File:American homes and gardens (1905) (17965238459).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar11905newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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A Portion of the Wild Lawn Later on, as the plan and garden grew, both through friends and as the result of summer travel, contributions were brought in from outside, until now, passing through the garden, there will be found here and there, happily domesti- cated, a little stranger from some distant clime. These, in many instances, are peculiarly charming, serving as interest- ing mementos; but they are no whit more treasured than their native neighbors. puts forth its best floral effort. No prettier sight is to be seen in this garden of the woods than a border of pink and white foxgloves, stand- ing among the rocks by the side of a path, wisely nodding their heads in answer to the passing breeze. But it is difficult to say which flower in such a garden is the most lovely, or to be the most highly prized, each, in its turn, excelling the last. And what a quantity of them there are, and how closely they fol- low in each other's footsteps! Earliest in the spring, when the garden is seemingly only a wilder- ness of rocks and bare soil, peeping up among the rocks and around the tree trunks will be whole families of sober little Quaker ladies, or bluettes, as they are commonly called, with here and there a venturesome violet, a snow- drop or a timid anemone. Later, when the ferns are back- ing up out of the ground, for all the world like great brown hairpins, the tulips and jonquils will come, with the arbutus, the earliest spirea, the dogwood and the fruit blossoms. After these tramp the wild azalea, the laurel, the rhododen- drons, the iris, the columbine, the wild geranium and the native honeysuckle. Meanwhile, the trees have been shak- Mrs. Richardson has not restricted her collection to what ing out their mantles, the ground has been putting down its are commonly known as wild flowers, but she has forbidden admission to all save hardy plants. The common garden annuals are given place elsewhere, and here only those sturdy enough to stand an outdoor winter are made welcome. At first the flowers were planted in groups according to their blossoming periods—that is, in a spring bed, a summer bed and an autumn border—but almost directly it was discovered that this left sections of the garden barren for a large portion of the year and the order was abandoned for one of general mingling. In the crevices of the rocks are placed bulbs, more than a thousand, and tiny plants habitually clinging or peculiarly suited to a stony soil; beyond these, on the crest, come the more vigorous plants, according to height, with lastly a row, or group, of bushes as a changingbackground. Though of apparent careless con- struction, an effort has been made to bring into close relationship flowers harmonious in color, whose forms will also in some degree sup- plement each other. The tall, con- ventional iris is grown side by side with the graceful, drooping colum- bine; the wild geranium rises from a bed of ferns; the foxglove is brought in conjunction with the pink spirea. In some way the fox- glove, which of recent years has renewed its popularity, seems peculiarly at home in the woods, loosing the stiffness that it so often affects in an ordinary garden, and fitting in with its wild environment with delightful grace. Possibly it needs the leafy background—pos- sibly it rejoices in its release from captivity, its return to freedom. Certainly it assumes a new air and carpet, and the Japanese maple has been stretching out its red, dainty fingers to the sun. Then they come in a rush, fairly falling over each other in their haste for expression, regardless of the shortness of life, passing sometimes in a single day, when no human eye has noted either their entrance or their exit. Now come the native hydrangeas, the foxgloves, the roses, the lilies and the ferns. Then, by and by, we shall have the mallows, the brown-eyed susans, the tall, native spirea, the gaudy tiger lilies and many-colored asters, the goldenrod and the sumac. These familiar friends and many others come and go—here to-day, gone to-morrow—returning season after season as faithful playmates keeping a tryst. Thus the wild garden, even
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The Entrance to the Garden, with its Ferns among the Rocks

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