FLOWERS IN THE LITTLE GARDEN 



As I write the title of this chapter, I think to myself that there 

 could not be a sweeter phrase than this. These five words are 

 instantly five "magic casements," giving upon beauty. Ideas in 

 endless variety, form, and color leap to the mind, as one nears 

 this subject; so many kinds of arrangements of flowers in groups, 

 and such varied loveliness to be produced by that strong, steady 

 force we call nature, from year's end to year's end, flash to the 

 pen that dips into imagination as weU as ink. The subject be- 

 wilders a little at flrst. 



Therefore, let us take this topic as we would plan the little 

 garden, with a degree of order. The main divisions will, of course, 

 be informal and formal flower-planting; and because I have 

 grown, in a number of years of gardening, to like informal less 

 than formal, let us take the former first and have done with it. 

 Yet this is not to say that I see no virtue in informal planting. 

 Not at all. It is only that, because of the clear dividing of areas 

 in the formal plan, I see waste averted; and to the beginner in 

 gardening I should particularly commend the order, balance, 

 symmetry, and economy given by a design which shall throw his 

 whole ground, his house, and his garden, into the best relation to 

 each other and to what is about the entire property. 



As we consider the informal planting of flowers, it is necessary 

 to take for granted an informal planting of shrubs about the 

 house, the borders of the place, and at the back rather heavier 

 masses of shrubbery for purposes of screening-out or inclosing. 

 While all such shrubs are young, flower-planting in front of them 

 will be delightfully simple and reassuring; but as they grow in 



