February, 1912 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



31 



A Garden Where Difficulties Were Overcome 



AROSE in an Ottawa garden on the 

 twenty-first of October is not a 

 very common sight. Yet it was 

 on that date that Mr. G. A. White, of 

 Ottawa, the owner of the garden de- 

 scribed in this article, showed me a 

 beautiful rose which he had picked that 

 morning. It was a Caroline Testout — 

 literally the "last rose of summer," and 

 a beautiful one at that. About a month 

 earlier, just after a killing frost on Sep- 

 tember thirteenth, this same garden had 

 impressed me as being particularly in- 

 teresting for the time of the year. Many 

 of the autumn flowers formed impres- 

 sive masses of color, and even on Octo- 

 ber the twenty-first some of them still 

 remained as if loth to leave this snug 

 little garden to the reign of the frost 

 and the snow. .'Vmong these cheerful 

 friends of October were the beautiful 

 Japanese anemones, some fall asters, a 

 lingering clematis or two, a few unus- 

 ually fine chimney bellflowers, and a 

 beautiful little clump of fall chrysanthe- 

 mums. 



This garden was selected for descrip- 

 tion in this series of special articles in 

 The Canadi.an Horticultirist for at 

 least three reasons : The first, it is one 

 of the smallest of the noted gardens of 



P. E. Buck; B.S.A., C.E.F., Ottawa. 



Ottawa; the second, its soil and situa- 

 tion are quite ordinary — in fact, I am 

 given to understand that the soil is ex- 

 ceptionally poor; the third, the owner 

 has done all the work in this garden 

 himself. It is not, therefore, an ideal 

 garden which is too ideal for other 

 people to take as an inspiration to their 

 own efforts in gardening. 



And it is as well also to state here, 

 perhaps, that Mr. White does not own 

 the lot himself — he rents it only. Con- 

 sequently he has not been able to carry 

 out all his ideals along gardening lines. 

 In spite of this, the garden is one which 

 brings him great credit both as a gar- 

 dener and also as a citizen. 



The shape of the garden, as will be 

 seen from the sketch, is somewhat pe- 

 culiar. At the very beginning it offered 

 several problems for solution, and during 

 the twelve years or so that Mr. White 

 has worked at this garden, he has in- 

 troduced several features which are par- 

 ticularly pleasing. One of these feat- 

 ures, the most striking of all, perhaps, 

 is the wonderful rockery at the back. 

 The aim of the article is to emphasize 

 those points of excellence which may be 

 readily copied by others if they so wish. 

 This rockery, therefore, will have to be 



passed over in this article in a very brief 

 manner, because it is a piece of garden- 

 ing which is quite out of the ordinary. 

 Certainly it is unique and demonstrates 

 what may be done with a little ingenu- 

 ity and work. It is indicated on the 

 plan by the number twelve. When Mr. 

 White first went into the house this 

 rockery, which is now one of the most 

 beautiful sights imaginable during the 

 early spring and part of the summer, 

 was then an eyesore as well as a pro- 

 blem to deal with. It was nothing less 

 than a sandy bank some thirty feet high 

 covered with brush and weeds. By work 

 and patient effort all has been changed. 

 .\ number of rock-edged terraces and 

 zig-zag paths, built stepping-stone fash- 

 ion, form ideal spots for growing the 

 many rock loving plants and showy 

 masses of tulips which sparkle in their 

 unique surroundings with wonderful 

 color effect. Many thousands of tulip 

 bulbs are planted on this rockery each 

 year. The main rock loving plants also 

 grown here are given at the end of the 

 article. 



SUCCESSFUL IDEALS 



In the matter of gardening, as in the 

 matter of many other avocations which 

 people undertake as hobbies, it is not so 



A General View of Mr. G. A. White's Lawn and Garden, with the Houie in the Background 



This view shows the perennial border on the right of the pioture and bids of roses and perouiiiul phlox on the left. Notice also 

 how the a-ppearanoe of the house is improved andi its width apparently increased by the Judicious pLaDUig of a vinie-oovered arch. 



