2 Hardy Plants for Cottage Gardens 
my effort to assemble in a limited area the choice varieties of 
hardy shrubs, perennials and annuals offered by our best 
nurserymen, and to arrange them so as to have a succession 
of bloom of pure color in each separate bed throughout the 
season. I am not so far removed from my mistakes as to have 
forgotten the way to final success. That my garden blooms 
and flourishes to-day is due wholly to indomitable perseverance 
and untiring energy; for I represented the average woman, 
who wants flowers but lacks knowledge and experience in 
their culture. The average woman seldom knows what she 
wants, and she has neither an unlimited purse nor a corps of 
trained assistants at her command. While she hopes to ac- 
complish great things with the aid of her one man-of-all-work 
or perhaps none, she is bewildered by the array of scientific 
names in the catalogues, for the florists make no concessions 
to her ignorance by listing plants under their common names; 
so, after a brief and unsatisfactory survey of catalogues, she 
returns to her initial thought which has hovered about some 
familiar flowers, dear from association; or, perhaps, if of 
bolder spirit, something seen and admired in another’s garden. 
Whatever the original impulse is, it results almost invariably 
in a few nasturtiums, marigolds, zinnias, or other easy, short 
cuts to a mass of color. 
If successful with these indestructible plants, her enthu- 
siasm grows and she reaches out cautiously toward larger 
operations; but with the best intentions at heart, there is much 
that an ardent purpose will not supply; it is not enough to 
know the botanical names of desirable plants—one must 
know their manner of growth, height, time of blooming, exact 
color, special requirements of soil and moisture, and a hun- 
dred et ceteras of vital importance. Such has been my ex- 
perience and I know the bitterness of defeated hopes, and 
have seen summers culminate in failures due to my ignorance, 
