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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



April, 1908 



The Garden Joys of a Country Home 



By Abbie I. Johnson 



|N EXCELLENT rule to observe in mak- 

 ing the most of a home in the country is to 

 remember that nature never creates accord- 

 ing to the compass and the square. A 

 constant effort to work by line in what may 

 be called home-made landscape gardening 

 is certain to throw the shadow of stiffness 

 over all. It is amazing to find in making up the floral and 

 shrubbery plans for a small plot of ground, such as consti- 

 tutes the majority of city workers' homes away from urban 



Garden Lilies Are Particularly Desirable for Close Window Outlook 



bustle, how much can be accomplished by utilizing the shrubs 

 and flowers found in the woods and fields adjacent to the 

 home site. Elaborate growths with amazing names, im- 

 ported from famous gardens, possess a certain amount of 

 charm — if properly disposed in the garden arrangement. 

 The difficulty in this regard lies in the fact that such plants 



are so often out of place in the modest acre of the every- 

 day country home. Too often they remind one of the 

 woman who wears a style of hat or bonnet because she ad- 

 mired it upon some one else, forgetting that to her it may 

 be wholly unbecoming. 



We may borrow much, in beautifying the home acre, from 

 the pretentious displays characteristic of elaborate grounds 

 wherein the professional landscape gardener reigns. In 

 doing so, however, we should always remember that it 

 is merely a solution and not the full strength of the original 



essence that we desire to 

 obtain. 



A common error grow- 

 ing out of forgetfulness of 

 this fact is the planting of 

 fancy roses as a part of 

 shrubbery. These would 

 be better grown, if utilized 

 at all, on a trellis, or in a 

 regular rose garden, where 

 they can receive the atten- 

 tion they require. On the 

 other hand, the wild rose 

 may be cultivated with 

 other bushes with excellent 

 effect. 



Let the place conform to 

 the spirit of its surround- 

 ings. Above all things, the 

 bushes should not be 

 sheared. Primness is never 

 wanted in the country 

 home. When a bush is 

 sheared it no longer exists 

 in itself, but merely as the 

 representation of the shear- 

 er's idea. 



While native shrubs can 

 be grown more easily than 

 others, if one must turn to 

 other material there is noth- 

 ing better than the calceolaria and the rhododendron. Both 

 are hardy and possess similar traits, although from dif- 

 ferent sections of the world. The yellow, white and purple 

 two-lipped slipper-shaped flower of the calceolaria forms a 

 most beautiful and unusual thicket growth. If the flower be 

 spotted, as in some varieties, the effect is even more striking. 



