September, 1913 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



47 



One of the finest plants of any land was 

 a specimen of the Frau von Spieman phlox, 

 a fine rose pink flower with a carmine 

 centre. The clump grew about four feet 

 high and bore about sixty trusses. 



Photographs of this garden were sub- 

 mitted to Mr. Warren H. Manning, the 

 landscape designer, in connection with other 

 pictures of little gardens. Here is Mr. 

 Manning's comment: 



"I wish the Horticultural Society would 

 give Mrs. Fenn more hardy perennials, 

 more hardy vines and shrubs so that she 

 could have a better all-the-year round 

 garden instead of the midsummer and late 

 summer garden that the pictures show. 

 This certainly is a most instructive group 

 of illustrations, for it shows markedly the 

 contrast between the home where no one 

 cares for the beauty of the growing plant 

 and the garden of the one who cares much. , 

 It is the garden of one who enjoys plants as 

 individuals rather than elements of land- 

 scape; the garden that is helpful to all who 

 would cultivate plants, especially as it is 

 developed under most unfavorable condi- 



tions. Such a woman with small means 

 is doing more to develop a love of beauty 

 in her city than can a rich man with a corps 

 of gardeners who do the commonplace 

 thing." 



It is a great mistake to copy any garden, 

 because every garden ought to fit a per- 

 sonality and no two persons are alike. 

 Mrs. Fenn can grow a great variety of 

 flowers, because she was born in England 

 and, therefore, has gardened all her life; 

 but the beginner ought not to try to grow 

 200, or 100, or even 50 kinds of flowers 

 the first year. The more kinds you try 

 to grow the more failures there will be. 

 Moreover, a garden with large masses of 

 a few kinds of flowers is generally more sat- 

 isfactory to the greatest number. It makes 

 a more striking garden effect than a col- 

 lector's garden; it gives great, satisfying 

 armfuls of flowers for house decoration; it 

 produces better bouquets to give one's 

 friends ; and it is simpler, easier and cheaper 

 in every way. So, I repeat, do not imitate 

 the garden of a collector, for a beginner 

 cannot make a garden of this kind as good 



as this. The only way to make a garden 

 as good as this the first year is to make a 

 different kind of garden that fits the life 

 of your own family. 



The ideal, of course, is for every family 

 to have a permanent home of its own and a 

 permanent garden of permanent plants. 

 But every child should have a chance to 

 grow the famous old temporary flowers 

 that children have always loved. A 

 packet of seed costs only five cents and 

 the children get their results the first year. 

 For the same reason the garden of annuals 

 is the cheapest, quickest and best garden 

 for the renter, for no renter wants to make 

 expensive improvements which he cannot 

 take away. Most rented homes in America 

 are surrounded by bare and ugly yards. 

 Is there any need of it? Mrs. Fenn's 

 garden shows what can be done by a 

 renter in a lot 23 x 120 ft., with a back 

 yard which is only 23 x 51 ft., at an expense 

 of perhaps $5 or $10 a year. 



Isn't it worth while for every renter in 

 America to have a garden? Do you make 

 the most of your garden? 



Before she began. Mrs Fenn's yard was dust like this. This is a neighbor's Mrs. Fenn's backyard is only 23x51 ft., and it is a rented property, but it 

 yard and there are many more like it nearby is full of flowers 



7 



Here is a double house in Ottawa. One half of it bare — not a single vine The other side (Mrs. Fenn's) has walls, window boxes, pc 



or flower of vines and flowers 



borders full 



