September, 1907 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



343 



The Wild Garden 



A Plea for Our Native Plants 



By Eben E. Rexford 



^^^^^^^ ^"/^ A N Y persons are under the impression that 

 v^i/^^^^^fl^ have few, if any, native flowering plants 

 i^eO^X^^^g and shrubs that are worthy of cultivation. 

 l^i^nV^'^^ M They have been accustomed to look upon 

 m^^^lj^^iv^ them as "weeds," or "wild things," for- 

 ^gg^^^^^^ getting that all plants are "weeds" and 

 "wild things" somewhere, and so unfamiliar 

 are they with them that they fail to recognize them when 

 they meet with them outside their native haunts. Some years 

 ago I transplanted a golden rod from a fence-corner of the 

 pasture, and gave it a place in the garden. There it grev^' 

 luxuriantly, and soon became a great plant that sent up scores 

 of stalks each season as high as a man's head, each one 

 crowned with a plume of brilliant yellow flowers that lighted 

 up the corner of the garden where it grew like a bonfire. 

 One day an old neighbor came along and leaned over the 

 fence to chat with me as I worked among my plants. 



"That's a beauty," he said, looking at the golden rod. 

 "I don't know's I ever saw anything like it before. I reckon, 

 now, you paid considerable money for that plant." 



"How much do you think it cost me?" I asked. 



"Oh, I don't know," he replied, looking at the plant admir- 

 ingly, and then at some of foreign origin near by. The price 

 of these he knew something about, for he had one of them 

 growing in his own garden. He seemed to be making a 

 mental calculation, based on the relative beauty of the plants, 

 and presently he said: "I wouldn't wonder if you paid as 

 much as three dollars for it. How near have I come to it?" 



"That plant cost me nothing but the labor of bringing it 

 from the pasture," I answered. "Don't you know what it 

 is? There's any quantity back of your barn, I notice." 



"You don't mean to say that's yellow-weed?" exclaimed 

 the old gentleman with a disgusted look on his face. "I 

 wouldn't have it round my yard. We've got weeds enough 

 without settin' 'em out." He went away with a look on his 

 face that made me think he felt as if he had been imposed on. 



While it is true, in many instances, that "familiarity breeds 

 contempt," it is equally true that familiarity without prejudice 

 would open our eyes to the fact that beauty exists all about 

 us — in the lanes, the fields, and the forests. We are not 

 aware of the prevalence of it until we go in search of it. If 

 we go out with "the seeing eye," we find it everywhere. 

 Nothing is so plentiful, or so cheap, as beauty, to the lover 

 of the beautiful. It may be had for the taking. We have 

 fallen into the habit of looking to foreign lands for plants 

 with which to beautify our grounds, thus neglecting and 

 ignoring the beauty at our own doors. A shrub with a long 

 name and a good big price attached will win our admiration, 

 while a more beautiful native one is wholly overlooked. This 

 ought not to be so. "Home first, the world afterward," is 

 the motto of many patriotic men and women, and it ought 

 to be the motto of the lover of the beautiful in plant-life, 

 when he Is seeking for something with which to ornament the 

 home grounds. 



Many persons have, however, become Inerested In our 

 native plants, and It is apparent that the interest of the masses 

 in whatever Is beautiful is steadily Increasing. It Is an indi- 

 cation of education along a line where next to nothing has 

 been done when we see that the taste of the amateur Is be- 

 coming keen enough to appreciate native beauty to such an 

 extent that a demand has sprung up for shrubs and plants of 



American origin. They are beginning to sell, the dealers 

 tell us, and the fact that the florist finds there is money in 

 growing native plants for the market is a most encouraging 

 sign. Appreciation of true beauty Is putting a value into 

 things which have heretofore had no idea of value connected 

 with them. 



But the dominant Idea I have in mind in writing this article 

 Is to enlist the boys and girls in the work of making a col- 

 lection of native plants. I want them to make what we call 

 a "wild garden"; In other words, a garden composed wholly 

 of American plants, gathered from the field and forest. 



Such a garden can be of great educational value, and, at the 

 same time, ornamental. It can be made to assist In the de- 

 velopment of patriotic as well as esthetic Ideas. It can be 

 made to stimulate a healthy rivalry among the children as 

 to who shall have the most complete collection of native 

 plants. In the care and culture of these plants they will gain 

 a skill and knowledge that may be of much benefit to them in 

 the future, and possibly to the world. Who knows? — we 

 may have among us a young Linnaeus, or a Humboldt, and 

 the making of a wild garden may tend to the discovery and 

 the development of a talent which coming years may make 

 us proud to do honor to the possessor of. 



I would suggest the formation of a wild garden society 

 in each village or neighborhood. Organize little expeditions 

 into the surrounding country in search of shrubs and plants. 

 Take with you a good-sized basket and something to dig 

 your plants with, when found — and your dinner. Every such 

 excursion can be made a sort of picnic, and I venture the 

 prediction that your first trip to the woods will not be your 

 last one, by any means. 



The search for plants must be begun early in the season 

 if they are to be transplanted In spring, for it would not be 

 safe to attempt their removal after they have begun to make 

 active growth. April is a good time to look up your plants, 

 and May a good time to bring them home. Later on. If you 

 come across a plant that seems desirable, mark the place 

 where it grows so that it can be readily found, and transplant 

 it to the home grounds in fall, after Its leaves have fallen. 



In transplanting shrubs and herbaceous plants, study care- 

 fully the conditions under which they have grown, and aim 

 to make the conditions under which they are to grow as sim- 

 ilar to the original ones as possible. Of course you will be 

 able to do this only approximately, in most instances, but 

 come as near It as you can, for much of your success depends 

 on It. You can give the plants a soil similar to that In which 

 they were found growing, and generally, by a little fore- 

 thought and some planning, you can arrange for exposure to 

 sunshine, or a shaded location suited to the requirement of 

 the plants. Very often It Is possible to so locate them that 

 moisture-loving plants can have a damp soil by planting them 

 in low places or hollows where water stands for some time 

 after a rain, while those which prefer dry soils can be given 

 places on knolls and stony places from which moisture drains 

 off rapidly. In order to do this part of the work well, you 

 will find it necessary to study your plants well before remov- 

 ing them from their home In the woods and fields. Aim to 

 make the change as easy as possible for them. This can be 

 done only by Imitating natural conditions, or the conditions 

 under which they have been growing up to the time when you 

 undertake their domestication. 



(C'(>/iir/u(/t'i/ OH I 'age j6o) 



