Evening star., 1925-08-04
No. VII.

No. VII.
Almost at the summit Of one o.
Nashington's highest hills, in the
rear of 2726 Wisconsin avenue, is &
garden the like of which it would bt
difficult TO find in the neighborhood Of
the Capital.
Less than an acre in area, the plot
is treasure island of plants, shrubs
and fruit trees arranged by an artist
in gardening. II is the work of Mrs
Albert NJ. Read, owner of the prop
erty. who has devoted years &c
achieving the present result.
Mrs. Read is a restless eXperimenteI
In flowers. Among her accomplish
ments, which seldom have been dupli
Gated in this locality. is the produc
ton of second blooming period for
such perennials as phloX and sweet
william Some of those already are
in their second blossoming. She
brings this about by cutting them
down just as the first flowers begin
to fade and before any of them have a
chance to go to seed.
A Thornless Rose.
Mrs Read is a native of England
and among other prize shrubs in her
garden is an English thornless rose,
probably the only one of its kind in
Washington, which blossoms profusely
in Jane and then sends out occasional
smaller blossoms of an indescribable
shade of pink every month for the
rest of the Summer. She also is able
to secure monthly blooms on such
hybrid perpetual roses as the Paul
Neyron. which ordinarily blossoms
only early in June.
Mrs Read spends three hours every
morning in her garden. from to
am. To this constant attention she
asCribes some of the unusual results
obtained. Just now the rear of her
house is a paradise of mellow bios
SONS, large rose pink blooms on hushy
plants. which she believes the ideal
flowers for display in late July. Her
beds are arranged, however, so that
there is a considerable show of bloom,
every month, starting when the late
snow still is hanging ~ the ground
in patches.
First Blooms i'm March.
The first flower is the arabs alpha,
in March. This is a low-growing
plant, covered with white blossoms
which is practically uninjured by a
late Snowstorm and continues its
blooming through the snow. This is
followed by the yellow alyssum soon
after the snow is off the ground. The
spice pinks come next and are sue
ceeded almost immediately by the
anchusa, about 3 feet high and with
cerulean blue blossoms. Then in sue
cession come Oriental poppies, column
bine, larkspur in all shades, canter-
bury bells and foXSloVe, snapdragons,
phloX and sweet williams. BY Mid
summer the double petunias, the
Shasta daisies and dozens Of other
blooms make the garden place of
brilliant Colors.
She is able to keep succession of
iris blossoms until Midsummer. start
ing the last of April with creamy
yellow dwarf flowers about inches
tall and then turning to the we'll
known Spanish and German varieties.
Mrs. Read has a ConSidera BILE collec-
ton of althea bushes in full bloom
with the mallowS at present. A prom
inent object is a single sunf1ower
whose massive yellow blossom turns
so faithfully to face the sun that Ii
is possible to tell approximately the
time of day from it. 1t serves, she
SAYS, as a natural sun dial.
For shrubbery Mrs. Read has spe-
cialized in those varieties which are
covered with berries in Winter so as
to make the garden constant gather
ing place for birds. Such bushes as