PLANNING A GARDEN ON PAPER 



Don't Plant in Haste to Repent at Leisure. — Under such 

 circumstances it is hardly possible that the planting is done 

 otherwise than in haste, and planting in haste is repented at 

 leisure. The selection is made hurriedly, the result of a rapid 

 visit to a near-by nursery, or at haphazard from a catalogue, 

 or from a vague remembrance of what some one else has 

 planted; the position of the shrubs and trees is determined 

 only when the plants themselves are lying on the ground with 

 roots exposed, and the laborer, shovel in one hand, plant in 

 the other, pauses to inquire: "Where shall I put it, ma'am?" 



One can't make the inside furnishings of a house individual 

 and instinct with the personahty of the owner, as every house 

 ought to be, by a single hasty descent upon a department 

 store; nor, "by the same token," can the surroundings of a 

 house — ^the garden — ^be arranged by a like proceeding. It is 

 because of this hasty selection and planting that so many 

 lawns look like bargain-counters in assorted shrubbery, though 

 their owners really "know better." The worst of hurried 

 buying is that it prevents more careful choosing. 



Unless all has been carefully planned, it is far better to be 

 content for the first summer with temporary, inexpensive 

 planting. One can have an abundance of flowers by the sow- 

 ing of annuals, enough to last from mid-June until frost; 

 while the permanent planting — that is, trees and shrubs and 

 hardy perennials, which when once set in the ground are sup- 

 posed to stay "put" — may be left until the autumn. 



Landscape-gardeners can make plans in January, but the 

 amateur is much more likely to know whether or not he wants 

 a forsythia when he sees a shrub as golden as a patch of sun- 

 light on a neighbor's lawn than when its brown branches 

 alone are in evidence. 



Therefore, instead of buying, look around and plan. If 



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