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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



November, 1908 



Foxglove and Canterbury Bells 



within. The arched entrance is a mass of blooming creepers, 

 vines that are found generally only in more southern lati- 

 tudes. There is the real Southern sweet honeysuckle — such 

 as runs riot over Virginia fences and which nearly covers 

 Mount Vernon — and the jasmine of Virginia woods. These 

 mingle their white and yellow spikes with the delicate bloom 

 and foliage of the moonflower vine, and load the air with 

 their honey-breath. The Cobaea scandens strives valiantly 

 for first place, its blue, bell-shaped flowers peeping through 

 the leaves, and its long, graceful tendrils waving in every 

 direction. A crimson rambler rambles with such abandon 

 that its long shoots trail for yards on the ground beside 

 the gate. 



Near the gate is a tall tree, and up its trunk runs a Her- 

 cules gourd vine, bearing gourds that weigh fifteen pounds 

 when green, hanging from stems forty-five inches long. Seven 

 of these lusty children are all the great vine can bring to 

 maturity. A distinctly Southern plant is the calycanthus, or 

 sweet shrub, never found blooming farther north than Ohio. 

 But it blooms here, in the soft air, tempered by the waters 

 of Minnesota's famous lake, its delicious, fruity fragrance 

 reminding one both of pineapples and strawberries — it is 

 hard to say which. It has a purplish bloom somewhat like a 

 clover blossom and flowers in lilac-time. 



Hard by is a clump of yucca in full bloom — the delicate 

 flower stalks springing from their bristling guard — as if in 

 its native desert sands. Of course, it has a specially prepared, 

 stony bed, so that it may feel entirely at home. 



And here is another rare plant — nicotiana, or tobacco- 

 plant, whose tall, graceful racemes of white flowers and base 

 of broad, luxuriant leaves look as if just transplanted from 

 some South American jungle. Where, in any Pasadena gar- 

 den, can you find a braver display of hibiscus, or rose of 

 Sharon, than in these luxuriant bushes that are away above 

 the children's heads? In truth these are new and rare 

 varieties, delicate rose-pink petals tipped with white, and 



not the common red ones. The bushes die down and are 

 covered through the winter, but come up luxuriantly each 

 spring. Those distant cousins of the hibiscus — the holly- 

 hocks of New England gardens, make a wonderful display 

 in this garden, that tall stalk in the center measuring fifteen 

 feet in height, while the blossoms are five inches across their 

 glorious petals. The rich, black woodsy soil makes this 

 hollyhock corner a regular flower-show in August, the color- 

 tones ranging from maroon, so deep and velvety as to be 

 almost black, up through rose and shell-pink to white. 



In another corner is a round bed of elephant's-ears, and 

 further along a perfect thicket of sweet william. There is a 

 peony path, a gorgeous sight, and spicy as the winds from 

 Cashmere's Vale. Of course there are roses — rare and 

 common ; dear little button-roses keep company with crim- 

 son "Jacks," and one American Beauty bush, with thirty fine 

 roses in bloom at one time last summer. 



In its own country the Japanese iris grows almost standing 

 in water, and it has been thought it could not be raised in out- 

 door gardens ; but a ditch dug around the bed and plenty of 

 water seems to serve them just as well, for here are nearly 

 forty varieties, in every shade of blue, with blossoms four 

 and five inches across. 



Blue seems a favorite hue with this gardener, for there is 

 a great bed of Canterbury bells, such big ones, holding up 

 their blue cups. Among them is the "cup and saucer," a 

 rare variety. All tangled in together, they are, with fox- 

 gloves, sending up tall blue spikes four feet high. There are 

 pink and white foxgloves, too, some of the double ones form- 

 ing tufted bunches at the top — as in the picture. They have 

 been known to bloom twice the same summer, when the buds 

 have been pinched off. A favorite sport of the children is to 

 deftly imprison a "busy bee" in the cup of the foxgloves. 

 Another is to insert an end of garden hose in one of the 

 gopher-holes and see the wet and frightened tenant emerge 

 from the other. 



The Bed of Ferns and Wild Moccasins 



