How One City Improved Its Gardens 
ROLAND B. WOODWARD 
Secretary Rochester 
9 Chamber of Commerce 
SOME OF THE PRIZE WINNING GARDENS IN THE BEAUTIFICATION CAMPAIGN OF ROCHESTER, N. Y. 
AST year the City 
of Rochester, New 
York, conducted 
a very success- 
ful beautification cam- 
paign, the story of which 
may help other centres in 
concerted effort. The 
people of that city prefer 
to speak of it as a cam- 
paign for further beauti- 
fication; the distinc- 
tion being based upon 
the well known fact that 
this city of 250,000 souls 
was already one of the best 
gardened in the land before the 
campaign was introduced. For 
years it has been widely known 
as “The Flower City.’”’ Roches- 
ter, however, is blessed with 
more than the ordinary share of 
the popular American spirit of 
unrest and initiative. Recog- 
nizing the danger of community 
complacency, its Chamber of 
Commerce made capital of this 
spirit to spur its citizens on to 
greater civic effort and toencour- 
age them to exercise even more 
care in beautifying their home 
surroundings. 
The campaign became popu- 
lar as soon as launched. To en- 
courage participation the Flower 
City Committee of the Cham- 
ber of Commerce introduced 
the competitive element. The 
committee realized that it would be mani- 
festly unfair for the cottager to be thrown 
into competition with the property owner 
on East Avenue, for instance, which is one 
of the most beautiful residential streets in 
the United States. Accordingly, the city 
was divided into ten districts, the classes of 
homes determining the boundaries. Even 
then a disparity was apparent in the chances 
6, Class A 
This is typical of the flower gardens one finds in the smaller towns of Germany. The 
formal beds which border the long narrow lot are crowded with bloom. Every inch utilized. 
The basin containing gold fish and aquatic plants is an unusual feature. 
This is a second view of the prize winning garden, District 3, Class B, shown on page 337, and illust- 
rates the effective use of wavy lines on a marginal border planting where there is ample space. The 
background of trees, fronted by shrubs and lower growing perennials, is effective and well done 
Co 
An excellent selection of permanent shrubs well planted in front of the house—and which 
affects the dominant view of the street—determined the award of the prize here. 
The City was divided into ten districts according 
to the class of home predominating and in each 
district two classes 
A with a frontage 50 feet or less 
By ean 2 over 50 feet 
for winning a prize of the cottage on the 
small lot and the comparatively large house 
occupying a good sized lot. So the con- 
District 7, Class A back. District 9, Class B 
333 
testants in each district 
were sub-divided into two 
classes; A, the owners of 
lots with a frontage less 
than fifty feet; and B, the 
owners of lots with a front- 
age more than fifty feet. 
In the business district the 
two classes consisted of 
buildings and individual 
displays such as an office 
tenant. A prize was of- 
fered in each class in each 
district. No one was 
barred. A flagman on 
duty at one of the danger- 
ous railroad crossings entered the 
plot around his shanty. Those 
wishing to compete for the prizes 
were required to send in their 
names in writing to the Chamber. 
If it had been otherwise, the 
committee would have been 
confronted with the herculean 
and impossible task of judging 
every one of Rochester’s homes 
before prizes could justly be 
awarded. The card used for 
recording the names of contest- 
ants who entered was a simple 
3x5 index card. 
A number of entrants were 
largely ignorant of the funda- 
mental gardening principles in- 
volved. At the same time it 
was of the utmost importance 
that those we wished to reach be 
given the necessary informa- 
tion, so a sub-committee of seedsmen, florists 
and landscape architects prepared a 
handbook of gardening information. It 
contained lists of popular annuals, hardy 
herbaceous perennials and shrubs and 
other information and directions to enable 
the average householder to make an intel- 
ligent choice and employ the best known 
methods in caring for his garden after it 
District 
A typical old-fashioned garden with its trumpet vine and long middle walk bordered on 
one side with flowers and on the other with lawn and its considerable vegetable garden at 
