CHAPTER III 

 LAYING OUT THE FLOWER GARDEN 



THE initial step toward laying out a flower gar- 

 den is to make up your mind not as to the kind 

 that you want but the kind that you ought to have. 

 Although this sounds heart-breaking, it is not so 

 bad after all; it is only a matter of adjusting the 

 mental attitude. 



Of course, the kind of garden that you ought to 

 have is the one that is best in the circumstances. 

 In the first place, as has already been said, it should 

 bear a relationship to the house. This does not 

 mean that a house wholly impossible, or only half- 

 way bad, ought to have those qualities duplicated 

 in the garden; nothing could be more senseless 

 than that. It does mean that there should be a 

 certain harmony, if not actual correspondence, of 

 character. True, there might easily be the sort 

 of planning that would so isolate the garden as to 

 shut it out completely from any picture of the 

 house. This would satisfy the passerby, and your 

 neighbor; but how about you? Do you not want 

 to feel that there is a certain homogeneity of at- 

 mosphere? Well, you ought to if you do not. If 



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