226 
The Garden Magazine, May, 1924 
Honeysuckles crowd close to the walls. On 
the west side there is a border of Perennial 
Phlox and Daisies with hardy Garden 
Heliotrope (Valeriana), and grow¬ 
ing between are spikes of Ver¬ 
onica ; while as a border to the 
whole, there are low-growing 
plants, the annual Phlox 
and Verbenas in variety. 
The flowers and vines 
from the window-boxes 
— unassuming and 
filled each year with 
Rosy Morn Petunia 
and trailing Vinca— 
fall over and mingle 
with those in the 
border. 
Probably everyone 
who has ever lived in 
the country carries in 
memory the picture of 
an old wayside fence, 
overgrown with vines and 
bushes. On one side of our 
yard we are trying to repro¬ 
duce such a picture. Along the 
fence here are growing Honey¬ 
suckles, Lilacs, Spiraeas, Flowering 
Currants, Dogwoods, Syringas, 
Buffalo-berries, wild Roses, and 
Buckthorns. I n the spaces, many of 
the taller perennials are established, 
while the smaller flowers find room 
to flourish in front, and in every 
place where they can find a foothold, 
Poppies flaunt themselves. 
We tried to pay some attention 
to color in planting; not the 
strained effort after a “color scheme” which was the fashion a 
few years ago, but just an effort to keep away from each other 
colors which clash. 1 believe that no flower was ever ugly in it¬ 
self, but l do think that very ugly combinations can be made by 
placing the wrong flowers together. Nothing could be worse 
than scarlet and magenta, for instance; but scarlet is lovely with 
blue, as scarlet Poppies and Cornflowers; and magenta is at its 
best with white and it blends with all purple flowers. So orange 
and yellow are good planted near blue. The shades of brown 
and orange and yellow, as in the Calliopsis and the African and 
French Marigolds, make a beautiful combination. But I like 
best of all groups and masses of white to tie all the hues together. 
For this 1 love the annual Gypsophila, or Babys-breath. The 
misty perennial Gypsophila is good, too. Let them take their 
way and they will sow themselves and drift in among the other 
flowers like clouds and soften the 
whole effect. 
Since blue is the color of distance— 
and we want our grounds to look as 
large as possible—we plant blue flow¬ 
ers in the background. Back under 
the trees there is one space where 
nothing but blue flowers is ever al¬ 
lowed to grow, except an occasional 
pinkor white to give accent to the 
blue. And when you make a list of 
blue flowers, it is surprising how many 
there are. Of course, the gorgeous 
Larkspurs head the list; then there are 
Cornflowers, Harebells, Bluebells, 
Flax, Anchusa, Veronica or Speedwell, 
Hardy Asters, Forget-me-nots, and 
Lobelias—to mention only those that grow in 
my own blue border. We try to keep the 
same color arrangements from year to 
year. Where pink flowers grow 
one year we plant them again. 
It may not be the same flower, 
but always something pink. 
Almost every gardener has 
a specialty and I have de¬ 
cided that ours is Sweet- 
peas. Nothing does so 
well for us, and it may 
not be out of place to 
tell how we grow 
them. In the first 
place, the bed is pre¬ 
pared by digging out 
the earth for about 
two feet and filling it 
with very rich soil and 
fertilizer. Bonemeal 
is very good mixed with 
the soil. Then the seeds 
are planted in a trench 
from four to six inches 
deep, and as the plants come 
up and grow, the earth is hoed 
in around them. In this way the 
roots grow far below the surface and 
find coolness and moisture. We plant 
the rows north and south so that the 
sun shines between them. In plant¬ 
ing them, 1 like to blend the red and 
pink into the white, and the white 
into the lavender, and then end the 
row with the blue and purple. 
Since we have learned that bulbs 
will grow out of doors in Butte, we 
have gained about a month of flow¬ 
ers that we did not have before. Now the floral procession 
starts in April with the Daffodils and Narcissus, followed in May 
and June by the lovely Darwin Tulips in company with Honey¬ 
suckles and Lilacs. With the beginning of July the wonderful 
hosts of annuals arrive and from then until heavy frosts come, 
the garden is never empty. And not forgetting the winter 
landscape, we have a few Colorado Blue Spruces, which have a 
way of catching the snow and decking themselves in white 
wreaths; and there are the Red-osier Dogwoods with their bright 
stems and, for contrast, the golden Willow. 
Nothing adds so much to the joys of a garden as perfume, and 
in ours no old-fashioned, sweet-scented thing has been forgotten. 
There are Clove-Pinks and Sweet Alyssum and Sweet-peas and 
Petunias and Mignonette. But it remains for evening to bring 
out the full rich sweetness of the flowers, For a foretaste of 
heaven, step into the garden after 
nightfall, when the cool, sweet wind 
comes down from the “divide” 
bringing the scent of the Pines and 
all the wild mysterious perfumes of 
the Montana night, to mingle with 
the perfume of the Nicotiana and 
the Night-scented Stocks. 
A garden without bird life would 
be a dull and lifeless thing, so we 
have several bird-houses and two 
bird-baths, and besides these a home¬ 
made pool, popular with both birds 
and frogs. Each year, too, we are 
trying novelties, without which gar¬ 
dening might become an old story 
and lose some of its charm. 
POPLARS AND SHIRLEY POPPIES IN 
MRS. F. M. BELL’S MONTANA GARDEN 
“ In every place where they can find a foothold, Poppies flaunt 
themselves,” writes Mrs. Bell. “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 (plan 
below) and already I can see the beginning of a little grove ” 
PLAN OE MRS. BELL’S GARDEN 
Described in detail in accompanying article 
