The Arrangement of a Flov^er Garden^ 



M. E. Blacklock, Toronto 



THERE are certain underlying prin- 

 ciples that make for beauty, and 

 having due regard for them, we can 

 each work out our own ideas, and not 

 be mere servile imitators of others. Very 

 many people have exquisite flowers, in 

 endless variety — very few people have 

 really beautiful gardens. A great deal 

 more depends on the laying out of a gar- 

 den than on what is grown in it. Two "or 

 three shrubs and a clump of hollyhocks, 

 if well placed, may give the greatest 

 pleasure and satisfaction to the owner, 

 and to every passer-by, but, if the shrubs 

 are dotted over the lawn, and the holly- 

 hocks planted in a straight row, while 

 you might admire the individual flow- 

 ers, the effect would be irriitating to 

 any one with any artistic feelings. A 

 clear central space is needed in order to 

 see things with a little distance to add to 

 the enchantment, and, planting in 

 straight rows is the least beautiful way 

 of growing flowers. 



What is true of shrubs being dotted 

 over a lawn, is equally true of flower 

 beds. If one has a very small lot, the 

 temptation to increase the garden's ca- 

 pacity in this way is a very natural one, 

 but it is far better to increase the width 

 of one's borders and leave the central 

 space for grass. The small lot of, say, 

 twenty by fifty feet long, does not give 

 room for many shrubs, but two or three 

 should go in at the end of the lot, or if 

 there has to be a small plot for vegeta- 

 bles, of, say, twenty feet square, at the 

 end, then place your shrubs to hide the 

 vegetable garden, and they will at the 

 same time, form a back-ground for some 

 of the flowers. 



CHOICE 8HEUBS 



A very difficult matter it would be, to 

 choose three shrubs, and three only, but 

 my first choice would be a Persian lilac — 

 they are so graceful in growth and so 

 prodigal of their gerat fragrant plumes 

 of purple bloom — this I would put in 

 the far corner. My next choice would be 

 a rugosa rose (preferably a pale pink 

 one) which would flower more or less all 

 summer, after the wealth of June blos- 

 soms were past, and with its decorative 

 rose apples and the glory of its autumn 

 foliage, would be a constant source of 

 joy to its owner. Spiraea Van Houttei 

 would be the next best to have. If the 

 lot were mine, small as it might be, I 

 should add another lilac or two along the 

 side, either "Marie Legraye" single 

 white, or "Mad. Casimir Perrier" dou- 

 bel white, and the dark purple "Congo" 

 with its huge flowers." 



CLOTHING THE FENCES 



The fences are the next important 



part to clothe. We have for the shady 



side the wild clematis (C. Virginica), 



•A portion of a paper read at the convention 

 of the Ontario Horticultural Association in Tor- 

 onto last month. 



the climbing bitter-sweet {Celastrui scan- 

 dens) and the other bitter-sweet with 

 purple blossoms (Solanuni Dulcamara) 

 and the moon-seed (Menispernum Cana- 

 dense) to choose from, also the good old 

 Virginia creeper. These will all grow 

 readily in fact, they will grow in either 

 sun or shade, provided they have enough 

 moisture at their roots. But honeysuck- 

 les (Loniceras) of all kinds prefer a sun- 

 nv spot and so does the trumpet vine, 

 and the new and charming Polygonum 

 baldschiianicum, with its slightly rose- 

 tinted buckwheat-like flowers. The 

 homely old scarlet runner is a vine not 

 to be despised in certain positions, (and 

 its delicious beans add usefulness to its 

 other good qualities) ; this with nastur- 

 tiums and morning glories form a trio of 

 annual vines that are not fastidious and 

 will grow for any one. 



THE BOBDEES 



With a good background of shrubs 

 and vines, the borders almost arrange 

 themselves. Plant your flowers where 

 they are most likely to do well and, in 

 nine cases out of ten, you will have them 

 where they will look their best. For 

 instance, the majority of lilies like their 

 roots to be kept cool ; therefore, put 

 them were shrubs will give them a par- 

 tial shade. Note the effect of lilies with 

 shrubs for a background, and lilies plant- 

 ed in a bed by themselves in the open, 

 and you will see how much more effec- 

 tiev are the ones where the green back- 

 ground throws out their loveliness. A 

 good large clump of Madonna lilies (L. 

 candidum) in such a position, will rouse 

 even the dullest clod to admiration. Pop- 

 pies, on the contrary, like a sunny spot 

 open to the passing breeze, which seems 

 to love to wave their petals — and how 

 gorgeous they look in such a position ! 

 So it is with other things. Nature seems 

 to have specially designed them for cer- 

 tain places and though we may have suc- 

 ceeded in making them grow under dif- 

 ferent conditions, like the iris, which is 

 naturally a water-side plant, and yet we 

 see it flourishing in a dry sandy border, 

 but we must own that it never shows 

 off its beauty to such perfection as when 

 it adorns the sides of a little slow run- 

 ning stream or is mirrored in the smooth 

 waters of a pond. 



In laying out your borders if you will 

 only give up the "two by four" effect of 

 straight lines, you will add immensely 

 to the appearance of your garden. If 

 you will think of your lawn as being a 

 small lake, with vegetation of various 

 kinds coming down to its edges — you can 

 see in your mind's eye the kind if irregu- 

 larities that would form an attractive 

 picture, — which you can carry out in 

 miniature. A lake never has an abso- 

 lutely straight shore line, — there are 



points jutting out here and there which 

 form little bays, these will probably have 

 bullrushes, or iris or some sword-leaved 

 or arrow-leaved plants for their adorn- 

 injut, and so we get two ideas from our 

 impginings, a curving "shore line" (as 

 II were) and the wonderful effects to be 

 had from contrasting leaf forms and hab- 

 its of growth. 



You can have a beautiful garden, rest- 

 fiu in the extreme, with but few flowers 

 in bloorr at any one time in it, if — and I 

 must acknowledge it is a big "if" — you 

 study the growth, form, texture and col- 

 oring of your shrubs and plants, so as 

 to make the straight lines (it may be) of 

 Oii-^;, enhance the beautiful curves of an- 

 other. For example, take the tall sword- 

 shaped grey-green leaves of the water 

 flag (Iris pseudacorus) grown near the 

 beautiful arching leaves of richest green, 

 of the lemon lily (or any other Hemero- 

 callis) and observe the result; again, note 

 how the dark, glossy deeply-cleft leaves 

 of Fischer's monkshood (Aconitum^ 

 Fischeri) act as a foil to the light green, 

 much grooved leaves of the white day 

 lily, {Funkia subcordata var. grandi- 

 flora) ; and still again notice the dainty 

 beauty of the fine stemmed, cleanly cut, 

 crimson-tinted leaves of the barrenwort 

 overhanging a velvety grey carpet of 

 mouse-ear chickweed (Cerastium tomen- 

 tosum). And so it is with shrubs and 

 trees. The somewhat gushing grace- 

 fulness of Van Houtte's spirea suggests 

 companionship with the stronger, more 

 reticent lilac — the one we can fancy talks, 

 while the other listens quietly. 



If you are the happy possessor of a 

 large lot, there are endless possibilities 

 before you. You can indulge in shrubs 

 to your heart's content, and have plenty 

 of room for bold groups of tall stately 

 plants, such as foxgloves, hollyhocks, 

 delphiniums, plume poppies, giant 

 daisies, boltonias, heleniums, sunflowers, 

 and so forth, which with vines and shrubs 

 form a background for things of shorter 

 growth such as peonies, iris, phloxes, 

 campanulas, spireas, etc., down to dwarf 

 plants like the polyanthus, primrose and 

 daisy. 



No border can be perfect without a plen- 

 tiful supply of prostrate plants to carpet 

 the ground. The earth itself is not par- 

 ticularly beautiful, therefore the less seen 

 of it the better and if you put small 

 plants of the white rock cress (Arabis 

 albida), both double and single, golden- 

 tuft {Alyssutn sexatile), white moss pink 

 {Phlox subulata alba), lovely phlox (P. 

 anioera), a lovely rose color, Veronica 

 prostrata, sky blue, mouse-ear chick- 

 weed and the moss-like compact variety 

 of cerastium (C arvense compactum) 

 white, alpine catchfly (Silene alpestris), 

 white maiden pink (Dianthus deltoides), 



