I n t r o d ii c t o r y 

 of the exact varieties of bulbs which will yield most profusely and 

 for the longest time, so that we very frequently find a home-made 



garden beautiful in spring, half blooming in summer, and bar- 

 ren in the autumn. It is to correct just such faults as these that a 

 landscape architect is employed, and in considering the selection 

 of the landscape architect to write this volume of the "Livable 

 House" series. Miss Dean was chosen because of her very wide 

 familiarity with the problem of planting with regard to its ulti- 

 mate effect and her great success in work around small houses, as 

 well as in larger work. She has achieved especial success in the 

 treatment of the house garden, both in informal and in formal 

 ways, and the admirable manner in which she has used native 

 shrubs in combination has tended to give her work a more quiet 

 and less exotic character than that of many of the other members 

 of her profession. Added to this is the fact that her training has 

 been under men who represented rather extreme differences of 

 opinion in regard to landscape work, so that she has been led to 

 perceive the valuable qualities of the several types of land- 

 scape architecture and is able to apply to any particular problem 

 the solution which best fits it. As training of this kind leads an 

 artist to a more generous appreciation of the whole field of his 

 or her work, a book written by such hands will deal in a more 

 broadminded and generous way with all schools of design, than 

 would one written by a person whose training had been acquired 

 in a certain definite and limited field. Miss Dean has in addi- 

 tion the very valuable faculty of being able to think clearly and 

 express her thoughts simply, so that the results of her knowledge 



[ix] 



