24 



THE "ILLINOIS WAY" OF BEAUTIFYING THE FARM 



81. Coneflowers as They Grow Beside Illinois Roads 



The most peculiar plants of Illinois are the prairie flowers, and the most characteristic family is the Compositae, includ- 

 ing compass plant, sunflowers, gaillardia, perennial asters, sneezewccd, bpltonia, goldcnrods, brown-eyed susans, the pur- 

 ple, pink, and yellow coneflowcrs. The secret charm of all these flowers is that each is a miniature edition of the prairie. flow 

 Why not have a "prairie garden" composed largely of these flowers and those mentioned on page 26? Let us make a The 

 refuge for these disappearing flowers a border of pjairie flowers in every Illinois homel 



82 Coneflowers in an Eastern Garden 



This shows that the millionaires cultivate what we have 

 been taught to ignore or despise. Many of our prairie 

 flowers have found their way into the gardens of the world. 

 They will look better here than in any other country, 

 when every Illinois home has an Illinois border. 



83. Shall We Yield to the East in Appreciating Beauty? 



Look at these Illinois or prairie roses planted along an eastern drive, covering raw banks more cheaply than grass, and edging the road to the exclusion of weeds! Is there beauty 

 here, or can we see beauty only in bedding plants? Are we so uncultured that we can enjoy only rare, costly, showy, foreign, artificial things nothing simple, natural, common? We 

 have nearly exterminated our unique prairie flowers; let us bring them back to every Illinois home! We have blindly copied the rest of the world, bestrewing our fair lawns with stars 

 of cpleus and circles of cannas; let us have a style of our own! Let us know and love every wild plant within a mile of our homes, discover its peculiar beauty, and cudgel our imagi- 

 nations for nobler ways of using the Illinois trees, shrubs, and flowers! 



