Our Home. 317 



head for beauty of flower. With them we have azaleas. But 

 these are rather expensive and require considerable care. For 

 beauty of foliage and flowers, too, with little care two shrubs stand 

 at the head hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, and the wiegelia 

 rosea nana variegata. The different altheas (rose of Sharon), and 

 spireas are among our best shrubs. The prettiest pair of little 

 dwarf shrubs, we have are spirea bumaldi and spirea collosa alba. 

 One has delicate pink flowers and the other white. For yellow- 

 leafed shrubs for contrast, we have the Philadelphus aurea and 

 spirea opulifolia aurea. The first is small and neat, the latter 

 large and rather coarse, but good color. We have two more beds 

 that are particularly fine. One is eight feet in diameter (round), 

 and has one plant of helianthus multiflorus plenus in centre, and 

 five around in a circle. With rich land and high culture these 

 make a fine show. They live over in the ground, but need divid- 

 ing every spring. Last year we put a dozen plants in a bed. 

 They were too thick. This year they are grand, filling the bed solid 

 now (August) with foliage and beautiful yellow flowers as much 

 again as any dahlia, and three or four inches across. With good 

 care this makes a striking bed for the lawn at small cost, and the 

 flowers keep coming out for a long time. Of course, these flowers, 

 and all others, should be cut as soon as they begin to fade, and 

 not allowed to go to seed. 



The other bed costs more, both in care and for plants. It is 

 about eight feet in diameter, also, round and exceedingly rich. 

 In the centre are four cannas, discolor gigantea, and then around 

 them are eight cannas (Dr. Gromier),and lastly around the out- 

 side twelve plants of caladium esculentum. We get the plants of 

 a nursery each year, about June i not till hot weather. They 

 want no tillage, as roots grow right at surface, but mulch top 

 with manure, and water almost daily, and often pour liquid 

 manure under them, and the growth in hot weather will be 

 wonderful. I have never seen a bed in Cleveland that was as 

 showy as ours. The centre is about seven feet high now 

 (August i ^th), and enormous leaves. The bed is almost a per- 

 fect oval. But these tropical plants want great quantities of water, 

 manure, and heat. Many people drove down from town to see 

 this bed last season. We had thirty-six plants in it then, but 

 fewer seem to do as well . It would be a wonder to many what a 

 number of great beautiful leaves of different colors can be crowded 

 into so small a compass. The bulbs cost about ten cents each, by 

 express. We have not tried to keep them over. 



Of course, we have a bed of geraniums every year, and 

 numerous other flowers, but we are depending mainly on hardy 

 perennials like the phlox, helianthus, peony, etc., and flowering 

 and foliage shrubs. The Gaillardia grandiflora we find a beau- 

 tiful perennial flower, and then there are the odd Yucca and 

 hyacinthus candicans, and the gold banded lily of Japan, all 



