278 



The Country Hous< 



culties attending the changing of trees, shrubs and hedges, is more flexible in 

 the fact that yearly planting of flowers makes radical changes possible without 



an overthrow of the whole garden 

 scheme. Every one of us, be he 

 Christian or heathen, should offer up 

 one prayer of gratitude for the blessing 

 he receives in the flowers. There are 

 few too - depraved not to appreciate 

 them, and there are few too honest to 

 steal them if a favourable opportunity 

 presents itself. This general love of 

 flowers has imparted to the American 

 garden its greatest source of beauty and 

 charm its one human touch. Even 

 with flowers, however, the results of 

 poor planting w r ill render less than use- 

 less a good and valuable agent in the 

 general harmony of colour. 



While trees and hedges (not flower- 

 ing) should be considered from the 

 point of their size and shape, they 

 usually count as being permanent green 

 motives in the general design. There 

 are, of course, instances where variations 

 of colours, both in leaf and a limited 

 period of bloom, may well be con- 

 sidered. It is the flower, however, that 

 requires the most careful study. Added 

 to all ordinary considerations of the tree and 

 hedge are those of colour, quality and length, 

 season of bloom, as well as the proportion of colour 

 in contact with possible foliage. With these many 

 varying and passing agents it is desired to construct 

 not only a colour scheme that shall be harmonious 

 for the entire season, but an able accessory which 

 shall preserve both the lines and contour of the 

 planting. It stands to reason then that the suc- 

 cessful gardener must know just a little of flowers 

 and their ways, and that he who has only a general 

 knowledge is doomed to certain failure. 



As it is largely a scheme that is desired, and 

 also as such scheme w r ith all its variations is hard 

 to carry in one's head, the best method would be 

 to make a colour plan for each month of the 

 flowering period, which should show the propor- 

 at "Mtxweii court" tionate areage of the blossoms to foliage and 



Garden eate at Glen Ridge, N. J. 

 H. Van Buren Magonigle, architect 



