NOW 
Is the right time to plan 
your Spring garden 
May we presume to again caution our f rierids about 
using the very greatest discretion in the timing of their 
planting. It is a well established fact that most varieties 
thrive best when planted early in the spring. 
For your guidance, in the proper selection of stock for 
early planting, our service department suggests the eight 
groups of varieties listed below as the very cream of the 
best. 
May we advise that you place your order now for deliv¬ 
ery when wanted, as after all, that is the one best way 
to insure the very choicest selection of stock. As an ad¬ 
ditional inducement—and, this is quite contrary to custom 
for this time of the year—we have grouped these follow¬ 
ing varieties, at exceedingly attractive prices. 
An irregular planting gives charm to the border in the garden 
of Mrs. J. Frederick Eagle, Watch Hill, R. I. Marian C. Coffin, 
landscape architect 
Making a Perennial Border 
(Continued from page 87) 
FLOWERING SHRUBS 
Sweet Syringa 
Common Snowball 
Butterfly Bush 
Rose of Sharon 
Purple or White Lilac 
Spice Bush 
Double Pink Deutzia 
Red Twigged Dogwood 
Bridal Wreath 
Golden Bell 
Extra heavy shrubs—3 to 4 ft. 
For 10—(1 of ea.)—$5.00 
For 100—(10 of ea.)—$45.00 
HARDY PERENNIALS 
Foxglove (in variety) 
Larkspur “ “ 
Phlox “ 
Canterbury Bells (in variety) 
Columbines 
Iris 
Hollyhocks 
Sweet William “ 
Chrysanthemums “ 
Hardy Asters 
For 10—(1 of ea.)—$2.50 
For 100—(10 of ea.)—$20.00 
FLOWERING CRAB APPLES 
Pyrus Floribunda 
“ Ioensis (Bechtels FI. 
Crab) 
“ Parkmanii (Parkman’s 
Crab) 
“ Scheideckeri 
“ Spectabilis FI. PI. 
3 to 4 ft. high—$1.25 ea. 
For 10—(2 of ea.)—$11.00 
4 to 5 ft. high—$1.50 ea. 
For 10—(2 of ea.)—$13.50 
HYBRID TEA ROSES 
(Bloom all summer) 
Etoile de France (Red) 
Grus an Teplitz (Red) 
Miss Cynthia Ford (Pink) 
Mme. Carolina Testout (Pink) 
Pink Radiance (Pink) 
Killarney White (White) 
Madam Edward Herriot (Yel¬ 
low) 
Mrs. Aaron Ward (Yellow) 
Ophelia (Pink) 
Red Radiance (Red) 
For 10—(1 of ea.)—$7.50 
For 100—(10 of ea.)—$65.00 
CLIMBING ROSES 
American Beauty (Red) 
American Pillar (Pink) 
Crimson Rambler (Crimson) 
Dr. Van Fleet (Flesh Pink) 
Dorothy Perkins (Pink) 
Excelsa (Red) 
Hiawatha (Crimson) 
Silver Moon (Silvery Wht.) 
Tausendsclion (Pink) 
Gardenia (Cream Colored) 
For 10—(1 of ea.) —$6.50 
For 100—(10 of ea.)—$55.00 
BEAUTIFUL PAEONIAS 
Dalachi (Purplish Crimson) 
Duchess de Nemours (Creamy 
Wht.) 
Duke of Wellington (Sulphur 
Wht.) 
Edulis Superba (Silvery Pink) 
Grandiflora Rubra (Red) 
Meisonier (Deep Red) 
Pulcherrima (Salmon Pink) 
Rose d’Amour (Delicate Pink) 
Festiva Maxima (Best White) 
Magnifica (Light Pink) 
For 10—(1 of ea.)—$7.50 
For 100—(10 of ea.)—$65.00 
BIRD ATTRACTING SHRUBS 
Snowberry (White Berries) 
Coralberry (Red) 
High Bush Cranberry (Red) 
Ibota Privet (Blue Black) 
White Kerria (Black) 
Silver Thorn (Red) 
Strawberry Bush (Red) 
Cornelian Cherry (Red) 
Bush Honeysuckle (Red) 
Black Alder (Red) 
Strong 3 to A ft. shrubs 
For 10—(1 of ea.)—$5.00 
For 100—(10 of ea.)—$45.00 
FLOWERING AZALEAS 
Azalea Arborescens 
“ Calendulacea 
“ Vaseyii 
“ Viscosa 
“ Nudiflora 
12 to 18 in. high—$1.75 ea. 
For 10—(2 of ea.)—$16.00 
18 to 24 in. high—$2.50 ea. 
For 10—(2 of ea.)—$22.00 
Our service department will gladly supply any information you 
may desire, on how to secure the maximum degree of perfection 
with any of the above groups. 
Successful for ov>er ^ century " 
AMERICAN NURSERIES 
H.E.HOLDEN, Manager 
Singer Building 
AIEW? YORK, 
develop and flower in succession. 
Differences in soil, aspect and climate 
govern the planting of borders in vari¬ 
ous districts and may make a consider¬ 
able difference in the height, flowering 
season, or even the color of a plant. 
These things can only be learned by 
experience but all enter into the com¬ 
position of a successful border. But it 
is absolutely essential that the soil be 
properly prepared before a single plant 
is put into the ground. For full direc¬ 
tions on this preparation we recom¬ 
mend a study of the article on page 80 . 
While quicker effects can be obtained 
if one buys the plants of a nurseryman, 
the more patient gardener may raise 
many of the flowers here suggested 
from seed. The iris and peony, the 
day lily and all those hybrids that do 
not come true to seed should be pur¬ 
chased, the gardener selecting his color 
according to variety. 
Not everyone can start with newly 
dug untenanted soil and be able at once 
to fill it with all those plants which wall 
carry out a definitely prepared plan. 
Most people must be content to perfect 
gradually, taking up and replacing as 
tastes and ideas alter and circumstances 
allow. Perhaps in the end this is the 
happiest way. It might be hard to ad¬ 
mit that the worked out plan required 
adjustment after but one year’s trial but 
the great charm of the garden which 
grows slowly lies in the realization of 
long pondered ambitions, the unexpected 
turn which they sometimes take in ful¬ 
filment, the first flowering of a long 
coveted plant, even the only half ad¬ 
mitted truth that no achievement is 
final—these things can be an endless joy. 
The Sue culent Vegetables of Spring 
(Continued from page 84) 
avoided. In theory the gardener sows 
thinly, but not so in practice for several 
reasons. Firstly because in union there 
is strength; several seeds sown close 
together break more easily and surely 
through the soil which often is beaten 
dowm rather hard by Spring rains; 
secondly, though he has been given the 
orthodox rule for covering seed, for 
example about twice their thickness or 
about one-eighth to one-half inch or in 
some cases two inches deep, has he ever 
been able to follow out exactly these 
good rules? We think not. Part of the 
seeds are covered the correct depth, a 
part so deep that, though they germin¬ 
ate freely they never break through the 
soil, and still another part too shallow. 
AH of a given number of seed even if 
planted exactly the right depth, and in 
the best manner will not germinate, and 
all which germinate will not break 
through the soil and grow into plants; 
lastly, if there are too many plants in 
a row or a hill our thoughtful gardener 
allows the strongest plants to grow, 
removing the weaker, whereas, if there 
were approximately just enough, he 
has to leave the weak plants as well as 
the strong. 
The drills, a mere mark, for small 
seeds are made 12" to 14" apart and for 
peas about eighteen inches. It is usu¬ 
ally better to sow cabbage, cauliflower, 
and lettuce seed in a box placed closely 
before a window in a rather cool room, 
and to transplant the seedlings when 
large enough into the garden rows, but 
they can also be sown in the garden 
not throughout the drills but in hills, 
as it were, the distance apart the plants 
ought to stand. After the seeds are 
sown they are pressed into the soil a 
little with the back of the rake, covered 
slightly, this covering being made firm 
with the rake, and lastly covered 
slightly again, this last covering being 
left loose. 
In the matter of thinning the gar¬ 
dener takes time by the forelock and 
thins as soon as he can get a hold on 
the seedlings with his thumb and finger, 
choosing the afternoon for this work 
or the period just before rain is immi¬ 
nent leaving, of course, the stronger 
plants. In the care of beets and several 
other vegetables, which make dainty 
morsels for the table even when very 
young, half thinning is practiced at first, 
for example, if the beets ultimately are 
to stand five inches apart at first they 
are thinned to stand two and one-half, 
and later to stand five, the plants taken 
out at the second thinning giving a 
vegetable delicacy for the table. Thin¬ 
ning requires good judgment. 
(Continued on page 148) 
