The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-07-24
TOPEKA'S HOME FLORISTS.
Many Beautiful Yards Result of Anna
teur Gardeners.

teur Garde
Anyone who hires a landscape garden
er and an assistant gardener and has
an unlimited amount of money to eX-
pend may have a beautiful lawn, flower
gardens, window and veranda boxes.
But when a busy man or woman. who
makes merely a side issue and a pas
time of his or her gardening, obtains
satisfactory results it is especially graft
flying and creditable. An attractive lawn
with small expense is however posi-
bility i one has taste for that sort
of thing and the energy to devote every
odd minute to it, A small unpreten-
tious backyard is capable of excellent
treatment with flowers. shrubs and vines
as amateur landscape gardeners in To-
peka have proven.
The hardy perennials," says Topeka
man who raises some of the finest fow-
ers in town and has back yard which
is a mass of bloom all summer long,
4 have found the best for my pur-
poses. They are more expensive 10 start
than the seedlings but the first expense
is the last and they are less trouble
than the flowers which have to be
planted every year. By careful selec-
ton of the hardy plants with a few
seedlings one can have something
blooming throughout the summer. L
have the crocus in the early spring fol-
lowed, in turn by the narcissus. tulips,
hyacinth, peonies and iris. The bulbs OF
some of these. as the tulips and hya-
cinths must be renewed frequently or
they run out but the others bloom on
year after year indefinitely. After the
last spring flowers are gone the seed
lngs begin to bloom and at this season
almost every flower garden shows pro-
fusion of sweet peas, nasturtlum, pan
sizes phlOx, hOllyhOcks, ga1llardla ana
coreopsis. These will last until late in
the summer when the cosmos. aSterS,
dahlias and chysanthemums succeed
them"
An amateur gardener whose lawn IS
one of the most attractive in town is
George w. Crane. There is scarcely a
week from the beginning of spring I'M
til snow flies when there Is not some
thing in bloom in his place at the cor
ner of Harrison street and Ninth ave-
nue.. Besides their flowers the Cranes,
for Mrs. Crane is also interested in the
gardening, have many beautiful vines
which add so much to the effect OF a
lawn. An old stump covered by wood
bine makes a brilliant splash OF color
in the autumn, and there are several
rOckeries built of small bOulderS over
which the graceful green vines clam
Der. The biggest suntoWers in Topeka
grow along the Crane back fence ana
they also raise beautiful double peoples.
Most of their flower beds are in the
back yard artistically arranged, and
make an effective background for their
stone house with its ivy
walls
Another especially pretty back yard
is at the Frank S. Davis cottage, 1116
Tyler street. Mr.. Davis is the gardener
and devotes his mornings and many of
his evenings to the cultivation of
flowers. The high board back fence.
covered with madeira vines forms the
background for the small rectangular
shaped lawn bordered with blooming
plants and with mound of cannas in
the center. Mr.. Davis raises mostly
hardy plants. shrubs and perennials.
Just now his flower beds are ablaze
with quantities of golden coreopsis and
gailardia. nasturtiums and sweet peas.
and the first hardy hydrangeas. He
has devoted a great deal of time to his
lawn, but says the outlay in money has
been incOnsiderable.
J. p. Griswold raises many flowers
and has gorgeous garden which
blooms all summer and supplies bou-
quets for all mis- friends.
One of the most famous horticulture
lists in Topeka is John r. Mulvane
whose lawn on East Sixth avenue is
particularly handsome one. Mr.. Null
Vane raises many different varieties of
flowers but his speciality is roses. His
rose garden on the east side of his resi-
dence, somewhat back from the street,
produces buds and blossoms throughout
the summer.
Mr. and Mrs. Ben Akers have an ar
tistic backyard at their cottage on Fill
more street, and two of their neighbOrs,
the ]. c. Mothers and the w. H. Fighters,
also raise many lovely flowers. At the
Akers home a spreading wild grape vine
over the high back fence is an effective
detail. The lawn is as level as a floor
and aStoundingly green and the flower
beds are arranged along the back fence
and all around the border The house
faces west and the backyard is a de-
lightful place to spend a summer after
noon. The arrangement Of the RICHTER
lawn is similar but at the Mohler home
the flowers are banked against the
house in the foreground. Mrs. RICHTER
and Mrs. Moher are their own garden
ers plan the arrangement OF their
them.