THE FLOWER GARDEN 



composing a harmony. Avoid glaring contrasts, 

 abrupt, straight divisions, and jarring combinations; 

 you can not expect to get everything right at first, 

 but some plants can be reset if necessary until the 

 desired effect is secured (even large plants can be 

 safely moved in late fall). Keep out weeds, keep 

 the soil loose and mellow; but when the plants have 

 attained sufficient size to cover and shade the ground, 

 few weeds will grow and only an occasional hoeing 

 or weeding will be necessary. Late each fall apply 

 a mulch of strawy 

 manure and a light 

 sprinkle of bone meal ; 

 remove the coarser 

 parts of the mulch in 

 the early spring and 

 carefully loosen up the 

 surface soil with a 

 hoe and a narrow 

 eight-tooth rake. 



Prepare the border 

 for planting by spading 



it deeply (a foot at least) and working in a quantity 

 of well-rotted manure and some bone meal. Most of 

 the seeds can best be sown in spring as soon as the 

 ground is warm and dry enough — say late April or 

 early May in the North; a few of them (poppies, for 

 instance) can best be sown in late fall and mulched. 

 In regard to buying and setting out plants, J. T. 

 Lovett says : "Some persons prefer autumn planting 

 and others claim spring to be the better season. As 

 a matter of fact, neither spring nor fall is to be pre- 

 ferred for the entire list of varieties. Beyond ques- 

 tion pseony, phlox, dicentra, day lily, etc., make the 

 best growth when planted in autumn ; while Japanese 



REMOVE THE MULCH IN EARLY SPRING 

 AND CAREFULLY LOOSEN UP 

 THE TOP SOIL 



