Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-08-10

to show her friend typically American
| gardens, by which ] meant gardens that are
adapted to the lay Of the land In which they
are placed. 'adaptability, doing with what
you have, being 1 thought the characteristic
| OF Americans--a characteristic which Is
fault II it Is pushed too far. so that good
enough Is the evident conclusion OF tn"
makeshift result, but a triumph of invention
| over diffcuties IL the place and the accom-
! plishcd fact seem to fit naturally Into
satisfying whole.
| 1NHERE were two gardens within quarter
l. of mile of each other on q country lane
not tar from Bryn Mawr that used to stand
as emblematic to me Of the right and the
wrong kind Of American garden. One wac
made In and about an old quarry and the
other was on the slope of grassy hill. The
garden In the quarry had been contrived with
such skill that 1t seemed as though the
quarry had been made for it the garden on
the sloping lawn looked like badly chosen
carpet that was slipping down the hill.
III you have a slope and treat 1t like n
showcase, 1t looks like a showcase set out OF
doors; It won't belong! You would not like
hung head out on a slanting wall, neither
does 1t look natural or comfortable to see
flower beds slipping down hill. You have
got to terrace the hill before they or you
feel comfortable. BY putting a series o.
shelves along the sides and cultivating the
flowers on the shelves. YOU make the flower
garden seem at home on the hillside and by
taking into your count the lay of the land
you have adapted it to your need, at the
same time utilizing all its possibilities to
enhance the result. That is what call the
pioneer instinct Of Americans
MY GARDEN in the Adirondacks is case
4'1 in point. With trails instead Of roads,
brooks instead of we'll disciplined water
ways, big shouldering mountains with val
1Ar - hasr L..
the edges Of the larger valley, with a farm
that is series of clearings edged by sumac
patches, with forests that are seemingly
limitless. painless and almost impenetrable.
with lawns about your house that are rough
billows over bouldcrs. with some of the very
stones that make your garden walls and
steps in place before man came that way too
deeply imbedded to bulge, with the late
spring and the early frosts Of autumn short
ening the season for blooming at both ends
then nothing about that garden from the
lines on which it was laid out to the time
Of blooming need be according to rule-and
1t isn't!
The flowers knew It! The coreopsis es.
capped to the edge of the croquet ground and
goes on there year after year; nothing will
entice it back to the garden borders; the
foxglove took to the woods and the clefts
OF the rocks; the japanese morning glory
made for the manure heap under the hem
locks, and the wild morning glory came III
races. The plum tree died below its graft
and turned into a thorn tree-in spite OF
Scripture. The phlox stepped forward foot
year until it stood where the border an
nuals were intended to grow. The Bouncing
Bet that had never been asked came, and
the snapdragon that had been urged again
and again gave look in and departed.
In fact, / was taught by hundred signs
that IL l insisted on having a garden where
Nature has had her own way for thousands
Of xx,if IN IN
terfere. and for the last POO years perhaps
woodman followed by COW or two, l would
have to give Nature the largest say in the
matter as to how and when and whereas
pecially where.
60 DO not take myself very seriously as
~ gardener or give myself very pro-
prietary rights over who shall pass that way
and who shall not. The only thing I will
not do Is to go through the heart of the
garden with some one whom I do not like.
There are three ways of approach-a
gravel path above the terraces, where one
looking over a low vine covered wall can
look down into the garden. I will walk witt
any one there friend or foe, and as they
stop to look at the sundial they are welcome
to get glimpse of the garden for all of me.
Then there is path on the far side along
the banks of the brook; one gets vstas OF the
garden there and masses of its color, but |
have passed that way with strangers who
were intent on conversation. and since they
were unhecding of what beckoncd to them
why, so was /. But in the hollow Of the
garden. with its colors and scents and
tossing, bending flowers above and below
you, not even grudging heart can go
through it unmindful.
/ think | would not like any one who did.
TT WOULD be great nuisance in the
gardens about Philadelphia If strangers
passed through with the casualness of pedes
trio hut In ha
dack country the trails lead through forests,
over streams and across meadows and into
the very center Of garden spot before one
Is aware that one is possibly trespassing
And, indeed, no one calls 1t trespassing; it
is part of the freedom of the place. Loud
voices, paper lunch boxes, camp stools,
breakers of branches and demolishcrs of fern
| beds are too rare to make any rule or sign
| board warning necessary.
Perhaps It would seem perfectly unthinl-
able to have a mass of summer bOarders
tramping about your garden within
| stones throw-a wOman's stone throw at
| that-of the window where you sat writing
But what happened to my garden the other
afternoon? About twenty females and four
males descended upon it with purpose in
| their eyes and for half an hour ensconced
themselves, their books in hand, studying
| the flowers. 1t was decidedly not obnoxious
| to me, the owner OF the garden. l was
| touched and pleased.
| think they must have been public school
teachers getting up their nature studies for
the coming year. They went about botanic
| ing with such verifying scrutiny, such in
| tcrest, IA though they were putting into
practice what they had been teaching. Among
the heterogeneous confusion Of my July
bloom they seemed to be recognizing flowers
| and their species by the book descriptions of
them. They called softly to each other to
"come here" or 'look there!' discussing
the pros and cons OF ANIMALS and perennials
| as they knelt and examined the color anu
the form and exclaimed over the perfume
of each. The scents of different flowers were
exciting, as though that was heavenly
surprise. And, indeed, I doubt II perfume
does get described in elementary text books
] gathered, too. that the indoor training of
schools does not prepare one for the subtle
variation of flowers of the same kind. They
we're uncertain after they had verified whit
candytuft to say what TIL" pink variety was
They departed lingerngly; and the last to
leave were boy and girl, who walked
away hand in hand so slowly that they
probably never caught up with the others