88 
THE HOME GARDEN . 
these should be filled with not more than two or three 
different kinds of flowers. 
Under the common mistake that all the colors of the 
rainbow and all the plants in the florist’s calendar are de¬ 
sirable in one vase, these garden ornaments too often re¬ 
semble gigantic bouquets ; but, with an harmonious com¬ 
bination of two or three colors only, the result is much 
more pleasing. Among particularly happy combinations 
is the old Tom Thumb pelargonium for the center, with 
an edging of saponaria Calabrica , the effect of orange- 
scarlet, with the trailing pink tresses and delicate green, 
being both pretty and uncommon. A wreath of dark, 
yelyety pansies on the edge, with white and pink geraniums 
in the center, is also lovely, as well as lobelia with rose- 
scarlet or deep-toned pink edged with silver-leaf foliage. 
There is no end to the variety to choose from. All that is 
wanting seems to be the gift of arrangement. 
Next to the house should be at least three feet of gravel 
or pavement, and the farthest part of the border facing the 
house might be wider than on the other sides, with more 
flowers and a background of low shrubs. This would give 
a very pleasant view from the back windows, between the 
flowers that should adorn the windows drooping low over 
the outer ledges. Crimson-velvet petunias and thunbergias, 
with their buff-colored petals and black centers, combine 
very charmingly for this purpose. 
City gardening may be carried up to the very roof, scat¬ 
tering on the way a vine or two in the vestibule, a wall 
pocket of ferns perhaps, and possibly a rustic stand or 
French jardiniere. 
It has been said that we make so little of the waste 
space on the tops of our houses, constantly fanned by the 
most healthful breezes, and that for three months of the 
year, at least, it should be the popular family resort. On the 
continent of Europe, and especially among the Germans, 
