in the bed, and the black soil replaced. Then the few cherished peren- 
nials, gifts from father's and grandfather's gardens, and those begged, 
borrowed atid almost stolen from friends, were set out by the hands 
of the young woman. From that day to this she has never allowed 
any other hands to plant a seed or a root in the garden, and very 
seldom has any other hand done any of the weeding. 
(Of course her own hands were a sight years ago and she has won 
a reputation for crankiness among all the temporary gardeners who 
have tried to work for her in the interregna when the original and 
only Lawrence has been iU or reft from her by the war.) 
Now, as Daisy Ashford would probably put it, we wiU skip twenty- 
one years. 
The garden has had its ups and downs. It once spread out for 
six years into twice its size, when the corner lot was added, then di- 
minished again when the comer lot was built on and sold. During 
five years tenants held sway while the woman gardener was in tem- 
porary exile — BUT — and this is to my thinking her greatest triumph, 
the native wild flowers have estabhshed themselves, and bloom as 
faithfully as though they were not in the midst of a busy, well-drained 
little suburb, ahd the general layout of the beds and borders, although 
modified here and there, is basically the same. 
Little miracles have happened. Twelve roots of Mertensia, brought 
from the Desplaines River bottoms at Riverside have spread so that 
they make a sheet of blue that is worth a special trip to see, and last 
year a sign in the village post office resulted in friends with baskets 
carrying away thirty-five dozen husky roots, without any evidences 
that the place had been disturbed. TriUiums, Hepaticas, Jacks-in-the 
Pulpit — no use enumerating. They all flourish, and from the Shadberry 
and wild Plum through the gamut of Viburnum, various Dogwoods 
and Thorns, wild Cherry and Crab until late June brings the Elder 
blossoms, there is always white bloom in the thicket. 
In the borders and the beds at the rear of the lot, from late Feb- 
bruaty, when Eranthis hiemalis once hfted golden cups through the 
snow on Washington's birthday, tUl late November's last Chrysanthe- 
mum has opened, there is always bloom in the httle garden. 
I shall not make a list of what bulbs and perennials and annuals I 
have used in these twenty-one years. Take the catalogue alphabetical- 
ly, and choose every other one listed, and you will get a fair idea. 
As I grow older I experiment less, for the garden is a shady one and 
many things that do not do well I have eliminated. 
Lest I be accused of catering only to the aesthetic, let me assure 
the scoffer that I have currant bushes to make enough jelly for my 
family, and a dozen Industry gooseberry bushes, a tiny strawberry 
14 
