GARDENS NEAR THE SEA 



cheery thing in the garden from June until killed by 

 the frost. It is not a tall plant, but very useful to fill 

 in places behind low plants that are used for edging. 



Among favorites of old gardens that have not been 

 routed from their places are the foxgloves, Digitalis, 

 doing best in cool, partly shaded places, yet also bloom- 

 ing freely when facing the full sun. They open at 

 the time of peonies and sweet williams, before the 

 garden is yet aglow with the July burst of color. 



Foxgloves, like Canterbury bells, are hardy bien- 

 nials. Every year their seed should be sown in April 

 in the shaded part of the seedbed, and, when the plants 

 are found to be well grown, about the middle of July, 

 they should be transplanted to some other tranquil 

 place of rich soil, where they many continue their 

 growth until the autumn. They will then be ready 

 to set permanently in the garden proper, and can be 

 expected to blossom in the following June. The stalks 

 they then send up will probably reach their maximum 

 height of about three feet, and their flowers will 

 approach a pleasing state of perfection. 



The improved strains of foxgloves produce flowers 

 closely suggesting gloxinias in size, depth, and beauty 

 of markings. I like best the white and the yellow 

 ones, and next to them those of purple and pale lilac, 

 the colors generally known. When planted in clumps 

 through the garden, the white foxgloves have as dig- 

 nified a look as the spire of a church looming above a 

 country village. It must be admitted, however, that 

 the foliage of these plants is coarse and unattractive. 



Canterbury bells, associated closely with foxgloves 



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