56 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY 



The more we can get the people interested in plants and flowers 

 the better citizens we shall have. Playgrounds should be made 

 attractive with shrubbery and flowers so as to interest the children. 



This love for flowers and the beautiful is not confined to cities 

 and private individuals. The railroads are very much interested 

 now and they are spending large sums of money and in every way 

 trying to encourage this love of flowers and the beautiful by offer- 

 ing prizes to their employees for the best kept grounds, so in this 

 way gardening is spread right across the continent. With these 

 few words pointing out how the love of flowers is spreading through- 

 out this country let us turn to our subject — flowers. 



I have thought that very little attention has been paid to 

 having gardens for difi'erent seasons. That is to say spring gar- 

 dens, summer gardens, and autumn gardens. Many persons now- 

 adays have three separate places to live in at these three seasons 

 and I think that they would get much more pleasure if they filled 

 their gardens with plants that would bloom at a certain season 

 than to make beds and borders that will give continuous bloom 

 at the same time. I will try and give a list of plants that would 

 give good results at each of these seasons. But before giving lists 

 of plants let us first consider some of the essentials necessary to 

 have a pleasing and satisfactory garden. 



The first essential in making a garden of any kind is that the 

 person who is going to do the planting should not only know the 

 names of the plants, but the height, habit, and the color of the 

 flowers and foliage, and the most likely places they will grow in. 

 One also ought to have good taste in arranging the various plants 

 so that the flowers that are in bloom at any given time will group 

 well in form and color. It also requires study and forethought 

 to get the best and most suitable plants for the different seasons. 

 So, if we are to have beautiful gardens, the chief point we should 

 keep in mind is to use the plants with careful selection and definite 

 purpose always aiming that they will make beautiful pictures. 

 Two borders and beds may contain the same number and kinds 

 of plants; the one may be planted in such a way that everything 

 is jarring, displeasing, and unrestful, while the other may be 

 planted with the same material, but in such a way that it makes 

 an impression of pleasing satisfaction, in fact it makes a series 



