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A BORDER OP HARDY FLOWERS IN FAIRMOUKT PARK, PHILADELPHIA. 



The Flower Garden. 



flfiRDr FLOWERS. 



In our out of door gardens, no matter 

 how much we ma\- admire the gay plants 

 of the summer that have been niirscd all 

 winter in greenhouses, when it comes 

 down to real enthusiasm, it is born of 

 hardy plants. And the older we are and 

 the deeper we have dabbled in gardening 

 the firmer becomes our affection for hardy 

 flowers. They afford usan unbroken vari- 

 ety from March till November, and even in 

 midwinter Christmas roses, some cycla- 

 mens and a few uncommon species of cro- 

 cuses and snowdrops would with a little 

 shelter over their tops break through the 

 ground and blossom in spite of the 

 weather. 



Hardy flowers are everybody's flowers. 

 The poor man fills his yard with iheni. 



and they last forever without expense, 

 love for them making the little attention 

 they need a pleasure, and their increase 

 given to the neighbors in exchange for 

 some of theirs keeps the garden full to over- 

 flowing, and the increasing variety adds 

 to the interest. The rich man's garden is 

 a blank without them. 



But to have them in perfection hardy 

 perennials need good ground to grow in, 

 lots to eat and drink, and plentj' room in 

 which to spread themselves. In prepar- 

 ing a border for hardy plants the most 

 essential thing is to thoroughly unfasten 

 the soil two spits deep at least, keeping 

 the subsoil always in the bottom of the 

 trench and the good soil at the top- 

 never mix them; the rains draw the nutri- 

 ment down and the worms liring the 

 humus from the top to the unfastened 

 bottom, but not into the hard pan. 



Don't overcrowd your plants. .Vt the 

 same time have no empty spaces, Hy a 



little practical experience we soon come to 

 know the habits of our plants— height, 

 spread, time of blooming and season of 

 rest, and act accordingly- For instance, the 

 Oriental poppies come up in spring, with 

 much vigor and spread of foliage, smoth- 

 ering to death every little plant within 

 their reach, but by themiddleof Junetheir 

 flowers are gone, and by the first week of 

 July their foliage is ripe enough to cut over 

 and remove, and the place they occupied 

 may then be filled with other plants. 



Our illustration shows an apt and 

 pretty arrangement of hardy plants. It 

 was engraved from a photograph taken 

 in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, last 

 month. Ofcoursethe plants seem to have 

 an unusual amount of room, but in a large 

 ])ul)lic park we can afford to give them 

 that. Seewhathandsomeclumpsof irises 

 tluy are. The picture shows the principle 

 of giving plenty room and its results very 

 well. Between the plants every empty 



