200 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



December, 1912 



Cold countries try to coddle plants of 

 warmer regions. Southerns value most the 

 plants of the other side of the world. Imi- 

 tation is the bane of gardening; it produces 

 ugliness, adds to the expense, and tends to 

 make gardens look too much alike the 

 world over. 



33. True originality consists in working 

 within the limitations of climate. Let 95 

 per cent, of your plants be trees, shrubs 

 and vines native to your environment and 

 you will have a garden full of "local color." 



34. Have a wild garden. Restrict it to 

 wild and run-wild plants. Use only a few 

 foreigners which have been proved suitable, 

 e. g., daffodils, poets' narcissus. The 

 classical book on the subject is Robinson's 

 "Wild Garden." 



35. This infallible principle will help 

 you make a unique garden no matter where 

 you live. Study the local flora. Make the 

 acquaintance of the best local botanist. 

 Ask your experiment station for a state flora. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR THE SOUTH 



36. There are four distinct climates 

 in the South — Coastal Plain, Piedmont, 

 mountain, and tropical. The latter con- 

 sists of four unlike fragments at the 

 southern extremities of Florida, Texas, 

 Arizona and New Mexico, and California. 

 The ideal Southern garden is filled with 

 plants which the North can never grow. 



37. The Coastal Plain can grow to per- 

 fection the most sumptuous plants in the 

 world, the broad-leaved evergreens, e.g., 

 English ivy and holly, Magnolia grandiflora 

 and glauca, camellia, Indian azalea, aucuba, 

 evergreen cherry, palmetto, live oak, banana 

 shrub, tea olive, and Spanish daggers. 



38. The Piedmont region has an altitude 

 of 700 to 1400 ft. and will grow the northern 

 trees and shrubs, but what is the point? 

 Why not have 90 per cent, of your plants 

 native to the Piedmont? The Piedmont 

 can excel the Nor|hj on box, mahonia, 

 Amoor privet, fetter bush, drooping an- 

 dromeda, white Indian azalea, cotoneasters, 

 evergreen thorn, Chinese arborvitae, etc. 



39. The mountain region of the South 

 has many lovely plants which are found 

 nowhere else in the world, e. g.. Rhododen- 

 dron Catawbiense and punctatujn, flame 

 azalea, galax, leucothoe, and Gray's lily. 



40. The tropical region has no large old 

 gardens but there are a few important 

 nurseries. Alyssum, hyacinths and tulips 

 seem out of place in a country where ole- 

 anders, hibiscus, crinums, poinsettia and 

 night blooming cereus are hardy. 



41. The show garden of the South is 

 Magnolia-on-the-Ashley twelve miles above 

 Charleston, S. C. It has eleven acres of 

 azaleas. Go to see the camellias in March 

 and the azaleas in April. It is on a Colonial 

 estate and is the most inspiring and prac- 

 tical garden for people who live on the 

 Coastal Plain, the region characterized by 

 long-leaf pine and live oaks hung with moss. 



42. Winter residents of the Carolinas and 

 Georgia make the mistake of imitating 

 Northern gardens and buying Northern 



nursery stock. What is the point of 

 growing lilacs, spireas, and snowballs in a 

 climate adapted to Cherokee and Banksian 

 roses, Carolina jasmine, crepe myrtle? 



SUGGESTIONS BASED ON THE SOIL 



43. Since the finest gardens grow out of 

 soil, climate, environment, the first thing 

 is to know what your soil is best for. 

 Therefore, write the Bureau of Soils, 

 Washington, D. C, for a "map and descrip- 

 tion of the soils of your area or the one 

 most like it." This will give you the 

 name of your soil type, what fruits and 

 vegetables thrive best on it, and the longest- 

 lived trees. 



44. If you have sandy soil don't spend a 

 fortune on manure, soil, and watering to have 

 a garden like everybody's. Have a unique 

 garden full of sand-loving plants like juni- 

 per, red cedar, pitch pine, bayberry, white 

 birch, hickory, hornbeam, locust, scrub- 

 oak, sassafras, wild cherry, blackberry, 

 broom, hazel, sumach, cockspur thorn, 

 witch hazel, yucca, lupines, pinks, etc. 



45. A clay soil naturally suggests a rose 

 garden. On sandy soil do not attempt it, 

 (except as to Wichuraiana and rugosa 

 hybrids) but buy a few roses budded on the 

 dog rose instead of manetti. 



46. People who live in limestone districts, 

 or wherever the water is hard, should not 

 try to grow in quantity the lime-haters, 

 e. g., rhododendrons, azaleas, mountain 

 laurel, cranberry, huckleberry, and other 

 members of the heath family. Take as 

 your garden theme the "lime-lovers," e. g., 

 box, holly, Japanese yew, beech, Japanese 

 chestnut, blue grass, thyme, pinks, poppies 

 and everything that has thriven for many 

 years in your neighborhood. 



47. If the soil is sour, drain and lime 

 enough of it to grow the common fruits, 

 vegetables and flowers. Save the rest for 

 a peat or bog garden and bog lilies, in- 

 sectivorous plants, and members of the 

 heath family. See "What England Can 

 Teach Us About Gardening," Chapters 

 VIII and XXIII. 



48. When visiting the most famous 

 collection of evergreens in the Old World 

 Downing wrote: "Everything in the shape 

 of an evergreen seems-- to thrive in this 

 light sandy soil, and I suggest to the 

 owners of similar waste land in middle 

 and southern states, to take the hint from 

 this part of Dropmore — plant here and 

 there in the openings the same evergreen 

 trees, protecting them by slight paling 

 at first, and gradually cleaning away all 

 the common growth as they advance 

 into beauty. In this way they may get 

 a wonderfully interesting park — in soil 

 where oaks and elms would never grow — 

 at a very trifling outlay." 



SUGGESTIONS FROM THE POETS 



49. Petrarch (1304-1374) had a garden 

 for contemplation. It overhung the source 

 of a river and was terminated by rocks and 

 by places accessible only to birds. See 

 Sieveking's "Praise of Gardens," page 32. 



50. Another garden designed by Petrarch 

 was dedicated to Bacchus. In the midst 

 of it was a rapid river. The approach was 

 over a bridge of rocks. The garden con- 

 tained a grotto where the sun never pene- 

 trated. 



51. A garden founded on Psalm CIV is 

 described by Bernard Palissy (1 508-1 589). 

 It contained eight arbors of terra cotta 

 covered with enamel and then fired so as 

 to get a smooth surface that would last 

 forever and be of many fine colors and 

 patterns. 



52. "Shakespeare gardens" are, as a 

 rule, not beautiful as he mentioned few 

 plants, and most of them were medicinal 

 herbs or weeds. But the following picture 

 could be realized at a cost of $50 to $500: 



I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, 

 Where ox slips and the nodding violet grows; , 

 Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, 

 With sweet musk roses and with eglantine. 



53. Any one who has an ugly canal to 

 deal with might reproduce, by means of 

 oriental planes, poet's narcissus, and other 

 bulbs suitable for naturalizing a bit of 

 garden magic described by Tennyson in 

 "Recollections of the Arabian Nights." 



54. Whoever wishes a rose arbor might 

 use madonna lilies and lavender as a vista- 

 point, as suggested in Tennyson's "Ode to 

 Memory." 



MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS 



55. Pliny (A. D. 62 to 116) had an out- 

 door sleeping room consisting of a private 

 recess with a couch. It had an agreeable 

 gloominess, being vine-clad overhead. Im- 

 agine yourself in a wood, but not exposed 

 to weather. There was a fountain that 

 suddenly rose and instantly disappeared. 



56. Pliny also liked to eat outdoors. 

 Sometimes he used the basin of a fountain 

 for a table. 



57. A garden for the blind could be made 

 of plants with fragrant leaves and flowers. 

 " The Book of the Scented Garden" by F. 

 W. Burbidge might help; Also "The Book 

 of Herbs" by Lady Rosalind Northcote. 



58. Solomon (B. C. 1033-975) na d a 

 garden composed chiefly of fruit and spice. 

 It contained the cedar of Lebanon. The 

 odor of it must have been delightful. In 

 Florida or California a gorgeous garden 

 might be developed. 



59. Sieveking washed to build a library 

 in a garden. In the centre of the garden 

 connected with the house by a pergola, an 

 octagonal book tower, like Montaigne's, 

 was to rise upon arches forming an arbor 

 of scented shade. He desired windows at 

 every angle as in the library at Pliny's 

 villa. 



60. Queen Elizabeth was fond of garden 

 pageants. Possibly a new kind of garden 

 would be suggested by running over the 

 literature of modern pageants, Ben Greet's 

 Shakespearean performances, and the out- 

 door theatres of Italy, some of which are 

 described in Edith Wharton's "Italian 

 Villas and Their Gardens." 



