354 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



July, 19 10 



stands a mock orange. A native thorn could 

 here be substituted advantageously as a better 

 background to the hydrangea in front. That 

 dark, lustrous green of our native hawthorns 

 would act as an excellent foil to the large 

 white masses of the hydrangea. Nor lacks 

 the hawthorn a flower and a pretty red min- 

 iature apple-like berry. On the other hand, 

 it does not possess the fragrance or the pro- 

 lific white bloom of the mock orange. It 

 must be further admitted that the flowers 

 and the lighter foliage of a mock orange 

 do not contrast badly with the sumach's 

 darker, heavier green. Dogwood, Russian 

 golden willow and Tartarian honeysuckle 

 back a row of peonies. The dogwood and 

 the willow, with their red and golden bark 

 respectively, are for winter cheer. In front 

 to either side stands a specimen blue spruce. 

 Annuals and bulbs are further employed 

 to bring variety and fragrance into the 

 planting. In the matter of fragrance, the 

 owner of the garden is especially fond of 

 nicoriana, which he plants most everywhere. 

 Angular, granite stones of irregular size 

 mark the end of the drive, encircle the flower 



bed and border the fern beds in front of the 

 houses. This free use of stone might not be 

 as appropriate elsewhere, however; herein the 

 Red River valley, an extensive area totally 

 devoid of any kind of rock, stones have an 

 interest they do not possess ordinarily. 



The vegetable gardens to each side do not 

 intrude, being for the most part so well 

 screened that each owner can plant therein 

 what he pleases without marring the gen- 

 eral scheme. So we find the garden to the 

 east devoted mainly to vegetables and straw- 

 berries, while the other garden is given over 

 more to annuals and herbs, all the difference 

 between a man's and a woman's garden. 

 The lilac hedge which has been started to 

 the east will eventually provide a cooling 

 barrier, fragrance in spring and a back- 

 ground of green in fall, while other shrubs 

 and trees are bare. The bed of roses and 

 lilies adjoining the hedge not only helps 

 to screen the garden, but likewise produces 

 an attractive picture when viewed from the 

 sidewalk. A passerby looking between the 

 houses will perceive just enough of the garden 

 to know that they are there, while the drive, 



flower bed and shrubbery being dominant 

 features, will produce the lasting impression. 

 This is as it should be, the glimpse of the 

 kitchen gardens adding a touch of intimacy, 



Though the scheme as a whole is a unit, 

 still there is individuality in the spacious 

 lawns. Note how much more one is planted 

 than the other. The cut-leaved birch and 

 Colorado blue spruce bring in the personal 

 element, and all things considered they are 

 fairly well placed. The fence clad with Vir- 

 ginia creeper takes autumn into account, while 

 during the summer it affords a good back- 

 ground for the row of dwarf nasturtiums that 

 are sometimes planted along the front of it. 



A small plot has also been set aside for a 

 wild garden where one of the boys of the 

 house has succeeded in establishing quite a 

 number of the modest denizens of the wood- 

 lands. The lad has worked up an abiding 

 enthusiasm, keeps his garden spot in excel- 

 lent condition, and incidentally derives con- 

 siderable instruction as well as pleasure from 

 his pursuit and cultivation of wild flowers. 

 His pastime may point the way to a life's work, 

 for the lad loves and appreciates his plants. 



Making the Most of Those Rocks— By H. s. Adams, 



New 

 York 



HPHE Englishman's joy in the rock 

 *- garden is at last being more than 

 faintly echoed in this country. It is a 

 welcome note in the wholesome increase of 

 interest in rural life, for the rock garden 

 has quite as much of a charm of its own out 

 of doors as a collection of miniatures has 

 indoors; those who wax enthusiastic over 

 alpines would say rather more. This move- 

 ment is, however, not unfraught with the 

 danger that the American amateur, ever 

 seizing with avidity any fresh element of 

 novelty in the broad field of gardening, 

 may rush blindly down a pathway full of 

 pitfalls. Unless one is in a position to give 

 a carte blanche order to an expert in rock- 

 gardening — and then one practically 

 changes from an amateur to a professional 

 by proxy — there is much reading to be 

 done, much observing of the experience of 

 those who have solved the problems, before 

 it is safe to go ahead along lines other than 

 the very simplest. And even then nature's 

 own secret of the rock garden must be learned 

 from the great volume that is always open 

 to all \vho have eyes to see. 



The simplest lines to proceed along in 

 the initial venture into rock gardening being 

 the utilization of the rocks on one's place, 

 why not just take advantage of the oppor- 

 tunity that lies closest at hand? There are 

 plenty of such opportunities, in all conscience. 

 True not every one has rocks in his very 

 dooryard, and the length and breadth of 

 many a large place there is none at all; but 

 no end of country land owners will allow 

 that they have enough and to spare. 



Now a bare rock is not necessarily un- 

 sightly; it is frequently quite the reverse. 

 Yet, more especially if it be by a roadside, 

 a rock, or a group of rocks, has, even in the 



best of natural circumstances, a greater 

 glory if to its gray or brown there be added 

 a touch of some brighter hue. It may be only 

 a clambering vine that adds a brief enchant- 

 ment of red or yellow to a long enchantment 

 of green, or it may be so little as one nestling 

 plant of transient floral beauty; but it raises 

 a smile on the bit of nature that you call your 

 own. 



Out on Long Island a rock that would 

 have been somewhat difficult to move has 

 been left by a newly-created wayside. As 

 rocks go it is far from handsome, so a man 

 who knew how to make the most of it planted 

 close to it, on two sides, an irregular patch 

 of the common pink creeping phlox, just as 

 nature might do herself down Georgia or 

 Kentucky way. Of a May day that bold 

 bit of color is nothing short of refreshing 

 when, from far down the road, it just comes 

 into view. Were it the yellow of gold tuft, 

 the blue of wild sweet William or the white 

 of rock cress it would be none the less 

 refreshing. Across the sound, on a rocky 

 railroad bank, masses of the familiar wild 

 pink have been made to carry out, by either 

 accident or design, the same idea on a com- 

 paratively vast scale — to the delight of 

 some of the commuters, who watch for it 

 every spring. 



For growing around the base of rocks, or 

 in natural or artificial pockets on and be- 

 tween them, there is an embarrassment of 

 riches to choose from. The white and 

 lilac creeping phloxes are preferred by many 

 to the pink, and the latter's color may be 

 prolonged by planting Phlox amccna and 

 Phlox Ibota as well. Then there are both 

 the blue and the white bugle, silver chick- 

 weed, all the low growing veronicas, three 

 or four kinds of stonecrop, the creeping 



thyme, leadwort, hardy candytuft, alum 

 root, dead nettle, several of the saxifrages, 

 Carpathian harebell, periwinkle, coltsfoot, 

 foam flower, soapwort, the creeping double 

 buttercup, Greek valerian, rest harrow, 

 stanwort and rock rose, to name only a 

 part of the dwarf, or dwarfish, hardy plants 

 that weave of themselves a carpet as they 

 spread over the ground or rock. 



Desirable, too, are such low plants and 

 bulbs of different habit as the gorgeous 

 Lychnis Haageana, the wild red and yellow 

 columbine, harebell, adonis, hardy primrose, 

 the wild bleeding heart, Dutchman's 

 breeches, tulips, snowdrop, grape hyacinth 

 and scilla. By, or near some large rocks 

 one may always place some of the taller 

 plants like iris, Oswego tea, leopard's bane, 

 St. John's-wort, blackberry lily, foxglove, 

 red pentstemon, rose loosestrife, coronilla 

 and the several day lilies. Whatever, in 

 short, is both hardy and tolerably robust, 

 does not bear double flowers, and, finally, 

 can be made to look as if it were growing 

 naturally, is good material. 



One kind of plant, or two or three with 

 different periods of bloom, is best for an 

 isolated rock. When there is a group of 

 rocks an admirable opportunity for fine 

 color contrasts is afforded. In either case 

 the planting should be, for the most part, in 

 colonies and in anything but orderly fashion. 

 The soil should, of course, be made good 

 where it is not so already and care taken that 

 in shallow pockets the earth does not dry 

 out. There ought to be no bare ground, 

 which means that there will have to be 

 frequent watch lest the grass encroach more 

 than just far enough. Nor are all plants for 

 all rocks; fully shaded rocks demand shade- 

 loving plants. 



