THE FORMAL GARDEN 



positively detest. Zinnias, except the burnt orange and yellow 

 varieties, I can not endure. Neither have I any patience with the 

 weak-backed asters that can not stand the least rain, but hang 

 down their mud-bespattered faces ; nor with the sickly ageratums, 

 even the best of which fail so utterly to live up to their title of blue. 



We get a world of entertainment trying experiments in this 

 little garden. For the four small beds we want something that 

 will be a mass of blossom from June to frost, and that is not so easy 

 to find. We agreed to put petunias in one bed, they are so fragrant, 

 and the " rosy dawn " variety is a lovely clear pink. Of course, 

 they will sprawl over the edge late in the season and grow a little 

 yellow and brown through the middle, but altogether they are quite 

 satisfactory and require no snipping. 



Every year I say I will not have another of those careless 

 china pinks, but every Spring when I see their cheerful faces and 

 clear bright colors I succumb, and that is the end of my leisure. 

 With care which means at least an hour a day without a break 

 in snipping off dead blossoms, these also last until the frost. 



The other two beds have had many tenants. Yellow is ray 

 favorite color, and one bed of that tint we must have. One year 

 the golden-ball chrysanthemums bloomed from the fifth of 

 June to the eleventh of August, when the rain demolished them. 

 Nothing could have been more glowing than this mass of yellow 

 flowers and finely cut green leaves. They require much care, 

 for they must not be allowed to go to seed. Another year the 



California poppy outshone the sun most of the summer through; 



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