198 



GARDENING. 



Mar. 15, 



it may look beautiful, but the beauty 

 soon dies when it is seen too often; when 

 seen once or twice the novelty isgoneand 

 we look for something new; in an old 

 fashioned garden, if planted properly, 

 this never happens as there is something 

 new to be seen nearly every day from 

 early spring till cut by frost in the fall 

 and to those who have bur a small gar- 

 den at their disposal and who wish to 



The German iris makes its appearance 

 about the 15th of May and of these we 

 grow many planted all over the garden 

 in clumps. The spring bulbs being then 

 on the wane the irises keep the garden 

 gay till the roses come in June. 



Everybody likes the rose; we grow 

 nearly two hundred varieties and this 

 spring will add a great many more of the 

 newer kinds. The H. P. kinds are grown 



Rhododendron in bhiom 



show in themselves. This takes us past 

 midsummer and the dahlias are now in 

 fine flower and will last till cut by frost. 

 Our last show of the season is of Japan 

 anemones and hardy asters. 



I have spoken of only a very few plants 

 but these are the ones we grow the most 

 of as we make an effort to have a big 

 display at certain times throughout the 

 summer, but all perennials and biennials 

 worth growing find a place in the gar- 

 den, and to make it more interesting we 

 raise the most of our perennial plants 

 from seed. We have some tour thousand 

 plants of last summer's raising planted in 

 the reserve garden; these will mostly all 

 flower this summer and make a fine dis- 

 play at little cost. This is a good way 

 for amateurs to get up a stock of hardy 

 plants as they are all easily raised from 

 seed. 



Lilies are one of our garden pets. We 

 have some fifty varieties, some of the 

 newer ones being added to the list last 

 fall. They grow and flower nicely in the 

 cottage garden, in fact better than in any 

 other place we ever had them. 



Garden annuals we raise in large quan- 

 tities; 253 distinct varieties were used in 

 the cottage garden last summer, and 

 what a show they do make! As I said 

 before spaces are left amongst the peren- 

 nials and all these are filled with the an- 

 nuals, in fact ever}* nook and corner is 

 planted and by the end of June not a bare 

 spot of ground is to be seen in any part 

 of the garden. This is how our cottage 

 garden is planted, simple in arrangement, 

 but the effect is beautiful and natural, 

 which no other style of gardening could 

 produce. 



To the amateur who may like to try 



make the most of it, they cannot do bet- 

 ter than arrange their garden in this sim- 

 ple wa}'. 



We will give an outline of how our cot- 

 tage garden was made and planted. 

 Hardy herbaceous and bulbousplantsare 

 largely used, but a number of clumps of 

 shrubs of a dwarf habit are planted here 

 and there to break the view; this makes 

 the garden more interesting as at every 

 turn you take something new appears 

 and this is what makes a garden de- 

 lightful. 



Beginning with the early spring-flower 

 ing bulbs, for of these we grow a great 

 many in endless variety, for the choicer 

 kinds of narcissus long beds have been 

 made and raised about six inches fbove 

 the level; here clumps of these have been 

 planted, each variety by itself and all la- 

 beled, and when they are all in flower 

 they are a sight long to be remembered. 

 We plant each clump far enough apart so 

 as to be able to put out the summer bed- 

 ding plants between and in this way two 

 crops of flowers are had from one bed. 

 The choicer tulips are treated in the same 

 wa}', the commoner kinds being planted 

 all over the garden in clumps. 



We also grow a great many other 

 spring flowers which are not so often seen 

 in gardens, such as the winter aconite, 

 chionodoxas, fritillarias in variety, grape 

 hyacinths, leucojum, ornithogalums, 

 scillas, dog's-tooth violets, snowdrops 

 and many others. The last named were 

 nicely in flower March 1 and the winter 

 aconite a day or two later, and from now 

 on our cottage garden will not be flower- 

 less. How many readers of Gardening 

 can say the same about their garden? If 

 you don't grow any of these spring flow- 

 ers you miss a great treat, for there is 

 nothing in their season that is moie 

 charming and beautiful than a garden of 

 spring flowers. 



Water side planting. 

 PROSPECT PARK BROOKLYN. N T. 



in long prepared beds by themselves out- 

 side of the garden proper, while others 

 are trained over arbors and over the gate- 

 ways leading into the garden, and some 

 of the half-climbing sorts are allowed to 

 run wild into a tangle; they flower splen- 

 didly in this way and make a fine display. 

 The next important show is the Kainp- 

 feri iris, delphiniums, foxgloves, Canter- 

 bury bells, sweet williams and the annual 

 ten-weeks stock. All of these we grow 

 largely, in fact enough to make a big 



his hand at the formation of an old fash- 

 ioned garden the following suggestions 

 may be useful: Avoid mixing yourplants; 

 nothing looks better than a bold clump 

 of each variety, as it is in keeping with 

 your garden. Avoid as much as possible 

 planting in straight lines; try to imitate 

 nature as much as you can. 



Mr. Egan refers to the nobility of Eng- 

 land as encouraging this style of garden- 

 ing. No doubt they belp, but 1 think it is 

 the annual exhibitions which are held in 



