THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Fig. No. 1575.— The Open-Centered Yard, 



Flowers should be accessories —The 

 main planting of any place should be of 

 trees and shrubs. The flowers are then 

 used as decorations. They may be 

 thrown in freely about the borders of 

 the place, not in beds in the center of 

 the lawn. They show off better when 

 seen against a back-ground : this back- 

 ground may be foliage, a building, a 

 rock, or a fence. 



Where to plant flowers is really more 

 important than what to plant. In front 

 of bushes, in the corner by the steps, 

 against the foundation of the residence 

 or outhouse, along a fence or a walk,— 

 these are places for flowers. A single 

 petunia plant against a background of 

 foliage is worth a dozen similar plants in 

 the centre of the lawn. Too many 

 flowers make a place over-gaudy. Too 

 much paint may spoil the eff'ect of a 

 good building. The decoration of a 

 yard, as of a house, should be dainty. 



The open centered yard may be a 

 picture ; the promiscuously planted yard 

 may be a nursery, or a forest. A little 

 color scattered in here and there puts 

 the finish to the picture. A dash of 

 color gives spirit and character to the 

 brook or pond, to the ledge of rocks, to 

 the old stump, or to the pile of rubbish. 



A flower garden. — But the person 

 may want a flower garden. Very well ; 

 that is a different matter. It is not 

 primarily a question of decoration of the 



yard, but of growing flowers for flowers' 

 sake. It is not the furnishing of a 

 house, but the collecting of interesting 

 and beautiful furniture. The flower 



Fig. No. 



1576. — A Dainty Edging of 

 Flowers. 



garden, therefore, should be at one side 

 of the residence or at the rear ; for it is 

 not allowable to spoil a good lawn even 

 with flowers. The size of the garden 

 and the things to be grown in it must 

 be determined by the likes of the person 

 and the amount of time and land at his 

 disposal ; but a good small garden is 

 much more satisfactory than a poor large 

 garden. Prepare the land thoroughly, 

 fertilize it, resolve to take care of it, 

 select the kind of plants you like ; then 

 go ahead. 



Plants for screens, — Many annual 



plants make effective screens, and covers 



for unsightly places. Wild cucumber 



(or echinocystis), cobea, and sweet peas 



146 



