66 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



February, 19 13 



Around the Garden 



A MONTHLY (CALENDER OF TIMELY GARDEN OPERA- 

 TIONS AND USEFUL HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS 

 ABOUT THE HOME GARDEN AND 

 GROUNDS 



[O] 



All queries will gladly be answered by the Editor. If a personal 

 reply is desired by subscribers stamps should be enclosed therewith 



FEBRUARY AND THE GARDEN 



HE Garden Editor often wonders why it is 

 that those who profess a love for gardening 

 are so content to occupy themselves with but 

 one phase of their hobby — the planting, and 

 why they give so little heed to the matter of 

 planning. The old-fashioned gardens were 



good gardens because they were well-planned gardens, and 



as we sit around the warm fireside these February evenings, 



with Winter's vesture still with us outside, we can be doing 



few things more profitable than conjuring to the mind's eye 



visions of our gardens-to-be, occupying ourselves with the 



pleasurable task of digging deeply into the garden lore with the mind of your true garden-lover. He will be sending for 



which the ever delightful and ever welcome catalogues of all the new catalogues, eager to greet again the old things 



and to wonder 

 about the new. 



sort of gardening that puts joy in the heart and health 

 in the cheeks. Instead, your true gardener will say to 

 himself as he looks out upon the white-carpeted expanse of 

 lawn, "Just there those evergreens I planted last Fall are 

 lending grateful color to the season, the brown stems of 

 those shrubs form a pleasing contrast against the white 

 snow, and those trees cast shadow-patterns like blue em- 

 broidery upon fair linen. Even in wintery season the things 

 I planted are faithful to the promise they held forth — that 

 I should find joy in them every day in the year, and so I shall 

 remember all these things against the advent of another 

 Winter and make my plans now for planting that shall grace 

 every season." These are the things that will be passing in 



seedsmen and of 

 nurserymen are 

 annually fraught. 

 It is all very well 

 to peep out of 

 your window up- 

 on the snowbound 

 landscape of the 

 wintry lawn and 

 say to yourself 

 ''Summer is a 

 long way off. It 

 will be time 

 enough to be 

 bothering about 

 gardens when the 

 Crocus peeps up 

 and the birds re- 

 turn. Now those 

 who consider gar- 

 dening a "both- 

 er" at all might as 

 well leave garden- 

 ing alone as to go 

 at it with any 

 thought of its be- 

 ing a mere drudg- 

 ery. To such 

 food necessities 

 may appeal as the 

 only impetus to 

 planting a row of 

 corn, a hill of cu- 

 cumbers or a to- 

 mato vine or two. 

 However, that is 

 not gardening, at 

 least it is not the 



The Winter landscape is still with us in February, and as we look out through the half- frosted 



windows we are grateful that the forethought of other seasons led us to plant trees and shrubs 



whose brown stems now lend warmth to the outdoor surroundings 



Before it is time 

 for him to be 

 actually working 

 in the soil he will 

 have determined 

 what he can plant, 

 where he shall 

 plant it, what ex- 

 periments he will 

 venture to make, 

 what old mistakes 

 he may rectify, 

 and he will have 

 had an opportun- 

 ity to decide 

 whether or not 

 his purse will per- 

 mit him to have 

 the sort of a gar- 

 den his fancy 

 paints for him. If 

 not, he will have 

 been able to de- 

 cide just what he 

 can undertake and 

 when buying and 

 planting time 

 comes around be 

 will be able to go 

 about his garden- 

 making in a sen- 

 sible, happy man- 

 ner, his early 

 planning to be a 

 success if the ele- 

 ments are friendly. 



