October Looking Forward 



border full of delightful flowers that cost little, or a 

 border of no greater charm filled with flowers that 

 cost very much more. One of the chief delights of 

 gardening is that the limited expenditure of one may 

 produce just as charming a garden as the lavish outlay 

 of another, providing it is dispensed discriminatingly. 

 Often enough, the only difference is that the latter 

 buys new plants, while the former is content with 

 those that are common. They are not less attractive 

 on that account, and, in fact, are often to be preferred ; 

 their worth has been proved by long cultivation, 

 while novelties are often lauded to an extent that 

 is not justified by their subsequent behaviour in the 

 garden. 



If it is somewhat expensive to start gardening, how 

 cheap to continue, if only one takes advantage of 

 opportunities, as they occur, of augmenting the stock 

 of flowers that are cherished. Those hardy plants of 

 greatest value for display usually grow vigorously, and 

 in the course of a season or two may be increased to 

 any extent. The secret of successful plant growing, 

 upon which gardening is chiefly dependent, lies in 

 thorough initial soil preparation and in timely atten- 

 tion. Haphazard spade work, and doing things at the 

 wrong time, are the chief reasons why so many complain 

 that their gardening is expensive. To pursue gardening 

 with pleasure one needs also, perhaps to an unusual 

 degree, to possess the virtue of patience. It is a 

 common and, I thinly, a natural failing with those who 

 take possession of a new garden to strive for immediate 

 effects, though the results are invariably disappointing 

 and the methods inevitably expensive. A garden that 

 is planned and planted to a design hastily conceived 

 rarely pleases ; until one has come to know the garden, 

 one is not in a position to decide how it may be filled 

 to the best advantage. It has been said that one 

 should see the year round before planting anything at 



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