The Indianapolis journal., 1904-04-24

kAA thoughts of gardening True he
tQG1oI may not be able TO do very much
at IL. The means at hand are
perhaps exceedingly limited. The back
yard which the whole family foresees beau
titled beyond the widest dreams is per-
haps only ten by hfteen feet. Its supply of
soil may be poor and scanty. Probably nei-
ther the man nor his wife was properly
trained in youth by study of books on
How to Tell the Wild Flowers from the
Minerals and similar treatises which are
nowadays so popular.
Both may even be ignorant of the SUBJ
ject matter of Bridget Wiggs's monumental
work on Queer Bugs l Have Saw in My
Cabbage Patch" and quite likely, neither
of them has ever experienced the delight of
taking the Kneipp cure across the neigh
bors lawns on a dewy May morning. Yet,
whether behind the times, up with them
decade two in advance of them,
even the most conventional American man
and wife find themselves longing in the
early spring to become landscape architects
on small scale.
And there's no reason why they shouldn't
become such-so, at least, Mr.. Robert Cam
eron, the head gardener of the Harvard
botanic gardens. says. Mr.. Cameron has
been many years conducting the practical
work In this notable department of the
university on fine old estate owned by
Harvard, and has been raising more plants
and shrubs than most people ever saw
He believes thoroughly in the back yard
beautffied behind the house beautiful.
few of the very rich in this country are
able to engage landscape architects to
make their estates worthy of being writ
ten up with gorgeous illustrations in the
magazines. Mr.. Cameron finds, however.
which, if followed consistently, will en-
able anybody who is willing to take a
little pains I'm the adornment of his place
TO get favorable results; and this spring,
he holds. Is the right time to begin Let
the suburbanite business man. he thinks.
remember the maxim which he sticks over
his office boys desk and do IL Now"
THE smallest lot of land attached to
house. says Mr.. Cameron, may, II given
thought and consideration. be made into a
most owners of small lots OF ground Is
that they do not understand how TO plant
in order to get the most pleasing effects.
The area Is usually covered all over with
trees and shrubs, and hence the work is
meaningless
I'm making up his landscape picture the
amateur artist must have a canvas to
work upon The canvas in this case is the
green lawn. The lawn is the first requi-
site, and it should ordinarily present a
little unbroken stretch in the center of the
lot. The beds and borders should be thor
oughly prepared before planting begins.
If the soil is poor or lacking humus. a lib
eral quantity of well rotted barnyard ma
nure should be worked into It,
THE plantations of trees and shrubs
should be confined 10 the outer edges and
margins 0f the lot and. as a general rule.
all shrubbery should be in irregular
masses. The eye is not pleased with the
sight of two clumps of bushes of exactly
the same size Above all. openings should
be left wherever there is especially
pleasing vista. Many people make the mis-
take of entirely shutting their gardens in.
Vines and dwarf shrubbery ought to be
planted near the house and the piazza so
as to bring them into close union with the
green lawn
O~f fTa har taI nd
shrubs should be used by amateurs-those
requiring protection in winter and bios
soming ahundantly during the season
Shrubs suitable for the amateurs garden
fall.
graceful in growth, handsome in foliage
and moderate in size, is the following: For
the background of tall shrubs. mock
anges. PhiiadeIphus grandifiora and Pyrus
coronaria. lilacs of hardy sort, tall Deut-
zias. shrubby Hebiscuses. Viburnus
nels or dogwoods, snowbals, Tartarian
honeysuckles, privets and tall barberries.
For the center of the bed which have
been prepared with the grounds. use med
fum sized shrubs such as Japanese ounces.
Weigelicas. Spiraeas. Berberis Thunbergii.
Forsythias. Hydrangeas, Symphorocarpos
or snowberry, Rhodotypos Kerrioides, Rosa
rugosa-
In front of the borders making transit
ton from the smooth lawns TO the tall
shrubs. plant some of the very low shrubs
among which the safest are Deutzia graciIs,
Anthony Waterer, Spiraea Thunbergii and
S. Reevesiana.
''For very cool shady spots. as under a
ciump Of trees the best varieties are rhodo-
dendrons. azaleas and kalmias- Good shrub
by climbers for the piazza and house are
the Wisteria sinensis. Dutchmans pipe.
Aristilochia sipho Akebia quinata, Clematis
paniculata, Farquhar rose sweetheart white
climbing and crimson rambler rose.
Any of the foregoing varieties. which
are very useful In the northern and central
portions of the United States. may be OBJ
tanned from good nurserymen."
So much for the shrubbery from which
the amateur landscape architect will do
we'll TO select the leafy adornments of his
backyard But It's weak enthusiast who
Will not also demand flowers, A long series
or beautiful blooms TO keep his garden bril-
liant from the first days of spring to late
autumn are what the Suburbanite wants
To be wholly satisfied with his efforts he
must make such selection that when one
set or blossoms goes to seed another takes
its place.
And there is almost no limit as Mr.
Cameron states, 10 the number of hardy
plants that the amateur can profitably use
In his garden. In fact the greatest danger
is that he will select too many and choke
the open spaces OF his central lawn. Flow
ers should be of the nature of fringes or
employed IN small masses; the garden pic
ture must have plain. unadorned tracts
where the eye will rest upon nothing but
smooth green.
A good-sized list of these hardy plants
has been prepared. and since IL embodies
the results OF long experience and expert
mentation at the Harvard Botanical Car
den. IL is likely 70 be of considerable value
Early among the bloomers that the anna
teur Is likely 70 be successful with are the
Alyssum saxatyle. popularity known as
golden tuft or gold dust; the nodding COL
umbine-a particularly pretty species of
which Is the Rocky mountain ccIumbine.
With It's blue and white blossoms fitting
well into the margin of fixed border; the
rock cress: the dwarf phlox whose profuse
pinkish-purple and white blossoms come
out In April and May; Jacobs ladder; sweet
William. belonging TO the same family
of carnations and lifting dark purple and
white flowers a good two feet above the
soil: the blue harebell-Campanula carpar-
tica: the snowy larkspur: bleeding heart
Dfcentra spectabilis-one of the most grace
ful hardy plants of the early summer; the
bitter vetch. Orobus. revealing beautiful
puppies and blues. with red veins and
green-tinted keel: the scarlet Lychins, or
eatchfy; primrose and cowslips: the bril-
liant poppies. peonies and iTises-in particu-
lar the German iris, which will flourish
almost anywhere and the Iris leabigata. a