MAINTENANCE 95 



Wild Garden. Many people labour under the impression that the 

 woodland wild garden demands very little, if any, attention on the 

 maintenance end. The maintenance of a woodland wild garden is a 

 problem, to those who really understand its development and success, 

 of almost as much importance as the maintenance of the more re- 

 fined formal garden. It matters not what the garden may be, either 

 the woodland wild garden or the refined garden, undesirable weeds and 

 grass will develop if it is not given the necessary attention and cultiva- 

 tion. The wild garden cannot be cultivated as deep or as frequently 

 as the refined flower garden. Not only must the owner ward against 

 the development of weeds but he must watch carefully to be certain 

 that those types of plants which are more vigorous growing or which 

 seem to be best adapted to their particular location do not spread or 

 unnecessarily crowd out certain other desirable plants less vigorous in 

 their habit of growth and less apt to thrive in the competition to which 

 they are subjected. There will be places in the wild garden where soil 

 conditions are not exactly as they should be, and where soil should 

 be renovated or manured and where additional leaf mold soil should be 

 added. 



Annual Flower Garden. Careful and frequent attention must be 

 devoted to the maintenance of annuals during the growing season and 

 especially during the flowering season if the best success is to be ob- 

 tained with this type of garden. Those annuals like the mid-season 

 and late asters need only normal care. Such plants have but one 

 flowering season and it is rare that any secondary flowers are de- 

 veloped on these plants through intelligent cutting, as is the case 

 especially with the snapdragons and also with calendulas, marigolds, 

 and pansies. The snapdragon perhaps is one of the most valuable 

 flowering annuals for a long period of bloom. It will begin its bloom in 

 late June or early July and will continue to bloom until frost retards its 

 growth. Such plants however, will not produce an abundance of fine 

 flowers if encouraged to persistently produce flowers throughout the 

 entire growing season. The snapdragon will produce the best flowers 

 if given a rest during some part of the summer. For instance, plants 

 which begin flowering in late June or early July should be permitted to 

 flower for four or five weeks. They should then be severely cut back to 

 a height of four inches to six inches and a new growth permitted to 

 develop and produce flowers during late August and September. 



