|
FROM personal experience I can tell
those who look with longing eyes on a neighbor's lovely garden with its
dainty and welcome blossoms heralding the advent of spring and on through to
the rich and gorgeous blossoms of May, June, and July, into the gay annuals
of August and September until the Japanese Anemones and Chrysanthemums bid
us farewell in October and November, that this is all possible for you
without the aid of a gardener and even with no experience, provided you are
willing to become acquanited with the plants through personal contact, the
glory of success, the sorrow of failure, a little patience and some work.
The garden of which I tell is located on an ordinary city lot, 60 x 120,
which also includes the house. It started with a row of Sweet Peas, the
trench being made with a trowel, little or nothing known about flowers,
until as year by year has passed (seven in all), the lure of the garden has
become more and more alluring, and I now am deep in the throes of "gardenitis."
The sixty-foot border of Sweet Peas, which was first made to separate the
main lawn from a very good sized vegetable garden, has gradually widened,
first taking one row of beans, then another, then robbing the cucumber
patch!—Who does not know the symptoms?—until finally this year the
vegetables had to go and a Rose and Chrysanthemum garden takes its place. We
no longer eat!
The house, with the lawn surrounding it, occupies about one half the lot;
the garden has the rest. Across the back of the lawn runs a border 60 feet
long, with a 4-foot path taken out, not in the middle, but divided
'according to the ratio of 2 and 1. The 4-foot path runs directly to the
back of the lot across which is planted an Ibota Privet hedge 6 feet high.
This hedge encloses the back and sides of the garden. The border 20 feet and
35 feet long is 2 feet wide. It is bordered on the garden side with Box
edging, and in it are planted Darwin Tulips. Those wonderful Tulips with
their pastel colorings, accented here and there with a rich, dark neighbor,
during their season are. the queens of the garden. After they have gone, I
plant in between them (for I have left the bulbs in the ground with good
success) pale pink and white Petunias, and mixed Drummond's Phlox, with a
border of white Verbenas next the Box edging, and the other side a border of
blue Ageratum with white Sweet Alyssum. This sounds like a woeful mixture
and would never appeal to one of asthetic taste! But actually it is
charming, and I came upon it quite by accident. Previous years a hedge of
mixed Zinnias had been planted there, which were most satisfactory, but
having had the Zinnias for some years and desiring a change I thought I
would try the Phlox. An ounce of seed planted in a cold frame was a failure.
Obtaining a few plants only from the seed planted, I bought from the florist
four dozen Petunias, two dozen white and two dozen Rosy Morn. These (true to
color of course) were planted in between Phlox already raised with some old
seed sprinkled in. The border of white Verbenas had been planned, having
seen it at the S. A. F. Convention Gardens in Boston a few years ago. Two
packets of seeds furnished me enough plants. The Ageratum and the Sweet
Alyssum sowed itself. I expected a conglomeration of disappointment, and I
was disappointed—but happily so. Such a dainty, cool, lacy, delicate border!
Next this narrow border outlining the lawn, running parallel with it, is
a 60 foot path, 4 feet wide, set with stepping stones and grassed. These
stones I set myself. A great feat done one March when the spring breezes
were spring breezes and the lure of the garden called to me. Along this path
is my real perennial border; the original one beginning with four. feet, and
widened every year until now it is 7 feet wide, with one strip 35 feet long,
a path four feet wide, and another strip 20 feet long. Then comes another
path parallel with this border 60 feet long.
An arch separates the perennial border from the Rose and Chrysanthemum
garden, which was formerly a vegetable garden, and in this garden too I have
an opportunity to enjoy a few special annuals and Gladiolus.
THE FIRST STAGES
When the perennial border was first started seeds
of Foxglove, Larkspur, Sweet William, and Canterbury Bells were planted with
roots of Phlox and Coreopsis. Nothing had been thought about color schemes,
"well considered" planting, height, or anything of that sort. They were just
plain "planted." But the ground had previously been enriched for vegetables,
was good to begin with, and what was not was made good with fresh loam, and
the plants grew and grew like Jack's beanstalk; they grew to heaven. The
blue of the sky kissed the blue of the Larkspur. Is there any blue so
heavenly as the Larkspur! I will never forget those twenty or thirty great
plants as big as a bushel basket, with those glorious light and dark blue
spikes. They were magnificent. I remember that summer I had a border of
white Candytuft in blossom at the same time, which looked like great white
drifts nestling against the base of the Larkspur. Verily the clouds dropped
down to earth and visited my garden! I would stand enraptured before those
wonderful plants.
|
But alas! one night a thunder storm came and with it a heavy wind, and it
was then I commenced to learn. I wonder if we always have to learn life's
lessons by thunder storms. Alas! in the morning on running to the window to
feast my eyes on that sea of blue—blue and clear as the bluest sky—they lay
striken on the ground like so many fallen soldiers, not dead, but brought
low. Oh the wreck of it all! With long stakes in my hands, I went into the
garden and tied up the broken, brittle plants, so glorious the day before,
so ingloriously brought low. My heart ached—but I learned my lesson. I then
commenced to read, study and observe. And from that time, I have striven to
give my plants their best and most propitious setting. I then began to
realize after the Larkspurs were cut down the awful gap it made, and year by
year I have been learning what to have and what to omit in order to have
color as well as the things one loves best. That is one reason an old garden
has such charm. It has been years in the making by loving hands and eyes.
REMAKING THE BORDER
The fall following disaster to the Larkspur the plants were
distributed through the perennial borders which I commenced to remake. At
the sides of the garden and in the corners by the Rose garden Heleniums and
white Boltonia were planted. These blossom in the early fall and continue
until cut down by frost. The garden is one mass of gold and white in
September, so graceful and airy—a picture to behold. In front Larkspur and
white Foxgloves are planted at intervals, which are glorious in late June
and July and beneath and below is a hedge of pink and white Asters and
bordering the paths Box edging. Here and there are German Iris with now and
then a group of auratum and speciosum Lilies. Pyramidal Arbovitae trees are
used to some extent in this garden as accents. At the base of one of these
trees, where is the stump of an old apple tree, a few rocks have been piled
on which rests a bird bath. At the foot of the old tree is planted a Boston
Ivy which weaves itself in and out among the rocks and up on to the bird
bath, making a lovely picture as well as a welcome spot for the birds.
In the springtime yellow Narcissus borders the walks, rising between the
little box plants. Blossoming at the same time are groups of the dwarf
border Iris of purple. The garden is then one glory of purple and sunshine.
Harmonious combinations of Darwin Tulips are planted through the garden, so
when the Narcissus are gone the Tulips are there to greet us, and these in
turn lapse over until the German Iris is there in all its richness and
beauty. I sometimes cannot tell which I love most; the German Iris or the
Larkspur. The German Iris is scattered through the borders in great
quantity, overflowing into the rose garden and a neighboring lot. Then come
the Larkspur among which are planted groups of Madonna Lilies, the blue and
white being most effective. THE SEASON OF LILLIES By the time the candidum Lilies have gone, the regal Lily begins to
blossom. What a wonerful Lily that is, with its long, full graceful throat
of yellow, its wax white petals slightly turned back, its glorious orange
stamens and the outside delicately flushed pink. There is so much substance
to the whole blossom; and above all its delicate, delicious odor. That
gorgeous Lily I find hardy thirty-three miles north of Boston, and it
multiplies. It fills a place when the glory of the July garden is passing,
and the Japanese Iris are waning. A very satisfactory combination was found
this summer with German Iris, Dr. Bernice, yellow Columbine, and back of
this the yellow Day Lily. And who can be without that magnificent Iris,
Black Knight, with its rich Pansy-like blossom and glowing orange beard—the
very last to blossom with me, blossoming with some of the Larkspur? Both
these things are high-priced, but worth it. '
After the Larkspur leaves the garden then come the Phlox followed by the
Lilium speciosum in profusion—all lovely and interesting. A large plot of
Japanese Iris occupies the centre of the longer perennial border. In drifts
between are planted annuals in solid colors, such as Snapdragons, Scabiosa,
Calliposis, Calendula, etc. Back and at the sides of the bird bath is an
effective combination of Liatris and Physostegia. They are lovely together.
Now step through the arch down the Rose walk, I call it. The path is Box
bordered as all the paths are, and either side are Roses, for the most part
Hybrid Teas. One section is devoted to briar Roses, the lovely yellow,
single and double ones. On the trellises are Tauschendschon, and that
beautifully decorative Silver Moon. The foliage is clean and of such lovely
color that if there were never a blossom that Rose would still be in the
garden. These Roses are being trained to run from one trellis to the other
on small cable or wire. In between the Roses are planted quantities of
Gladiolus. |
THE MEASURE OF MERIT
I have reached the stage where I discard all
plants or 'blossoms that I do not consider lovely. In a small garden one
cares to afford space only for the blossoms that are the choicest, so with
the Gladiolus I cultivate those I love best. On the farther side of the rose
garden is a good-sized border of Chrysanthemums. Annuals border this whole
garden. This portion is comparatively new, and it has not yet been worked
out to perfection. Last summer I tried Statice in various varieties, with
disappointing results. The blossoms are all right, but it takes such
quantities to make a show, and for a small garden are impracticable.
I cannot let the Hollyhocks pass by with-out mention—that garden
favorite. They are lovely down in one corner with the hedge for a
background; and Sweet Peas! One must have them. They are not picturesque
growing, but so sweet smelling and fragrant. For years I have been
experimenting and pondering how to plant so as not to spoil the scheme of
the garden and yet have the blossoms. Finally I have stumbled upon a plan
which I find good for my garden. A dozen to fifteen plants planted
separately in rich soil will supply enough blossoms for a handsome display
in the house. Plant the seed in February in small pots in the house, 3 seeds
to a pot. When they come up, pull out the two weakest plants, leaving one
sturdy plant. After it has sent out four to six leaves nip off the top. This
causes it to branch. As soon as the weather permits, generally here the last
of April or early May, I set these plants out here and there in an open
space. Then I transplant near it for the Sweet Pea plant to climb on a
single plant of Boltonia. The Boltonia sends out few leaves, two only at
intervals up the plant for several feet. The Sweet Pea tendrils work their
way in and out up the stalk, and lo, you have blossoms on a live stalk. If
the sweet Pea withers all you have to do is to pull off the dead vine and
you have a plant to take its place that will send forth a lacy white bouquet
in the fall when one wants flowers so much.
PEONIES, THE GARDEN'S MONARCHS
One cannot do without those monarchs of the garden—Peonies. Where
pray have these been placed? I have two stunning plants in my 7-foot strip
to help out with color in June; then a hedge of them has been placed either
side of the lawn, continuing the outline of the Tulip border up toward the
house. In front of my porch overlooking the garden is a hedge of Elizabeth
Campbell Phlox, back of this white Foxgloves, and in front Columbine. At
either end is that lovely single Peony Araeos, which blossoms with the
Columbine. With pink and white, it makes a lovely combination. I cannot say
good-by to the fall blossoms without mention of the Japanese Anemone, pale
pink and pure white. They are so lovely they just pull at the heart strings.
I have a hedge of them in front of my cellar window. The lot is so shaped
that the garden is on a slope, so at' the rear of the house is a deep brick
foundation of, I should say 12 feet. This wall is covered with Japanese Ivy,
at the base of which is a Barberry hedge which is kept clipped. In front of
the hedge are the Japanese Anemones. It seems to be just the place for them,
for they flourish so vigorously. Here in the spring time is a charming
border of yellow Pansies, Forget - me - pots, and English Daisies, and
rising from the Darwins is Tulip Gesneriana lutea pallida, which is pale
yellow. That makes one of the most exquisite borders you would ever care to
see.
Such a joy is even a small garden, that home would not be home without these
beautiful blossoms, that come to welcome us year after
The trellises and arches help to frame the garden views and focus the sight
onto
One cannot do without those proper places. Rambler Roses drape them in June
year. It is something any one can
possess with not too much work, and such work as there is brings with it
health, joy, and happiness. |
