57 
CITY LAWNS AND GARDENS 
A Picturesque Back Yard 
Back yards are difficult to treat from an 
artistic standpoint. The angular boundaries 
of these usually restricted areas seldom per- 
mit of irregular shrubbery, tree and plant 
groupings, which ordinarily would be utilized 
to break the hard outlines and punctuate 
the surface monotony. In the yard beneath 
the difficulties have, however, been well over- 
come by some picturesque flower beds and a 
vine -draped fence. It is an object lesson 
of what may be accomplished in thousands 
of similar spaces. 
A Cottager’s Flower Garden 
Here is a not uncommon scene in the 
back yard of a village cottage. It is easily 
seen that in this place flowers are loved for 
their individualities, and not for their deco- 
rative value, in enhancing the beauty of the 
surroundings. If the garden contained only 
about one -half of the quantity of plants, 
and they were formed into an irregular 
boundary border, with a stretch of green 
grass in the center, the clump of hardy 
Phlox remaining as it is, the effect would 
be much more pleasing. 
