36 SfcUc IlorticiiUiiral .V; cicty. 



often thought that persons of weak will and limited means, ought never 

 to trust themselves inside the tiorist's domain, which is surely enchanted 

 ground in the spring time. I speak this from personal experience. 



However, we may, if we will, have lovely gardens without the exotics, 

 or the greenhouse either, for that matter. I have in my garden many 

 hardy wild things growing, which are a source of pleasure to all of us. 

 My list includes great clumps of Verbena, Sweet William, Solomon's 

 Seal, Bleeding Heart, Blue Bells, Hyacinth, and Larkspur, Wild Violets 

 in lavender, deep purple, pure white and yellow, the Little Johny Jump- 

 ups, and Pansies, Dogtooth Violets and Colinsia, both the blue and white, 

 and pink and white, which come up each year self-grown and bloom 

 beautifully. 



This fall I shall plant out a Redbud and a wild Crabapple tree. Some 

 relatives from Penna. who visited us in April were greatly pleased with 

 the Redbud, and I was fascinated by an avenue of wild Crabapple trees 

 that T came across during a country drive about the middle of April. 

 They had been pruned up until only a full top was left, and at the time 

 I saw them, these symmetrical trees were in blossom, perfuming the 

 air for a long distance, and making me wish that I owned a Crabapple 

 grove. Like Nesbit, I love wild flowers and can endorse all he says 

 in this quaint old-fashioned poem which he calls 



SERMONS IN FLOWERS. 



The common kind o' flowers, Lord, you made a lot o" them ; 



The daisy in the medder is as clean as any gem ; 

 The wild rose in the thicket is the ripest kind o' red — 



It's party, and it's happy— look at how it holds its head. 



Them little dutchmen's breeches is a favorite o' mine ; 



I like to stumble on 'em with my eyes, an' catch their shine. 



' An", then, the johnny-jump-ups, noddin' soft when I go by, 



An' as blue an' glad an" helpful as the ca"m midsummer sky. 



f 



The blazin' dogwood blossoms— how they flash along the road- 

 Come a-bloomin' in a minute, till a feller thinks it's snowed ; - 



Lord, the liawthorno holds u sermon that is sent direct from you 

 An' the bendin' ''herry l>;;UiLhes, an' the elder bushes, too. 



There's the perkv dandelion botibin' rp so fresh an" bold. 



Till the whole enduring hillside has its poUcydois of gold; 



An' the blossomiu' May apple, hidin' underneath the trees, \ 



.Sends a tingiiu' sort o' flower till it coaxes out the bees. 



The common kind o' flowers ! Lord, I guess they like to grow 



An' to fill the air with f/ladness just because you love them so . 



Lord, I try to undersvand them an' my lieart beats in accord 



When I bend an' whisper to 'em : "For this blessing, thank the Lord." 



Ill conclusion, let me urge you to make a selection of hardy_ plants, 



which includes all perennial things from grass up through smaller plants, 



,then bulbs, shrubs and trees. With a judicious planting of hardy things, 



