196 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



September, 1906 



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myriads of lesser moths surround the more 

 shallow tubes of the four o'clocks. 



It is to be regretted that so much of old 

 time sentiment has vanished from our gardens, 

 that they have grown to be so much a matter 

 of display and of competitive effort to possess 

 — not the sweetest and best, but the largest 

 and showiest, of flowers. Our gardens should 

 be a place to retire to and dream, to stroll in 

 the dusk of evening and let nature wipe out 

 the wrinkles and the frowns that the cares 

 of the day have written on our brow and 

 heart. Instead, too many of us go into them 

 with a critical eye, and a fretful sense of 

 comparison between what is ours and our 

 neighbors', that, unless the balance is largely 

 in our favor, successfully militates against 

 any real enjoyment of what is best, and tender 

 toleration of those weaklings that are not quite 

 up to exhibition standard, but yet are whole- 

 some and sweet. 



It would be a step in the right direction 

 could we isolate our gardens so that they were 

 no longer a matter of display but of secluded 

 family life, and in no way, perhaps, could one 

 more readily get back to nature, and the simple 

 enjoyment of her gifts than in the construc- 

 tion of a garden of night-blooming plants. 

 These, from the nature of their blooming, 

 their nocturnal habits, preclude the idea of 

 display and invite to pensive loiterings. 



The night-blooming garden should not, for 

 the best results, be a conspicuous part of the 

 garden proper, except as where space is lim- 

 ited it may form a part of the hardy border 

 or garden; rather should it be sequestered, to 

 be come upon unexpectedly, happily, in the 

 evening stroll down the winding garden path 

 or through the columns of the pergola, the 

 lattice of the summerhouse. It should allure 

 with its odors, with its fugitive intangible 

 sweetness, to be sought for until its blossoms 

 burst white and shining under the crescent 

 moon upon the sight. 



The list of night-blooming flowers is not a 

 long one, but ample for our purpose. That 

 they may be attractive and easily found of 

 moth and insect, nature has chosen to drape 

 them in white that gleams amid the shadows 

 of the dusk like beacon lights to guide the 

 hunter on the way. Few of the night bloom- 

 ers show more than a faint hint of color, the 

 most noticeable exception being the Mirabilis 

 or four o'clocks which show warm color- 

 ings of yellow, pink and red, but as these open 

 their flowers to the afternoon light, nature 

 has assured their attractiveness to mankind by 

 clothing them with color as well as fragrance. 



Chief among the night bloomers are the 

 various members of the datura family; of 

 these the brugmansias are notable, their great 

 white, satiny, fluted trumpets, which open 

 about sunset, are exquisite in their purity and 

 fragrance. The double form of the plant is 

 not as successfully grown as a garden plant as 

 the single, its season of blooming being too 

 late in the year. The datura proper has a 

 somewhat smaller blossom, lily shaped, lav- 

 ender on the outside and pure white inside and 

 less fragrant than the brugmansia. Both are 

 of the easiest culture; young plants may be 

 procured of the florist in May and planted out 

 where they are to bloom, in good, rich soil, 

 kept clear of weeds and given a reasonable 

 amount of water and nature will attend to 

 the rest. They should be planted near the 

 outside of the beds or garden where their 

 beauty will not be obscured by the encroach- 

 ing branches of other plants, as the brug- 

 mansias keep their blossoms somewhat within 

 the shade of their foliage. 



The various nicotianas are a most interest- 

 ing class of night bloomers and are also ef- 

 fective on cloudy days when they open their 

 flowers as freely as at night. N. affinis is 

 the only true night bloomer and its somewhat 



