Conducted by 
F. F. Rockwell 
The Editor will he glad to answer subscribers’ queries pertaining to individual problems connected with the 
garden and grounds. When a direct personal reply is desired please enclose a self-addressed stamped' envelope 
July 
ULY, as far as the garden is concerned, 
is supposed to be one of the least im¬ 
portant months. In many ways it is a 
crucial one, not that you can do much 
planting or sowing, but it is the turning 
point; either you grow lax in the unin¬ 
teresting fight against heat and drought 
and dust and insects, and the grounds and 
flower-beds and garden patch begin to 
get weedy and dry up, or else you strive 
your hardest, with both hose and hoes, to 
keep moisture enough in the soil to keep 
things growing; you fight ofif the insects 
repeatedly until they finally give up in de¬ 
spair; and you see to it that weeds are 
pulled or cut out while they are still small 
and die quickly in the hot sun. 
July is the season’s turning point. If 
you follow the first course mentioned 
above, the chances are ninety-nine to one 
that it is the beginning of the end of your 
garden’s beauty and usefulness for the 
present year. By the middle of August 
things will be abandoned when there 
should be at least six weeks more good 
pleasure and profit in store for you. Keep 
the garden fight up through July, and 
have as sightly and useful flower-beds and 
vegetable rows in September as you had 
in June. 
- * 
Hardy Ornamental Grasses 
t'OR our northern climate, the free use 
A of the hardy grasses is the nearest 
approach we can have to the tropical beau¬ 
ty the palms give the warmer places. They 
can be used with good effect in so many 
ways that they should appeal to those in¬ 
terested in making the home grounds beau¬ 
tiful and attractive. There is such a vari¬ 
ety of them that they adapt themselves to 
any situation, either the small home 
grounds or the more pretentious show gar¬ 
dens. 
We use them in a mixed border ioo feet 
long and varying in width from 7 to 10 
feet; at irregular intervals we have eight 
or ten clumps of Eualia Gracillima (some¬ 
times called Japan Rush) and Japonica 
Zebrina. I think I like the former best; 
it has narrow, bright green foliage, with a 
silver mid-rib and an exceedingly grace¬ 
ful, drooping habit. It grows about five 
feet in height. Zebrina is six feet and is 
more striking and showy; the leaves are 
long and broader than Gracillima, and are 
banded across with half-inch bands of yel¬ 
low. The coloring of Zebrina makes a 
pleasing contrast when combined with the 
prevailing green of other shrubs. 
In the background of the border we use 
the various Spireas, Lilacs, Altheas, Gold¬ 
en-Leaved Elder, Japonica, Syringas and 
the Hardy Llibiscus. Grouped in front of 
the shrubs and grasses are Phlox, Delphin¬ 
iums, Columbine and Peonies. Each of 
these, in its season of bloom, furnishes the 
bit of color that is never lacking, from the 
appearance of the Snow Drop and Crocus 
till killing frosts in the fall. The colors 
relieve and bring out the delicate green of 
the grasses which in turn add the one touch 
of near tropical effect. 
The grasses are perfectly hardy and, as 
the}’ are late in starting, we use, close 
around the roots, masses of white and yel¬ 
low Tulips, both early and late sorts, that 
The long leaves of the ribbon grass make a 
good substitute for the less hardy palms 
the blooming period may be lengthened. 
Near the edge of the border, all kinds of 
Narcissus have a permanent home, white, 
yellow and creamy tints, with Snow Drops 
and white and yellow Crocus, to usher in 
the season. 
As the grasses begin to make a good 
growth, the bulb season ends and is fol¬ 
lowed by the white, pink and crimson of 
the Peonies which, in turn, are followed by 
the pale blue Delphinium and the double 
white Columbine, with the Phlox season 
following closely in their wake. As the 
season goes on, the delicate green of the 
grasses fills all the bare places that in early 
spring were white and yellow with Tulips 
and Narcissus. 
After the first of June, we edge the bor¬ 
der with Cobeus, Salleroy, Centaurea or 
Alteranthus, alternating so that it is dif¬ 
ferent each year. This edging is all the 
annual planting that is done in the border, 
except an occasional Salvia Speldens for 
late color, the rest remaining from year to 
year. 
From the time the grasses are well up, 
they grow better and better till very late 
in the fall the plumes appear, and in some 
years remain in fairly good condition all 
winter. We leave the tops on the grasses 
until time to uncover the beds and borders 
in the spring, as the old tops protect the 
roots and make a break in the monotony 
of bare shrubs that otherwise fill the bor¬ 
ders in winter. 
There are a number of annual grasses 
(Pennisetum) that are very ornamental 
for edging Canna beds or shrubbery 
groups ; they do not grow so tall as the 
hardy sorts and feather out earlier; they 
are quite effective in ornamental bedding 
with scarlet geraniums ; their light and deli¬ 
cate green foliage very pleasingly veils the 
strong color and makes a good combina¬ 
tion. Some of the many good varieties 
should find a place in every garden; the 
taller ones, 12 to 20 feet in height, make 
ideal central figures for large groups in 
spacious grounds. 
The varieties should be carefully selected 
for the positions they are to occupy; our 
place is small, and six feet is as high as we 
can well use in our border. If the hardy 
grasses are once tried. I feel sure they will 
find a permanent home and be better liked 
as the years go on and they become fully 
established. G. ReS. 
A Two Year Garden 
ERHAPS it may help those who de¬ 
spair of making a satisfactory gar¬ 
den to know that I have succeeded in a 
small space and with few natural advan¬ 
tages. I am not strong and the desire to 
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