April, 1913 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



175 



The chart was like the one shown on this 



page. First, Mr. H read down the 



page and saw what his formal garden would 

 have every month from March to the end 



of winter. Then Mr. H read across 



the page and saw how his whole place 

 would look in March, April, May, etc. 

 Of course, he did not know many of these 

 flowers, but he could see at a glance that 

 every garden would have two or three big 

 masses of color in it the year round. He 

 could see that there was no duplication of 

 effects, i. e. the roses, lilacs, and peonies 

 in the formal garden were not scattered all 

 over the place where you would meet the 

 same things at every turn. And finally, 

 he could feel that each garden was highly 

 distinct, appropriate and natural; the 

 swamp bay being in the bog garden and the 

 rock cress in the rock garden. It was not a 

 case of cannas by the waterside or gladiolus 

 in the woods. In short, this chart gave 



Mr. H. a chance to change everything 



while things could be changed cheaply, 

 i. e. before planting. 



Now, my inspirational friend, I shall not 

 ask you to change your temperament, but 

 I will show you how you can simplify and 

 make easy the formidable task of choosing 

 the best plants for whatever needs you have. 



And you will surely agree that this plan 

 will give you something that will fit your 

 personality better than any ready made 

 scheme, and will give you something that 

 the seed and nursery catalogues cannot give. 



Suppose you want a simple border of 

 hardy permanent flowers. The old way 

 is to consult your catalogue and write 

 down the names of all the flowers you love. 

 That is a very sweet, dreamy, precious way 

 and I would not rob any one of that ex- 

 perience for worlds. But it is bewildering, 

 and bewilderment is not a pleasant sensa- 

 tion. And your favorite flowers are sure to 

 bunch themselves in a few months, leaving 

 great gaps in your border for periods that 

 seem painfully long when your garden is 

 planted. Sooner or later a great desire 

 will well up within you to design that bor- 

 der in the masterful, comprehensive, artis- 

 tic way, so that it will be a thing of beauty 

 from March to October or even from New 

 Year's to Christmas. 



Then you will begin with a list of the 

 months instead of the flowers. At once it 

 becomes evident that the next most impor- 

 tant consideration is color. Therefore, 

 you rule columns for your blue, red, pink, 

 white, and yellow flowers. The finest way 

 for you to put your personality into this 



border is to decide which flowers seem to 

 you the loveliest of their color in each par- 

 ticular season. This seems a Herculean 

 task, but you can cut the Gordian knot by 

 filling these squares. You turn now to 

 your favorite catalogues with fresh zeal, for 

 you are no longer their victim, but their 

 master. They will quickly tell you when 

 any particular flower blooms. When you 

 have provided a bit of color for every month 

 in the year, beginning with the winter 

 aconite and ending with the Christmas rose, 

 you will realize for the first time which 

 flowers you really love the most, and why. 



Of course, a chart has one great limita- 

 tion; it cannot give long fists of flowers, 

 because the squares are necessarily small. 

 But the object of a chart is to show the 

 main masses of color, to help you concen- 

 trate on the big strong effects. After you 

 have decided on your floral heroes, it is 

 easy enough to make a list of "fillers." 



In the same way you can plan better 

 home grounds in city, suburbs or country, 

 whether great or small. You can plan a bet- 

 ter rose garden, bulb garden, greenhouse, 

 roof garden, wall garden, wild garden, 

 winter garden. And if you have good 

 results, won't you let me see some pictures 

 of your garden? 



A CHART FOR YEAR-ROUND BEAUTY 





FORMAL GARDEN 



WATER GARDEN 



BOG GARDEN 



ROCK GARDEN 



GROVE 



WILD GARDEN 



MARCH 



Glory-of-the-snow 

 Crocuses 

 Russian violets 



Spice bush 

 Red maple 



Winter heliotrope 

 Japanese pussy wil- 

 low 



Winter heath 

 Bloodroot 

 Adonis Amurensis 



Winter aconite 



Scillas 



Giant snowdrop 



Hepatica 



Common snowdrop 

 Grape hyacinth 



APRIL 



Early tulips 



Jonquils 



Hyacinths 



Daisies 



Pansies 



Shadbush 

 Pinxter flower 

 Forsythia suspensa 



Marsh marigold 

 Crested iris 

 Vernal iris 

 Redbud 



Goldentuft 

 Rock cress 

 Leopard's bane 

 Daphne 



Wild blue phlox 

 Mertensia 

 Shooting star 



Daffodils 

 Vasey's azalea 

 Leucothoe 



MAY 



Late tulips 

 Poet's narcissus 

 Lilacs 

 Columbines 



Siberian iris 

 Japanese wistaria 

 Flame azalea 



Forget-me-not 

 Yellow pitcher 

 Pink lady's slipper 



Moss pink 

 Woodruff 



Alpine forget-me-not 

 Rocky Mt. colum- 

 bine 



Azaleas 



Lily-of-the-valley 

 English bluebells 

 Spanish hyacinths 



Flowering dogwood 



Trilhum 



Tulipa sylvestris 



Star of Bethlehem 



JUNE 



Peonies 



Oriental poppy 

 Sweet william 

 Larkspur 



German iris 

 White lupines 

 Laburnum 



Lemon lily 

 Swamp bay 

 Yellow iris 

 Wild flag 



White pinks 

 Woolly yarrow 

 Spanish iris 



Catawba rhododen- 

 dron 

 Mountain laurel 

 Madonna lily 



Japanese dogwood 

 Viburnums 

 Shrubby dogwoods 



JULY 



Hollyhock 

 Gaillardia 

 Lilium elegans 



Japanese iris 

 Water lilies 

 Indian lotus 



Giant knotweed 

 Yellow fringed orchis 



Snow-in-summer 

 White stonecrop 

 Butterfly weed 



Rhododendron max- 

 imum 

 Single hydrangea 

 Tree azalea 



Canada lily 

 American Turk's caps 

 Wild clematis 



AUGUST 



Phlox 



Golden-banded lily 

 Panicled clematis 



Water lilies 

 Cardinal flower 

 Mallow marvels 



Sweet pepper bush 

 Swamp rose mallow 

 Bee balm 



Veronicas 

 Scotch bluebells 

 Coral bells 



Henry's lily 

 Trumpet creeper 



Bugbane 

 Ground nut 



SEPTEMBER 



China asters 

 Japanese anemone 

 Cosmos 



Giant daisy 

 Blazing star 

 Giant reed 



Slender sunflower 

 Sneezeweed 

 Fringed gentian 



Crocus zonatus 

 Sternbergia 

 Powell's crinum 



Lilium speciosum 

 Autumn crocuses 



Berries of viburnums 

 and shrubby dog- 

 woods 



OCTOBER 



Chrysanthemums 

 Michaelmas daisies 



Wild rice 



Aspen 

 Tupelo 

 Sweet gum 



Crocus speciosus 



Blue asters 



Witch hazel 

 Autumn foliage 



WINTER 



Christmas rose 

 Fire thorn 

 Multiflora rose 

 Japanese barberry 



Yellow and salmon 



willow 

 Siberian dogwood 



Birch 



Winterberry 

 Highbush cranberry 

 Red-twigged dog- 

 wood 



Wintergreen 

 Bunchberry 

 Pachysandra 



Common barberry 

 Washington thorn 

 Cockspur thorn 



Mountain ash 

 Holly 



Partridge berry 

 Bittersweet 



Note. — This chart is elaborated from one actually used by a country gentleman in Pennsylvania. It is unusually rich in shade-loving plants, because 

 the owner had a small grove near the house and a large tract of distant woodland which required very different treatment. Therefore the plants- 

 mentioned under "grove" and "wild garden" are both suitable for pleasure woods or landscape forestry. 



