GARDENING EXPEDIENTS 



away back of some white spruces a number of 

 pots of the good geranium Mrs. E. G. Hill, 

 whose color, according to Ridgway, is appropri- 

 ately enough geranium pink. These, when set 

 among the foHage of plants which have done their 

 duty by the garden, give a look of gayety at once, 

 and help enormously to prolong the feehng of 

 summer which with each day becomes more dear. 

 Miss Jekyll it surely was who first suggested this 

 expedient, but I cannot at the moment give 

 chapter and verse. 



Not long ago a delightful defense of the ge- 

 ranium appeared in "The Point of View" in 

 "Scribner's Magazine": "The truth of the mat- 

 ter is, we can none of us get along without the 

 geranivmi. Or, if we do, we all of us suffer the 

 consequences of great empty crying holes in our 

 flower-beds. We all know how it is. During 

 May and June and part of July our gardens exult 

 in crowded ranks of glory upon glory. Most of 

 our temperamental flowers catch enthusiasm from 

 one another and have their fling all together. 

 The result is intoxicating while it lasts, but it is 

 followed by a disheartening midsummer slump. 

 Suddenly the mood changes, the petals fall, and 

 the color and the fragrance are gone. As dull 



199 



