WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR PLANS 
HENRY GIBSON 
Considering the Needs of the Average Man Who Wants a Practical All-around Garden to Supply the 
Home Table While also Giving a “Setting” to the House with Flowers for Ornament and Cutting 
ADHERE is indeed little, if any, relation between the size, 
mH * t ^ ie cost *' ness or the simplicity of a home and its at- 
ffitSAl tractiveness in development and upkeep. It may be 
6bir more difficult to decide on the placing and disposition 
of the several units that make up the features of the home 
when the place is quite small, because utility must needs be 
considered first of all; but the harmonious combination of 
practical utility and satisfying beauty is really within the reach 
of every home owner. 
Some subdivision is at once necessary, but just what propor- 
tion of the ground should be given over to the cultivation of 
vegetables, fruits, and ornamental flowering trees and shrubs 
are questions that can be decided only by considering the size 
of the available area as a whole, and the personal predilections 
of the family for fresh fruits and vegetables, and decorative 
floral effects, for naturalistic views, for plant collections, etc. 
etc.— everyone to his taste. 
The man with a hundred acres containing a vast expanse of 
lawn, flowering shrubs, and other ornamentals, seldom need 
devote more than a single acre to the cultivation of vegetables 
which may be taken as the maximum requirement for any 
household. 
On a plot of an acre, one sixth given over to vegetables, and 
a similar area to the cultivation of fruits, the balance being 
devoted to lawns, shrubs, and flowers would meet the demands 
of any ordinary family. 
On a plot approximately one quarter of an acre, an area 40 x 50 
ft. would be the most that could be utilized for vegetables if other 
garden features are to be included. Fruit trees might well be 
planted as part of the ornamental features of the small place, and 
would thus serve a double purpose. Or again the 40 x 50 ft. plot 
may be set out with fruits, both large and small, and only the 
smaller vegetables grown between the trees and bushes. 
In the arrangement of the ornamental features of the place, 
a good deal of liberty may be exercised and personal tastes in- 
dulged, but the ultimate object, a natural setting in keeping with 
the surroundings, should never be lost sight of. 
T HE proper way to begin, assuming there is a perfect 
freedom of action, is to make a plan of the ground, marking, 
all the existing features of the place which it is desired to retain, 
such as large trees, shrubs, definitely located paths, etc. Then 
add the features that are to be introduced to fit your own 
fancies. The worst possible method of procedure is to attempt 
or imitate your neighbor’s garden, for the inevitable variation 
which occurs in a ground plan by different placing of the house, 
as well as differences in the house plan itself will preclude 
any such adoption. Every place must be planned for itself. The 
lawn, the open foreground of the home ground picture is much 
more satisfactory when preserved in one unbroken surface, and 
any temptations to cut the centre to create flower beds should 
be avoided. Where sufficient room is allowed for unhampered 
development, hardy shrubs add character to the garden and 
afford an excellent background for flowers. It is permissible 
to plant flowers in beds bordering the walks, and Roses, both 
hybrid-perpetuals and hybrid-teas, are most useful for this 
purpose. The outside line of the garden enclosure may be 
hidden bv judicious planting. A mixed plantation of flowering 
shrubs with a few pyramidal evergreens at vantage points is 
very effective; and flowering shrubs along the outside line of the 
garden add much to the beauty of the floral ensemble within, 
and the sinuous outline of the border plantation is in perfect 
A SIMPLE GARDEN OF HARMONIOUS VARIETY 
The dividing boundary of low shrubbery accented by taller kinds and a tree, yet allows a glimpse 
of the area beyond. The clipped hedge of Privet on the house front frames both house and garden 
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