The Garden Magazine, May, 1924 
22S 
largest one has a girth of nine feet at three feet from the ground. 
The majority of the trees shown in the picture were planted 
about thirty years ago. There are also a few White Ash and 
American Elms, and one large Norway Spruce may be seen at the 
center left of the picture. 1 shall not attempt to point out the 
other numerous flowers, shrubs, and trees also included, yet 1 
shall mention only such plants as I now have growing in healthy 
condition on these grounds. 
There are a few fundamentals that one must respect or one’s 
labors are likely to be in vain. They are determination, 
deep digging of the soil, careful planting, watering and shading 
until the plants get thoroughly established, and lastly to see to 
it that all freshly set plants, or those of doubtful hardiness, go 
into winter quarters with thoroughly watered roots. 
Once 1 had learned the secret of growing plants 1 was eager to 
test out everything 1 could get hold of and as 1 found that 
people from other parts of the country were willing to exchange 
almost everything for our native plants, 1 was able to do this 
with only the outlay of postage on the plants that 1 sent out. 
Most gardens in this section of the country were composed 
principally of Peonies, Irises, and Tulips; and though these 
present a glorious display while they last, I wanted my garden 
to be gay for as long a period as possible and 1 have succeeded 
far beyond my wildest dreams, for 1 now have blossoms from the 
time the snow leaves us in spring until it comes again in fall. 
Flowers that Bloom from Snow to Snow 
T HE very first to bloom in early spring are the Heartsease, from 
which the modern Pansy originated. These start as soon as the 
snow leaves them and they bloom continuously until it flies again in 
autumn. Next comes Scilla sibirica, followed by Hepatica acutiloba; 
Polemonium reptans; Phlox divaricata; Violets in seven kinds; Iris 
(pumila, intermediate, and tall German); Bleeding Heart; Lily-of-the- 
Valley; Columbines of several varieties; Iceland and Oriental Poppies; 
Tulips in variety; Pyrethrum hybridum Peonies, the early officinalis 
and also late types; Hemerocallis flava or Lemon Lily, florham (an 
early tawny), Middendorfi (dwarf golden), fulva (single tawnv), 
kwanso (late double, extra good), and Thunbergi, a very fine late; Del¬ 
phiniums, elatum the most beautiful of all, hybridum the quickest to 
establish themselves, belladonna very beautiful, and grandiflora or Chi¬ 
nese Larkspur the best for dry, exposed locations; Lychnis fulgens or 
Lire-ball; Veronica spicata, a grand early sort, and longifolia, a good late. 
Then one must have Lilies. I have tried a goodly number of them 
and have found that the speciosum, auratum, superbum, candidum, 
and canadensis (both the red and yellow) are not hardy, or at least not 
dependable. They will quite often survive the first, and sometimes 
the second winter, but grow weaker each year and usually fail to come 
back, on or sometimes even before the third year. Yet Lilies we may 
have, and grandly beautiful ones at that, for few plants can rival 
Lilium elegans robustum. 1 like them best planted among small 
shrubs or against the vivid green of some taller one. Then there are 
several other types of L. elegans, including Leonard Jcorg, a very 
pretty, large flowered yellow. Both the double and single Tiger Lilies 
grow to perfection in our climate, also the little Siberian Coral Lily 
(the Lilium tenifolium) that is exquisitely beautiful, and our own na¬ 
tive Lilium philadelphicum. 
Platycodon grandiflorum, too, will stay if you give it a dry, sandy 
location where water does not stand about its roots, and it is a beauti¬ 
ful thing when well grown. Achillea millefolium rosea or Crim¬ 
son Yarrow and Achillea The Pearl are both reliable dry weather 
plants. Campanulas carpatica, and punctata, alliariaefolia, and 
grandis are all very desirable and very distinct. Heleniums autum- 
nale and Riverton Gem; and Asters Climax, St. Egwin, and that 
grandest of all late bloomers, novae-angliae rubra. The latter is one 
of the very finest, absolutely hardy, very late perennials I have ever 
seen and no collection is complete without it. 
Both the double and single forms of Lythrum roseum send forth 
splendid spikes of bloom for a long time, and the herbaceous Spiraeas, 
Gladstone, Lilipendula, ulmaria, and palmata rosea are pretty in both 
flower and leaf. Trollius or Globe-flower will please the most fas¬ 
tidious. We must not forget the late hardy Phloxes in endless array 
of brilliant colors. Add to these the oldtime standbys like Sweet- 
Mary, Old-man, Ribbon-grass, Golden-glow, Sweet-rocket, Double 
Buttercups, Sweet-Williams, Pinks, Bergamot, Chrysanthemum leu- 
canthemum; and you will have a garden that continues gay all summer. 
Digitalis purpurea (Poxglove) and Canterbury-bells have failed me 
repeatedly. When 1 tell you that 1 have mentioned less than one-half 
of my collection you can readily see that 1 have succeeded in bringing 
both beauty and protection to my prairie home. 
GARDEN VS. SAGE-BRUSH A MILE ABOVE SEA LEVEL 
AGNES DOTY BELL 
Vice-President of the Rocky Mountain Garden Club 
The Making of a Montana Garden with Only Imagination as a Starting-point 
\VELVE years ago the story of a Butte garden would 
rll! o^ iave k een the cause of much amusement, but Butte is 
coming into her own. The setting was always here; 
SrJfTlP^the mountains were always “round about.” What 
better background for gardens could there be than towering 
peaks and granite rocks? What better soil than the alluvial 
wash from those same mountains? To be sure the seasons are 
short, but we are learning to counteract that by planting only 
things which make a quick growth and which withstand our late 
and early frosts. 
A few short years ago the site of my garden was a sage-brush 
plain, the center of dust storms. Now it is in a neighborhood of 
homes and smiling gardens and as the green lawns increase, the 
dust storms decrease. Seven years ago we planted our first 
trees and started our lawn. 
Of course there have been many disappointments. The 
hedge of California Privet, which was to have enclosed the whole 
place—with little white gates let into it at the entrances— 
refused utterly to grow. We now have a hedge of Cotoneaster 
acutifolia which has been recommended as the “ best hedge for 
the Northwest.” It is most attractive in the late summer and 
fall when it turns a rich crimson. Hollyhocks in a stately row 
against the little gray house were part of my dream plan, but, in 
reality, the plants fell prey to fuzzy black worms before they 
were half grown. Roses, too, seem not to like the conditions in 
our garden, although they grow beautifully for some people. I 
even know a wonderful hedge of double white Roses which are 
the glory of one place in our town. 
The successes have been many, many more than the disap¬ 
pointments. The Canadian Poplars, Butte’s own trees, have 
done exceptionally well. We planted several of these in a wide 
group at the back of the lawn and already I can see the begin¬ 
ning for a little grove. Last summer, one of these trees “ wore a 
nest of robins in her hair” and the young birds bathed in our 
bird pool and grew fat on our cutworms. Near the house we 
have some beautiful Laurel-leaved Willows. I love these trees for 
their glossy dark green foliage and for their fragrance after rain. 
Certain types of houses demand certain types of gardens— 
colonial houses seem to call for formal gardens and stately trees; 
Italian houses need sunken gardens and wide lily pools—the 
house in my garden being just a house of no pretensions does 
not seek attention for itself, but rather tries to hide, and bushes 
and vines are beginning to cling around it. On the chimney 
there are Virginia Creepers and Solanums, while Lilacs and 
