February: Third Week 

 PLANS FOR THIS YEAR'S FLOWER GARDEN 



If it pays to plan the vegetable garden carefully because 

 of the greater efficiency that results, the careful planning 

 of the flower garden is of no less importance. The effective- 

 ness of your flower garden will depend more upon how you 

 arrange it than upon what goes into it. 



However, planning the flower garden is a process just the 

 reverse of planning the vegetable garden. With the vege- 

 tables your aim is to get as many as possible of them into the 

 space at your disposal. With the flowers, on the contrary, 

 you begin your plan by deciding definitely the result or the 

 picture you wish to create, and then select your materials 

 accordingly. Don't say to yourself: "I am going to have 

 two dozen pink geraniums, three dozen pansies, a hundred 

 asters and some of those beautiful new begonias from the 

 florist's; then there will be the castor-bean plants, the pinks 

 and the new hollyhocks and the other things we are starting 

 in the hot-bed where shall we put them?" Looking at it 

 the other way round, say to yourself, for instance: "What 

 would be a good thing to put there beyond the end of the 

 veranda, where the wing of the house makes a tall, blank 

 wall?" The answer may be hollyhocks or golden glow 

 (rudbeckia), or delphinium or helianthus, or any of several 

 other things. The point is that you want to be free to 

 make your choice first, and select the plants afterward, 

 rather than to get the plants and fit them in as best you 

 can. 



Creating an Appearance of Space 



In planning your flower beds you should go a step farther. 

 Remember that just as the flowers should be made a subor- 



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