THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, Limited TORONTO Rose Arch and Garden Walk. From a water-color sketch by George B. Bartholomew. A WOMAN’S HARDY GARDEN BY HELENA RUTHERFURD ELY WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN IN THE AUTHOR’S GARDEN BY PROFESSOR C. F. CHANDLER New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO ., Ltd. 1930 Cop

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Love of flowers and all things green and growing is with many men and women a passion so strong that it often seems to be a sort of primal instinct, coming down through generation after generation, from the first man who was put into a garden “to dress it and to keep it.” People whose lives, and those of their parents before them, have been spent in dingy tenements, and whose only garden is a rickety soap-box high up on a fire-escape, share this love, which must have a pla

CHAPTER II HARDY GARDENING AND THE PREPARATION OF THE SOIL It has not been all success. I have had to learn the soil and the location best suited to each plant; to know when each bloomed and which lived best together. Mine is a garden of bulbs, annuals, biennials and hardy perennials; in addition to which there are Cannas, Dahlias and Gladioli, whose roots can be stored, through the winter, in a cellar. All the rest of the garden goes gently to sleep in the autumn, is well covered up about Thank

A clump of Valerian June sixth CHAPTER III LAYING OUT A GARDEN AND BORDERS AROUND THE HOUSE Perplexities assail a would-be gardener on every side, from the day it is decided to start a garden. The most attractive books on the subject are English; and yet, beyond the suggestions for planting, and the designs given in the illustrations, not much help is to be derived in this latitude from following their directions. In England the climate, which is without great extremes of heat and cold, and the

CHAPTER IV HOW TO PLANT A SMALL PLOT I am frequently surprised to hear people say, “Oh, a flower garden is very nice, but such a trouble!” I have heard this expression several times from friends who employ a number of men and have large places with extensive lawns, shrubberies and vegetable gardens, but without flowers, except, perhaps, a few annuals growing among the vegetables. Yet no one is indifferent to the beauty of garden, or unobservant of the improvement which even a few flowers can mak

CHAPTER V THE SEED-BED The possessor of a garden, large or small, should have a seed-bed, where seeds of perennials and some of the annuals can be sown and grown until large enough to be permanently placed. Not only will this bed give great pleasure in enabling one to watch the plants from the time the first tiny leaf appears, but also when laden with blossoms in fullest beauty. The knowledge that you have raised them gives a thrill of pride in the result which no bought plants, however beautifu

Long grass walk, with Peonies in the border June sixth CHAPTER VI PLANTING I cannot impress too strongly upon my readers the importance of ordering their plants and seeds of well-known firms. The best are always the cheapest in the end. Inquiry among friends will generally give the best information as to reliable seedsmen and growers. In ordering shrubs and plants it is important to specify the precise date of delivery, that you may know in advance the day of arrival. The beds or borders should

CHAPTER VII ANNUALS There are so many annuals that I will write only about the few which are easiest to grow and are most desirable. For me a flower must have merits for decorating the house as well as for making the garden beautiful. The other day I found an English book on flowers, and at once sat down to read it, expecting enjoyment and profit from every page; but at the end of a few minutes I came upon the following paragraph: “Particularly to most women one of the chief uses or functions of

CHAPTER VIII PERENNIALS Some of the perennials to be sown yearly in the seed-bed from about April first to tenth, are the following: Columbines of all varieties, yellow, white, shading from pink to red and from pale blue to darkest purple. Of Columbines every garden should have plenty. Blooming about May twentieth for three weeks, they are a perfect delight. They are very hardy, germinate readily in the seed-bed, are easy to transplant and need but little care. I have never been able to get them

CHAPTER IX BIENNIALS AND A FEW BEDDING-OUT PLANTS There are but few hardy biennials. The important ones, which no garden should be without, are: Digitalis (Foxgloves) and Campanula medium , (Canterbury Bells.) Foxgloves and Canterbury Bells bloom in June and July for more than a month, and give a touch of glory to any garden. Catalogues and many gardening books say that the seeds should be sown in early autumn, and the plants will bloom the following year. It is true that they will bloom when so

CHAPTER X ROSES The Rose asserts her right to the title of the “queen of flowers” through her very exclusiveness. She insists upon being grown apart from other plants; otherwise she sulks and is coy, refusing to yield more than an occasional bloom. I speak from experience, having tried several times to grow Roses in the front of wide borders, where soil and sun and everything except the proximity of other plants was propitious. But they scarcely bloomed at all. Now, the same bushes, planted in r

CHAPTER XI LILIES Lilies, too, should have a book for themselves. My knowledge of them is slight. Lilium auratum (Auratum Lily), the grandest of all Lilies, disappears after a few years. If large-sized bulbs are bought there will be the first year from twenty to thirty Lilies on a stalk four feet high, the second year seven to ten, the third year perhaps two or three, but oftener none at all. If you then dig for the bulb, lo! it is gone. The expense, therefore, of these Lilies is great, from the

CHAPTER XII SPRING-FLOWERING BULBS Bulbs can be planted at any time in the autumn before the ground freezes; the first week in November is as good a time as any. The cost of Tulips, Narcissi and Daffodils is not great. They multiply and need not be disturbed for three or four years. Snowdrops. The earliest of all flowers to bloom is the Snowdrop. After the long, cold winter, with the melting of the snow and the first suspicion of milder air, these frail beauties send up their graceful bells of w

Spiræa Van Houttei May thirty-first CHAPTER XIII SHRUBS Of the hundreds of shrubs, comparatively few survive the severe winter climate of interior New York, or grow very luxuriantly. Lilacs of all varieties, white and purple, single and double; Deutzias, white and pink; and Syringa, the improved large-flowered variety, are most beautiful. Spiræa Van Houttei , sometimes called Bridal Wreath, with its long trails of white blossoms; and Viburnum plicatum , or Japanese Snowball, which in late May be

CHAPTER XIV WATER, WALKS, LAWNS, BOX-EDGING, SUN-DIAL AND PERGOLA It is not advisable to arrange for a garden of any size without considering the question of water. Within the limits of a town supply there is only the comparatively simple matter of laying the pipes. But when the place is dependent upon its own water system, the amount to be counted upon and the situation of the garden with reference to the source of supply must be seriously considered. If possible the garden hydrants should not

CHAPTER XV INSECTICIDES—TOOL-ROOM The enemies of growing things have certainly increased alarmingly of late years. I cannot recall that formerly any insect was to be found in either vegetable or flower garden, other than the potato bug, currant-worm, cabbage-worm, and the green worm and small black beetle on the Rose; but now there are so many horrid creatures lying in wait until a plant is in perfection, to cut the stalk, or eat the root, or eat the pith from the stalk so that it falls, or to d

CHAPTER XVI CONCLUSION The character of professional gardeners seems to be changing. They have become more perfunctory, more stubborn, more opinionated, until now it is a really serious question with them of “the danger of a little knowledge.” To find a man who combines sobriety and a good disposition with a fair knowledge of his business and a real liking for it, is a difficult matter. Where but one man is kept to care for vegetables, flowers and lawn, he is more than likely to have little inte