What Planting Does to Make a House a Home 



By C. L. Meller, S:£ 



IT LOOKS as if it just happened and 

 happened right. " What a pretty little 

 spot," some one exclaims, "every- 

 thing seems as if it 'just grew.' I 

 want that kind of a garden myself, for I 

 hate to fuss." You can do exactly the 

 same with a new bare house if you start 

 now to think out what you want. 



The garden being small thought centres 

 on detail rather than on mass, yet details 

 somehow often take care of themselves. 

 The massing of a few shrubs and grouping 

 of perennials constitute the garden; all 

 so easy too! Two pink Tartarian Honey- 

 suckle and three Spiraea van Houttei 

 afford background and define the western 

 boundary. The delicate color play of pink 

 and white that can be brought about by the 

 bloom of these shrubs in spring determined 

 their selection and grouping. A Highbush 

 Cranberry would have been a little more to 

 the taste of the gardener than the native 

 Hawthorn planted in the angle of the house 

 and the hedgerow just mentioned; but 

 the Highbush Cranberry is too straggling a 

 grower and needs more room than could be 

 given it. Spring bloom is here and fruit 

 and autumn tints, with the added tracery of 

 twig and thorn that the Highbush Cran- 

 berry does not achieve. Other details 

 took care of themselves in somewhat 

 similar manner. In fact, the gar- 

 den once started, sort of "hatched 

 itself," leaving the gardener free to 

 work and watch his handiwork de- 

 velop exactly as he would have it, 

 yet not altogether as he had 

 dreamed it, let us say. 



Vines make the wall of the house 

 as much a part of the border as of 

 the house itself. Hardy vines 

 alone are to be used, Virginia 

 Creeper, native and Japanese Cle- 

 matis. No harm if the canes of the 

 Matrimony Vines should die back; 

 the roots will not kill out and ten 

 feet of growth a year is an assured 

 quantity. A Red Twigged Dog- 

 wood between the windows might 

 as well have been some other shrub, 

 only a Dogwood is clean of leaf 

 and limb and can easily be held in 

 bounds. The Lilac by the doorstep 



may some day be too large and need moving, 

 but no matter now; some other shrub will 

 be ready to take its place in due time, 

 perhaps no shrub at all, or perhaps the 

 Lilac wiU fit into its place after all. It is 

 only another detail that will eventually 

 take care of itself very nicely. 



The white blossoms of Miss Lingard 

 Phlox to either side of the Dogwood gives 

 a prettily balanced picture without stiff- 

 ness. When Miss Lingard blooms again 

 later in fall other Phlox bring a different 



At first simply a house, bare and uninteresting 



But when spring came a few plants were set about the lot, a tree on the curb, and 

 by midsummer this wonderous change is wrought 



color into this part of the garden. A per- 

 ennial Buttercup blooming modestly all 

 summer shows up quietly in front of the 

 Dogwood. So that they might have the 

 proper background a clump of tall Del- 

 phinium was placed in front of the Haw- 

 thorn and Honeysuckle. " Just because, " 

 and for no other reason, another clump of 

 Delphinium was placed at the far end of 

 the border in front of Spiraea van Houttei. 

 A Spiraea sorbifolia, a Lemon Lily and 

 Berberis Thunbergii finish out this further 

 end of the border in a very pleasing manner. 

 From the Honeysuckle near the house, the 

 skyline is brought down gradually to the 

 Barberry near the sidewalk. Oriental Pop- 

 pies bring the gayest note into the border. 

 Placing the plants so that the flowers are 

 partially screened by the shrubbery tones 

 down then vivid color somewhat, and the 

 subdued harmony that prevails is but a 

 little more emphasized while these flowers 

 are aglow. One plant, however, seems a 

 disturbing factor for after all it is but a 

 loud voiced, coarse leaved plebeian and 

 should be in rougher, tougher company. 

 The Peony is going to be dug up. This 

 border is not large enough to hold it. 



What could have been more happily 

 placed than our native Prairie Rose in the 

 angle of the porch and the kitchen window? 

 A surplus of Iris was planted in 

 front of the Roses because there 

 was no other room and their bloom 

 was wanted for one season at least. 

 Canadian Wood Violets and hardy 

 Ferns make a ground cover that is 

 needed only when one stands near 

 enough so the eye looks over the 

 bordering Iris. Thus the little 

 corner is filled out to overflowing 

 though not to its destruction, for 

 all these plants thrive in each 

 other's company. A native Goose- 

 berry hedge defines and screens the 

 diagonal walk that runs to the 

 back door. It also stops a peren- 

 nial border from running further on. 

 The background for this border 

 the neighbor has kindly furnished 

 with his vine clad fence — exactly 

 the place for hardy Tiger Lilies; 

 planting these fairly close to 



Does this remind you of your own " pergola " coldy outlined against the sky ? 



See what is accomplished one year after planting the vines, etc. Plant yours this spring 



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