Winter 



141 



benches, and a table — then get into the habit of loitering there 

 an hour daily, during the sunniest time of day. 



All plants have a winter beauty quite as distinctly their own 

 as the flowers which they bear in summer. Observation and 

 study of them in winter alone will teach it — for it is brought out 

 or obscured very often by the plant 's situation and surroundings. 

 In developing a garden, aim to find out what particular quality 

 each plant depends on for this winter charm. Learn to look at 

 winter landscapes as having something positive to offer — and 

 to look at plants in winter undress as likewise having a positive 

 beauty, and not the merely negative, dead-and-gone-to-seed 

 aspect which long habit has made us associate with them. Then, 

 having found this beauty, group and arrange the garden to bring 

 it out to its best advantage. 



Generally speaking, a group that is pleasing in summer will 

 not be bad in winter, though this may not follow if the work 

 is highly artificial. The final test of garden and gardener, is 

 the test of winter. Truly good work will be good in winter, 

 with no unsightly winter armament guarding delicate interlopers, 

 to disfigure the picture. For, when all is said and done, that is 

 the last word in gardening, whether it is realistic or foj-mal; it 

 builds a picture. Whether it is a picture that lies under a 

 mantle of snow, or under the staid brown of autumn, or under 

 the radiant green of young spring, should not matter; the 

 picture quality must be there. If it is, no season can take it 

 away. 



List of Plants 



shrubs for briu.iant winter effect 

 I — Rosa lucida (or R. humilis, lucida): wild rose; six feet high; 

 showy clusters of crimson fruits on bright red stems, con- 



