Planting the Winter 
Garden 
by Grace 
A LL too commonly is 
gardening activity 
and thought concentrated 
upon the spring, summer 
and autumn—as if these 
were the only seasons when 
out of doors invites ! Win¬ 
ter is left to shift for itself; to furnish a dreary, dragging interval 
of unloveliness and desolation—exactly what winter can and will 
do, superlatively, if left to itself. But that the intelligent and en¬ 
thusiastic gardener should be" content to allow even the winter 
season to conquer him seems reallv a reflection upon either his 
intelligence or his enthusiasm. For there is no time during the 
year when Nature and the garden can be helped so much with 
so little effort—providing that effort is made at the proper time 
and is properly directed. 
And then the indolent joys of the winter garden! No spraying, 
no weeding, no perpetual cutting off of dead flower heads, noth¬ 
ing for the gardener to do 
but take his ease and con¬ 
template in peace! Surely 
just this phase of it alone is 
enough to stimulate to its 
realization, for what a gar¬ 
den paradise such negatives 
promise to the summer- 
jaded struggler with bug and 
blight and brigandage of 
weed, and precocious going 
to seed! 
The winter garden, rather 
more than the gardens of 
other gladder seasons, 
should be closely related to 
the house. For one thing, 
its trim snugness is too pre¬ 
cious and comforting a sight 
to be removed from indoor 
window contemplation; and 
for the other, access to it 
should be as nearly direct 
as may be, to avoid the un¬ 
pleasant exposure of a walk 
outside its protective shelter. 
The real winter garden 
should be so complete a shel¬ 
ter that walking about and 
loitering within it will be not 
only possible but pleasant, 
when such out-of-doors 
walking would not he con¬ 
sidered save under the lash 
Tabor 
able state of snugness to 
be brought about? Is it 
actually possible to achieve 
such a happy retreat? 
These are the two ques¬ 
tions that always come 
tumbling over each other 
when a winter garden is first broached to the man that is a stran¬ 
ger to the idea. 
Such perfect retreats are possible, though in full perfection 
only where ground space for planting is not limited — at least, not 
too limited. For to make use of shelter belts to the best advan¬ 
tage requires considerable space, the principle governing their 
employ being the gradual breaking up, sifting and scattering of 
wind rather than the actual stoppage of it. As a matter of fact, 
wind is never stopped, and any obstacle interposed in its path 
only diverts it, turns it up or aside where, more likely than not, 
it drags after it the otherwise still air on the opposite side of the 
barrier, creating a cross cur¬ 
rent and no end of draughts 
and unpleasant, penetrating 
little streams of chilliness. 
Long range shelter belts, 
however, do not divert 
wind; they receive it and 
pull it apart as it passes 
through them, until its speed 
is reduced and its strength 
tamed little by little — and at 
last it is nil. 
All sorts of evergreens 
furnish the material from 
which, or by means of which, 
the winter garden is to be 
developed. From the big¬ 
gest and most splendid for¬ 
est monarch down to the 
wee dwarf of the horticul¬ 
turist's art, there is an op¬ 
portunity to use everything 
— and whatever the circum¬ 
stances or opportunitv there 
is happily something to use. 
The outer belts or screens 
demand the sturdiest and 
hardiest varieties; the gar¬ 
den itself may be enclosed 
by any one of several varie¬ 
ties ; and, finally, it may be 
planted within its enclosure 
with one or several of the 
smaller growth varieties. It 
is only in some such definite 
arrangement as an evergreen 
of necessity. 
Flow is this highly desir- 
The wall of unclipped arborvitae sifts and scatters the wind, this variety being peculiarly 
fitted for wind resistance 
IN AUGUST SHOULD BE SET OUT EVER¬ 
GREENS FOR SHELTER BELTS AND WIND¬ 
BREAKS TO MAKE ATTRACTIVE AND SNUG 
THE GARDEN NEXT WINTER 
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