56 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



February, 1910 



American Homes and Gardens Garden Competition 



Third Garden Prize of Twenty-five Dollars 



Won by Anthony P. Finder, 

 Troy, New York 



?^ EVERAL years ago, in the early autumn, 

 I moved into a new home in one of the 

 outlying sections of the city of Troy, 

 known as the "East Side." Nearly every 

 residence in this section has a lawn sur- 

 rounding it, supplemented with more or 

 less effort in gardening. With the com- 

 ing of the first spring in my new home, I became imbued 

 with the idea of growing some flowers. As is the case with 



This plot is back from the street about one hundred and 

 fifty feet at the end of an open extended lawn. Although 

 unenclosed on three sides, the garden is so situated that no 

 one has ever molested any plant or flower grown therein. 

 The object of locating the garden so far in the rear was 

 to fill it with vegetation and foliage, so that at once, on 

 the opening of the summer season, a marked contrast 

 would be presented with the open sweep of the closely 

 cropped lawn in the foreground. 



The soil of the garden is rather 

 loamy, with considerable sand inter- 

 mixed. Twice a year, in the early 

 spring and late in the fall, this soil is 

 well spaded and loosened, care, of 

 course, being taken not to disturb the 

 roots of any of the perennials planted 

 in the garden. These perennials, as a 

 rule, are transplanted in the early fall, 

 and their clumps of roots, when neces- 

 sary, divided at that time. I have found 

 it very essential to have the ground 

 thoroughly spaded and all surplus 



The stable at the end of the lot is nearly hidden 

 from view by a mass of low- growing shrubs 

 planted in front of hydrangea and canna 



any beginner, I had no practical experi- 

 ence, and for some time groped in the 

 dark. 



Our first attempt was to have a 

 few scattered beds here and there, but 

 as the season advanced, and we were 

 greeted with a general unsatisfactory 

 result, we began to think the matter 

 over, and decided that one garden 

 planted under a general plan and scope 

 promised far better results than the 

 previous attempt with a few small, sep- 

 arate, unrelated beds. 



This garden occupied a strip of 

 ground extending along the rear of our lot about twenty- stones and unnecessary roots removed. My experience is 

 one feet wide and approximately eighty-four feet in length, that manure or other fertilizer placed in the ground dur- 



The garden walk is edged with petunias in brilliant coloring 



