248 
The Carden Magazine, June, 1920 
and you move from flower to flower with an almost personal 
consideration. 
Some of these wild plants are not commonly known; are 
indeed very little known. For they do not grow by the road- 
side to be dusted out of recognition by the tramp of those who 
cannot or will not see. Hence the price of their acquaintance 
is an interest in, and a sympathy with, the out-of-doors. You 
must search them out in hidden places, forgetting the distance 
or the roughness of the way — or at any rate disregarding these. 
They are worth all the effort and the trouble, each and every 
one of them, if material forthemostforbiddinglatitudesisdesired. 
As a last word it may be well to say to the prospective col- 
lector that while it is of course natural to judge a plant or a wild 
flower by its appearance as it is first found in the wild, often 
it may be in an unfavorable location. Moreover, many wild 
flowers are not attractive — or at any rate not striking — in their 
wild state. Preparatory to undertaking the consideration 
of any wild flower as garden material therefore, remind your- 
self of this; and also of the fact that a change of conditions 
will improve a plant in form, color, and general characteristics, 
providing it is sympathetically treated and will submit to domes- 
tication at all. 
DRAWING ON NATURE’S SERVICE OF SUPPLY 
KATE B. BURTON 
And What Garden Can Be Tame When the Wild Flowers 
of Woods and Fields Contribute Their Local Color? 
VO*? Y’ TWO acres of 
f.W-S J land in Suburbia 
jk/C n with a brook as a 
W m western boundary 
this little wild garden simply 
invited itself — for the large 
trees bordering the little 
stream shaded this corner 
nearly all day; therefore, it 
was obviously intended for 
a wilderness. The bank con- 
fining our side of the brook 
was the actual site — and a 
weedy, unsightly place it 
was; so the first move, of 
course, was to spade up the 
ground, and eliminate these 
weeds. 
One of the cross roads 
about a mile away is some- 
thing of a dump and here 
the contractor who paved 
the street threw out a great 
deal of the stone curbing — 
because it did not fit per- 
haps, or for some other reason. Anyway it was scattered 
about; 1 asked the man in charge if 1 might have it, he said I 
might; I engaged a team and wagon, and in four hours was the 
gratified possessor of the necessary building material. 
The little drawing shows the irregular slope of the bank, and 
the two gentle flights'of steps coming from the top on each side 
of the seat, the one on the right continuing to the brook. For 
the seat the bank was dug out in the centre and the bottom, 
back, and sides paved with the curbing and cemented; and 
here is a pleasant place to rest and incidentally to watch the 
strenuous golfers from the links over the way fishing their golf 
balls out of the water. 
AN OVAL bird bath was easily and inexpensively evolved 
J \ from cement by home talent, and a number of small boul- 
ders were fished up out of the creek and arranged to appear as 
indigenous as possible beside it and before the seat. Indeed 
larceny in the matter of non-precious stones is my besetting 
sin, and no motor trip seems a success unless one good specimen 
comes home to the wild garden. 
The authorities tell us 
that in laying out a wild 
garden it is essential to 
know which plants are lime 
lovers and which are lime 
haters. Orchids, Arbutus, 
Shortia, Blueberries, and 
Pitcher-plants all belong in 
the second class, and crave 
a sour soil. Manure and 
commercial fertilizers should 
be shunned like the plague, 
and every leaf should be 
saved for their corner. 
Apart from this one im- 
portant point the choice of 
both shrubs and flowers is a 
simple matter. Actually it 
is no trouble but a delight 
to transplant wild flowers, 
and there are still groves 
near every city untouched 
by allotment men, where 
Geranium, Hepaticas, Blood- 
root, Trillium, and other 
lovely things may be had for the digging, just one here and 
there, which will never be missed. Be very careful not to 
take many from one place; it is only because they are often 
doomed to extinction near a city, through development and 
the advance of population, that collecting of any sort is legiti- 
mate. Bear this in mind always. 
With shrubbery as with flowers only the native born were 
admitted. Some 1 chose for tenacity of life, as the soil was poor; 
and some for spring beauty or autumn color. Laurel and Bay- 
berry make a background for the bird bath, Low-bush Huckle- 
berry edges the steps, and Brier-rose and Steeplebush screen 
the seat from the house. There is of course a great variety of 
wild flora to choose from and it is merely a question of suiting 
the particular location and the individual taste. Among the 
native Heaths, the Mountain Andromeda, Azalea Vaseyi, Galax, 
Shortia, Partridge Berry, and Wintergreen should certainly be 
included if possible. And the combination of Virginia Bluebells 
(Mertensia) with Wild Geranium in the spring, and masses of 
purple Asters, Goldenrod, and white Eupatorium in September 
ought never to be omitted ! 
Sketch by Mrs. Boie 
A LOVELY COMPOSITION THE YEAR AROUND 
Too seldom is the beauty of bare tree-trunks and 
branches against the snow a considered part of a scheme 
