February, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



75 



A Simple Planting for Small House Grounds 



By George S. Wickham 



HE annexed diagram offers a suggestion for 

 a comparatively inexpensive planting for 

 small home grounds. It is proposed to 

 plant two sides of the lot in a combination 

 of shrubs, hardy border plants, and bulbs. 

 Here will be ample space for annuals also. 

 This will give flowers from early spring 

 until late in fall, if a judicious selection of varieties is made. 

 The bulbs will come into bloom very early in spring. These 

 will be followed by such early-blooming hardy plants as 

 dicentra, iris, bellis, and phlox sublata. A little later will come 

 the aquilegias, then the peonies, and by and by the holly- 

 hocks, with perennial phlox crowding the latter closely, 

 and ushering in the hardy asters, pyrethrum uliginosum, 

 dahlias, and the later fall flowers. At intervals throughout 

 the season, the various shrubs will add to the procession 

 of beauty, and at no time, from April to November, ought 

 such a combination to be flowerless. 



Simplicity of treatment should be followed, because there 

 is not space enough to do elaborate gardening in, and simple 

 effects on small grounds are always most pleasing. I would 

 suggest that before any shrub or plant is decided on or set 

 out, its size, its time of flowering, and its color be ascertained. 

 If these are known, many mistakes can be avoided. I 

 would put the largest shrubs in the corner, working down 

 on both sides with smaller ones until only low-growing 

 kinds appear next the streets. I would follow this plan, 

 also, in locating 

 border-plants. A 



little study of the Lot 



characteristics of the 



material you make Alley 



use of will enable 

 you to make your 

 border slope down 

 gradually from a 

 height of ten or fif- 

 teen feet in the cor- 

 ner, to a foot or 

 two at the ends. 

 B y putting tall- 

 growing perennials 

 at the rear, working 

 down toward the 

 lawn with plants 

 of lesser height, you 

 can secure a banked 

 effect which will be 



very pleasing from Street 

 every portion of the 

 lot or streets. 



Uj 



House 



It will be seen that there is nothing arbitrary about the 

 plan for planting outlined on diagram. I would avoid all 

 straight lines in the border. Let curves prevail. Group 

 your shrubs. This does not mean that each group should 

 be made up of one kind. Kinds which harmonize can be 

 combined. Do not make the mistake of planting in rows, 

 or at even distances apart. Between the shrubs, plant your 

 perennials of tall habit, to make a background for lower 

 ones in the front row. Among these plant your bulbs, a 

 mass here, a mass there, each mass confined to its own kind. 

 Where these bulbs grow, annuals can be used later. 



I have indicated, at 1, 2 and 3, desirable places for 

 small trees, like mountain ash, cut-leaved birch, or some 

 of the Japanese maples — all of rapid growth, symmetrical 

 habit, and early culture. These sorts do not become too 

 large for small grounds in a few years, as most trees do. 



Such an arrangement furnishes an excellent background 

 and setting for the dwelling. It also helps to isolate the 

 place, to a considerable extent, from adjoining grounds, 

 and does this without any offensive exhibition of a desire 

 for exclusiveness. It will be found vastly more satisfactory 

 than scattering shrubs, plants, and flower-beds here, there, 

 and everywhere. Such a plan of planting gives a wide sweep 

 of lawn in unbroken beauty, thus preserving its dignity, and 

 suggesting distance and breadth in such a manner as to make 

 it appear larger than it really is. 



In preparing the lawn, have the ground well spaded or 



plowed, then pulverized, and 

 leveled. Manure it well, 

 using bonemeal in preference 

 to barnyard manure, as the 

 latter will bring in weeds. Sow 

 thickly with the best grade 

 of lawn-grass seed, and go 

 over it from east to west, and 

 then from north to south, to 

 insure evenness of seeding. 



Any one can see that there 

 is nothing complicated here, 

 nothing involving expense of 

 any moment, noth- 

 ing that any one can 

 not have and can 

 not arrange. Yet 

 simple as this outline 

 is I am confident it 

 will yield interesting 

 and good results. 

 Complicated plant- 

 ings are interesting 

 but unnecessary. 



Lot 





5" 



tlOU^E 



