2 Hardy Plants for Cottage Gardens 



my effort to assemble in a limited area the choice varieties of 

 hardy shrubs, perennials and annuals offered by our best 

 nurserymen, and to arrange them so as to have a succession 

 of bloom of pure color in each separate bed throughout the 

 season. I am not so far removed from my mistakes as to have 

 forgotten the way to final success. That my garden blooms 

 and flourishes to-day is due wholly to indomitable perseverance 

 and untiring energy; for I represented the average woman, 

 who wants flowers but lacks knowledge and experience in 

 their culture. The average woman seldom knows what she 

 wants, and she has neither an unlimited purse nor a corps of 

 trained assistants at her command. While she hopes to ac- 

 complish great things with the aid of her one man-of-all-work 

 or perhaps none, she is bewildered by the array of scientific 

 names in the catalogues, for the florists make no concessions 

 to her ignorance by listing plants under their common names; 

 so, after a brief and unsatisfactory survey of catalogues, she 

 returns to her initial thought which has hovered about some 

 familiar flowers, dear from association; or, perhaps, if of 

 bolder spirit, something seen and admired in another's garden. 

 Whatever the original impulse is, it results almost invariably 

 in a few nasturtiums, marigolds, zinnias, or other easy, short 

 cuts to a mass of color. 



If successful with these indestructible plants, her enthu- 

 siasm grows and she reaches out cautiously toward larger 

 operations; but with the best intentions at heart, there is much 

 that an ardent purpose will not supply; it is not enough to 

 know the botanical names of desirable plants one must 

 know their manner of growth, height, time of blooming, exact 

 color, special requirements of soil and moisture, and a hun- 

 dred et ceteras of vital importance. Such has been my ex- 

 perience and I know the bitterness of defeated hopes, and 

 have seen summers culminate in failures due to my ignorance, 



