AMERICAN HOMES 



AND GARDENS 



poEorogs^ 



nzxj 



v 



olume 



X 



March, 1913 



U=D 



Number 3 



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Flower Gardens for Everyone 



By Ida D. Bennett 

 Photographs by Nathan R. Graves 



O dress it and to keep it," has, from the 

 beginning, been the condition of the gift of 

 land to man. To produce, from the barren 

 waste, that which shall be either useful or 

 beautiful; to satisfy the economic instinct 

 and add to the material comfort of the 

 physical animal or to satisfy the higher aspirations of the 

 more cultivated being and express, as far as possible, our 

 conception of the beautiful in nature under the control of 

 man. 



This instinct naturally finds its most convenient and fitting 

 expression in the planting of blooming plants and shrubs 

 about the dwelling. Primarily this takes the form of a vine 

 about the door, a border of low-growing flowers against the 

 foundation of the house — the primal instinct being to keep 

 our flowers as close to us as possible. 



Later we evolve the closely cropped and spacious lawn, 



the detached garden, with its Pergolas, seats and sheltering 

 Summer houses and reverse the earlier idea and go to our 

 flowers instead of bringing them to us. 



Given the real love of flowers and green, growing things, 

 and there is really no condition or environment which is 

 really prohibitive of its enjoyment. The fortunate dweller 

 in a home of his own, has really nothing serious to contend 

 with but his own capabilities for meeting and overcoming 

 difficulties; the dweller in a temporary or rented home or in 

 a city flat is often "nonplussed" to a very serious but not 

 hopeless degree, for the number of beautiful things which 

 may be grown in boxes, tubs and pots in legions, and the 

 care is often less arduous than that required in the regular 

 garden. 



THE GARDEN IN A CITY FLAT 



Is necessarily a garden of pots and boxes, most of which 

 should, for convenience, be placed outside the windows, as 



A border of Campanula 



