January, 1918 
43 
Another treatment of the narrow back yard. (A) trellis; 
( B) bird bath; (C) brick path; (D) painted wooden seat; 
(E) flowers in variety; (F) ornamental shrubs; (&) flower 
hnv.pi ■ (H) brick wall 
the heap is large enough a large zinc tuh may 
be embedded in the center and the sides masked 
with stones and low growing, creeping plants 
set about the front of it, with a few taller 
growths in the rear. Ferns, English daisies, 
ageratum, Phlox drummondi, lobelia, dwarf 
morning glory, tradescantia, Kenilworth ivy 
_all delight to tuck their toes away in the cool 
spaces between the stones. A clump of hardy 
reeds or grasses, a bamboo or an umbrella 
plant, are good selections for the back of the 
rockery, and the tender day blooming water 
lilies do well for the little pool. If the tub is 
not desired, a hollow may be rounded out and 
lined with cement to form a drinking place and 
bath for the birds. The wire hen nests for sale[ 
at the seed stores make good foundations^ for 
the bath, as the wire prevents breakage of the 
cement. All that is necessary is to dig a hole 
in the ground, place the nest in position in it, 
and coat it with cement. 
The accompanying sketches, though merely 
suggestive, may give an idea of the possibilities 
of a city back yard. They entail no large ex- 
penditure of labor or money, and if careful y 
planted to hardy shrubs and perennials there 
will be a steady succession of bloom through¬ 
out the summer, and the upkeep for a number 
of years should be negligible. 
The Plans 
One plan shows a broad expanse of turf, 
broken in the center by a small cement lily 
pool at each side of which cement or marble 
seats are placed. Stepping stones lead from 
the house to the pool, circle it and extend to 
the little tea house or arbor in the rear. Step¬ 
ping stones detract less from the apparent size 
(Continued on page 66) 
in the rear, and a little tea house or pergola 
makes a shady retreat at the end of the path. 
Stepping stones give a quaint and old-time 
flavor to a garden, but they must be set low 
enough to allow the lawn mower to pass freely 
over them; otherwise they will prove a trouble¬ 
some arrangement indeed. Walks of red brick, 
especially where the enclosing walls are ot 
brick, are charming. Seats of red cement may 
be used with these, or wooden seats painted 
green will be in harmony with the garden. 
There are many charming garden seats of 
wood that are far more comfortable than stone 
or concrete benches. 
If one’s vista is closed by a blank wall of a 
high building and the color is not too objec¬ 
tionable, much may be done to relieve the situa¬ 
tion either by planting vines which cling by 
aerial rootlets, or, if this is impracticable, by 
planting a short distance away some tall, slen¬ 
der growing trees like soft maples, larches or 
tamaracks—something that will sway and nod 
in every breeze and throw an exquisite tracer} 
of limb and leaf on the canvas of the wall. I 
have seen a most depressing blank wall trans¬ 
formed into a beautiful shifting picture by this 
simple means. 
Utilizing the Waste Materials 
Sometimes a city back yard seems to have 
been a dumping place for all the masons and 
bricklayers of the entire neighborhood. Where 
this occurs and there is difficulty in removing 
the trash, it may be made the nucleus of a pretty 
combined rockery and water pool, either tor 
the growing of one or two water plants or 
merely for a shallow bird bath. Just pile the 
stuff into a rough heap, with the most present¬ 
able stones in evidence, and fill in the resulting 
crevices and depressions with good soil. If 
Where the turf is emphasized. (.4) lily pool, 
mental benches; (C) tea house or arbor, (D) taU flower 
ing shrubs; (E) ornamental trees; (F) low shrubs or peren 
nials; ( G ) stepping stones; (H) evergreens 
