The Garden, You, and I

The Garden, You, and I

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Title: The Garden, You, and I
Author: Mabel Osgood Wright
Release Date: January 14, 2006 [EBook #17514]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I
[Illustration: A SEASIDE GARDEN.]
THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I

BY
BARBARA
AUTHOR OF
"THE GARDEN OF A COMMUTER'S WIFE," "PEOPLE OF THE
WHIRLPOOL," "AT THE SIGN OF THE FOX," ETC.
New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON:
MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1906
All rights reserved
COPYRIGHT, 1906.
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1906.
Norwood Press J.S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood,
Mass., U.S.A.

Dedicated
TO
J.L.G.
I.M.T.
AND
A.B.P.
THE LITERARY GARDENERS OF REDDING

GREETING
This book is for those who in treading the garden path have no thought
of material gain; rather must they give,--from the pocket as they
may,--from the brain much,--and from the heart all,--if they would
drink in full measure this pure joy of living.
"Allons! the road is before us! It is safe--I have tried it--my own feet
have tried it well--be not detained." --WALT WHITMAN.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE WAYS OF THE WIND 1
II. THE BOOK OF THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 7
III. CONCERNING HARDY PLANTS 29
IV. THEIR GARDEN VACATION 48
V. ANNUALS--WORTHY AND UNWORTHY 70
VI. THEIR FORTUNATE ESCAPE 92
VII. A SIMPLE ROSE GARDEN 117
VIII. A MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE 155
IX. FERNS, FENCES, AND WHITE BIRCHES 183
X. FRANKNESS--GARDENING AND OTHERWISE 202
LIST OF FLOWER COMBINATIONS FOR THE TABLE FROM
BARBARA'S Garden Boke 230

XI. A SEASIDE GARDEN 233
XII. THE TRANSPLANTING OF EVERGREENS 246
XIII. LILIES AND THEIR WHIMS 262
XIV. FRAGRANT FLOWERS AND LEAVES 281
XV. THE PINK FAMILY OUTDOORS 305
XVI. THE FRAME OF THE PICTURE 320
XVII. THE INS AND OUTS OF THE MATTER 336
XVIII. THE VALUE OF WHITE FLOWERS 352
XIX. PANDORA'S CHEST 365
XX. EPILOGUE 374
APPENDIX
FOR THE HARDY SEED BED 375
SOME WORTHY ANNUALS 387

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A SEASIDE GARDEN (see p. 243) Frontispiece
"THE MAGNOLIAS BELOW AT THE ROAD-BEND" 8
ENGLISH LARKSPUR SEVEN FEET HIGH 32
FRAXINELLA--GERMAN IRIS AND CANDY-TUFT 44
LONGFELLOW'S GARDEN 81

THE SUMMER GARDEN--VERBENAS 86
ASTERS 90
THE PICTORIAL VALUE OF EVERGREENS 102
"MY ROSES ARE SCATTERED HERE, THERE, AND
EVERYWHERE" 119
MADAME PLANTIER AT VAN CORTLAND MANOR 128
A CONVENIENT ROSE-BED 138
"THE LAST OF THE OLD ORCHARD" 156
THE SCREEN OF WHITE BIRCHES 166
"AN ENDLESS SHELTER FOR EVERY SORT OF WILD THING"
184
SPECIOSUM LILIES IN THE SHADE 270
THE POET'S NARCISSUS 278
A BED OF JAPAN PINKS 296
SINGLE AND DOUBLE PINKS 314
"THE SILVER MAPLE BY THE LANE GATE" 326
"A CURTAIN TO THE SIDE PORCH" 328
AN IRIS HEDGE 358
DAPHNE CNEORUM 360
A TERRIBLE EXAMPLE 362
"THE LOW SNOW-COVERED MEADOW" 372

"PUNCH ... HAS A CACHE UNDER THE SYRINGA BUSHES" 374

THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I

I
THE WAYS OF THE WIND
"Out of the veins of the world comes the blood of me; The heart that
beats in my side is the heart of the sea; The hills have known me of old,
and they do not forget; Long ago was I friends with the wind; I am
friends with it yet."
--GERALD GOULD.
Whenever a piece of the land is to be set apart for a garden, two mighty
rulers must be consulted as to the boundaries. When this earth child is
born and flower garnished for the christening, the same two must be
also bidden as sponsors. These rulers are the Sun and the Wind. The
sun, if the matter in hand is once fairly spread before him and put in his
charge, is a faithful guardian, meeting frankness frankly and sending
his penetrating and vitalizing messengers through well-nigh inviolable
shade. But of the wind, who shall answer for it or trust it? Do we really
ever learn all of its vagaries and impossible possibilities?
If frankness best suits the sun, diplomacy must be our shield of defence
windward, for the wind is not one but a composite of many moods, and
to lure one on, and skilfully but not insultingly bar out another, is our
portion. To shut out the wind of summer, the bearer of vitality, the
uplifter of stifling vapours, the disperser of moulds, would indeed