GARDENS OF FEW FLOWERS 



One of the most pleasing hardy gardens that I 

 have seen was planned by a young girl on a bit of ground 

 twenty-five feet wide by forty feet long, and amusingly 

 termed a sample garden. In its center there was a 

 bed surrounded by a path of turf which in its turn was 

 bordered by four triangular beds, their hypothenuses 

 being shaped as segments of a circle. These beds 

 were also surrounded by narrow grass paths, while 

 the entire space was then outlined by a flower bed of 

 about three feet wide. The entrance to this garden 

 was through an arch covered with hardy rose climbers, 

 while several outstanding shrubs connected it with 

 the landscape. Tall perennials were used to fill the 

 outer, surrounding bed, while the triangular spaces 

 and the central bed were reserved for lower and some- 

 what choicer flowers. 



But the charm of this garden rested not in its de- 

 sign, which nevertheless was simple and good, nor in its 

 suitability to its location. It was found in the fact 

 that too much had not been attempted, and that it 

 was undeniably a garden of few kinds of flowers. 

 Besides the bulbous plants, irises, columbines, daphnes, 

 perennial baby's breath, alyssum saxatile, cornflowers, 

 phloxes, delphiniums, snapdragons, stocks, coreopsis, 

 perennial asters, and hardy chrysanthemums formed 

 its principal members. As a whole, it gave a pleasure 

 similar to that of a well-arranged bouquet. It lent 

 beauty to the earth and supplied a wealth of flowers 

 for cutting. 



None of its members, besides, were plants that 

 required particular petting or attention. Had pansies 



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