AMONG OUR GARDEN NEIGH 





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ECSTATIC VS. STATIC GARDENING 



Y AND large, most gardens would benefit by 

 periodic changes in detail through the application 

 of new ideas, new inspiration, new imagination. 

 Although the underlying phenomenon in all 

 gardening is continuous growth, a great many 

 people leave all the growing to the plants, seeming to disregard 

 the possibility of their own mental attitudes and conceptions 

 becoming bigger, broader and freer. It is so easy for gardens — 

 and gardeners, too — to sink into ruts of static existence, and 

 become tediously conservative and "set in their ways" — and 

 it is so hard to climb out. 



We are considerably more animated indoors than out. One 

 of the householder's keenest joys is the "doing over" of rooms. 

 Possible combinations of new wall-paper, new woodwork trim, 

 new styles of furniture, new hangings and upholstery, new pic- 

 tures — these offer a field for most delightful and fruitful excur- 

 sions. The choosing of the new materials is as alluring as a 

 hunt for buried treasure. Each day of actual work is full of al- 

 ternating anticipations and realizations. And, finally, there is 

 the grateful reward of contemplating the finished result, the 

 adventure of becoming accustomed to the new surroundings. 



How often do we even so much as think of rearranging or 

 "making over" even a corner of the garden? Yet the possibil- 

 ities are no less varied, no less delightful, the choice of new 

 materials no less enticing, the creative work no less enjoyable, 

 the subsequent satisfaction no less complete. 



But, it may be argued, wall-papers tear and fade; paint and 

 furnishings become worn and dingy; whereas plants live on, 

 renewing their own upholstery each year and increasing in 

 beauty and in size with every passing season. The very fact 

 that plants are constantly growing larger is sufficient reason for 

 occasionally, if not frequently, rearranging and replanting 

 them; especially since there is a tendency in new plantings 

 largely to disregard the effect of future growth. 



ONCE men planted trees and shrubs about their homesteads 

 partly for their own pleasure, but more for the sake of what 

 their children and their children's children would enjoy in the 

 form of fruit and fragrance, timber and gracious shade — even 

 though, during their lives, the plantings may have appeared 

 rather sparse and open. To-day we plant our shrubs and per- 

 ennials in dense masses — for immediate effect; we move in 

 thirty-year old Elms, Oaks, and Maples that we may enjoy their 

 shade this year. In creating these overnight results we neces- 

 sarily crowd together more stock than can properly occupy the 

 same space ten (or even half a dozen) years hence. Future 

 harmonious relations, natural development, and the enjoyment 

 of "equal rights" are sacrificed on the altar of to-day's desires. 

 Henry Hicks — he who has made the transplanting of big trees 

 a specialized industry — is also a genial philosopher in the prob- 

 lems of better rural living and has forcibly phrased what is a 



feeling common to many of us. He says, "the great social 

 problem to-day is that of showing people how to live happily 

 though crowded." It is another phase of that same problem 

 that confronts us in many gardens otherwise delightful, except 

 that the crowded condition in the gardens is neither necessary 

 nor inevitable. 



Often in individual instances do we move big trees, shrubs in 

 full leaf, and perennial plants in blossom, which is proof enough 

 that we can do the same thing on a larger scale. What if a 

 Lilac or a Forsythia is six or eight feet tall and, presumably, a 

 " fixture." If it is where it shouldn't be, root prune it in advance, 

 dig it with a ball of earth, cut it back anywhere from sixty to 

 ninety per cent, above ground — and put it where it ought to go, 

 in full faith and confidence. 



If thy hedge offend thee, by taking too much plant food from 

 the Roses — as it probably does if it is Privet or Osage Orange — 

 pluck it out by the roots, and set in its place a windbreak of coni- 

 fers, with Azaleas, Laurel, or Rhododendrons nestling at their 

 feet and creating a screen of both foliage and color. If you 

 lack space in which to set out the surplus, thinned-out speci- 

 mens, better give them away, or destroy them, than leave them 

 to clutter up the garden and obstruct the development of your 

 ideas. After all, is there anything in which we get a more 

 generous money's worth than in plants, trees, shrubs, bulbs, 

 and seeds? We can afford to be prodigal. 



But quite apart from any refurnishing by new plantings, sur- 

 prising transformations can often be effected merely by the 

 shifting and regrouping of specimens without the necessity of 

 either taking from or adding to the original materials. 



It may be hard to conceive of anything in any particular 

 bed except Cannas, or Dahlias, or Roses, after they have grown 

 there for a dozen years or more. But how do you know that 

 you will not like something else just as well, if not much better? 



Of course, there must be method and plan behind any garden 

 reconstruction work — and during winter, while snow, ice, and 

 frozen soil prevent outdoor activity, is the time to formulate 

 and perfect new plans and set down in black and white mem- 

 oranda for next season's changes. Thus, temporarily, garden- 

 ing takes its place among the pleasurable " indoor sports." 



Progress is change; and in progress alone is life. As Ambassa- 

 dor Walter Page once remarked, "When you get everything 

 fixed and finished, just as you want it — you might as well die. 

 There'll be nothing else to do." 



Why have a static garden, when it may so easily be made ec- 

 static? 



GETTING THE PAPER PLAN INTO USE 



IT IS never too soon to make plans for next year's garden. 

 When everything is clearly mapped out on paper, instead 

 of being more or less vaguely held in the mind, the chances for 

 improvements and modifications that will give better results 

 are much increased. For making the garden plan there is prob- 



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