The Garden of Hardy Flowers 
By EBEN E. REXFORD 
M ANY a woman loves flowers, but goes with¬ 
out a garden, because she has not time to 
care for it properly. But the woman who 
does this has in mind, nine times out of ten, a garden of 
annual flowers. She thinks of the labor and time in¬ 
volved in spading up the soil, in making beds, in seed¬ 
sowing, and weed-pulling. But she does not think of 
the garden of hardy flowers which calls for but a 
fraction of the time and labor that must be expended 
on annuals. Were she to do that, and give the matter 
a little thought, she would soon understand the ad¬ 
vantage of such a garden, and she would set about 
the making of one at once—this very season, in fact. 
The fact is, hardy plants—and by this is meant 
those which are sufficiently strong to endure a North¬ 
ern winter with but 
little attention in the 
way of protection, 
— require very 
little care. Plant them 
in good soil, and keep 
grass and weeds from 
encroaching on them, 
and robbing them of 
the nutriment they 
need, and they will 
afford you pleasure 
for years. By and by 
it may be necessary 
to divide old plants, 
or to re-set them, but 
this is easy work, 
and something that 
will not have to be 
done oftene.r than 
once in three or four 
years. Each spring 
the plants ought to 
have all grass remov¬ 
ed from about their 
roots, and some good 
fertilizer should be 
dug into the soil, in 
liberal quantity. It 
will not take ten min¬ 
utes’ time, to a plant, 
to do this. And when 
it is done, about all 
it will be necessary 
to do each season is 
done. Possibly weeds 
may get a start about the plants, but the use of 
the hoe for a few minutes, once a week, during the 
early part of the season, will clear the ground of 
these intruders. Compare this with the amount of 
work that must be done among annuals, and one 
will readily see that all the arguments are on the 
side of the hardy plant. 
A collection of hardy plants, once well established, 
will increase in beauty for years. Indeed, if well- 
cared for, it is good for an indefinite period. We 
frequently find old houses which have been deserted 
for years about which some of the old-fashioned 
flowers still grow and flourish, fighting for their 
lives, and keeping weed and grass at bay. An an¬ 
nual is satisfactory, as long as it lasts, but its beauty 
is for a season only, 
and next year the 
work of starting it 
and caring for it must 
all be done over. 
And this work, 
which is hard, and 
much of it unpleas¬ 
ant, cannot be dis¬ 
posed of in a short 
time, early in the 
season, but must be 
continued through¬ 
out many weeks. It 
must be given, or your 
garden will prove a 
failure, for annuals 
cannot take care of 
themselves, but 
hardy plants can, to 
a great degree, do 
this. I am not 
overstating it when 
I say that the amount 
of care required by 
a large collection of 
hardy plants will 
not equal that de¬ 
ni a n d e d by one 
small bed of annuals. 
When the reader 
grasps the full signifi¬ 
cance of that asser¬ 
tion, she will begin 
to see how much 
more satisfactory a 
COLUMBINE 
H7 
