ONE YEAR IN A LITTLE 

 GARDEN 



The Accomplishment on a 60 x 70 Ft. Plot from Fall 

 Planting to Picture Making after Twelve Months' Growth 

 — Counting of Bloom Through the Spring and Summer 



"- j ■. 





JHIS GARDEN is quite new and at the same time so old 



that the trees which enclose it have been tall as long as 



one can remember; the venerable Willow with its massive 



trunk and spreading branches and the Norway Maples 



with their rounded tops and impenetrable walls of green. 



The garden was planned from the sitting-room window by 

 Miss Alderson and Miss Dell of Greenwich, Conn., and car- 

 ried out under their personal direction. It is tucked away neat- 

 ly into a corner of the lawn, yet it is tied to the house by a little 

 winding path and easily accessible from the open veranda on the 

 east. There is a slight fall from north to south, but the inequal- 

 ity is corrected, at least to the eye, by a tall Privet hedge that 

 shuts out the kitchen garden and forms the southern boundary 

 of the flower garden. The big trees make a natural background 

 and the enclosure is further defined by the Barberry hedge that 

 separates it from the sur- 

 rounding lawn. 



The making was begun 

 the autumn of 1920 and 

 the accompanying photo- 

 graph was taken in Sep- 

 tember, 1 92 1. The design 

 was first pegged out upon 

 the lawn by means of 

 stakes and string so that 

 one could see before dig- 

 ging just how it would fit 

 into the space. Each 

 flowerbed was then dug 

 to a depth of 2 ft., not 

 forgetting the trench for 

 the Barberry hedge, and 

 a heavy dressing of well- 

 rotted manure was forked 

 into the loose soil. In this 

 way the food value of the 

 manure is kept within 9 in. 

 to 1 ft. of the surface, where 

 the roots can reach it; 

 while the soil below is 

 made pervious to the ac- 

 tion of air and water. The 

 planting was done early in 

 November, after the beds 

 had been allowed to settle. 

 That autumn was open so 

 that the Barberry hedge 

 and the perennials and 

 bulbs had time to make 

 some root growth before 

 frost. 



You enter the garden 

 through an archway which 

 in another season promises 

 to be hidden by a shower 

 of Newport Fairy Roses, 

 to judge by the growth 

 they have made. 



The outside measure- 





mm 



<$v 



^■'-"25 Polyanlho~~" - ^ -^. 



/Roses in double row"\ 



/down the centre withpmk \- 



/'Verbena ,. r.ound e dges\ 



iDouble j 

 jrow of i 

 ■ Roses ! 

 j with I- 

 ! Daffodils! 

 i round ! 

 l__cd^esj 



Tulips -_-- 



followed by 



j Heliotrope 



fc^tSl^jislU^J^S 



Rose- Arch 



THE DESIGNERS' PLAN FOR THE GARDEN 

 358 



ments of the garden are only 68 ft. long by 58 ft. wide, with a 

 14 ft. semi-circle at the far end; but what a variety of plants 

 and changing color schemes can be brought together in so 

 small a space! 



FIRST come the bulbs, a double row of nodding Daffodils 

 around the edges of the prim little rose beds, and close on 

 their heels tread the soft pink masses of the Murillo Tulips in the 

 L-shaped beds opposite the entrance. These are followed by 

 the Darwins planted in V's between groups of Intermediate 

 Iris in colors shading from tender pink through dreamy mauve 

 to shadowy maroons and deepest purple. Let us here stress 

 the value of Intermediate Iris with the Darwin Tulips, they are 

 medium growers and bloom just before the Bearded Iris. The 

 varieties here used are: Fritjof, soft purple shaded lavender 



with large flowers; and 

 Gerda, creamy yellow with 

 darker falls veined yellow. 

 The Darwin Tulips in- 

 clude: Anton Roozen, rose 

 pink; Flamingo, shell pink; 

 Clara Butt, salmon pink; 

 La Tristesse, slaty laven- 

 der; Melicette, rosy helio- 

 trope; Ronald Gunn, slaty 

 purple, lilac margin; Tak- 

 von Poortvliet, carmine, 

 blue centre; Philippe de 

 Commines, dark plum. 



Another charming com- 

 bination is repeated along 

 either side of the garden 

 where, however, the Iris is 

 replaced by a long band 

 18 in. wide of the dainty 

 Polemonium reptans with 

 deep green finely cut fo- 

 liage and clouds of blue 

 flowers in May. The flower 

 heads were cut off after 

 blooming, leaving an edg- 

 ing of green for the sum- 

 mer months. The remain- 

 ing 4 \ ft. of the border is 

 divided into V's, 8 ft. wide, 

 filled with perennials. 



By June the Roses begin 

 to flower and although 

 these are only 20, five each 

 of four varieties, we really 

 have what the catalogues 

 call a succession of bloom. 

 The varieties are: 1. Miss 

 Cynthia Forde; 2. Lady 

 Ashtown; 3. Lady Pirrie; 

 4. Pharisaer. Pink Pyreth- 

 rums and Foxgloves flower 

 with the first Roses and the 

 graceful blue Delphinium 





I 



V%/Hardyj 



