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The garden seen Ironi two opposite directions. 



When a background of trees arises behind the pergola, screening the houses beyond, the picture will be 

 completely framed and an air of seclusion given to the place 



How a Pergola Redeemed a Back Yard — By Mrs. J.w. Dreyer, 



THE REVOLUTION WROUGHT IN SIX MONTHS AND AN EXPENDITURE OF A SMALL AMOUNT OF 

 MONEY— A PERMANENT PICTURE AND A DISPLAY OF FLOWERS ALL THROUGH THE SUMMER 



SIX months before these pictures were 

 made, our back yard was a tangle of 

 quack-grass and weeds, and there was a 

 ditch through it which was full of debris. 



The whole lot is 66x265 ft-> an d faces 

 northeast. One of the first improve- 

 ments we made was the building of a 

 pergola, which we had ourselves planned 

 according to our own ideas. 



It is 12x36 ft. In building it two 

 points of originality were attained — it 

 has a cement floor eighteen inches above 

 the grade of the lawn, and the central 

 third is provided with a roof which shades 

 some portion all day. 



We first built a wall eighteen inches 

 thick and three feet high, half of its height 

 being under ground, and the space inside 

 the wall being filled with cinders. On 

 top of this the cement floor is laid in blocks 

 like a sidewalk. It is four inches thick 

 and projects one inch over the wall. This 

 floor is approached by three broad steps, 

 twelve feet long. At each end of the steps 

 is a buttress on which stands a fluted 

 pillar, supporting the portico of the covered 

 portion of the pergola. A carpenter erected 

 the superstructure and furnished . the 

 materials for $150. The cement work 

 for both pergola and garden walk was done 

 for $207. 



We planted Spircea Van Houttei around 

 the base of the pergola, in front of that 

 salvia, and started a vine at each pillar. 

 We selected Dutchman's pipe, matrimony 

 vine, Clematis paniculata, trumpet vine 

 and wistaria. We bought large plants 

 at the nursery, but while all lived, none 

 did any climbing except the wistaria. 



To make the garden more secluded, we 

 planted tall-growing shrubs next the fence. 

 They were from three to six feet high and 

 cost 25 cents each. Certainly they have 

 great fortitude. Last summer's drouth in 

 Northern Illinois was very severe, but 

 less than a dozen out of the two hundred 



planted succumbed. There are about fif- 

 teen of a kind, and they are planted in 

 irregular groups. The tallest ones are 

 sumac that we brought from the roadside. 

 These improve wonderfully under culti- 

 vation and make a lovely touch of color 

 in the fall. We have also white lilac, 

 Japanese quince, cut-leaf elder, two kinds 

 of mock orange, Persian lilac, golden elder, 

 ninebark, golden bells, cut-leaf sumac, yel- 

 low dogwood, privet, wayfaring tree, 

 high-bush cranberry, Tartarian honey- 

 suckle, red dogwood, Van Houtte's spirea, 

 tamarix. 



In front of these are some low-grow- 

 ing bushes — hydrangeas, syringa, althea, 

 deutzia, locust, flowering almond, snow- 

 berry and Judas tree. 



The remaining space up to the walk is 

 to be filled in eventually with perennials, 

 and we made a very good start with these 

 last year. We have a good three-sash cold- 

 frame back of the garage in which we raise 

 the perennials. Just for curiosity we 

 counted the Shasta daisy and pyrethrum 

 plants; at fifteen cents each they would 

 have cost , us $27. We raised them all 

 from three packets of seeds. 



The perennials are planted in the garden 

 according to height, in large groups, and 

 straight lines are avoided. The shrubs 

 are not yet tall enough, so we planted the 

 whole length of the fence, behind the cold- 

 frame, with single and double hollyhocks 

 in mixed colors. 



We have several large patches of sweet 

 William, and dozens of pink and white 

 pyrethrums and Shasta daisies. A long 

 strip of nasturtiums is filled in with tulips 

 after frost, and with gaillardia in the 

 spring. Bordering this is a fine collection 

 of aquilegia of many colors, which blooms 

 very early. The foliage is almost as pretty 

 as maidenhair fern. It is easy of culture 

 and every seed germinates apparently. 



In the right-hand lower corner, white 



82 



lilacs form the background, golden spirea 

 is before it and then about a hundred lark- 

 spurs. We raised them from seed; they 

 bloom continuously and are free from dis- 

 ease. In front of them are several groups 

 of Chinese larkspur and platycodons. 



Between this corner and the pergola 

 are two groups of achillea and Oriental 

 poppies. Back of the pergola are fourteen 

 crimson ramblers climbing on the fence. 

 Next to these are Viburnum lantana and 

 high-bush cranberry, as a background for 

 several hundred perennial phlox, made 

 by division. 



In front of the pergola the space be- 

 tween it and the walk is filled with pink 

 and white peonies, and there are a dozen 

 speciosum lilies in each corner next the 

 steps. 



For a yellow effect we planted cut-leaf 

 elder as the background, then canary- 

 colored hollyhocks, golden glow, Eeliopsis 

 Pitcheriana, coreopsis, and double butter- 

 cups. 



In the rose-corner, Clothilde Soupert 

 is usually the first to come and the last 

 to go. Last season forty buds were frost- 

 nipped. Magna Charta, Paul Neyron 

 and the Cochets also did very well. Most 

 of the roses were started from cuttings. 



In addition we have five thousand 

 crocuses naturalized in the lawn between 

 the walks, and narcissi, tulips, daffodils, 

 Spanish irises, hyacinths, Lilium speciosum, 

 var. rubrum, longiflorum and superbum 

 among the perennials and shrubs. 



The garden offscape yet needs screening. 

 As a background to the pergola will be 

 mountain ash and lombardy poplars and 

 both east and west borders will have other 

 trees to hide out unpleasing sights — 

 maples and Aralia spinosa. Yet our gar- 

 den is a relief among its neighbors, and 

 impells me "to ask: If I can do these 

 things so easily and so quickly, why are 

 other back yards such eyesores? Why? 



