128 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Perennials for Busy People. 



MRS. H. B. TILLOTSON, EXCELSIOR. 



Every home should have a garden — it is needed just as 

 much as the walks and the lawn. Not only will it help the 

 looks of the house, it will contribute to the health and happiness 

 of its inmates. 



I am going to try and tell you how to have a garden with 

 the least possible expenditure of time and labor. I am go- 

 ing to try and convince you that one-half hour spent in good, 

 honest work in the garden each day, after it is well started in 

 the spring, will give you all the flowers you can use in your 

 home and have some left for your friends. 



If we are to have but half an hour each day in our garden, 

 time is the most important thing to consider. The garden then 

 should be near the house, and in sight of the rooms where we 

 spend most of our days, so the flowers may be seen from the 

 windows and studied for future arrangement. If you wish to 

 walk through the garden, or rest in your spare moments, it can 

 be easily reached. (By the way, have a seat in a convenient 

 spot) . Select a bright, sunny location, well drained, away from 

 trees, of you can, as trees are greedy feeders and seem to know 

 where there is plenty to eat. Their roots reach out much further 

 than their height. 



Any soil that will grow corn or potatoes will grow flowers. 

 If some fertilizer is at hand, and you have some one to spread it 

 around, you can grow better flowers, but this is not necessary 

 with the general run of farm soil. 



To start your garden, have your ground spaded up in the 

 fall if it is possible; early spring will do if you cannot manage 

 before. Plan everything out on paper now, in January. There 

 is really as much pleasure in planning a garden in the winter 

 as in working in it in the summer. 



Send for catalogues and look all of them over. Such a 

 glorious lot of flowers. You will want them all. Carefully 

 select things that come up every year and need to be planted 

 but once. Many times you can get flowers from seeds (and save 

 money) just as quickly as from the purchased roots. Order early 

 and be ready when the spring opens. 



I would advise you to buy roots of the peony , iris, bleeding 

 heart, trollius, dictamnus, or gas plant; lily-of-the-valley ; and 

 gypsophila, or baby breath ; all fine things to have, but the seeds 



