January, 1910 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



275 



and a Hydrangea paniculata in the remain- 

 ing corner. On the top of the terrace, in 

 front of the house, I planted an Engleman 

 spruce in the middle, guarded on each side 

 by a box bush trained in tree form. After 

 a little study I saw the error of my ways, 

 and how stuffy and close the lawn looked; 

 so the hydrangea and iris were moved, 

 while the roses were later worked into the 

 border. The catalpa (which I planted my- 

 self, as it was a rule in my garden that all 

 the planting must be done by me and not by 

 nurserymen, for I wanted to learn by get- 

 ting my hand in the dirt and knowing the 

 plant from root to topmost stem) gradually 

 died and helped me do easily what would 

 otherwise have been a very painful opera- 

 tion, viz., giving up the central bed of my 

 garden. The spruce and the box took 

 hold so well that I have never had the cour- 

 age to move them and there they stand, 

 fine specimens, but poorly placed. 



After a few such spasms, my neighbor 

 persuaded me to make my garden, as nearly 

 as possible, a perennial wild flower garden, 

 the flowers to be obtained from those local- 

 ities where I myself could get them. Except 

 in special instances, this general plan was 

 adhered to, and to-day I have a garden that, 

 in miniature, is a fair representation of the 

 large old gardens where lawn fades into 

 plants, growing low among larger plants, 

 with trees in their midst, that, altogether, 

 gives the garden the effect of a large and 

 cozy enclosure. 



The lawn started and planting begun was 

 a sign for cats and dogs to enjoy the softness 

 of the newly stirred earth; it had a strange 

 attraction for them. The hedge was not 

 large or thick enough to keep them out, so 

 gardening was suspended till an open hair- 

 pin iron fence was erected. This done, 

 planting started in earnest, but before any 

 plant was placed in the ground it was neces- 

 sary to dig a hole at least twelve to eighteen 

 inches deep, with a diameter suitable to the 

 size of the nlant intended to be set, through 



A'ea'fta 



-Division 



the hard clay, slag, etc., 

 till the old level was 

 reached. The clay was 

 carried out in buckets 

 and thrown away, and 

 good top soil was ob- 

 tained from different 

 unused lots nearby and 

 put in the hole and thor- 

 oughly mixed with the 

 old soil at the old level. 

 Sometimes I would dig | 

 up a whole section of £ 

 border, say five or six f^ 

 feet long, and twelve to 

 eighteen inches wide, 

 and replace the old 

 clay with good top soil. 

 It was frequently a 

 day's job, but it cer- 

 tainly paid in results. 

 Often I have dug these ^ 

 holes by lamplight for 

 want of time during the 

 day, and not infre- 

 quently I was digging 

 before 6 a. m. A woods 

 nearby, quite thick with 

 trees, furnished a fair 

 supply of leaf mold, 

 which was obtained in 

 baskets and freely -§ 

 mixed with the soil for ^ 

 the plants. 



The open space im- 

 mediately in front of 

 the house, facing due . 

 north and getting prac- 

 tically no sun, was used 

 for a fern bed and for shade-loving flowers. 

 It was dug up, enriched with top soil, with 

 plenty of leaf mold added, and is now thriv- 

 ing with many ferns, the osmundas, clay- 

 tonias, royal fern (one plant of which I dug 

 up in New Jersey and brought home in a 

 basket), maidenhair (one plant of which I 

 brought home from Chester County wrapped 



front- 



Cement- WolH 



Grass Plat refc. j 



Grass P/af 



Cement Walk 



Grass P/af- 

 20' 



Street (Corf- way j 



in a newspaper), and others, also a nice speci- 

 men of hepatica, some bloodroot, a patch 

 of wild geranium, some false spikenard, 

 also Solomon's seal and a good specimen of 

 meadow rue, the latter all obtained from 

 woods and meadows not very far away. 



On the front porch is a Virginia creeper, 

 a spray of which I secured nearby and 

 planted; underneath it is a Crimson Rambler 

 rose. At the left of the porch is a wistaria, 

 with a Japanese honeysuckle mixed in with 

 it. On a shelf in front of the porch some 

 house plants enjoy their summer outing. 



At the extreme left of the top of the ter- 

 race is a young dogwood (Cornus florida), 

 that I obtained from the woods myself and 

 planted. I always enjoy telling about it. 

 Having tried dogwoods several times and 

 failed, as I did with a number of other plants 

 and trees, I determined on one more trial. 

 First I asked several nurserymen, with 

 whom I had been dealing, about the best 

 time to move a dogwood. "In the fall only, 

 not in the spring," they said; I had also fre- 

 quently seen it so stated in the garden maga- 

 zines. But this was the spring of 1908, 

 and I determined to go ahead in spite of 

 professional advice. So I selected a sym- 

 metrical young tree in a woods nearby, then 

 drove the spade as far as possible into the 

 ground all around the tree and about a foot 

 from the centre. Then I let the tree rest for 

 about a week, dug a hole in the terrace where 

 I intended placing it, prepared the soil, took 

 a large bag and started off for my tree. 

 Having first trimmed the tree, I dug it up 

 with as much of a ball of earth as would 

 cleave to the roots, wrapped it carefully in 

 the bag, carried it home on my shoulder, 

 unpacked it, put it in the hole prepared for 

 it, sprinkled the soil in among the roots care- 

 fully, and gently tamped it, added more soil, 

 and tamped more until the hole was filled; 

 then watered it carefully and thoroughly, 

 and the tree established itself and is grow- 

 ing beautifully. 



In my garden I have a good specimen 



Front and rear ends of the yard back of a house built on a 20 x 100 ft. lot. About three years age 



bordering the sides and back of the lot 



>t a privet hedge 



