16 MY GROWING GARDEN 



may have a succession of bloom all through the 

 spring and summer. Certain old flower friends 

 must meet me in the garden, but its invisible gate 

 shall be barred against that gross hydrangea, the 

 flowers of which hang on untU the once white 

 panicles blush into dirty pink and turn a corpse- 

 like green, and which is planted as if it was the 

 only shrub available in America. I will have 

 hydrangeas, but the worth-while ones only — ^the 

 plain paniculata and the oak-leaved one; the 

 beautiful radiata, with its leaves silvered beneath; 

 and the showy form of arborescens which loves 

 half-shade and blooms early. 



I shall prefer for admission here the native 

 shrubs, and especially those native to Pennsyl- 

 vania. Of course it will not do to overlook some 

 of the fine exotics that the plant-collectors have 

 sent us from over the seas, particularly from Japan 

 and China, like certain snowballs and spireas; but 

 I want the home place to reflect the home state. 

 Those dogwoods and red-buds wiU be of "Penn's 

 Woods," surely enough; and the great old syca- 

 more which distinguishes the place is a native tree, 

 naturally planted. The arborvitses belong to the 

 Atlantic coast, and these white pines and hem- 

 locks are of the hills and valleys of this state, 

 reminiscent to me of my summer home at lovely 



