EPOCHS OF THE FORMAL GARDEN 



love to linger — a thrifty, fragrant, unvarying circle un- 

 til the late frost. 



On three sides of the garden the ten feet of border 

 are given over to perennials with only the necessary 

 number of annuals to fill empty places. With curious 

 pleasure we greet the first red fingers of the peonies as 

 they push upward to the light in early May, and how 

 effective in the garden a month later are their great 

 globes of dark red, rose, and white! Beneath their 

 spreading leaves hide lily bulbs which later in the sea- 

 son burst into curving chalices of Oriental incense. 

 Nicotiana too reminds one of some Eastern odalisque 

 as she lifts her drooping head toward evening, opens 

 her starry eyes and anoints herself with choicest per- 

 fumes for the night-moth's coming. Hers is not the 

 olive beauty of the Orient, hers is the fairness of the 

 Georgian maid, pure white or blushing deeply under 

 too ardent a regard. 



Whenever I think of the most beautiful blue flower 

 in the world, the Chinese larkspur with its delicate 

 stem of quivering blooms comes to my mind. Such 



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