354 



GARDENING. 



^K?- 13. 



Landscape Gardening. 



fl COTTflOB OflRDEN. 



At Mahwah, N.J., about thirty miles 

 from New York and by the side of the 

 Kamapo Mountains, Mrs. Mayer has 

 one ot the loveliest and most interesting 

 little gardens we have ever seen, it is all 

 flowers. Although a lady of vast means, 

 residing in a magnificent mansion in the 

 middle of an estate comprising miles upon 

 miles of territory, all maintained in luxu- 

 rious fashion, gardening is the passion of 

 her heart. And that she may enjoy it in 

 her own way and its greatest fullness, 

 apart from the decorated grounds of the 

 mansion, she has gone some hundreds of 

 yards bevond, out of sight of the house, 

 and there had built for herself a little old 

 fashioned thatched cottage, and around 

 it has arranged an old fashioned garden. 

 To this retired and beautiful spot every 

 day of the summer while she is is at 

 Mahwah she repairs for rest and recrea- 

 tion. With her own hands she sows the 

 seeds, sets out th- plants and cares for 

 them, and great is the variety of her pets. 

 On the 29th of June last we accepted 

 the kind invitation of Mrs. Mayerto come 

 and see her little cottage garden. It 

 surelv was a treat to us. The garden is 

 unique. It is a garden of love and full ot 

 loveliness. It is not the retreat of an 

 aged lady nor of an invalid, but the crea- 

 tion and joy of a young and refined 

 woman in the flush of health and strength, 

 and an appreciated and frequented beauty 

 spot by Uer husband and children. 



A little and almost obscure footpath, 

 unkempt except for its trodden line, winds 

 hv the woodside and through the fields 

 between the mansion and the cottage 

 garden. This path is for the owner and 

 her happy family and guests who are 

 garden enthusiasts; it is not for society 

 friends who have no interest in the culti- 

 vation of flowers. 



On right and left of the pathway lead- 

 ing through the field to the garden are 

 spreads of vigorous wild flowers such as 

 golden rods, asters, eupatoriums, etc., 

 and we were glad to be informed they 

 were not enough, that all the finer vari- 

 eties of these handsome flowers to be 

 found in the neighborhood are to be col- 

 lected and naturalized there. And stretch- 

 ing beyond are to be planted masses of 

 the most beautiful trees and shrubs ob- 

 tainable and consistent with the situa- 

 tion. 



The cottage, built in old fashioned 

 liuropean style— from ideas suggested by 

 the illustrations in Mr. Robmson's "Eng- 

 lish Flower Garden"— consists of two 

 rooms, one a sitting room, the other a 

 kitchen, and is used for rest and study. 

 Inside and outside of the windows are 

 shelves for pot plants, and some are 

 always there, and within the house on 

 the table and sideboards are vases of 

 flowers. 



Flower borders surround the cottage, 

 and the whole garden is a series of flower 

 beds— oblong squares, curves, etc., and 

 all filled to overflowing with hardy peren- 

 nials and annuals, roses, clematis, other 

 vines and small shrubs. The garden is 

 enclosed by an upright picket fence, the 

 ])ickets being of saplings cutin the woods, 

 and loaded with vines and roses. The 

 gates are also of the same kind of pickets, 

 with a vine covered arch to each. Over 

 the cottage front door and leading down 

 into the garden from it is an arbor of 

 clematis, climbing roses, honeysuckle and 

 other vines. And on the outskirts there 



are tangles of roses, clematis and other 

 beautiful plants left alone in their glory. 

 The paths are narrower than in fash- 

 ionable gardens, and havinga foundation 

 of stone and surface of gravel they are 

 always dry. They are edged with a va- 

 riety of plants, not in unbroken lines, but 

 in the more beautiful way, by carpeting 

 plants, as perennial cushion pi ks, violets, 

 dwarf irises, moss pink and other dwarf 

 phloxes, evergreen candytuft and the like, 

 in homey liberty and blooming at will. 



Perennials of every seasonable variety 

 in unrestricted freedom were in bloom, 

 and while there were masses of Koemp- 

 fer's irises, pink spiraeas, phloxes, del- 

 phiniums, gypsophila and the like by 

 themselves, there was no rigidity of ar- 

 rangement, for they blended out among 

 their neighbors with natural grace. At 

 the cottage door we saw the finest mass 

 of the California mimulus (M. cardinalis) 

 we have seen in many a day. Lilies were 

 in beautiful array, notably the happiest 

 clump of L. Brownii we have seen in 

 years. Mrs. Mayer has been kind enough 

 to have it photographed for Gardening, 

 and we hope to use it soon. Lilium Han- 

 son! had done well, superbum was show- 

 ing splendidly, and speciosuai looked fine. 

 Among other favorites were pyrethrum, 

 pEEonias, columbines, big, thick-leaved 

 saxifrages, campanulas, carnations, etc. 

 Besides the perennials, biennials as 

 hollyhocks, foxgloves and Canterbury 

 bells were used in quantity and much 

 esteemed. And a great deal was made of 

 annuals. Not only were they grown a- 

 purpose and planted out as we do with 

 ten-week stocks and China asters, and 

 sown in rows or patches where we wish 

 them to bloom as we do with sweet peas, 

 salpiglossis. scabios and mignonette, but 

 a point was made of encouragingthe self- 

 sowing of annuals, and spread most over 

 all the land were poppies, eschscholtzia, 

 mignonette, the little leptosiphons, por- 

 tulacca, marigolds, four o'clocks, dwarf 

 gypsophila, pausies and many more. 

 And among others we noted the fragrant 

 favorites of our childhood^musk and 

 thyme. 



But this was not all, an unseen host 

 had just retired for the season to be gone 

 till next winter and spring, we mean the 

 spring flowering bulbous plants. The 

 ground is alive with them. And so beau- 

 tiful and satisfactory had they been, nar- 

 cissi especially, that orders have already 

 been sent for a full set of the finest and 

 newest sorts obtainable, likely to prove 

 hardy here. 



Contiguous to the cottage and of simi- 

 lar architecture is a little potting shed or 

 work room, and adjoining it are two 

 small pit greenhouses. Here seeds are 

 sown in pots and flats and seedlings got 

 into good condition fortransplantingout 

 of doors; and for summer effect in the 

 greenhouses gloxinias, begonias and the 

 like are raised, and old fashioned plants 

 lor the cottage windows 



In the edge of the woodland near the 

 cottage a new rhododendron garden has 

 been laid out and planted, a counterpart 

 of one shown in "The English Flower 

 Garden." Near there too the intention is 

 to carpet the woods with primroses and 

 other wild flowers. In one spot Japan 

 anemones have been planted in large 

 numbers, and a place is set apart for 

 spreads of Christmas and Lenten ro.scs 

 (Hellehorousj. 



I THINK the general make-up and infor- 

 mation the amateur receives from Gar- 

 dening far surpasses any other hoiticult- 

 nral paper published. ' G. E. B. 



AiibuiM, \ V. 



The Flower Garden. 



FLOWERS IN BLOOM AT EGflNDftLE, ILL., 

 AUGUST 6, 1895. 



The summer hyacinth (Ga/fon/a— Syn. 

 Hyacinthus — candicans), a bulbous plant 

 from South Africa, has proved hardy here 

 in light, well drained soil, with ordinary 

 winter protection. The bulbs, however, 

 can be lifted and safely wintered in any 

 frost proof cellar. It is suitable forshrub- 

 bery or for the center or back of a bed of 

 gladiolus. Leaves are strap shaped and 

 about two feet long. Flowers white, 

 fragrant, bell shaped, and drooping on 

 stiff stems some three feet high. My bulbs 

 have not been disturbed for three years 

 and siill bloom well. 



The "Stars in Heaven" (Boltonia latis- 

 quama) is an aster-like plant of charming 

 habit. It grows about four feet [often 6 

 to 7 feet — Ed.] high forming a broad, 

 many branched open head, the terminal 

 of each shoot bearing a composite flower 

 an inch in diameter of a delicate pink, 

 slightly tinged with lavender. As the 

 main stalks are well branched half way 

 from the top, the flowers also appear 

 down in among the wiry branches like so 

 many stars seen through a veil of mist. 

 The principal stems arebrittleand require 

 secure staking. Its open spray-like flower 

 branches, the main beauty of the plant 

 are generally crushed into a mess by im- 

 proper tying. I have tried with success 

 the following method. A hoop three feet 

 in diameter with three legs four feet long, 

 all made of quarter inch round iron, with 

 two bars crossing the hoop like the spokes 

 of a wheel was used. The legs were 

 inserted nearly two feet into the soil and 

 a broom handle firmly driven in at the 

 center to which were tied the cross bars 

 at their junction. This was to stiffen the 

 frame. The plant grew up within the hoop, 

 is well supported, yet has perfect freedom. 

 David's bush clematis (Davidiana), an 

 acquisition from China, forms a dense 

 plant three feet high, bearing in clusters 

 at the axils of the leaves handsome, por- 

 celain blue tubular fragrant flowers. It 

 is the best of the bush clematises. 



The white snake-root [Bapatorium 

 ageratoides) , is useful for cutting or for 

 white in the shrubbery. It is a strong 

 growing plant some three feet high, bear- 

 ing minute white flowers in terminal 

 clusters. 



Montbretia ( Tritonia) crocosmiffora is 

 quite effective in a mass with its iris-like 

 foliage and star-shaped orange scarlet 

 flowers borne on long stems after the 

 manner of gladioli. Plants wintered in a 

 cold frame are fifty per cent better than 

 some left out. 



The blackberry lily, catalogued as Par- 

 danihus chinensis and lately re-christened 

 Belamcanda chinensis, somewhat resem- 

 bles an iris in foliage and manner of 

 growth. The floAer stems rise up some 

 three feet, bearing orange colored lily like 

 flowers, spotted with purple, entitling it 

 to one of its popular names, the leopard 

 flower. The matured seed pods so closely 

 resemble a large blackberry that it is said 

 the birds are deceived. 



The crown vetch {Coronilla varia) has 

 been blooming for over a month. It is a 

 low semi-creeping plant of light green 

 foHage, producing freely in umbels, small 

 pink and white pea shaped flowers. It is 

 too spreading a plant for the border but 

 in front in the wild garden or in isolated 

 clumps it has a pleasing effect. 



The Japanese speedwell, Veronica longi- 

 folia var. siihsessilis, is one of the choicest 

 perennials found in any garden. It forms 



