BEAUTIFUL GARDENS IN AMERICA 
not photographed for the public is that occasionally people 
are found who will not share their blessings with others 
less fortunate; who jealously keep in seclusion all the 
wealth of nature’s sweetness contained in their garden 
plot. 
After all, is not the delight which belongs to a garden 
but a bit of borrowed glory from the Creator of sunlight, 
and of the kingdom of flowers? If a garden is worthy of 
showing to our intimates, can we close it to the stranger 
who may need even more to breathe inspiration from its 
peace and loveliness? The foreign custom of opening the 
fine places to the public on stated days is one that we 
should freely emulate. And to those who may not come 
to the gardens, what a boon is photography, especially in 
color, placing in our very hands the beauty that we crave! 
The views contained within this book show gardens 
that were planned, with but few exceptions, by their owners, 
earnestly laboring to express their sense of the beautiful 
in these their outdoor homes. And so great is the individ- 
uality evinced in most of them that there are hardly two 
gardens that resemble one another; for the differences 
in gardens are as many as the endless number of varying 
characters written in the faces of men. Both are stamped 
with the spirit behind them. In visiting gardens it is not 
difficult to distinguish between the ones fashioned by 
“love’s labor” and those made by the practical gardener. 
More and more we are getting away from the cold, stiff 
planting of Canna, Coleus, and Salvia. Few of us can 
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