34 Hardy Plants for Cottage Gardens 



I shall not attempt an enumeration of the things I tried that 

 second summer, for the general results of my eight years' ex- 

 perience are given in the Appendix; and it is a matter of no 

 consequence what I began with, or when I attacked the deli- 

 cate question of bulbs and lilies, when I planted shrubs, when 

 I was fired with a desire for roses. Sufficient to say that each 

 year I have followed some central thought; and if one has a 

 catholic taste, it is inevitable that he will thirst for new posses- 

 sions each year: but, do not add more than can be cared for 

 properly; for even a plant should have the right of Christian 

 burial. 



With this addition sprang up the idea of maintaining pure 

 color in my garden; so one bed was devoted to blue and white 

 flowers, another to pink, another to pure red and another to 

 yellow. Several were uncertain and mixed in color, experi- 

 ment stations as it were, and one I called my Isolation Hos- 

 pital, where unknown things were set out until their speech 

 should bewray them. 



The results of that second summer were so-so. Some 

 things were glorious in their bloom; among them were the 

 hollyhock, Lilium auratum, yellow day lily, Agrostemma codi 

 rosa, garden heliotrope (Valeriana officinalis) rose colored 

 sweet-william, cornflower, Cosmos, the ever-faithful nastur- 

 tiums, marigolds and calendula. I found it very difficult to 

 maintain my color scheme. Chance seeds of another color 

 would get in and flourish so vigorously that I had not the 

 heart to weed them out. The greatest struggle was and has 

 been to get a succession of bloom in the blue beds. I know the 

 height, the time of blooming, the manners and customs of in- 

 numerable blue flowers; I tear to pieces and reorganize year 

 after year those blue beds, making combinations that I be- 

 lieve will surely be successful; and they would be, except for 

 the fact that plants newly set sometimes sulk and will not 



