THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 



follow in succession it is chiefly a question of suf- 

 ficient fertilizing, rather than of room or of light 

 and air, so far as the flowers and garden plants 

 are concerned. It is the weeds that this struggle 

 bears most heavily upon; for such thick and con- 

 stant cover as results from my scheme of planting 

 holds them down. It also holds moisture and 

 minimizes the necessity of cultivation, and thereby 

 I satisfy the second of the conditions which I 

 stated at the beginning. 



"A little thought will show that a garden main- 

 tained on the plan outlined is no place for an- 

 nuals or for most of the biennials. It is too 

 crowded for their development, and, moreover, 

 too much labor is involved in raising and renew- 

 ing them. For the same reasons perennials that 

 are diflScult, or that run out in a year or two, are 

 excluded, although I am still over-indulgent to 

 the peach-leaved campanulas, the late-flowering 

 aconites (chiefly on account of their height and 

 the lateness and excellence of their foliage), and 

 to the capricious Rocky Mountain columbine. 



"It is obvious, too, that color and color schemes 

 are not the first thought, or the last word, in my 

 garden. Flowers are not invited to grow there 

 because they are pink or blue or mauve or this or 



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