of
watering and must always be generously pot-
ted. As for its potting soil, any good house-
plant soil will do that has a mixture of sand
in its composition.

98 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

The Camellia’s beautiful, dark, shining
leaves are remarkably persistent, and_ this
should receive more consideration as a house-
plant possibility than has yet been given it.
The remarkable beauty of its flowers is, of
course, known to every one, as it is a favorite
flower with poets and novelists. Camellias
may be had from nurserymen in both single
and double varieties, in white, pink, and red,
the Alba plena (white), Lady Hume (pink),
and the Hovey (red), being good varieties to
select. Keep the potting soil for Camellias
just moist, as over-watering will cause their
buds to drop before flowering. Camellias
should be repotted every two years in a mix-
ture of equal parts of peat, sand, fibrous loam,
and leaf-mold.

The Myrtle, or Periwinkle (Vinca minor),
a plant which the ancients dedicated to Venus,
may be grown in any house, although one
usually associates it with outdoor gardening.
Its bushy growth must be induced by frequent
trimming. A rich loamy potting soil is best
for this plant, and it should be given a sunny
place in the window-garden. ‘There is a va-
riegated species of Periwinkle to be had (Vinca

EVERGREENS AND FERNS FOR INDOORS 99

minor, var, alba) which presents bright yellow
foliage, and also somewhat rarer variety, hav-
ing white instead of the usual purple flowers.
Beside these there is Vinca rosea, a pink, erect-
growing species, which requires an abundance
of sunlight and liberal watching.

Azaleas are among the most beautiful of the
broad-leaved Evergreens, although outside the
greenhouse it is difficult to grow them in north-
ern temperatures with anything like success.
The Azalea thrives best in a cool and airy
room. Azalea Indica is the usual species one
meets with at the florist’s. The proper night
temperature for Azaleas is from 50 to 60 de-
grees. After flowering (in the Spring), new
growth in the plants must be encouraged by
warmer temperature, and though the potting
soil requires to be kept just moist, it must never
be permitted to become dry.

Sweet Bay (the Laurus nobilis) is one of
the most decorative of indoor Evergreens, be-
ing cultivated with stem and globular crown,
or as a bushy or pyramidal plant, leafing to
the soil. It must be kept very cool and should
be carefully cellared in Winter. When
brought out for indoor use in Summer, the

100 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Sweet Bay should be placed only in unheated
rooms.

The Partridge Berry is the only hardy Ever-
green we have which, in its native state, car-
pets the ground and bears red berries through-
out the Winter. Mitchella repens is its bo-
tanical name. It does exceedingly well when
brought out of the woods (although it may be
procured without trouble from nearly any
florist or nurseryman), and it should be grown
under a bell-glass or in a vivarium; that is, an
aquarium-like case for tender houseplants.

The Laurustinus is an Evergreen native to
southern Europe, and though hardy to Great
Britain, it requires house culture in our cli-
mate, flowering indoors from November to
April. Its blossoms are fragrant, white flow-
ers, which are well set off by the dark green of
its foliage. This plant stands indifferent
usage, being almost hardy, but it thrives best
with generous potting and in earth composed
of one part each of sand, leaf-mold and well-
rotted manure. Care should be taken to give
the leaves frequent washings, as they are great
dust-attracters, and therefore their beauty is
marred if the foliage is not kept clean. This

EVERGREENS AND FERNS FOR INDOORS 101

Laurustinus bears the botanical name of V71-
burnum Tinus, and thus it is closely related to
the common Snowball of the garden, the V1-
burnum populus.

Heather (Erica), like the Azalea, produces
a multitude of small, hair-like roots, and re-
quires loamy potting soil, rich in decaying or-
ganic matter. Good pot drainage is also
requisite, and rain-water should alone be given
these difficult Evergreens. As a rule they
stand cool temperatures unusually well, and
they must have plenty of air, though cold
draughts will speedily injure them. Do not
permit these plants to grow tall and spindling,
but keep them low, bushy, and compact, by
pinching and by frequent turning of all sides
to the light. This preserves symmetry. Few
house-plants make a greater show. A single
day’s neglect to water a Heather, or a day’s
over-watering, may kill the plant; therefore
many, through carelessness or lack of knowl-
edge of its requirements, have failed to raise
the Heather successfully. The following va-
rieties will be found the best for the window-
garden: Erica Cavendishi (yellow), E. caffra
(white and fragrant), EL’. hyemalis (pink), E.

102 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

persolute (red), and EF. ventricosa (purple).

The Daphne is a beautiful, sweet-scented
Evergreen, but it requires careful attention,
for which reason it is seldom met with in gar-
dens indoors. Daphne Indica is the variety
for window purposes, bearing terminal bunches
of fragrant white flowers. The leaves are
long, glossy, and dark-green. It should have
plenty of pot room, and its soil should (in com-
mon with that of all houseplants) be well
drained.

The Yucca’s handsome, stout foliage makes
this well-known plant exceedingly decorative
as an indoor Evergreen. Every traveler who
has visited California recalls the great Yuccas
to be found there, especially in the southern
part of the state. Occasionally these giant
species are transplanted to our gardens, and
the smaller varieties thrive in gardens by the
sea, being useful for decorative borders. The
Yucca filamentosa is especially recommended
to the amateur for the purpose, as also are Y.
aloefolia and Y. quadricolor. Do not repot
often, and give Yuccas a rich loamy soil.
Yucca filamentosa var. variegata has leaves
streaked with white and is very attractive.

EVERGREENS AND FERNS FOR INDOORS 103

The Kennedya is a lovely and graceful twin-
ing indoor Evergreen, and is not as often met
with in the window-garden as it deserves to be.
The shoots should be kept well trained to the
wall, or against a frame. Give it plenty of
water. Kennedya Marrattae is the scarlet va-
riety, while the blossoms of the K. monophylla
are rich purple. There is not a finer climber
for the window-garden.

Although the varieties of indoor Evergreens
here mentioned by no means exhaust the list
of those that are available for house culture,
those described are especially worthy the at-
tention of every one who has a window-garden
and loves houseplants, and who, though ac-
quainted with some of the more common va-
rieties of these plants, may not have known
that they come under the head of true Ever-
greens, which fact may, perhaps, lead the ama-
teur indoor gardener to cultivate a real and
lasting interest in them.

FERNS

Where one intends to place Ferns in an un-
heated conservatory, the following species are

104 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

among the best to select: For Potting: Adia-
tum Pedatum, Asplenium cristatum, Polypo-
dium vulgare cambricum, Pteris scaberula,
Scolopendrium vulgare crispum, Woodwardia
radicans and Woodsia ilvensis. For Baskets:
Polystichum angulare, P. angulare proliferum,
Woodwardia radicans and Asplenium filix-
foemina corybiferum. For Wall Grow-
ing: Asplenium marinum, Polypodium vul-
gare, Polystichum aculeatum and Scolopen-
drium. Of course, there are many other varie-
ties, but these few will be more than enough for
the amateur indoor gardener. For ordinary
room windows nearly all of the Ferns men-
tioned will prove successful, but the following
are especially recommended for indoor window
gardens, Polypodium aureum, Asplenium bul-
biferum, Nephrodium molle, Cyrtomium fal-
catum, Pteris cretica, Scolopendrium vulgare
crispum, Pteris tremula, Polystichum angulare
and Pteris cretica nobilis. There are few
plants for indoors that give as much pleasure
to the amateur as do Ferns, when one is careful
to see that they are cleanly potted and in well
drained pots.

Graves Co.

by Nathan R.

Photo

ARRANGEMENT OF GERANIUMS

BEDDING

HAPPY

A

XV

GERANIUMS

4 | QHE first plant that suggests itself
when the indoor garden is mentioned
is the Geranium. A collection of

houseplants without it would be very much
like a desert without an oasis, so necessary to
the fullest enjoyment of raising flowers in-
doors has this lovely queen of the window-gar-
den become. ‘Though no houseplant gives
greater satisfaction, and is more easily grown,
the Geranium speedily resents neglect, and will
languish as quickly from inattention as any
other plant in the window. For this reason
these pertinent hints are given.

First of all it is well to have some definite
idea of the various kinds of Geraniums and of
their special characteristics. Horticulturists
are coming more and more to use the term
Pelargoniums for Geraniums, distinguishing

105

106 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

them by calling the old-fashioned mono-, bi-,
and tri-colored Geraniums by the term Zonal
Pelargoniums, the sweet Geraniums by the
term Scented-Leaved Pelargoniums, and the
Ivy Geraniums by the term Ivy-Leaved Pelar-
goniums. However, the term Geranium will
be retained in this chapter, as it is the one with
which every one is familiar.

SELECTING VARIETIES

There are almost endless varieties of Gera-
niums of the Zonal class, both single and
double, from white to scarlet. Among these
the following are especially recommended for
their beauty, others may be selected from re-
liable nurserymen:

Single Geraniums—White, Dr. Nansen;
scarlet, Lord Iddesleigh; crimson, Cyclops;
salmon, Mrs. Robert Cannell; magenta, Mar-
quis of Dufferin.

Double Geraniums—White, Swanley Dou-
ble; scarlet, F. V. Raspail; crimson, Colossus;
salmon, Miss Floss; pink, H. M. Stanley; ce-
rise, Mrs. Cordon.

GERANIUMS 107

In selecting sweet Geraniums, it should be
borne in mind that different varieties have dif-
ferent perfumes, as the following list will in-
dicate: Rose-scented, Pelargonium capita-
tum; nutmeg-scented, Lady Mary; orange-
scented, Prince of Orange; almond-scented,
Pretty Polly; citron-scented, Pelargonium
radula major; peppermint-scented, Pelargo-
nium tomentosum.

Of the Ivy Geraniums the following will
prove useful additions to the window-garden
(double varieties): Pink, Charles Turner;
crimson, Murillo; salmon, Ryecroft Surprise;
magenta, Alice Crousse; rose-red, Robert
Queen; light pink, Mme. Thibaut.

HOW TO POT GERANIUMS

Clean pots are essential to success with house
plants. See that the pots chosen are clean in-
side as well as out. Having this in mind, the
window-gardener is advised to soak new pots
in hot water an hour before using them. Un-
less this is done, the pots are apt to absorb
much of the moisture from the soil, causing
the roots of the newly potted plants to suffer

108 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

in consequence. Insure perfect drainage by
putting a few pieces of broken flower pots in
the bottom of each new pot before setting the
Geranium, always remembering that the larger
the pot, the more drainage must be arranged —
for. In placing these bits of broken pots it
is well always to place a concave piece over
the drainage-hole in the bottom of the pot, thus
“roofing” it and preventing it from becoming
stopped up. Many failures have come about
from improperly potting Geraniums.

Do not make the common mistake of choos-
ing pots that are too large for the plants they
are to contain. Plants should be repotted
from time to time as their growth requires it,
instead of which many an amateur makes the
mistake of giving the newly started Geranium
a pot half a dozen sizes too large for it. In re-
potting always retain as much of the original
soil as possible around the root-ball. Potting
soil must not be “‘pastey,” neither wet nor like
dust, but just damp to the hand. ‘Three parts
of fibrous loam, one of leaf mold, one of well-
crumbled manure and one-twelfth part of sand
combined makes an ideal soil for Geraniums,

GERANIUMS 109

and a small piece or two of charcoal placed in
the bottom of each pot will do much to keep
the potting-soil sweet for the plant. When
potted, Geraniums should have their soil half
an inch below the rim-level of very small pots,
and an inch or more with larger-sized pots. In
this way plenty of water may be received by
the plant.

WATERING

Many Geraniums have been parched to
death, but as many have met their end through
an over-zealous watering—indeed, drowned
houseplants are not uncommon! Newly pot-
ted plants always require to be watered very
sparingly, although their soil must not be per-
mitted to become once dry. Soft water—rain-
water—is always best for Geraniums, but if
you have only faucet water at command, use
that which has stood in a pail in the sunlight
for a couple of hours. In Winter, and also in
the Springtime, avoid watering Geraniums
with cold water. The chill of cold water causes
them to decline. Also remember that morn-
ing is the best watering-time at such seasons.

110 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

LIGHT AND AIR

Newly potted Geraniums should be shaded
from the sun until they become thoroughly es-
tablished, and even then, though sunshine is ab-
solutely requisite to successful window-gar-
dening, Geraniums should not be placed where
a blaze of the sun’s rays strikes them through
heavy plate glass in a scorching manner. Like
other houseplants, Geraniums should be
turned around from time to time so the sun-
light will touch them on all sides. Geraniums
should have southern, southeastern, or eastern
exposure. Any other position is interesting
as an experiment, perhaps, but one need not
hope to have thriving houseplants under con-
ditions of other lighting. Unfortunately, gas
light is one of the worst enemies a Geranium
can have, and so many a failure to raise house-
plants in the living-room is explained by this
fact. Give Geraniums plenty of air. Plants
breathe as well as human beings. Every
pleasant day let fresh air from source enter the
room where you have your Geraniums, but do
not expose them to drafts; they are as suscep-
tible to them as persons in delicate health, and

GERANIUMS 111

a chill will often send a Geranium that has suc-
cessfully withstood an actual frost to its end.

Try and keep the room in which you have
your window of Geraniums at an equable tem-
perature. If the day is a sunny one, the tem-
perature may run up to seventy-three degrees,
but on cloudy days sixty-eight degrees will be
better for them. Fifty-five degrees is a good
night temperature. Extremes of heat and
cold must be avoided at all times.

CUTTING AND SLIPPING

The good housewife of days gone by found
one of her chiefest pleasures in the giving of
slips of her fine Geraniums to her most deserv-
ing neighbors. The ladies of Cranford would
have missed much in life had it been otherwise!
And yet, underlying the generous impulse lay
the economic one of helping the plant along
by cutting. Now, this is always a necessary
operation if the Geraniums are to attain per-
fect form—an equal height and_ breadth.
There is nothing in the window-garden more
distressing to see than a lanky, gaunt-looking
Geranium. In cutting, choose the branches

112 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

of the plant you wish to prune and pick off all
the large leaves for some four inches from the
extremity of each branch, leaving a couple of
end leaves, then cut the branch at a point be-
tween two nodes square across. When plant-
ing slips, be sure no flower-buds are left on
the slips, otherwise all the strength will go into
them and be taken out of the new plant. In-
sert the square-cut end of the freshly cut slip
in the earth of a small pot by burying it just
above the first node, as it is here the new roots
will form. Protect slips from the full sun-
hight at first, and water sparingly.

INSECT PESTS

Fortunately, the pests that bother Gerani-
ums can be well controlled, but they must be
watched, for, as once your plants become both-
ered, you will have continual trouble to do
battle with them. ‘This is one reason why one
should be careful that flower pots are clean
before using, and that the potting-soil does
not contain insect larve. ‘The author has
found that soaking pots when cleaned, in am-
moniacal carbonate of copper will kill the green

GERANIUMS 113

alge one often sees upon flower-pots, and the
fungi which disturb the growth of houseplants.
The little aphides (plant-lice) which occasion-
ally infest Geraniums are easily killed by fumi-
gating the plants with tobacco smoke. Wash-
ing the leaves with tobacco water, or dusting
them with dry pyrethrum or snuff, is also an
excellent remedy. Worms are harmful to all
houseplants by reason of their attacking the
roots. If you believe your Geraniums to be
troubled by this pest, turn the plants out of
their pots, and examine the root soil. Finally,
do not allow diseased, wilting, or discolored
leaves to remain on your plants. Go over
them every day, and remove and burn all leaves
of this sort. It often happens that plants re-
moved to the moist air of a kitchen for a couple
of days recover from their ailments in an as-
tonishing manner. Try this simple “hospital
cure” with your Geraniums when they appear
yellow and sickly, and you will be well re-
warded for your care.

XVI

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

NE of the chief advantages of sub-
() urban life is the possibility it offers
to the gardening enthusiast of a home
vegetable garden wherein may be grown those
table products of the plant world most to his
liking. Few luxuries there are in this day of
so much “artificial” living greater than that of
being able to have for one’s home table freshly
gathered vegetables in season. What person
is there who does not take an understandable
pride in early grown corn, fresh green peas
and crisp tender salads grown in his own gar-
den! To many a one a vegetable plot is
merely a prosaic institution of the most prosaic
sort, a corner of the home premises to be tol-
erated and tended. Such a viewpoint is, at
best, quite as prosaic as the quality with which
such indifference invests the pleasant art of
vegetable gardening.
114

Photo by Nathan R. Graves Co.

VEGETABLE GARDENING IS NOT ALL DRUDGERY

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 115

There was a time, indeed, when the tomato
was held to be a choice and highly decorative
feature in the flower garden. That, of course,
was before our time, even before our grand-
fathers’ and our grandmothers’ time, a time
before people could be persuaded that the
“Love Apple” of old-fashioned gardens (for so
the tomato was called) was fit for food and
was no longer considered a poisonous fruit,
highly dangerous to those who attempted to
eat it! But that, too, was a time when flower-
beds were bordered with lettuce plants, for the
sake of decorative beauty of their green and
russet leaves, fit foliage for Flora’s realm, but
like the tomato, now found only in vegetable
gardens. All this is not to suggest that the
finer fiber of those plants which find their le-
gitimate place in the garden of flowers does
not bring more votaries to such a shrine than
to that of those representatives of plant-life
on which we depend for so much of our daily
food.

Neither vegetable garden nor flower gar-
den should be considered as rivals either one
to the other; instead, each has its own func-
tion in the workings of gardening. Neverthe-

116 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

less, there is no reason why, at any time, care
and thought should not be given to the prob-
lem—it is really less a problem than it might
appear to be—of making the vegetable gar-
den attractive. By attractive is meant not
only a garden well platted, orderly in appear-
ance, conveniently planned and free from
weeds, but a beautiful vegetable garden as well.
Now this may all be accomplished by bringing
a little imagination to one’s assistance. A
small garden such as one may have on a sub-
urban lot offers many opportunities to the
garden-maker if only he will interest himself
sufficiently in the matter. When he can he
will plant with an eye to the vegetable gar-
den’s landscape aspect when the plants will
have reached maturity. ‘Thus he will not plant
a couple of rows of corn across the lot where
he does not wish to screen the portion of it be-
yond, nor will he plant low-growing things
back of tall-growing ones. If the vegetable
plot is to be a permanent one, it would be well
worth while to consider the advisability of sur-
rounding it with a suitable hedge. And after
the growing vegetables have got the start of
the weeds a clump of Four O’Clocks, Petunias

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN Ry

or other gayly colored flowers can be tucked
away where they will not interfere with culti-
vating, thus lending a color note to the vege-
table beds’ expanse of green. Nature herself
gives us a hint here in the pumpkin flower, al-
though she is less generous in effectiveness with
other plants in the vegetable garden.

In starting out to plan for the coming season
the garden-beginner must be cautioned against
expecting good results from poor soil, poor
seed and after neglect. Vegetables should
have good, deep soil. For extensive garden-
ing it is essential for the garden-maker to know
the various sorts of soils to which beets, car-
rots, peas, corn, potatoes, etc., are best
adapted. But in the small home garden one
grade of soil will probably prevail. Fertiliz-
ers, excellent and necessary though they are,
require a proper soil condition to receive them.
Thus the soil of the vegetable garden must be
worked into shape by spading, etc.

Where it is possible to obtain it, there is no
fertilizer better for the vegetable garden than
well-rotted stable manure. Any commercial
fertilizer should contain, as nearly as possible,
4 per cent. of nitrogen, 8 per cent. of phos-

118 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

phoric acid and 10 per cent. of potash. For
half an acre of ground (without additional use
of manure) nitrate of soda (100 pounds), sul-
phate of potash (200 pounds), acid phosphate
(300 pounds) and high-grade tankage (400
pounds) will make a sufficient mixture. You
can hardly get your garden soil too rich. Vege-
tables grown in poor soil are not comparable
with those produced by a growth rooted in rich
soil.

Poor seed has been the cause of many garden
discouragements. Never buy from any but
reliable dealers, who can guarantee the ger-
minating qualities of the seed they sell. It is,
without doubt, best to order directly from well-
known seedsmen and to place orders early.
Lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, beets, tomatoes,
etc., can be bought later in the season for set-
ting out. These will have been started suffi-
ciently to make the transplanting process a
simple one. In selecting such plants for set-
ting out, good “healthy” looking seedlings
must be selected in preference to scrawny-
looking ones.

Nowadays vegetable seeds sold by trust-
worthy dealers are accompanied by planting

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 119

directions or these directions may be found in
their catalogues. The garden-beginner. who
disregards such directions may miraculously
escape total failure, but he will do well to be
guided by experience in such matters for it is
of the greatest importance to plant seeds at
the right time, at a proper depth, and to put
them at distances apart which experience has
shown to prove the most satisfactory arrange-
ment. The planting table following this chap-
ter will serve as a complete guide to the home
vegetable garden-maker. It is only necessary
to add that all seeds planted must be firmed
in the soil—that is to say, pressed well into it
before being covered. ‘Then, upon germina-
tion, the roots will take proper hold.

Perhaps one of the commonest mistakes to
which the garden-beginner is liable, when lay-
ing out his first vegetable garden, is that of
not planning proportions properly, as a re-
sult of which he finds, when the season is half
over, he has planted too much of one thing and
not enough of another. To avoid this he must
take into account before a single seed goes into
the ground, to just what extent the demands
on the vegetable garden by the family table

120 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

will be. Who has not seen a beginner’s gar-
den wherein row after row of lettuce has grown
to seed and an abundance of radish plants has
grown almost to the size of turnips, while the
few tomato plants were early and eagerly
stripped of their limited supply of fruit! All
this naturally suggests the disproportionate
planting that prevents a vegetable garden from
becoming fully useful or a thing in which to
take particular pride. Pride in one’s garden
always bespeaks pleasure in it, whether it
be given to the planting of flowers or to the
production of vegetables, whereas an ill-ar-
ranged and faultily planned garden seems only
to emphasize drudgery in the working of it.

Finally a word should be said in connection
with the fact that with almost every vegetable
there is some especial cultural requirement that
the garden-maker should study, understand
and attend to, which naturally suggests that
the garden-beginner will do well to add reliable
reference works on the subject to the home li-
brary.

XVII

A VEGETABLE-PLANTING TABLE

Vegetables

Asparagus (Plant)....
Asparagus (Seed)
Bean, Dwarf.........
Bean: Bima) a o.2 ss «
eantsholet cis: sacae
Beet (Early)
Beet) (ate)ico oN.
Borecole (Kale).......
BKOCCOli\s a6 55s syers'sre oye
Brussels Sprouts......
, Cabbage (Early)......
Cabbage (Late).......
(GNM iAcls Gongaouoee
Celery (Plants).......
Celery (Seed)........
Corns as itis a ewsie's=

Kale (Berecole) Re asatene
Woblerabicee ea cceen :
Weethnces ssc: cays cnet:
Melon, Musk..........
Melon, Water........

Peas

Bae (Smooth)
Pepper (Plants)
Pepper (Seed)
IREURIGIS Boo otodacoene

Radish

IMSL lalian tasieteliels
Spinach
Squash, Summer......
Squash, Winter.......
Tomato (Plants)
Tomato (Seed)
Turnip..

When to Plant | for 50-ft.

—May

Amount

Row

50
1

ounce

May 5-Aug. 15) 1 pint
May 20-June 10} 4 pint
May 15-June 30) 1% pint

April —June
pril -—Aug.
April —-July
pril —July
April —-July
April
May -June
April -July
April -June
July 1-Aug.
April

May 10—July
May 10—July
June 1—June
April
April

May 15-June
May 15-June

pril
foal 10-June
April 1-Aug.
June 1-20
June 1
April 15—-June
May 1-June

April 1-Sept.

April

April -—May

April 1-Sept.

May 15-July
May 15-June
May 15-July

une
April

—Sept.

1
1
25
35
35
35
20
Y
3

72

Ve
1

%
%
1
1
5
Y%
4
A
11%
25
34
%
4
%
2
vg
a

121

ounce
ounce

ounce

ounce
ounce
ounce

4 ounce

ounce
pint
pint

14 ounce
peck
14 ounce

ounce

34 ounce
lg ounce
Yy ounce
4 ounce

lg ounce
144 ounce

Distance to Plant

In Rows

Run Apart
1 ft. Setts
2-4 in. |15 in.
2-4 in. 1144-2 in.
3 in. 3 in.
3 in. Shins
3-4 in. /15 in.
3-4 in. /15 in.
18 in. 216 ft.
18 in. Orit.
18 in. 9 ft.
18 in. 9 ft.
26 ft. 26 ft
2-3 in. |15 in.
18 in. 2 ft.
6 in. 3-4 ft
1-2 in. 1 ft.
Suite 3-4 ft
4 ft. 4 ft.
2 ft. QV ft
1 ft. 1 ft.
18 ft. 2% ft
6-12 in. |18 in.
1 ft. 1-1\% ft.
2-4 in. {15 in.
4-6 ft. 4-6 ft
6-8 ft. 6-8 ft
2-4 in. |15 in.
Out. Sits
4-6 in. Dsfte
3-5 in. |18 in.
2-4 in. 4 ft.
2-4 in. Sit.
atte 216 ft
3-6 in. {15 in.
13 in. Qi ft
6-8 ft. 6-8 ft
2-3 in. DS ae
2-3 ft. 3-4 ft
3-6 in. |18 in.
3-5 in. |18 in.
4 in. 4 ft.
G=B5 ims jevactte aie
Shit, 3 ft. 4 in
3-4 in. |15 in.
4-6 in. |15 in.

XVIII

THE SALAD GARDEN

A \ HE list of plants available for salads
has increased with our ingenuity in
discovering the resources of the kitch-

en garden. Though the lettuce is still the chief
salad plant grown, there are other salad plants
that deserve attention, and will be very wel-
come upon those tables that have given them-
selves up to the monotony of one sort of salad,
a limitation one does not find in foreign coun-
tries, where a dinner without the salad is not
considered dinner at all. However, even in the
matter of the lettuce there are so many varie-
ties that some consideration of them will be
of interest here.

Lettuce: There are three main divisions of
lettuces. The “Cos” varieties, which are of
upright growth with hard leaf of coarse veins
and coarse midrib (taking their name from

122

THE SALAD GARDEN 123

the Island of Cos, whence they were introduced
into Europe); the “Butter,” especially deli-
cate varieties, with small-veined leaves of gen-
erally smooth edges, and the “Crisp” which
are harder than the “Butter” lettuces, but have
fringed leaves.

It must be borne in mind that in the sorts
of lettuces above mentioned there are to be
found two classes; those that bunch with up-
right leaves and those that head like cabbages.
“Cos” varieties (bunching): Bath, not so
coarse as most varieties, Paris White. “But-
ter” varieties (heading): Deacon, easily
grown in all localities. A good midsummer
variety; Hartford Bronzed Head, reddish
color; Big Boston, especially recommended for
late use; Tennis-Ball Black Seeded, one of the
mrst reliable all-around “Butter” varieties;
Golden Queen, for very early use. “Butter”
varieties (bunching): Lancaster, grows espe-
cially well in the South. “Crisp” varieties
(heading) : Hanson, best for summer; Black-
Seeded Simpson for August; Mignonette, es-
pecially tender and good for fall sowing; Ice-
berg for late use. “Crisp” varieties (bunch-
ing): Black-Seeded Simpson, easily grown

124 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

anywhere, for intermediate season, especially
recommended; Prize head for early use.

A. deep rich mellow loam founded on a dry
substratum is an ideal soil for lettuces, but they
thrive, fortunately, in even indifferent soil.
With a little care the salad-garden may be
made to produce a succession of lettuces
throughout the season. ‘The earliest varieties
must be started in the hotbed for spring use,
if the seed has not been planted the previous
autumn in the open and protected by a mulch
(covering of leaves, etc.). It is well to remem-
ber that lettuce-seed should be sown thinly
one-fourth of an inch deep in drills eight to
twelve inches apart. The seed will germinate
in from eight to ten days. When the plants
push out they should be thinned out to about
four inches apart. A quarter of an ounce of
~ Jettuce seed will produce some two hundred
and fifty plants. Of course, with care, lettuce-
plants bear transplanting successfully; indeed,
many who have for some reason delayed plant-
ing seeds until late in the season may still have
early lettuces by obtaining hotbed-grown seed-
lings from their seedsman for setting out in
their own gardens. Transplanted lettuces

THE SALAD GARDEN 125

must be kept well watered until the roots have
taken firm hold in the new soil. Bear in mind,
however, that lettuces seldom do well when
transplanted in warm weather.

Endive is cultivated for its head of leaves,
which, when blanched, are delicious for salads.
The seed should be planted from April to
August for a succession of crops, leaving six-
teen inches between rows, and thinning the
plants to nine inches apart. Indoor planting
should be done in March. As endive is sus-
ceptible to rot, the leaves, in the blanching
process, should be tied up with raffia when they
are free from external moisture, and the soil
drawn up to blanch the heart of the plant. The
blanching should be started after about a
month’s growth. Seeds of endive germinate
in about ten days. A quarter of an ounce of
seed will produce a twenty-five foot row. Plant
half an inch deep. The variety especially rec-
ommended for salad uses is the green curled;
being the hardiest, it is best adapted for gen-
eral growing. Batavian endive is highly es-
teemed by French cooks.

Fennel is a hardy perennial, a native of
Italy, which will flourish in any sort of soil.

126 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Plant in April, putting in the seed to a depth
of a quarter of an inch in rows fourteen inches
apart. ‘Thin out the plants to a distance of
seven or eight inches apart. Cut down the
stems to prevent flowering, and also to encour-
age a growth of new leaves. The young stalks,
blanched, and the sweet-flavored leaves are
relished by many as a salad dish, or used with
other salad plants in a mixture.

Chicory: One sixteenth of an ounce of chic-
ory-seed will produce a twenty-five-foot row of
plants. Sow in rows twelve inches apart, half
an inch deep, and thin plants out to four inches
apart. Plant in May or June or, in the South,
in March and April. The blanched leaves
make an excellent salad.

Chives are delicate onions, a hardy perennial
native to Great Britain, easily grown and
should be better known in the salad-garden.
The flavor is that of leek and onion mixed. A
few roots set out the early part of May ten
inches apart will suffice.

Nasturtium: 'There is, of course, more or
less sentiment against devouring bouquets,
nevertheless the tops of Nasturtium plants are
delicious with crisp lettuce salads, and in South

THE SALAD GARDEN 127

America, where the plant is a native, the Span-
iards regard the Nasturtium as one of their
favorite salad dishes.

Cucumber, cabbage, radish, celery, beet, as-
paragus and onion are so well known that any-
thing beyond the mention of them here as
foundations for salads would be unnecessary.

Hyssop is a much-neglected herb, once so
popular in Biblical days, but it still deserves
consideration as an addition to the salad-gar-
den. Sow seed half an inch deep late in the
spring in rows six inches apart. When the
plants are three inches high thin them out to
stand twelve inches apart. When mature
gather the branches on a dry, sunny day, and
keep them in cool garret or herb-closet. The
powdered leaves lend a delightful aromatic
quality to a salad.

Garden-cress is a good substitute for water-
cress. Sow in shallow drills in April in rows
six inches apart. Put seeds in the ground at a
depth of a quarter of an inch, and after the
plants have attained a growth of some three
inches, thin them out to stand three inches
apart.

W ater-cress: Happy indeed is the garden-

128 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

maker who has a running brook on the prem-
ises. Here water-cress may be grown. The
warm, pungent taste one finds in the leaves
makes them the favorite early spring salad
plant. Seeds of the water-cress may be had
from all seedsmen and the opportunity of
growing one’s own cresses should not be neg-
lected. The seed may be planted from April
to June in the shallow sandy gravel bottoms of
swift-running streams.

Mint: And now we come to a plant little
used by Americans in salads, but thoroughly
worth attention in this connection. The
mint’s leaves, both green and dry, are valuable
accessories to lettuce-salads, and are especially
good in combination with Dandelion leaves.
Mint may be propagated from cuttings
of old stalks or by division of roots of old
plants in the springtime. All nursery seeds-
men can supply cuttings, though they do not
catalogue mint seeds. A mint-bed will con-
tinue to flourish five or six seasons. A very
few plants of it will suffice amply for the salad-
garden.

Parsley: One cannot pass the subject of
the salad-garden without some mention of

THE SALAD GARDEN 129

parsley. A penny’s worth of seed will produce
a ten-foot row that will continue throughout
the season with proper attention. Sow at the
end of April half an inch deep, and when the
plants are two inches high thin out the rows
so the plants remaining will be four inches
apart. Before planting soak parsley-seed over-
night in warm (not hot) water to facilitate
germination. Do not, when the plants have
matured, take all the leaves from a plant at
one time. The main value of the aromatic
parsley leaves is the distinct flavoring they
give, but beyond that their lovely curly leaves
add a distinct decorative note to the garnish-
ings of salad and meat dishes especially when
their distinct green is used in contrast with to-
matoes or the pale colors of blanched endive
and cucumbers,

Enough has been said here to suggest to the
reader the pleasure and profit one might de-
rive from devoting a small plot of ground to
the growing of plants for salads, even if no
other gardening were attempted, and to the list
of plants given here the amateur may come to
add many others which he will discover for him-
self in his experiments with his salad-garden.

XIX

VINES

HEN you come to plant your gar-
den, make your lawn, set out your
trees and shrubs, and have finished

building your garden walls, fences and trel-
lises, there will be the vines to take into consid-
eration.

Perhaps no branch of garden adornment is
more carelessly attended to by the amateur
than that of selecting the proper vines for the
premises. It is always so easy to fall back on
Virginia Creeper, or to feel that with a little
spatter of Wistaria the whole field has been
covered. Nevertheless, looking into vine-lore
at planting-time is well worth while.

There are, generally speaking, two sorts
of vines: those which are hardy and shrub-
topped, and those which die down in winter
to spring up again the next season, or which

130

VINES 131

are annuals that have to be started from seed
each year, though some of these may be self-
sowing.

The following list of twenty-five vines is

sufficiently inclusive, in both divisions, for al-
most all vine planting purposes.

bo

12.
13.

SHRUB-TOPPED VINES

. Akebia (Akebia quinata)
. False Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens)

. Virginia Creeper (Ampelopsis quinque-
folia)
. Boston Ivy (Ampelopsis tricuspi-
data, or A. Vetchii)
. Clematis (Clematis paniculata)
. Virgin’s Bower (Clematis Virginiana)

. Climbing Euony-

mus (Huonymus radicans)
. Wild Grape ( Vitis vulpina)
. English Ivy (Hedera Helix)
. Silver Vine (Actinidia arguta)
. Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervi-
rens )
Honeysuckle (Lonicera flava)

Honeysuckle (Lonicera Japonica)

132 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

14. Kudzu Vine (Pueraria Thunbergi
ana)

15. Dutchman’s Pipe (Aristolochia macro-
phylla)

16. Wistaria (Wistaria sinensis)

17. American Wistaria ( Wistaria speciosa)
18. Trumpet Creeper (Tecoma radicans)

VINE-TOPS DYING DOWN IN WINTER (NORTH)

19. Moonseed (Menispermum Cana-
dense)
20. Hop (Humulus Lupulas)

21. Japanese Hop (Humulus Japonicus)
22. Scarlet Runner (Phaseolus multiflo-

rus)
23. Morning-Glory (Ipomoea purpurea)
24. Moonflower (Ipomoea Bona-nox)
25. Thunbergia (Thunbergia alata)

Vines should never be planted where they
are not really necessary nor where they will not
add beauty to the premises, nor yet again with-
out due regard to the grouping of varieties.
One does not always wish to turn the side of
a house into a flower-garden by a vast expanse

VINES 133

of large-flowering Clematis, for instance; re-
straint is the better course. Let your flower-
ing vines appear here and there in smaller
patches, or around your porches, giving more
area to vines such as the Boston Ivy, with its
expanse of green, and the Kudzu Vine with its
ability to cover an expanse of space in a won-
derfully short time.

Again, too many varieties and species should
not be planted together unless it is desired
to obtain a jungle effect, which is hardly what
one strives for in this day of decorative discre-
tion. The Japanese are masters in the art of
attaining satisfying effects—next to them
come the English gardeners. As nature has
the whole world for her premises, we must not
be led into the mistake of attempting to trans-
late her swamp, forest, and hillside effects to
our lawns and gardens without some consider-
ation for adaptation.

Those vines which require winter protection
must not be planted before you ask yourself
—that is if you live in the far northern parts
of the country—if you wish to have your porch
and house-fronts littered (as surely they will
have to be when tender vines are met by chilling

134 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

winds and winter’s snows) by straw and mat-
ting protections. For instance, the winter sun
is too bright for the English Ivy in its dormant
season, wherefore one often sees whole house-
sides that in summer were green with the
Ivy’s beauty, yielding, in winter time, to the
necessity of an ugly covering of flat mats.
Nevertheless we do not plant half enough of
this vine, and there are always many nooks and
corners of walls and spots that are fairly well
sheltered where it will thrive admirably. Apro-
pos of vines and the seasons, the Silk Vine
(Periploca Greca) retains its foliage very late
into the fall, and is an excellent vine for arbor,
stump, trellis or tree-trunk.

It must not be forgotten that vines need
cultivation in common with other plants. It
will not do merely to let them struggle along
the best they can. The soil around them must
be worked carefully, fertilized, and protected
by mulches to retain moisture in summer and
to protect the vines from frost in winter.
Then, too, it will be found that some of them
are of very slow growth, like the Wistarias,
while others, like the Kudzu Vine, reach out
with amazing rapidity. Every year the seeds-

VINES 135

men and nurserymen are paying more atten-
tion to this important subject, so the garden
and lawn planter has always a variety to select
from.

If vines are to thrive well against the house-
side they should not be planted too near the
foundation. It is far better to run them out
at least ten inches from the walls in order that
the roots may have a chance to grow out in
all directions from the stalk. Before new
growth begins with each succeeding season,
some of the old wood shrub-topped vines should
be cut away, that new shoots may have a fair
chance when their time comes.

Summer pruning, or pinching, as it is more
often called, is the most advisable. ‘The ends
of the canes (vine branches) should be kept
tied to their place, and when dense growth is
desired heavier pinching back may be resorted
to.

XX

CLEMATIS

HE Clematis is one of our loveliest

' flowering vines, yet one whose deco-

rative qualities deserve greater study
than they have yet received by garden-makers.
While the more common forms of the Clematis
(Clematis paniculata, for instance) are known
to all, the more unusual varieties have, as yet,
not found the place they deserve in American
gardens.

Not only is the Clematis prized for flower
and for foliage, but many of the species bear
feathery-tailed pods that lend attractiveness
to the vines late in their season. There are
over one hundred and fifty species of the Cle-
matis, widespread in geographical distribution.
The varieties are especially abundant in the
temperate zones. In North America alone,
we have about twenty species native to the
land.

136

Co.

R. Graves

Nathan

P

hoto by

A PORCH VINE

AS

re

THE CLEMATIS (C. Virginiana)

CLEMATIS 137

The Japanese Clematis, Clematis panicu-
lata, is a vigorous climber and bears feathery
clusters of small, greenish-white flowers of
pleasing fragrance. This species may be prop-
agated by seed, is easily transplanted and is
of rapid growth. Its lovely foliage makes it
an ideal porch or pillar vine and the feathery,
smoky filaments of the tufted seedpods in late
autumn enhance the great beauty of this plant.
Clematis paniculata is also an excellent vine
for garden arches. Sunny positions are rec-
ommended for it. This vine has a decided ad-
vantage over many others in that it will stand
close pruning in the winter season without det-
riment to its spring and summer growth the
season following. The Clematis Armandii in
this same group (Rect@) is only suited to a
warm, temperate region or for greenhouse cul-
ture, as is also the late-summering Clematis
crassifolia, likewise of Chinese origin. While
the exquisite fragrance of the mid-summer
blooming English Clematis flammula renders
it one of our choicest garden vines, it is, at the
same tire, one of the most fragile and not
sufficiently robust to weather the more severe
climate of the northern section of our country.

138 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

In the South it is especially adapted to shore
planting. Our own Virgin’s-bower (Clematis
Virginiana) does not attain the height of the
Paniculata species but it is, perhaps, our most
decorative native variety in respect to foliage
and seed-pods. ‘The Traveler’s-Joy or Old
Man’s Beard is the Clematis vitalba, which is
a vigorous climbing vine, often attaining a
height of from fifteen to thirty feet. This is
one of the commonest varieties of English gar-
dens. The flowers are deliciously fragrant and
have a faint almond-like perfume. One of the
newer garden effects of festooning is admira-
bly accomplished with this climbing Clematis,
which by reason of its clinging and reaching
out habit adapts itself admirably to forming
natural arches by overhead festooning, requir-
ing but little training and encouragement.
Of the florists’ varieties the Clematis Jack-
mani, Clematis lanuginosa, Clematis viticella,
Clematis Florida and Clematis patens will well
repay study and experiment in our climate.
Of the Jackmanii varieties the Fortunei, Gip-
sy Queen, Jackmanii Alba, Jackmanii Su-
perba, Lucy Lemoine, Velutina, Modesta,
Star of India, and Madam Edouard André are

CLEMATIS 139

especially beautiful. Of the Lanuginosa types
one may recommend Princess of Wales, La
France, Fairy Queen, the Madame van
Houtte, Marcel Moser, Beauty of Worcester,
Mrs. Hope, Nelly Moser and the Mrs. George
Jackman. Of the Viticella Clematis some of
the finest are Willisoni, Venosa, Ville de Lyon,
and the Ville de Paris. Of the Patens species
the Miss Bateman, Mrs. S. C. Zaker, the
Queen and the Mrs, Quilter are not to be neg-
lected and the effective Hybrid coccineas,—
Duchess of Albany, Grace Darling, and Lady
Northcliffe are especially beautiful. 'The gar-
den-maker will find the Jackmani group
hardy and the Viticella group hardy likewise.
As they are prolific feeders, they require good
soil and fertilizing. 'The Lanuginosa group
produces unusually large flowers, the lovely
violet-tinged Beauty of Worcester often pro-
ducing flowers over four inches in diameter,
while the writer has seen blossoms of the Mar-
cel Moser that measured some eight inches in
breadth. Generally speaking the Florida
types and the Patens type thrive best when in
shelter. The Queen (of the Patens type)
bears lavender blossoms from four to five inch-

140 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

es across, often attaining a greater flower
breadth. The Belle of Woking of the Florida
type produces bright vermilion blossoms, very
attractive in form. The Jackmanii Clematis
ranges from snow white to deep purple and a
group of these properly disposed in a garden
produces a truly delectable feature and one
that cannot fail to evoke wonderment and ad-
miration.

The home garden-maker will find such spe-
cies of the Clematis as C. paniculata invaluable
for obtaining permanent effects. Few vines
—certainly no flowering vine that may be
grown in all parts of the country—offers so
many advantages as does the Clematis as a dec-
orative growth for lattice-work and treillage.
In all the present architectural trellis-work the
light and airy effect requires, where vines are
used as accessories to its decoration, that these
vines also be light and airy in appearance. It
is not the true province of well-designed trellis-
work to serve as a support to massive vine-
stems, such as that of the Wistaria, except
where the treillage is of more than ordinary
height, strength and breadth. Where a heavy
lattice may support heavy appearing vines,

CLEMATIS 141

light trellis-work is too independent in intent to
lend itself successfully to such treatment.
Therefore one may turn to the Clematis as a
happy solution of finding a perennially attrac-
tive vine that can be utilized in connection with
such architectural features as garden trellis-
work.

XXT

SHRUBS

PPM isie is no reason in the world for

believing that American gardens can-

not be as lovely as their European
antecedents, no reason at all for not realizing
that many of them are already as lovely. In
speaking of the New World’s early Pilgrim
settlers, Hawthorne, in Our Old Home, had
this to say apropos the beginning of gardening
in America: ‘There is not a softer trait to
be found in these stern men than that they
should have been sensible of their flower roots
clinging among the fibres of their rugged
hearts, and have felt the necessity of bringing
them over seas and making them hereditary in
the new land.”

That was the day of the old-fashioned gar-
den, the old-fashioned garden whose sway ex-
tended to Hawthorne’s own time. We are in-

142

Photo by Nathan R. Graves Co.

SHRUBS DO MUCH TO KNIT THE HOUSE TO THE LANDSCAPE

SHRUBS 143

clined to consider the introduction of the for-
mal garden into the American landscape as
somewhat Juxurious, because we have been in
the habit of liking our flower beds and borders
as a lovely jumble of growing things, and the
nice orderly restraint with its very paucity of
bloom in what we call the Italian gardens, the
quaint but stiffly balanced clipped Evergreens
we have adopted from English gardens have,
perhaps, not even yet entirely completely to
appeal to us so thoroughly in the past as it now
does. A few years ago we were paying little
or no attention to gardens, but just loving them
when we came across a fine one; now all that is
different. Every one of us wants a garden.
We come about in our discovering gardening
much as did Emerson when he wrote of what
he called his “new plaything’—forty acres of
woodland bordering Walden pond. “I go
thither every afternoon and cut with my
hatchet an Indian path thro’ the thicket, all
along the bold shore and open the finest pic-
tures.” But it was Emerson who laughingly
declares: “A brave scholar should shun it like
gambling, and take refuge in cities and hotels
from these pernicious enchantments.” He

144 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

never did; no sensible man ever will! We can-
not forget Cowley’s observation that ‘God
the first garden made, and the first city Cain.”
There is a delight incomparable in planning a
garden, planting it and caring for it. A de-
light that has taken a firm hold on Americans.

We associate with the perfect garden,
whether it be a little garden or a large one, the
thought of those flowering shrubs that have
endeared themselves to us all and which have
won an enduring place in prose and poetry—
Lilacs, Syringas and the like. Our lawns are
no longer spotted with isolated shrub dots, but
we have come to emulate Nature, with her ar-
rangement of borders and of clearings. We
leave our lawn spaces free for such treatment
lends to the illusion of greater extent and we
make little skylines of our own by banking
shrubs on the lines of limit, tall growing ones
at the back and the shrubs of low growth in
front.

In one little garden I have known the follow-
ing shrubs were growing, having been planted
there with succession of bloom in mind in their
selection. First came Forsythia which put

SHRUBS 145

forth blossoms in April; then the Lilac in May;
Spirea in June; Deutzia in July; the Smoke
Bush in August; Hydrangeas in September
and the Witch Hazel in October. These hardy
species would respond to cultivation in any
garden having good soil. These shrubs are
neither rare nor expensive and are commonly
in all nursery stocks. This little garden also
contained Mahonia, Barberry and Deutzia
(Gracilis) in the shaded positions, where they
flourished happily, though long ago the tall
Barberry variety was rooted out for alert sci-
entists had discovered that this species encour-
aged the vicious grain rust. St. John’s Wort
and the Japanese Rose (Kerria Japonica)
were there to give two months’ successive
bloom. Honeysuckles (Lonicera), Bramble
(Rubus), Red Osier, Buckthorn and Snow
Berry lent ornamental fruit pods to Autumn’s
array. Perhaps of all the shrubs the Lilac and
the Syringa were the best loved. The flowers
of the Forsythia, Syringa, Spirea, and Vibur-
num, Lilac and Weigela being borne on old
stems required that these shrubs should be
pruned immediately after blossoming for best

146 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

cultivation. Hibiscus and Hydrangea were
pruned in late autumn.

The flowering shrubs present species that
assure a succession of blossoms. In April
there is the Hamamelis Japonica, Leu-
cothoé racemosa, and Xanthorrhiza apiifolia.
May brings us the flowers of Cercis chinensis,
Cotoneaster Simonsii, Daphne mezereum, Dir-
ca palustris, Eleagnus longipes, Kuonymus
alatus (and also EK. Bungesnus, EK. Nanus and
FE. verrucosus), Fothergilla Gardeni and F.
major, Hydrangea Bretschneideri, Leucoth-
oé€ racemosa, Photinia villosa, Prunus sub-
hirtilla, Pyrus Kaido, Symplocos crategoides;
Syringa oblata (also S. pubescens and S. vil-
losa), Vaccinium corymbosum, and Xantho-
ceras. Jwne finds the following in flower:
Aralia cordata, Buddleia variabilis, Diervilla
trifida, Enkianthus campanulata, Euonymus
alatus, Hydrangea arborescens (also H. Bret-
schneideri, and H. Quercifolia, and H. Radi-
ata), Leucothoé racemosa, Magnolia glauca,
Stuartia pentagyna, Styrax japonica, Vibur-
num dilatatum and V. pubescens. For July
we have Aisculus parviflora, Andromeda Ma-
riana, Aralia cordata, Buddleia variabilis, Cal-

SHRUBS 147

licarpe purpures, Castanea pumila, Diervilla,
Rhus copallina, Vitex Agnus-castus. <Au-
gust gives us Acanthopanax sessiliflorum,
fMisculus parviflora, Andromeda Mariana,
Buddleia variabilis, Rhus copallina and Vitex
Agnus-castus. In September the chief shrubs
in blossom will be Andromeda Mariana, Gor-
donia Altamana, Jasminum nudiflorum and
Vitex Agnus-castus, while October is given
floral support by Gordonia Altamana.

FLOWERS

The following shrubs are especially valuable
for their flowers:

Aralia Prunus
Azalea Pyrus
Buddleia Rubus
Cercis Shepherdia
Gordonia Styrax
Hamamelis Symplocos
Hydrangea Syringa
Jasminum Viburnum
Magnolia Vitex
Photinia Xanthoceras

148 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

FOLIAGE

Among the shrubs best suited to planting
for foliage beauty are:

Acanthopanax Nemopanthus
ZKisculus Prunus
Callicarpa Rubus
Daphne Symplocos
Diervilla Syringa
Elzagnus Vaccinium
Enkianthus Viburnum
Euonymus Xanthoceras

Xanthorrhiza

COLOR

The shrubs whose foliage is especially valued
for autumn coloring are:

Andromeda Nemopanthus
Gordonia Syringa
Leucothoé ‘Xanthorrhiza

This goodly array of scientific names need
not frighten the garden beginner! Timidly at
first, in all probability, he will approach their

SHRUBS 149

use, but when once his nurserymar glibly re-
sponds to their magic the potency of the right
name for the right shrub will be worth strug-
gling for, even though we will never give up
Lilac and Snowball for less familiar names.

XXIT

EVERGREENS

4 heros are few persons the world
over who have not a tender spot in
their hearts for Evergreens. Mother

Nature has hardly given us greater treasures

in the whole realm of plant-life, than in her

gift of the trees that remain green always.

In summer their deep color, suggesting shad-

owy mysteriousness, marks them as they stand

against the ground of deeper color or against
the azure sky. In winter they give to the land-
scape just the note of relief required to lift the
vision above the sense of the monotony of the
brown earth or the glare of the snowclad
country side. Perhaps we unconsciously asso-
ciate all Evergreens with the Christmas story
and its gladsome festivities, or it may be that
there runs in our blood the heritage of the
Norsemen, who held the Evergreen in venera-
150

Photo by Nathan R. Graves Co

EVERGREENS LEND NOBILITY TO THE GARDEN LANDSCAPE

EVERGREENS 151

tion. Even the ancient Greeks told how Cy-
bele, mother of the gods, changed a shepherd
lad into a pine, and Jove, sympathizing with
her in the after-grief she betrayed for her act,
ordained that thenceforward the leaves of the
Pine should be ever green. Even to this day
in China, the natives consider the Pine em-
blematic of eternal friendship, and did not the
Pilgrim Fathers take the old Pine Tree (the
only green, growing thing they saw brighten-
ing the horizon of their landing) , as the emblem
of their colony? Then there is the Larch
which, when burned, was thought in times of
witchery to drive away serpents and evil things,
and the Juniper, venerable in the traditions of
antiquity. The Fir, St. Nicholas’ tree, the
Spruce, chief mystic tree of the Indians of the
Northwest, and the Hemlock (which we must
not confuse with the plant the ancients meted
out as death potion to the condemned), the
Cedar, famous in the building of Solomon’s
Temple, and the Cypress, from which was wo-
ven the crown of Melpomene, the Tragic Muse.

The value of Evergreens in the construction
of the home landscape is inestimable. Septem-
ber is the month in which this subject should re-

152 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

ceive particular attention, for while it is true
that there are other months in which evergreens
may safely be moved,—even in May and June,
with proper care and conditions,—September
is found to be, on the whole, the most conveni-
ent and best-adapted month, generally speak-
ing, for this undertaking. The warmth of the
soil of September induces rapid growth, and
even though this is usually a dry month, there
should be no difficulty in keeping the earth
moist around the plantings. Very small Ever-
greens, not exceeding two feet in height, may
be moved without balls of earth about their
roots (if the roots are carefully handled) with-
out causing any breakings. However, it is al-
ways the more satisfactory plan to move Ever-
greens of any size with a good ball of earth
around their roots. With large Evergreens
the home garden-maker takes much risk in ex-
perimenting on his own account. In the first
place, the varying soil, climatic and other con-
ditions should lead him to consult some one di-
rectly experienced in such matters. It is true
that one may derive much from reading books
on the subject of Evergreen planting, but with
the moving of large trees it seems an unneces-

EVERGREENS 153

sary and foolish risk to attempt the transplant-
ing unless one is sure he is moving in the right
direction. At the present day reputable nur-
serymen are to be found in all sections of the
country and they are only too glad to give ad-
vice on such subjects to their customers gratis.
There are some things that are worth point-
ing out that every home garden-maker should
know. For instance, every Evergreen from
eight to ten feet in height should not be moved
with a ball of earth less than three feet in di-
ameter around its roots. If the tree measures
fifteen feet in height, an earth-ball of five feet
in diameter is suggested (although an earth-
ball of three feet in diameter is sufficient for
red cedars). If one were moving a specimen
of pine, he should see to it that the earth-ball
of an Evergreen of this size were fully twelve
feet in diameter. The reason for moving large
Evergreens with earth-balls proportionate to
their size, is that such trees have no dormant
period. Evergreens require plenty of water.
Those which have been moved one season must
not be neglected the next, for it often takes
several seasons for an Evergreen’s roots to
spread out in new environment and become es-

154 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

tablished, which makes watering requisite
throughout all this period.

A careful selection of Evergreens for the
home grounds, both as to the matter of species
and size, as well as to color, will greatly add to
the attractiveness of the home landscape, even
though the premises is limited in extent, as in
a small town lot. The winter interest of the
grounds is coming to receive proper attention
more and more, and the many low-growing
Evergreens available for planting makes eas-
ily possible the most attractive effects, either
in the way of massing or edging, or of
rosetting.

As regards climate, perhaps it would be well
to suggest here those woody Evergreens that
are found to be tender above New York, thus
enabling the amateur planter to know that
they must be given especial care:

Abelia chinensis Andromeda nitida (Lyonia
Abelia uniflora nitida)

Abies amabilis Arbutus Menziesi

Abies grandis Arbutus Unedo

Abies Pinsapo Aubrietia deltoidea

Abies shastensis Aucuba Japonica

Acaena microphylla Azalia microphylla

Acaena ovalifolia Baccharis patagonica

EVERGREENS

Carrieria caleycina

Castanopsis crysophylla

Cedrus atlantica

Cedrus Deodara

Chamecyparis Lawsoniana

Cistus laurifolius

Clematis Armandii

Cotoneaster salicifolia

Cupressus Macnabiana

Daphne Laureola

Distylium racemosum

Erica stricta

Euonymus Americana

Euonymus Japonica

Euonymus patens

Garrya eliptica,

Garrya Fremontii

Garrya Veitchii var. flave-
cens

Ilex vomitoria

Jasminium humila (J. re-
volutum)

Ligustrum ovalifolium

Lyonia nitida (Andromeda
nitida)

155

Osmanthus aquifolium

Pachystima augustifolio

Permettya mucronata

Phillyrea decora

Picea stichensis

Pinus excelsa

Pinus Jeffreyi

Pyracantha coccinea var.
Lalandii

Pyracantha coccinea var.
Pauciflora

Quercus macedonica

Quercus Libani

Rhamnus Alaternus

Rhamnus hybrida

Rhododendron ponticum

Sequoia sempervirens

Sequoia Washingtoniana

Smilax laurifolia

Thuya gigantea
pilcata)

Thujopsis dolobrata

Torreya laxifolia

Tsuga mertensiana

Ulex europeus

(Thuya

In the development of our knowledge of ef-
fective Evergreen planting for the home land-
scape, we owe much to a study of the gardens

of Italy and of Japan.

We may not have the Italian landscape in
America, but from that beautiful land we may
glean, as already we have gleaned, many a hint

156 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

in the matter of enhancing the home landscape
by the judicious planting of attractive Ever-
greens. Our own Hudson River Valley hill-
sides and those of some other parts of Amer-
ica contain a hint of decorative value in the
casual growth of small Cypress-shaped Ever-
greens.

In selecting Evergreens for particular pur-
poses the following hints as to appropriate spe-
cies may prove valuable to the garden begin-
ner. For dry soil: Juniperus Virginiana,
Pinus Mughus, Picea pugens and Pinus Stro-
bus. or marshy localities: Juniperus Vir-
giniana (var. Barbadensis), Thuya occiden-
talis, Picea nigra, Taxodium distichum, Larix
Laricina and Chamecyparis thuyoides. For
heavy soil: Tsuga Canadensis, Pinus Strobus,
Abies Nordmanniana are recommended. For
Light soil: Juniperus Virginiana, Pinus Stro-
bus and Chamecyparis Pinus rigida may be
utilized. ‘The Pinus resinosa and the Pinus
Strobus will prove excellent for woodland ef-
fects and woodland planting, as also will
Tsuga Canadensis, and in dry locations Juni-
perus Canadensis.

Among the Evergreens of the tall-growing

EVERGREENS 157

varieties the hardiest are the Picea pugens,
Pinus ponderosa, Pinus Strobus, Pinus sylves-
tris, Picea Engelmanni, Pseudotsuga Doug-
lassi and Abies concolor. Of the hardy dwarf
species one may recommend Pinus montana
(var. Mughus), Chamecyparis Retinispora
and Picea nigia (var. Doumettii). Nearly all
home grounds of any extent, especially in the
northern part of the country, need something
in the way of planting to serve as a windbreak.
The intelligent use of Kvergreens for this pur-
pose deserves encouragement. Even from the
point of view of economy, Evergreens serve a
practical purpose when placed effectively and
ornamentally as a wind-shield in proximity to
a home, as it will be found that such a screen
will materially reduce the extent of the coal
supply otherwise needed to heat the building.
The Norway Spruce and the Scotch Pine are
extensively used as windbreaks. Of the two,
the Norway Spruce is the longer lived. The
Austrian Pine, the Douglas Spruce and the
White Spruce are also to be recommended. In
the eastern section of the country the Hemlock
is a good tree for the use under consideration
as also is the green form of the Colorado Blue

158 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Spruce (the blue form is rare and more ex-
pensive, hence less generally used for ordinary
hedging). The American Arbor-vite must
not be left out of consideration in this connec-
tion. The Taxus cuspidata, Taxis baccata,
Picea excelsa, Picea nigra, Chamecyparis
plumosa and Thuya occidentalis make excel-
lent hedges. For shade Picea Canadensis and
Picea excelsa and also Pinus Strobus, Pinus
sylvestris and many of the Pinus species may
be depended on, while Thuya orientalis, Thuya
occidentalis, Juniperus and all varieties of
Chamecyparis are unsuited for shade trees.
Evergreens are especially valuable in the home
landscape for massing at entrances. The
proper placing of such trees requires careful
thought and planning, for Evergreens should
never be so grouped as to appear dismal notes
in an otherwise cheerful area or of forbidding
dignity. Among the Evergreens for massing
purposes one may mention Pinus montana
(var. Mughus), Tsuga Canadensis macro-
phylla, Juniperus communis, Thuya occiden-
talis, Picea excelsa, Chamecyparis, Taxus,
Pinus Strobus and Picea pugens (var.
glauca), all excellent for the purpose. For

EVERGREENS 159

seaside planting Pinus Strobus, Pinus mon-
tana (var. Mughus), Pinus resinosa, Juni-
perus Pinus Bungeana, Juniperus Sabina,
Pinus Austriaca, Juniperus communis and
Pinus sylvestris are good growers.

XXITI
GARDENS AND ARCHITECTURE

HERE was a time in the history of
American gardens when even a sum-
mer-house was an exception, an ar-

bor the introduction of a dweller of foreign
birth. Now and then one would meet with a
garden structure somewhat resembling the
pilot-house of a Mississippi River steamboat
or would come across an unattractive cast-iron
Stork-and-Pond-Lily garden seat. Even the
arbors (for the most part lattice-work resem-
bling Winnebago wigwams) were unshaded
by the vines that should have adorned them.
Architecture and gardens had, in that not
very remote dark age of our national art prog-
ress, about as much interest one in the other,
as had good taste, and the dwelling-houses that
emphasized the American art hiatus roughly
bounded by 1850-1890, with sins and virtues
160

Photo by Nathan R. Graves Co.

THERE IS BEAUTY IN THE WELL-PLACED GARDEN ARCH

GARDENS AND ARCHITECTURE 161

either side of these years but with few virtues
between them.

However, we are now in a settled stage when
gardens and architecture not only are on speak-
ing terms with one another but indulge in what
undoubtedly is to be a lasting and construc-
tive intimacy. Now and then the attention of
garden-makers seems focussed upon some one
phase of garden architecture—terrace, the per-
gola or the arbor. Each in its turn becomes
the center of interest. However, this does not
mean that there is any faddism about it.
Though the pergola became the fashion it has
never ceased to be im fashion. And so it is
with all architectural garden features of ex-
cellence.

Good gardens, so far as architectural fea-
tures are concerned—whether they be balus-
trades or bird-houses—should dispense with
the bizarre. Artistic, simple lines, freely in-
spired but dictated by the canons of good
taste, should disclose the design of any archi-
tectural features that we may incorporate with
our gardens. In the matter of rustic garden
features the sins of commission have, in the
past, become, perhaps, the most numerous,

162 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Good rustic garden architecture requires sim-
plicity and directness of design. Otherwise an
over-elaborately worked-out arbor, garden-
house or pergola ceases to be restful and be-
comes, instead, a disturbing feature in the gar-
den landscape.

The material employed in the construction
of any garden feature of architectural genre
is a matter of the utmost importance. ‘Too
often there is a little or no relationship between
materials employed in building a garden-
house, lattice-work, a pergola or an arbor and
the materials employed in the dwelling adja-
cent to the garden where these architectural
adornments find their place. While there
need not, in all cases, be a stated material in
common use, there should be a harmonious re-
lationship maintained; as, for instance, when
one finds a brick house in the Pennsylvania
Colonial style (the exterior trim painted
white) giving hint that a white wood pergola,
white trellis work or a white arbor along sim-
ple lines suggesting the Colonial would be an
appropriate garden accessory.

There are few features in the garden of
flowering plants that are more deserving of at-

GARDENS AND ARCHITECTURE 163

tention and less deserving of the neglect they
suffer, than garden arches. Perhaps garden-
beginners are prone to overlook the possibili-
ties in this direction. It is not enough to plant
flowering things, have them spring up and bear
blossoms, to constitute a garden.

A garden is something more than a display
of a number of plants. It is a creation of
man’s ingenuity in devising ways and means
of intensifying the beauties of plant growth by
selection, arrangement, color, contrast and de-
sign. Thus it happens that after a time every
garden-maker instinctively turns his attention
to the structural side of gardening. Perhaps
his first season has found him content to plant
a bed of things and watch them grow, rejoic-
ing and finding satisfaction in their reaching
florescence unretarded. But later he will wish
to make a “house of flowers’ as it were, even
to imitate some of nature’s plant arrangements.
He will wish to construct arbors, mazes, formal
and sunken gardens, he will wish to sow a cor-
ner with old fashioned flowers which shall fill
the vista with a blaze of unpatterned gorgeous-
ness, but if he finds that the bit of ground at his
disposal is not sufficient to permit these experi-

164 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

ments to any extent, he will still gain satisfac-
tion in constructing a garden arch. This may
be simple or elaborate as good taste and suita-
bility dictate. Indeed the garden arch is com-
ing into its own as an architectural adornment
and few features more successfully “knit” the
garden plot to the house.

Finally there is the friendly dooryard. A
charm ever lingered about the old-world door-
yard that too often is lacking in our own. We
have been wont to feel that so long as we bar-
ricaded our premises with fences we were ob-
taining seclusion, or that in removing them we
were lending to our lawns an appearance of
inviting hospitality. Now, fortunately, we
have turned in the right direction, and the
friendly dooryard is coming to be one of the
features of our successful homes, whether cot-
tages or villas. We are learning the most at-
tractive materials to use in building garden
walks, to terrace our dooryards when they need
it, to screen our porches without producing
gloomy effects; withal, to make the entrance
part informal and inviting without sacrificing
its dignity.

In the days of our great-grandmothers the

GARDENS AND ARCHITECTURE 165

old-fashioned flowers and shrubs added greatly
to the attractive house approach. As a mat-
ter of fact, those old-fashioned plants became
old-fashioned because we let bad taste—that is
to say, the lack of it—creep into our efforts in
home-making, and this crowded out so much
that was lovely everywhere. But we have re-
turned to happy paths once more, and again
the beautiful blossoms of yesterday’s garden
may now be found in our own, gracing our
dooryards and making us feel, every time we
set foot within our premises, that our homes
are just that much lovelier for our having
given thought to the matter of the friendly
dooryard, not only for our own satisfaction
but that our neighbor, too, may bless us.

XXIV

SUNDIAL MOTTOES

O you recall Cicero’s letter to Tiro—
1) his wishing a sundial for his villa in
Tusculum? But it was no novelty
there, for the Babylonians had given it to the
Greeks nearly half a thousand years before
that day when Cicero sat writing to his friend.
Perhaps no garden ornament is of greater an-
cientry. While we do not need sundials in
small gardens, we still love them for their own
association’s sake, and so we shall keep on
placing them there, and we shall, many of us,
indulge in the absorbing occupation of finding
just the sentiments we wish to have conveyed
by inscriptions. ‘To the true garden-lover a
garden sundial without its motto is not a sun-
dial at all!
There is much literature on the subject of
sundials to be found and among the volumes
166

Photo by Nathan R. Graves Co.

THE PERFECT GARDEN SHOULD HAVE ITS SUNDIAL

SUNDIAL MOTTOES 167

that comprise it, “Ye Sundial Book” will lend
many delightful and appropriate verses com-
posed by its author, Mr. T. C. W. Henslow.
Quotations from the classics in the original
Greek or Latin seem to be giving way to lines
in English that may please those unversed in
the mysteries of other than the mother-tongue
who chance to pause to trace their import.
The author has taken the following from one
of his travel notebooks in which, from time to
time, he has jotted down such sundial inscrip-
tions as have held his fancy.

1

“T number none but the cloudless hours.”
2

“Shadow owes its birth to light.”—Gay.
3

“O sun! of this great world both eye and
soul,”—Milton.
4
“The sun with one eye vieweth all the
world.”—Shakespeare.

5
“The selfsame sun that shines upon his court

168 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Hides not his visage from our cottage, but
looks on all alike.”—Shakespeare.

6
“Time is the wisest counsellor.”—Pericles. -

7
“Time stoops to no man’s lure.”—Swin-
burne.

8
“Who loses a day loses life.” Emerson.

9
“To choose time is to save time.’”—Bacon.

10
“Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow
behind.”—Hawthorne.

11
“Time stands with impartial law.”—Man-
lius,
12
“Time conquers all, and we must time obey.”
-——Pope.
13
“Nae man can tether time or tide.” —Burns.

SUNDIAL MOTTOES 169

14
‘Dost thou love life, then do not squander
time.” —F ranklin.
15
“Noiseless falls the foot of Time
That only treads on flowers.”
16 Spencer.

“To-morrow’s fate, though thou be wise,
Thou canst not tell nor yet surmise;
Pass, therefore, not to-day in vain,

For it will never come again.”
Omar Khayyam.
17
“His labor is to chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for a bee’s experience
Of clovers and of noon!”
Emily Dickinson.
18
“Far from gay cities and the ways of men.”

—Homer.
19

“Ye sacred Nine! that all my soul possess
Bear me, O bear me to sequestered scenes,
The bow’ry mazes, and surrounding greens.”

Pope.

170 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

20
“He who has lived a day has lived an age.”
—Bruyere.
21
“Flowers preach to us if we will hear.”—
Christina G. Rossetti.
22
“Sweet flowers are slow, and weeds make
haste.”’—Shakespeare.
23
“An album is a garden, not for show
Planted, but use; where wholesome herbs
should grow.’”—Charles Lamb.
24
“Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her.”
Wordsworth.
25
“Stand still and behold the wondrous works
of God.’—Bible.
26
“The day is thine, the night is also Thine;
Thou hast prepared the light and the sun,
Thou hast set all the borders of the earth,
Thou hast made summer and winter.”
Bible.

SUNDIAL MOTTOES 171

27
“Wisdom adorns riches, and shadows pov-
erty.” —Socrates.
28
“But they whom truth and wisdom lead
Can gather honey from a weed.”

Cowper.
29

“Take Time by the forelock.”—Thales.
30

“The Spring, the Summer, the chilling Au-
tumn, angry Winter, changed their wonted liv-
eries.”—Shakespeare.

31

“Each day is the pupil of yesterday.” —Pub-
lius Syrus.

32

Eternity, thou art To-morrow!

33
“What is human is immortal.’—Bulwer-
Lytton.
34
“The seed dies into a new life and so does
man.’—George McDonald.

172 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

35
“One hour of joy dispels the cares
And sufferings of a thousand years.”

Baptiste.
36
‘Where in the world are we?”—Cicero.
37

“Ye may have heard some wise man say
The past is what we make to-day.”
38
A lesson take, a lesson give:
Make worthy all the hours you live.
39
No man will waste the hours away
Who knows how precious is a day.
40
Within this garden here behold
What love and labor turned to gold.
Al
I mark the hours as they come and go
Canst thou a task as faithful, good friend,
show?
42
“The Shadows rise, the shadows fall,
Man sees but part, though God sees all.”
Henslow.

SUNDIAL MOTTOES 173

43
If thou wouldst make thy life sublime
Then make a friend of Father Time.

44
The hours of the day I tell
Stay, stranger, dost thou half so well?

A5
If you would have a garden fair plant seeds
Of worth and eagerly cast forth the weeds.

46
Without the sun my hours thou canst not see
Let wisdom shine upon the hours with thee.

AT
Friend, though my pace seems slow
The day will come when swift my steps shall
go!
48
Daybreak to eventide,
Time by my side!

A9
And dost thou know the secret of the flow’rs?
Then canst thou hope to know that of the
hours?

174 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

50
“Methinks it were a happy life
To carve out dials quaintly point by point.”
Shakespeare.

Fem,

nats

Pi
="

Photo by Nathan R. Graves Co.

A LITTLE GARDEN OF BULB FLOWERS

XXV
THROUGH THE YEAR IN A LITTLE GARDEN

JANUARY

HAPPY New Year—a new year
whose coming season of lovely flow-
ers, luxuriant verdure and fields of

the green of growing things will make us for-
get the stillness and bleakness of white winter-
time, when all the earth seems sleeping, and
when the creaking of the frost crystals under-
foot, as we step forth these crisp mornings, al-
most startles us with a sense of the loss that
seems ours since yesterday’s beautiful Sum-
mer was gently led by the hand of Autumn to
this Wintry couch. We were wont to wend
our way through August’s woodlands and if a
twig snapped at our step it only seemed to
awaken an echo caught up by the rustling of
leaves, the murmur of the clear waters of the
175

176 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

gurgling spring, the voice of the golden-
throated oriole, the buzzing of the bumble bee
or the brushing of the frond of the Lady Fern
against the great gray rock to which she clung
for protection when mischievous Ariel began
his endless pranks.

But now the creaking snow is jealous of all
nature, and the sound of your tread goes forth
like the shots of a miniature battery. The sun
will take revenge at noontime and now and
then dash to the earth some too-presuming
icicle that dares to cling to the branches of the
elm by the garden path. And Old Sol will
keep the face of the time-marking dial down
there free from being smothered by the relent-
less tyrant of the season, and if your fancy so
directs you may stroll in your garden in Janu-
ary after all and not find that the magic of
Jack Frost’s fantastic doings has blotted out
the memory of the delicate handiwork embroi-
dered through the months of the Summer
solstice by goddess Flora herself. How the
place in a man’s heart, the Garden, keeps warm
the thought of nodding Daisies, fragrant
Heliotropes and the sun-kissed Golden Glow!
We may shiver through the months of the short

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 177

days and the long nights, but nothing can make
us forget the chirp of the cricket, the freshness
of the Phlox, and O—mundane wholesome
thought!—the delectable rows of ripening
vegetables!

The grapes, peach trees, currants and some
other small fruits may now need the attention
of the pruning knife, though there will be lit-
tle else of actual outside work to be done.

We may be sitting indoors these wintry
nights industriously intent on the tasks before
every man, woman and child in the land of
ours, and as our thoughts are on those dear ones
far away, we may perchance, recall the delight
we found that time we discovered Stevenson’s
“Underwoods”’ with those three last verses of
“Te Terrarum,” the first line coming to mind

“An noo the Winter winds complain;”

leading us to

“An Fancy traivels far afield
To gaither a that gairdens yield
O’ sun an’ Simmer:
To hearten up a dowie chield
Fancy’s the limmer!”

178 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

FEBRUARY

St. Valentine’s month is this, dedicated to
the Bleeding-heart, the Dicentra of our old-
fashioned garden. The snows still cling to the
ground, Even the courageous Crocus will not
be so foolhardy as to be peeping its little head
above the generous blanket of earth which good
Mother Nature has lent it for weeks to come.
I often wonder why it is that those who profess
to love gardening are so content to occupy
themselves with but one phase of its delights
—the planting, and why they give so little
thought to the matter of the planning. The
old-fashioned gardens of days gone by were
good gardens because they were well-planned
gardens. As we sit around the warm fireside
these February evenings, with Winter’s ves-
ture still with us outside, we may conjure to
the mind’s eye visions of our gardens-to-be,
even though our hands be occupied with other
tasks. If in the maelstrom of the year’s oc-
cupations a little leisure is now and then ours
to give to the thought of those gardens on
which so much depends after all, we may dig
into the lore with which the ever delightful and

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 179

ever welcome catalogues of seedsmen and
nurserymen are annually fraught. It is all
very well to peep out one’s window upon the
snowbound landscape of the wintry lawn and
to say to oneself, “Summer is a long way off!
It will be time enough to be bothering about
gardens when the Snow-drop peeps up and the
birds return.” Now those who consider gar-
dening a “bother” at all may as well leave it
alone as to go at it with any thought of its be-
ing merely drudgery. To such, food necessi-
ties may appeal as the only impetus to planting
a row of corn, a hill of cucumbers or a tomato-
vine. But that is not gardening! At least it
is not the sort of gardening that puts joy in
the heart and health in the body. Your true
gardener, looking out upon the snowy area,
will say: “Just there those evergreens which
I planted last Autumn are lending graceful
color to the season—a Christmas-tree indeed!
—the brown stems of that little clump of
shrubbery weave in and out in dignified design
and every tree casts shadow-patterns on the
white like the blue embroideries on fair linen.
Even this wintry season the things I planted
are faithful to promise they held forth—that

180 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

I should find joy in them every day in the year,
and so I shall remember all these things against
the advent of another winter and make my
plans now for planting that shall grace every
season.”

These are the things that will be passing in
the mind, Then there will come the thought
of the new catalogues for which one should be
sending, that in their pages the old favorites
may be welcomed and new ones discovered.
Before it is time to be actually working in the
soil what to plant and where to plant it may
well be thought out.

The garden monitors tell us that the middle
of February is not too early for starting vari-
ous early vegetables indoors or in the green-
house, later to be transferred to the hot-beds
or to the coldframes outside; that (except in
the colder section of the country), if you have
rhubarb in your garden from year to year, you
may begin to force the roots at the end of the
month an early growth by placing barrels or
boxes over them and covering with stable
manure to bring the stocks well in advance of
their ordinary season; that plum trees and
cherry trees should be examined for plum-knot,

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 181

a plant disease which causes the affected limbs
and branches to swell. Such should be cut off
and burned. The garden monitor likewise will
suggest Rex Begonias and Heliotropes for
starting from seed in shallow boxes indoors.
Celery grown from seed may also be started
indoors late this month, but these require
loamy starting soil and a moderately warm
place and frequent watering, though the soil
must not be soaked or drenched.

MARCH

The mere mention of the month of March
brings to one the vision of Springtime. Alas,
that we have to confess that the poets who sing
so pleasantly of the awakening season carry us
by their enthusiasm beyond the realm of facts
which we encounter in our climate! We who
are patiently awaiting the coming of Spring
and the bursting forth of Earth into buds of
the Plum, the Peach, the Quince, the Cherry
and the Apple Blossoms; we who long to dis-
cover the first Snowdrop or the first Crocus,
and who look forward to the first purple Hya-
cinth or the first gorgeous Tulip that shall her-
ald the coming of the glorious garden-time in

182 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

earnest; we who wrap ourselves in such ex-
pectations are apt to be downcast by the stern
realities of sleet and rain and slush, and the
favors of goddess Flora deferred. We are apt
then to be angry with the poets, to wish to re-
organize the calendar, or to find a subterfuge
for our disappointments in the old adage that
gives March’s entrance the similitude of that
of the Lion or of the Lamb as the case may be.
However we shall find stirring us into a hap-
pier frame of mind that indefinable something
that tells us with unerring certainty when
Spring is here, despite any of the astronomical
observations of the industriously wise to the
contrary in point of time.

So let us not expect to hasten Nature’s
bounty, and do not let us become impatient be-
cause we cannot. Instead, let us remember
what a lot of things we really have on hand this
month to think about in preparing for the sea-
son soon to arrive. We can do much cleaning
up in the garden during the spring thaws that
are sure to come this month. If our last year’s
gardening was not completely successful by
reason of our not having been able to obtain
sufficient fertilizing material, we may do well

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 183

now to arrange for the supply of stable or of
barnyard manure that this year’s garden will
require.

Of course hardy Roses should be pruned
before the latter part of the month—one can-
not dream of fine gardens, neglect this prun-
ing and expect the Roses to be all they should
be. Grapevines and fruit trees will need
pruning, too, though of course the experienced
gardener will know that neither bush, fruit
(berries) nor shrubs that flower early should
be pruned at this time in the northern sections
of the country as such a procedure might prove
fatal to their growth. Apricot and Peach
trees should be sprayed before April first.

By having a hot-bed or a coldframe one may
steal a march on the season. Glazed sash for
the purpose may readily be obtained through
one’s local seedsman or directly from manu-
facturers of greenhouses. As to the seeds to
sow this month in the hotbed, there will be let-
tuce, peas, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, rad-
ishes and celery and, south of Baltimore, mel-
ons, cucumbers and tomatoes may be started
early in the month. Asparagus beds and rhu-

184 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

barb rows should be put in shape as soon as
the weather permits.

APRIL

April, traditional rainy-month, cannot
quench the ardor of the garden-maker. FEiven
though storms compel him to remain indoors,
he will only be reminded that the earth is get-
ting into condition for his planting enthusiasm,
and he will be arranging seeds, looking over
tools, fixing up baskets and making labels and
stakes against the busy season, when there will
be less time for these things.

But it will not be raining all day every day,
and so, here are some of the things to be at-
tended to outside the house: Asparagus beds
to be fertilized (Rhubarb beds also) ; mulching
to be removed from the strawberry bed, cold-
frames to be put in shape for the tender plants
that are to be transferred to them from hotbeds
later in the month; Box edging to be set out
early; Asparagus beds to be forked lightly
when the fertilizer has been spread over them,
and bulb beds to be uncovered later in the
month. By April fifteenth all spraying
should be completed.

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 185

Cannas, French Marigolds, Lantana,
Drummond Phlox, Double Petunias, and
other seeds should be sown within doors under
cover for later transplanting. Pips of the
Lily-of-the-Valley should be started without
delay. For vegetables, onions, beets, egg-
plants, peppers and tomatoes are among those
that should be started from seed in flats. Let-
tuce can be sown outside in hotbeds.

While the experienced garden-makers do not
need to be reminded that good soil is essential
to the good garden, every one will readily un-
derstand the needs of plant physiology, that
plants are, after all, very much like living be-
ings in respect to their response to environ-
ment and proper nourishment, yet how one
sees a garden beginner contenting himself with
the thought that because he has purchased
packages of seeds of his favorite flowers or of
the vegetables which may appeal to his palate,
and having scattered these seeds upon indif-
ferent soil, trusting in his sublime ignorance of
gardening essentials to Nature’s strugglings
against all odds to produce for him the little
garden of his dreams. Instead he should be
studying soil problems before seeding at all.

186 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Depth and mellowness of soil are things he
must have for his garden. The reason is ob-
vious. Without depth the rootlets cannot find
their way to avoid the baked condition of the
upper soil during periods of drought, and with-
out mellowness it cannot be open to amelio-
rating atmospheric influences so necessary to
successful plant growth. By the first week
in April the garden maker should put a manu-
rial dressing on the plot that is to become the
vegetable garden. Asparagus and rhubarb
beds must also have fertilizers of this sort or
nitrate of soda.

When all danger of frost is past and the
earth is therefore fit for digging, we shall be
ready for plowing and spading. An early
garden is always worth the effort but judg-
ment must be exercised in fitting its planting
to the exigencies of the season in the various
localities of America. At this time one may
thin out the various perennials by dividing
their roots. April spraying operations will
not be overlooked by the careful garden-maker
who will be remembering that Roses should be
sprayed with a solution of whale-oil soap and
that about the middle of the month and every

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 187

ten days thereafter and that apples, black-
berries, dewberries, pears, quinces and raspber-
ries need to be sprayed before budding and
cherries just before their buds open. Seedling
Hollyhocks should be sprayed with Bordeaux
mixture towards the end of the month. Elms
should also be sprayed in April in preparation
of the season’s battle against the pests that in-
fest them.

MAY

May, birthday of gardens! I wonder if
there is a more loved month in the whole Cal-
endar? Surely not one that is more to the
poets’ taste, when, as old-time Edmund Spen-
ser was wont to sing,

“the boughes doe laughing blossoms beare.”

The practical will tell us that we should forget
poetry and take to planting, as though plant-
ing were not poetry, as though ancient Virgil
had not known how to make vegetable-grow-
ing as luscious to literature as pepper-pods are
to the perpetually prosaic! After all, what
are our gardens for? Just to furnish us with

188 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

food? What joy would there be in the dig-
ging, the seeding, the cultivating if every cauli-
flower stood to us for cookery, every cucumber
as a pickle and every lettuce as a salad! Of
course with the proper appetite expected of
every normal one of us that our table should be
laden with home grown things gives us a sense
of satisfaction. But is that not quite as much
from the pride we take in our ability to grow
all these delicacies, as from the knowledge that
they will serve as space-fillers for empty man?

With the coming of May I always think of
Hawthorn boughs laden with billowy white
blossoms—here and there a pink-domed shrub
—when the May days return; and yet there
are no Hawthorns where my garden grows!
That I have taken from the poets, and have
given it to the cabbages, the butter-beans, the
radishes and parsnips as grace to their utility.
But it is not, gentle reader, that I would neg-
lect the vegetables to go a-Maying! Instead,
the contemplation of everything lovely in na-
ture lends to an enthusiasm for the rows, and
hills and trellises of 'To-morrow’s table-things.
In fact I make sure that there is reasonable
doubt of late frosts before I rush recklessly to

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 189

transplant from hot-bed to garden the tender
growing things.

In the exciting gardening for May the one
who for the first time engages in the delec-
table occupation of coaxing Mother Earth to
be kind to all efforts to make a back yard an
Eden, the front one a paradise of lovely grow-
ing things, the initial enthusiasm must not per-
mit the overlocking the fact that the old-time
enemy of all garden-makers since gardens first
were—J ack Frost—may still be lurking in am-
bush of the promise of an early season. I
know of no greater discouragement that at-
tends the garden-maker than that of encoun-
tering late frosts, unprepared for them. But
the experienced gardener seldom permits him-
self to be caught in this slyly placed trap.
While it happens, now and then, that Nature
seems unkind enough to wax mirthful over
man’s effort and amuses herself at his expense
with unexpected storms, atmospheric changes
and freakish weather, the seasons are, on the
whole, dependable and the garden-maker has
only to study their ancestry.

However, the March-sown hardy annuals
will be coming on for transplanting from hot-

190 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

bed and coldframe this month and May should
find all seeds of hardy annuals in the ground
for the regular season of bloom or of matur-
ity, though succession planting can, of course,
extend through a later period. With the
ground free from frost there will be the hardy
perennials to be shifted in rearranging the bor-
ders. This operation should be delayed till
the end of the month in most of the northerly
sections of the country. The second week in
May should find one spraying the Rose bushes
again with whale-oil soap, and immediately
after blooming the Spring flowering shrubs
should be pruned. In the strawberry bed the
newly set plants should have thei blossoms
“pinched” (removed) and the old plants
should be mulched with clean straw to conserve
moisture for the roots and ultimately to pro-
tect the fruit from dust as well as to discour-
age grassy weeds.

I know the eminently practical will feel out-
raged that I should mention Birds in the same
breath with Strawberries! But I never think
of melons or apple-trees without thought too,
of the small boy’s enjoyment of them; so let

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 191

me confess that to my mind there never was a
truly successful garden—strawberries notwith-
standing—that was not also a playground for
birds. Garden-makers should not forget their
little feathered friends. Let them plant Sun-
flowers with this in mind, and in the late Au-
tumn, when Jack Frost in sportive mood has
nipped the noses of all the Petunias and has
finally overcome even the tenacious Salvia, the
tall stems crowned with ripened Sunflower
seeds will sway with the weight of some throng
of finches and will seem to the birds you have
loved—if you have not loved your strawber-
ries more !—a store of reward for their summer
service in keeping down the obnoxious insects
even though some other choice morsel does oc-
casionally get mixed up with their missionary
work!

As trees are so much the part of the perfect
garden, May work is requisite to their best ap-
pearance. Ohne has already to be alert in the
fight against the Elm-leaf beetle and elms
should now be sprayed in order that later war-
fare against these pests may prove fully ef-
fective.

192 A LITTLE GARDEN THE: YEAR ROUND

JUNE

When we walk around our gardens let us
neither waste breath in sighing over the ab-
sence of the plants we neglected or forgot to
provide nor be envious of our more careful and
perhaps experienced neighbor. I often think
a little disappointment of this sort is the leaven
which leaveneth the mass of appreciation of
those garden delights which, another time, will
be the reward of our forethought. It will be
hard to miss the Roses we should have set out,
the Columbines we overlooked or the Peonies
to which we paid no attention last Fall, but
we should take all the more joy in the posses-
sion of what we have, learning to love the few
things of our own instead of making ourselves
miserable over the many things of our neigh-
bors. You see Philosophy and Garden-mak-
ing are inseparable unless one descends to the
state of becoming a planter or a harvester. I
suppose there will always be in the world some
who find no pleasure in growing things, to
whom Nature appears a matter of dirt, bram-
bles and potatoes, something to be kept some-
where out in the back yard in contradistinction

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 193

to the satisfaction such find in unadorned mac-
adamized expanses of avenue and sidewalk.
Fortunately, however, the Genius of Garden-
ing trusts nothing to their keeping, and so it
happens that the traditions of the gardener’s
art are safe with us.

And what a month of joyfulness is June in
the garden! It seems only yesterday that we
were coax:ng Mother Nature to lift her white
blanket that Sprng might awaken to new life
the sleeping plants that lend their color to the
season. We are reminded of all the poets of
the garden, of Wordsworth, of Tennyson and
certainly of old Geoffrey Chaucer’s

“Along the meadows green, whereof I told,

The freshly springing Daisy to behold,

And when the sun declined from South to
West,

And closed was this fair flower, and gone to
rest,

For fear of darkness that she held in dred,

Home to my house full hastily I sped;

And in a little garden of my own,

Well benched with fresh cut turf, with grass
Oo ergrown

194 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

I bade that men my couch should duly make;
For daintiness and for Summer's sake,
I bade them strew fresh blossoms o’er my bed.”

There will be fortunate ones among us who
will find the lovely Columbine blossoming this
month, yellow or scarlet, red, purple or white,
flower of strangely contrasted names borrow-
ing “Columbine” from the Latin Columba, a
dove, and its scientific name, “Aquilegia” from
aquila, aneagle! In the old, old days of yore,
credulous folk called it Lion’s Herb, believ-
ing that it was the favorite food of these fierce
denizens of desert and jungle. Nowadays we
fondly couple the name Columbine with Co-
lumbia, and even find an association of enthusi-
asts who seek its adoption as the national
flower of America just as the Rose is for Eng-
land and the Lily for France—God bless them
all! Monkshood will be blossoming in June,
too. It is a lovely plant, but a sinister one.
It was brewed by Medes to fill the poisoned cup
offered the wary Theseus. It was with the
juice of Monkshood (Aconite) that the an-
cients used to anoint their weapons when pre-
paring to do battle, and the old-time Greeks

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 195

were wont to tell how Chiron the Centaur dis-
covered its dread powers by dropping upon
his hoof an arrow that had been dipped in the
juice of the plant, his death accompanying
his discovery. They believed too that Monks-
hood was sown in the Garden of Hecate by
Cerberus, the three-headed monster who
guarded the Place of Shadows. But June’s
garden will find within its borders flowers of
less sorrowful an ancestry—Campanula (Ve-
nus’s Looking-glass), Iris (Lily of France),
Honeysuckle, Hollyhock, Jasmine (Flower O”’
Love of the Arabs), the Rose, Pyrethrum, Sal-
piglossis, Schizanthus, Sedum, Spirea, Sweet
Alyssum, Sweet Peas, Veronica, the Violet
(sacred to Venus when the gods were still on
Olympus) and the Larkspur, though that
beautiful plant has almost as sorrowful a his-
tory as the Aconite, for was it not this flower,
whose petals bore marks forming the letters
AIA, signifying Ajax, terror of the Trojans,
as Delphinium A jacis on which was spilled the
blood of this hero as he fell bleeding upon the
earth?

There are many flower lovers who remain
ignorant of the names of the plants which claim

196 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

their devotion. This is less evident nowadays
than it was a few years ago, although in Colo-
nial times not to know the name of every
flower or herb in the garden was to indicate a
tremendous flaw in one’s education, an igno-
rance not to be condoned. One need not know
that the Quince is Cydonia vulgaris or that
Mignonette is Reseda odorata, but not to
know that the Quince is Quince or that the
Mignonette is Mignonette is misfortune in-
deed to the gardenmaker who expects to get
any true enjoyment out of his garden. There
is, of course, a strong appeal in the mere pleas-
ant vision of things; but how much more pleas-
ure in understanding them! Names were in-
vented for a purpose—even Latin ones!—and
every one who professes or who exhibits the
slightest interest in gardening will appreciate
the wealth of interest a closer attention to
plant lore and botany will disclose. Now and
then we meet with the type of person who calls
every sort of a flower either a Rose or a Pink,
but even that is better than to have a flower
described as “the yellowish flower with vel-
vety brown center” or “the plant that looks
like a phonograph horn,” which leads you to

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 197

guess “Coreopsis” or to wonder which is meant
—“Petunia or Morning Glory?” Just as it
is one’s obvious duty to know the names of
one’s friends, just so is it one’s duty to acquaint
himself with the names of the plants in his gar-
den, true friends they should be! Even those
good folk who can tell you that this is a Ge-
ranium, that a Heliotrope, are occasionally in-
different to the nomenclature of varieties of a
species. A Rose might smell as sweet by any
other name but its own name has so become as-
sociated with its fragrance that even old Omar
could not have imagined any Board of Re-
vision willing to rename this lovely blossom.
However, it is not amiss to remember—espe-
cially when this June time brings us to the
threshold of the “Month of the Rose’”—that
some Roses are more fragrant than others.
Do you, gentle reader, know which ones?
Does not the fragrance of the Tea Rose sug-
gest the perfume of olden times, that of the
Yellow Rose the perfume of our grandmother’s
gardens and have not the American Beauty
Rose and the La France Rose each exquisite
perfumes as peculiarly their own as the per-
fume of the red Roses of Samarkand? Ought

198 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

we not, then, to learn all about our Roses?
Their names, their varieties, their perfumes, as
well as their colors and their decorative at-
tributes? ‘The garden beginner who aspires to
Rose-culture will be surprised at the wealth of
pleasure he will derive from such a study. And
it is the same with other flowers—Geraniums,
Begonias, Phlox, even with the wonderful but
neglected Zinnia.

While one’s garden is to be enjoyed in June,
one’s garden-work is not to be neglected. First
of all the weeding must be kept up. If it is not
it will make it all the more difficult for the beds
to attain the perfection one should seek for
them, if indeed the plants succeed in surviving
at all. Let us remember what Shakespeare
said about it:

“Now “tis the spring and weeds are shallow
rooted;

Suffer them now and they'll o’ergrow the gar-
den,

And choke the herbs for want of husbandry.”

Then neatness is a virtue in gardening as well
as in other things. 'Tie up the tomato vines,

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 199

trim privet hedges, fill in “thin” places in beds
and rows, spray the small fruits twice this
month, and keep a sharp eye open for cut-
worms.

The garden maker will find when the plant-
lets have pushed up through the soil, that for
reasons not always known, there will, here and
there, be gaps in the flower rows. However,
it is not too late to fill in border gaps in June
when Dwarf Nasturtiums, etc., may be sown
for later flowering. Coleus cuttings, too, may
be taken and Portulaca seed planted in places
partly shaded where other flowers perhaps
would not thrive so well.

With vegetable garden disappointments the
garden beginner must be patient for there is
still time for additional planting, as late crop
seeding may now be started for potatoes, car-
rots, sweet corn, beets, beans, and turnips, as
well as radishes for succession crops, June is
also the transplanting time for cabbages,
cauliflowers, tomatoes, peppers, and for cel-
ery. And do not forget that insect pests must
be battled with this month. Cut worms are
particularly hurtful in the early stages of the
garden and one must watch the tender young

200 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

plants carefully. Berry bushes and _ fruit
trees should have a couple of June sprayings.
But even the insect enemies of plants are not
more damaging than weeds when allowed to
grow and choke the gardens. By beginning
the weeding early, and by consistently keeping
it up, the growing plants will have a fair fight-
ing chance to reach unstunted maturity. By
this day-by-day weeding the labor attendant
on keeping the flower beds and vegetable rows
in condition will be greatly lessened and the
pleasure in gardening intensified. The neat-
ness of the garden which has a privet hedge
may be also enhanced by trimming the hedge
at this time.

JULY

Now the gardens of our happy anticipations
are unfolding their myriad beauties. We
look around the garden plot with satisfaction.
Even though here and there we find something
disappointing, it should only inspire us to con-
tinued effort if our enthusiasm is from the
heart. Gardens come and go in one sense, but
in another and in a truer sense they are ours
forever. June and her Roses, yesterday’s

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 201

glory, may have passed but Mother Nature has
not been forgetful of July’s place in her af-
fections, and there are lovely things in the gar-
den that belong to this month of Mid-summer.
Sweet Peas, Portulaca, Marigolds, and many
other annuals will be bursting forth in prolific
blossom, all of which should be kept carefully
picked, for if the garden flowers are allowed to
bloom without cutting they will soon go to seed
and by the middle of August such a garden
will be a sorry sight. The late-blooming flow-
ers such as the Dahlias, Cosmos and Chrysan-
themums should be encouraged to take on a
bushlike form by the process of “pinching,”
as thus they will attain the ever-to-be-desired
compact growth. Many of the herbaceous
plants such as the Dahlia and the Gladiolus—
Roses also—should be staked if this has not al-
ready been done. Perhaps no phase of flower-
garden care is more apt to be overlooked by
one inexperienced in gardening than the atten-
tion of this sort which should be given early
in the season to all those plants which will come
to require some support other than that of their
own stalks.

July will find Aquilegias still blooming,

202 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

and Achilles, Bachelors’ Buttons, Globe
Amaranth, Lavatera will be claiming the
month as their own, sharing it with Balsam,
Bellflower, Candytuft, Coreopsis, Digitala,
Evening Primrose, Larkspur, Love-lies-bleed-
ing, Morning-Glory, the Nasturtium, Phlox
and many other old-time favorites, not the least
of which is the Petunia, a lovely flower again
in fashion. 'The proficient garden-lover will
look around his garden for those blossoming
plants that are producing the loveliest flowers
and will lose no time in marking them so their
seed may be secured later when the pods ripen.
All one’s seeds will not be home-grown, of
course, but there is great pleasure and satis-
faction to be found in being able to say, “This
lovely flower has sprung from seed of another
which I myself planted in my garden.” If
the flower garden is expected to attain its full
beauty, the soil from which the plants sprung
must be prevented from becoming hard, flat
and sunbaked. Flowers as well as vegetables
need to have the soil from which they spring
constantly cultivated and properly stirred up.

As to the vegetable garden, July will find
one busy there. The garden-maker will be

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 203

sowing seed of turnips, bush beans, beets (early
varieties) during the very first of the month
and a little later he will be sowing spinach
seed. If there is a bit of idle ground which
the harvesting of an early crop has left vacant,
then peppers, tomatoes, cabbage and celery
can be transplanted and set out there. The
wise vegetable gardener never lets a square
foot of earth lie unproductive. He harvests
his early crops speedily and puts the idle
ground to some use. Our war gardens are
teaching us the valuable lessons of succession
planting.

A word about watering the garden: when
doing this remember that one good, thorough
wetting-down of the soil will be worth more
than a dozen mere sprinklings. Surface wet-
ting may be better than nothing at all, but
plants are watered not alone to remove the dust
from their foliage, but to afford the thirsty,
hardworking roots ample moisture for suste-
nance.

July will find pruning to be attended to,
Roses—hybrid perpetuals—will need cutting
back five or six inches after their June bloom-
ing period is over. If they are diligently and

204 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

patiently cared for without lapse of vigilance
and properly fertilized one may hope to coax
forth a second blossoming before frost.

AUGUST

Who, this first of the Autumn months, on
contemplating the full August beauty of the
garden he has planned and planted, can fail to
have his soul stirred with the thought of Na-
ture’s marvelous works in the recollection that
his own hand was so willingly lent to those hu-
man tasks that seldom fail in such rewards as
that of the spiritual satisfaction one derives
on the memorable occasion which these vines,
crowning gardens with their full glory, should
be? How grateful we are for the nodding
Anemones with their white or rose-colored blos-
soms, for Dicentra, for the Evening Primrose
still with us, for the gorgeous golden Helian-
thus, the pale Moonflower, Mignonette, the
Pinks which claim August for their own, and
old Snapdragon, ingenious and entertaining.
Then there is lovely Veronica in royal purple
and Madam Zinnia, with more colors in her
attractive raiment than ever artists have
dreamed of mixing on their palettes. The gar-

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 205

den-maker will not forget that perennials to
be raised from seed should now be sown in
coldframes. By planting them in frames the
seeds will escape being washed away by the
Autumn rains. Then, too, one may plan now
for the winter garden indoors. Carnations are
to be brought inside this month from the out-
door garden where they have been flourishing
in the open through July. Easter Lilies for
forcing should be potted at this time. In or-
der that their bulbs may become thoroughly
rooted they should be kept in a dark, cool place
until this start is made. Seedlings set out of
doors may be transplanted to small pots
“plunged” in soil and removed indoors as soon
as frost threatens to make its first appearance.
In “plunging” the pots for out-of-door plant
growth, the garden-maker will not forget to
lift the pots every now and then to break off
the roots that may have pushed down through
the opening at the bottom of the pots, thus tak-
ing hold firmly in the external soil. Such am-
bitious root stragglers must not be allowed to
do this. Plants should be watched carefully
and all cutworms removed by hand. Spraying

206 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

with an arsenite solution is useful, but not for
table plants.

The maker of a garden may well be deciding
now whether or not the plot of ground it com-
prises would become more interesting and at-
tractive by the planting of one or more Ever-
greens. There is, of course, quite as often a
tendency to overplant as there is to under-
plant, although our garden-makers are over-
coming this fault more and more, and are now
appreciative of the fact that a lawn should not
be choked with shrubs, even though the indi-
vidual specimens are very beautiful in them-
selves, but should be adorned with discrimina-
tion and judgment by placing a shrub just
where it is needed and only where it is needed
to produce as perfect an effect as possible. We
are also getting away from the “lonesome pine” -
effects in Evergreen planting, and are now
well versed in the more cheerful arrangements
followed by the modern landscape architects.

If the garden-maker wishes to save a year
in the matter of a maturing strawberry bed,
potted strawberry plants should be set out at
this time. In the milder parts of the country
peas, bushbeans, cucumbers for pickles, sakura-

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 207

jima, spinach and beets for greens may be sown
immediately for autumn use. Of course with
late plantings there is always a chance to be
taken; however, experimenting is one of the
chief delights of the truly enthusiastic gar-
dener, and although he may encounter many
disappointments, his successes, even though
only occasional, will seem to him fit reward for
all the trouble he may have taken. Indeed,
the writer has known of garden enthusiasts who
have sown extra early corn at this time, and
have had their adventuresomeness rewarded
with ears fit to eat long after their neighbors
had given up all thought of this delectable
vegetable for themselves.

Especial attention must be given to water-
ing the garden this month. All plants should
be watered freely, and evening is the best time
for such work. Tree Hydrangeas especially
will respond to such watering and reward the
garden-maker with unusually large clusters of
flowers. Many garden beginners make the
mistake of letting the flowers in their gardens
ripen their seed-pods. Permit only such pods
as you are saving for seed toripen. All others

should be pinched off. This will extend the

208 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

blossoming period of the flowering plants.
Nitrate of soda and a little bone meal scat-
tered on the soil at the roots of the flowering
plants will, after watering, do wonders in the
way of fostering prolific bloom. 'Time must
also be given to the various small fruit bushes
this month for old canes should be cut from the
berry bushes and the small fruited bushes be
made trim for their winter rest.

We look to the woods for wild flowers, but
all garden-makers are not blessed with living
near to fields and woodlands. However, such
need not be denied the flowers closest to Na-
ture’s heart. Every one may have a wild-
flower garden as it is now possible to buy
seeds, bulbs and plants of wild flowers from
dealers who specialize in them and are glad
to give information and cultural directions to
those who purchase wild-flower seeds and
plants from them. Some of the most interest-
ing small gardens have wild-flower nooks and
corners. Garden-makers who have given at-
tention to wild-flower culture develop an en-
thusiasm for this sort of gardening that is in
no sense secondary to that which other garden-
ing things inspire.

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 209

And one must not forget the vegetables!
The delight to be derived from a well-planted
vegetable garden that has thriven and has be-
come luxuriantly productive is not alone a
mundane one. It is not because this is a tur-
nip or that is a beet that one’s heart gives a lit-
tle bound on beholding these things growing
in his garden; it is because they remind him
that vegetable-growing depends upon more
than dropping a chance seed in a hole in the
ground, that the successful vegetable garden
is only possible through the careful attention
one gives to it and his interest in it.

SEPTEMBER

To the average person there is scarcely a
more interesting month in the season than that
of September in the garden. It is a month
which finds us forgiving to July’s torrid heart-
lessness, August’s uncertain temperament, and
although it may bring the blazing sun forth
to our temporary discomfiture, the nights in
the countryside will usually be delightful and
the daytime hours in contemplating the glo-
ries of our gardens will atone for all the rest.
Our summer lassitude will give way to more

210 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

brisk endeavor, and we shall be finding our-
selves eager to enter with zest upon another
season’s occupations, Our gardens will still
give us plenty to do and our hands need not be
idle in their service.

There is something satisfying about Sep-
tember’s well-settled beds of gorgeous Asters,
Gladioli, Cosmos and the Lilies that have not
yet forsaken us. We may miss the Daffodils
of May, the Roses of June, the Columbine of
July, and Veronica, fair maid of the August
garden, but we still have Ageratum, Anemone
Campanula, Clarkia, Dahlia, Foxglove, Go-
detia, Helianthus, Lobelia, Moonflower, dear
little Love-in-a-Mist, and many other old fa-
vorites with us. How glad we are, as we step
forth in the early morning to gather bouquets
for the house, that we took the trouble to plan
for, to plant and to care for the blue Aconite,
the purple Aster, Bellflower, rose-purple
Chelone, Helium and Helianthus—each as
golden and as glorious as the other,—the Scar-
let Lobelia, Phlox, Rudbeckia and blushing
Sedum.

We look around upon our garden’s delights
with pride, and even our garden mistakes seem

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 211

trivial beside the successes that have come to
our patient cultivation of the plants we love.
Over there, we tell ourselves, our hardy bor-
der has come out too thinly, but we can make
amends even in the month to come, for by the
time October’s planting is here our summer’s
experience will have shown us wherein we may
make next year’s garden even far more lovely,
perhaps, than this season’s one has been.

The Garden-beginners will wish to take note
of the color effects derived by planting—they
hardly knew what, when their inexperienced
hand first sowed the seed or set out seedlings.
Now as one looks about, there may appear too
much dark color, just there by the Hollyhocks
or the Cosmos may have come out all white
and pale lilac, when its own reds would have
given the needed “spotting” for contrast.
Next year all this could be made right, for as
soon as it is possible, one should replant for
still better color effects than it was possible
until a summer in the garden had taught its
valuable lessons,

Our great-grandmothers never let the month
of September slip by without being on the alert
for ripening seed-pods of annuals and peren-

212 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

nials) The garden-maker of to-day usually
bothers little about such things as necessity
does not compel it, but a garden grown from
its own seed is apt to be a successful one, fol-
lowing, in this respect, the sacred traditions of
the garden at Mount Vernon, a true descend-
ant of the flowers planted by Martha Wash-
ington.

Peonies should be planted in September, and
it is found by experience that if showy effects
are desired for this first season, undivided root
clumps should be selected, as two or three sea-
sons are requisite to the production from sin-
gle roots of anything approaching a satisfac-
tory display. Like the penny Roman-candle,
the cheap single-root Peony is apt to prove a
bitter disappointment, only it has the advan-
tage of being perennial and of finally reach-
ing effectiveness.

Crocuses, Daffodils, Jonquils, and other
early flowering bulbs can go into the ground
this month though Tulips and Hyacinths can
very well and safely await October planting.

As we know how merciless droughts assail
our late gardens, we will not forget to keep the
sun-baked soil around the plant-bases stirred

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 213

up when they need it, making little “tunnels”
to the plant roots so water may reach these.
A good plan is to remove a couple of inches of
soil from around the choice shrubs and after
watering until the soil will soak up no more
moisture, to replace that which we have taken
out, crumbling it fine and letting it act as a
mulch.

Some of September’s blistering days (days
that do make us forget the cool sound of the
month’s name and that it is not still midsum-
mer), are often discouraging to lawn-makers.
But one need not despair if a goodly water sup-
ply and hose are available. Just sprinkling
the lawn actually does more harm than good.
The kindly intentioned who sprinkle the lawn
for five minutes every day probably wonder
why the grass still sizzles up! The point to
bear in mind is that lawns need to be drenched.
They require many and frequent thorough
wettings, although one must be careful not to
rip up places in the sod by turning the stream
of water from the hose nozzle directly upon
the grass plot. The nozzle should be so
manipulated that the water will drop from it
in the manner of falling rain.

214 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Evergreens should be planted now, the roots
being kept shaded and well moistened until
they are in the ground. Im transplanting
Evergreens we must not forget the importance
of that fact, for the neglect of it may ruin all
chances of success for the Evergreens that are
being set out.

OCTOBER

To the observant eye even the first days of
October are attended by many little changes
that mark the rapidity with which Autumn
has advanced. The face of nature is changing,
whichever way we look. We realize how soon
our lovely Summer gardens are to be taken
from us, and for once Winter will seem to be
creeping stealthily over the border of Flora’s
realm like an enemy bringing the warfare that
later is to devastate the kingdom of foliage.
As we walk along our garden paths our way
shall lead through fallen leaves and just as
Spring scenery awakes within us gladsome
emotion so will the Autumn landscape find us
sorrowing perhaps. But we know in our
hearts that our beautiful gardens will not per-
ish, that they will be but resting for a sea-

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 215

son under the kindly mantle of white Winter,
to reblossom again when another season shall
call them to their awakening. And then as
we pause beneath some friendly golden-leaved
tree and survey the intimate prospect of the
home garden before us, we are reminded that
if we would increase the delights we have found
in it through the months that are past when
next its glory is to shine again, we must not
lose time now planning for the development
of its beauties. This is, indeed, a month of
greater gardening activity than September al-
though many novices there are in the gentle art
of the trowel who imagine that planting is
merely a Springtime annual duty and not a
May and October perennial pleasure.

The lawn will need a careful October over-
hauling for here and there bare spots are apt
to be discovered. A sharp rake will loosen up
the soil sufficiently for “treating” them. A
dressing of pulverized sheep manure should
precede the seeding. In this connection the
amateur lawn-maker should be reminded that
it is of great importance that seed of the best
quality be obtained from a reliable dealer.
When the raked surface of the bare spots is

216 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

seeded, the seeded places should have earth
sprinkled over them and well rolled down to
prevent the seed from blowing away. Many
Jawn makers imagine that grass should be per-
mitted to go uncut and to grow tall during the
late Autumn as a protection to the grass roots,
but this is a mistake. The lawn should be kept
well clipped until the grass stops growing for
the season. Another fallacy with lawn-mak-
ers is the supposition that an unsightly top
dressing of stable manure is necessary for ap-
plication to lawns. Pulverized sheep manure
is of far greater value, a good top-dressing of
which will suffice. It is absurd to render the
lawns offensively unsightly through the Winter
months by the other method, and home garden-
makers fortunately are coming to appreciate
this point of view.

Unless the Winters in a locality are very se-
vere the early October days lend themselves to
the planting of ornamental trees and shrubs,
but in one’s choice of specimens for planting
local climatic conditions should be taken into
account. It would be well to consult some lo-
cal horticulturist of experience or some reliable

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 217

nurseryman when planning for shrubs for Fall
planting.

Hardy Roses, too, may be set out now be-
fore hard frosts, and this will probably insure
early Spring bloom if the newly set out Rose
bushes are carefully protected by a good mulch
before the setting in of any severe weather.
Hardy Climbing Roses should also be planted
during the Autumn. Among the bush Roses
for Autumn planting General Jacqueminot
(red), the crimson Prince Camille de Rohan,
the Paul Neyron, and the White American
Beauty should surely be selected for Fall
planting.

It often happens, especially with garden-
beginners, that there is neglected the very im-
portant matter of providing labels to identify
the spots in his garden where he has been set-
ting out bulbs and roots in the time of Autumn
planting. One may have an excellent mem-
ory, but when Winter comes along to change
the aspect of things, it will be found that by
springtime there is something of confusion in
mind as to where this plant or that one actually
was placed. All this will interfere seriously
with the garden-maker’s spring work. There-

218 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

fore, it would be well to mark locations of
plants set out this autumn by means of secure
labels and label stakes.

October is the month wherein should be per-
formed the task of placing manure over the
garden. This should then be spaded or plowed
in before the approach of November. The
fallen leaves that have collected in raking the
lawn throughout the Autumn can be saved to
use as a mulch for the garden and strawberry
beds that require such protection. Those who
have hardwood trees on their lawns will find
the leaves of such trees the best suited to
mulching.

NOVEMBER

November, pioneer of Winter, comes with
his sickle of frost to mow down the last outside
vestiges of Summer’s festive fruitfulness, only
defied by the Evergreens in their magic armor.
The brown, dry leaves will be blown hither and
thither rustling across the ground to the music
of the late Autumn winds. We miss the song
birds, and half pity the sparrows as they chat-
ter in their almost affected cheerfulness. The
purples of cloudland are becoming leaden-hued

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 219

at times and the little children are alertly
watching for the earliest snowflakes. City
dwellers go about much as usual and it little
occurs to them to reflect upon Nature’s
changed aspect along the countryside unless
some journey takes them farther from their
lanes of asphalt and the groves of brick and
mortar.

And yet there is something restful in the
contemplation of November in the country if
one may come in from an exhilarating walk
over hill and dale to the crackling open fire
that awaits him indoors. There will be stories
to tell of the little animals we have seen busy
at work in the nut woods laying in their winter
stores. ‘These are busy times of provisioning
for them. The squirrel will be the busiest of
all for he hibernates for the shortest time, and
he will not be minded to wake up to an empty
larder. We will watch his antics laughingly,
and wonder if we have learned our lesson as
well as he has. If our vegetable cellars are
well stored we will bear him no grudge. We
may well be reminded, though, that if our har-
vest is over there is still work for us to do in
our gardens. We have probably cellared our

220 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

beets, carrots, turnips, celery, etc., in cool but
frost-proof places by this time, and we should
turn our attention to the lettuce, cauliflower,
etc., that can now go into the coldframe for
wintering against setting out early in the
springtime.

November brings one to contemplate the
garden indoors. House-plants have come to
be much neglected of late years. Of course
one does not wish for the return of the sense-
less old fashion of filling up every window in
the house with foliage which prevailed. What
funny things one used to see—delicate
Fuchsias in tomato-cans or old sugar-bowls
converted into receptacles for the second-best
Geraniums! Nevertheless there is much hap-
piness to be attained through the pursuit of
indoor gardening, and it is well worth think-
ing about seriously.

Joyous is one whose garden passeth from
Summer’s glories through Autumn’s gorgeous-
ness into Winter’s immobile whiteness with
that grace which will lead one to have faith in
the Niobe-like awakening when Spring shall
breathe again upon the face of the frozen earth.
There is nothing more dismal and bleak than

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 221

the prospect afforded the eye by the sight of
an unkempt garden, snow-covered and dreary.

Why is it that so many of our garden-mak-
ers dream only of Summer’s green and jewel-
colored season, and take little heed of the
white days of the reign of Boreas? Surely a
clump of Evergreens just there or a hedge here
would turn the whole deserted garden spot
into an area pleasant to look upon. I know
one garden-maker who has had the good sense
to leave standing a row of Sunflower stalks,
each one crowned with its seed pod. As you
may well know the birds have shown their ap-
preciation, and day after day they flock thither
and chirp away with gratitude in their little
notes. It is sorrowful enough to be missing
the flowers without having to mourn the flown
birds. Every kind garden ought to have its
little bird shelter.

Often has it appeared strange to me that
sun-dials are left so bleak through winter-
time. A wreathing of Bittersweet or a mass-
ing of Rosa rugosa would insure scarlet ber-
ries and crimson haws for winter decoration.
The red of the Rose hip, clinging to the brown
stems of the bushes, is one of the many such

222 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

compensations which Nature bestows when she
seems to have taken so much from our gar-
dens.

And the old stone wall will be looking sear
and gray, but it will remind us to plan for
planting its crevices with all sorts of flower-
ing things for next Summer’s adorning. Then
when another winter will have come to our
door we shall find the wall covered with a net-
work of vines and stems like a weaving of
silken threads of brown.

DECEMBER

I wonder if the time will come when every
man whose homeland boasts a few acres will
have a little vineyard? For those who have
their own vines it will be well to remember that
December should not pass without pruning
grapevines. It is so much better to do this
now, I think, than to wait until March, when
the winds of the first spring month will cer-
tainly subject the then-pruned vines to the risk
of damage.

As there will be plenty of leisure for the
country dwellers in December they will do well
to utilize some of it in carefully inspecting all

THROUGH THE YEAR IN A GARDEN 223

trees to see which trees have dead limbs that
need sawing off at this time. The stumps of
perennials should also be trimmed off and the
hardy borders protected by a mulch, for noth-
ing is more trying to plants than the thawing
and freezing and freezing and thawing again
to which they are subjected, without such pro-
tection, throughout the varying temperatures
of Winter’s changeable weather. However,
perennials should not be covered with any
dressing as heavy as that of manureal mulches.
Vines, too, will need looking after. It is al-
most pitiful to see how these are often neg-
lected, being dragged to earth by ice and snow,
when a little care and forethought would have
made it possible to give them just the support
they needed in the way of tacked-up fasten-
ings of cloth and of leather strips, or a stake
support. If one is experimenting with plants
in coldframes, covering the frames at night
with straw mats and shutters is not to be for-
gotten. Even though the month appears to be
mild, neglect to do this will almost inevitably
lead the garden-maker to regret it! One may,
perhaps, need to turn occasionally from the de-
fensive to the offensive and to sally forth,

224 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

hatchet in hand, to chop down any wild cherry
trees in the neighborhood if, in the season just
passed, they harbored tent caterpillars, the
pest to which the Wild Cherry so generously
offers hospitality.

December indoors will find us busying our-
selves with planning the Yule-tide decorations.
It is then we will wish that our gardens could
yield us some of the things that go towards
brightening the setting of the holiday season.
The red hips of the Rose bushes and the Ever-
greens We need will remind us to make another
season more provident for our Christmas time
intentions and why should we not spare holi-
day greens from our indoor stock for trimming
the sundial, the quiet fountain or the garden
seat? Surely Christmas is everywhere, in-
doors and out!

LENVOI
THE VESPER GARDEN

I know a garden fair where fountains play

And cooling zephyrs blow through fragrant
boughs.

There purling streams are cut by petal-prows

Of faerie flower-boats a-sail that way.

The air is white with Hawthorn-blossoms
blown

Like falling flecks of snow to deck the earth,

And patient mother-soil who gave them birth,

Smiles to see them mumming winter flown.

As crimson sunset, when the day is done,

Full red blow Roses filling every bower

With glorious radiance. What subtle power

Of potent magic they from love have won!
225

226 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND

Just where that silv’ry well holds shaded pool

To quench perchance the thirst of grateful
glade,

Nestles some Primrose, seeming half afraid

To fill its cup of gold with vintage cool.

The very wheel whereon the Thread of Life
Is coarsely spun, or drawn by Her,

Who with the Other Two, heeds not its whirr,
Less noisy is than yonder bees at strife.

They seek the honey of the Asphodel,

And all her treasure, despite her moaned grief,

Tear from her keeping; each a wanton thief,

Breaks calyx-bolt she thought would guard it
well.

Like sea of Sicily yon laving tide

Of meadow-land the garden-shore with spray
Of Sedgegrass kisses in sweet windwaft way;
The flush-tinged Daisies in the hedgerow hide.

Lo! Now at eventide the Mignonette

In fair conspiracy with Jasmine-flower
Breathes incense to perfume this holy hour;
A nightingale sings from its minaret.

THE VESPER GARDEN 227

So calls to prayer my soul when each day
fades,

And all my heart’s song now an angelus

Becomes as acolyte’s hand tremulous

Swings censer in God’s golden glades,

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