The Garden, You, and I   By: Mabel Osgood Wright (1859-1934)

[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