RHODODENDRON ALBUM GRAND1FLORUM 



A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 



T must be remembered that my experience has been with a 

 more western civilization, and some of my remarks may not 

 have much force addressed to so enlightened a gardening 

 community as that of Boston and its suburbs. Yet I am told 

 there are some people in v this neighborhood who persist, and 

 at considerable outlay and trouble, in using thousands of 

 tender bedding plants to make poor representations of 

 inanimate objects. If this is true they cannot make the plea 

 of not knowing better, for all about them are many of the 

 best and most tasteful gardens in America splendid exam- 

 ples of garden schemes in which the so-called bedding plants 

 cut little or no figure. 



There has been so much written and said on the subject, 

 and the great advantages of gardening with hardy plants and 

 shrubs are so apparent, as compared with tender bedding plants, that it 

 seems a waste of time and words to make any argument in favor of one 

 and against the other; but the argument is needed as much as ever, for 

 it is an undeniable fact that nine-tenths of the ornamental gardening in 

 America is still done with a few commonplace and uninteresting bedding 



