GARDENS NEAR THE SEA 



Aster Novce-Anglice is the one best known, growing 

 in the wild beside golden-rod, and along the roadsides, 

 where it makes the gardener pause to wonder whether 

 he cannot duplicate the wonderful autumn effects 

 of nature. In fact, I have seen such wild planting 

 successfully imitated in front of the boundary fences of 

 a large estate. Many varieties of local asters were 

 there intermingled with golden-rod, while the stone 

 fences behind them were covered with Virginia creepers, 

 traveler's joy, and other native vines. Their colors 

 blended most subtly with the autumn sky and atmos- 

 phere; no planting could have given less care or 

 pleased the senses more. 



Among the feverfews there are those that serve 

 as border plant, Pyrethrum parthenifolium aureum, or 

 golden feather, being the favorite for this purpose. 

 There is as well the giant daisy, P. uliginosum, which, 

 while lifting high its head, throws out a mass of deli- 

 cate white flowers lasting well throughout the autumn. 

 As they complete the fine leafage of the tall stems and 

 move with the slightest breeze, they seem as soft and 

 active as the foam of the sea. In the boats of the accom- 

 panying illustration (plate Iv.) they show their lack of 

 terror at its nearness, and give charm to a spot that 

 might otherwise be most desolate. I have known them 

 to defy the first frosts as stanchly as do the hardy 

 chrysanthemums. 



Without these latter plants, no garden has its 

 just membership. They are the ones that apparently 

 hold back the winter. I recall one row of old-fashioned 

 hardy chrysanthemums that regularly lift their bloom 



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