»^ LOUISE BEEBE WILDER Class _SjB_15^ Rnnk V^^. .., COFaUGHT DEPOSIE \ THIS EDITION IS LIMITED TO 1500 NUMBERED COPIES OF WHICH THIS IS NO. ^c^ COLOUR IN MY GARDEN PLATE NO. I FRONTISPIECE SEE PLATE NO- I5 opposite end of the rwiHERE is a gate at the J garden and one on each side, but this that we reach hallwaij through the Garden House Nursery and bu pleasant stages through the commonly used. Herb Garden is the one most House porch The fine Rose on the Garden is the Lion Rambler. will A description of th^ large bed opposite 10th). be found in Plate No. 16 {July THE WAY INTO THE GARDEN JULY 2 I ST COLOUR I N MY GARDEN BY LOUISE BEEBE WILDER AUTHOR OF "MY GARDEN" COLOUR IS THE MOST SACRED ELEMENT OF ALL THINGS. — RUSKIN ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR BY ANNA WINEGAR GARDEN CITY NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1918 Copyright, igi8, by DOUBLEDAY, PaGE & COMPANY /4ll rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian OCT -R 1918 >CiJ.50y641 Horticulture is, next to music, the most sensitive of the fine arts. Properly allied to Architecture, garden-making is as near as a man may get to the Divine functions. —Maurice Hewlett. FOREWORD FOREWORD The quality of charm in colour is like the human attribute known as fascination, "whereof," says old Cotton Mather, "men have more experience than comprehension." —Alice Morse Earl. In his garden every man may be his own artist without apology or explanation. Here is one spot where each may experience the "romance of possibihty," may give free rein to his fancy, and gather his living materials into composi- tions as gay, as splendid, or as wan as his individual enjoy- ment of colour dictates. "Parterres embroidered like a petticoat" are for some; gardens tricked out in all the tints and shades of a single colour are for others; still others find their pleasure in a throng of many-hued flowers smiling with the naivete of an old-fashioned bouquet in defiance of criticism. And there are many like myself who know the delight of seeking to fashion, from the myriad shades and diverse forms laid to our hand, a series of lovely pictures to rejoice the eyes throughout the growing year. No phase of gardening is to me so fascinating as this scheming with flower colours, the more so perhaps that no arbitrary laws may be laid down for our following. Each within his green inclosure is a creator, and no two shall reach the same conclusion; nor shall we, any more than other creative workers, be ever wholly satisfied with our accomplishment. FOREWORD Ever a season ahead of us floats the vision of perfection and herein Ues its perennial charm. "A man's reach should exceed his grasp Or what's Heaven for?" In offering this second book of My Garden to those who held out so warm a hand of welcome to the first, my desire is merely to be suggestive. It is my hope that in these loitering peregrinations up and down my garden paths, following the chancy flight of young Spring along the langourous road of Summer to Autumn's shining house, each may find something that to him is beauty, some happy assortment of flashing hues, an old flower-friend newly companioned, a pleasant use of vine or shrub that gives impetus to his own contriving. A pen is a poor instrument to chronicle the beauties of a garden, a brush is a better, and Miss Winegar has sym- pathetically set down part of the pageant of the long season spent within my garden walls. All the paintings were made within the garden in the same year. The fleeing days carried many a charming mood beyond our grasp before it could be recorded, but surely there is enough to show with what simple, friendly flowers a glad garden may be maintained for many months of the year. Louise Beebe Wilder. "Balderbrae" Pomona, N. Y. CONTENTS PAGE Foreword ix The Plan of My Garden xiv CHAPTER I. Colour in the Garden: A Confession of Faith 3 II. The Problem of the Bare Places .... 19 III. The Colour of the Young Year .... 39 IV. Tulips and Blossoms 57 V. Flowers o' Grace 75 VI. Impressions of a June Morning .... 93 VII. Rose Colour .115 VIII. Midsummer Blue 131 IX. Flowers of Light 149 X. Colour by the Waterside 165 XI. The Pool in the Garden 187 XII. White Flowers in the Night Garden ... 197 XIII. Colour for the Shady Border 211 XIV. Magenta the Maligned 223 XV. The Phloxes 239 XVI. August Compositions 255 XVII. A Word for Coloured Foliage 271 XVIII. Bedding Out 287 XIX. Michaelmas Daisies 301 XX. This Side the Snows 317 XXI. Famihar Plant Names—a Digression. 335 Latin and English Plant Names 351 Periods of Flowering 387 xiii WSLb (SSMii^Mi&e) eORA£ 4 THE PLAN OF MY GARDEN The numbers shown on the plan refer to the numbers of the colour plates and the caret in each case indicates the direction of the view portrayed LIST OF COLOUR PLATES PLATE 1. 2. Spring Candlelight. March 28th .... 3. A Charming Offering of the Spring. April 28th 4. Down the Path of Spring. May 1st . 5. A Bit of Bizarrerie. May 14th 6. May in the Garden. May 15th 7. Iris and Lemon Lily. May 21st 8. Oriental Poppies and Valerian. May 28th 9. The Fullness of the Spring. May 28th . 10. June Bounty. June 10th n. The Laughing Face of June. June 20th . 12. The Half Moon Pool. June 28th . 13. A Favourite Composition. July 1st . 14. My Garden Celebrates. July 4 . 15. Hollyhocks and Delphinium. July 7th . 16. An Arrangement in Pink. July 10th . 17. A Favourite Midsummer Group. July 15th 18. High Noon. July 28th 19. A Cool Picture. August 1st 20. Colour in a North Border. August 6th . 21. Summer Moonlight. August 10th . 22. Garden Outlaws. August 29th 23. Early Autumn in the Garden. September 10th 24. Summer's Obsequies. October 10th . CHAPTER I COLOUR IN THE GARDEN COLOUR IN MY GARDEN CHAPTER I COLOUR IN THE GARDEN Flowers first broke up the prism and made the most subtle portion of our sight. —Maeterlinck. chief concern of the gardeners of old was simply THEto make things grow. They prized each flower for itself, chose for it the most suited location, and called it by quaint and charming names, but they were not disturbed that its colour failed to harmonize with that of its neighbour. Crimson Peonies elbowed magenta Foxgloves unrebuked, and Tiger Lilies and "purple" Phlox consorted comfortably without censure. Under the care of our green- fmgered grandmothers gardens throve and were full of hearty, wholesome colour and searching fragrance ; and they breathed subtly the gentle personality of those whose rare leisure was spent in digging and pruning, weeding and dreaming among the plants they loved so well. We may learn much of patience and tenderness, sincerity and thoroughness from these gardeners of other days and may well seek to endow our gardens with the restful charm of theirs, but we may fairly claim for our own day the great 3 COLOUR IN MY GARDEN advance that has been made in the decorative employment of flowers—their arrangement and relation in the garden so as to bring about beautiful pictures. Never has the planting of gardens been so effective as a whole; never before have their owners endeavoured to bring to bear upon their work, not only the skill and knowledge of the horticulturist, but the inspiration and taste of the artist. In our own earUest attempts at gardening we in turn are satisfied with the interest and delight of simply seeing things grow, but there very soon comes a time when a new desire crosses our green threshold. We become obsessed by what John Sedding calls the "malady of the ideal," we are haunted by visions of exquisite colours in perfect harmony, and our aim is henceforth to make the garden a place for broad survey as well as for minute scrutiny; to enjoy, not only the individual flower, but to make the most of it in relation to other flowers. Of course, as is often the case with artistic pursuits, this new gardening with a view to colour arrangement is by some enthusiasts sadly overdone and degenerates through its extreme exactness of finish into something not far from the mosaic gardening of the Victorian era. A few years ago in England I saw some handsome modern gardens wherein the colour arrangements were so obviously planned and executed according to a pattern that one had no realization of groups of living flowers but looked admiringly upon what seemed a huge and clever scheme of decoration. Such a garden is wonderful as a spectacle but lacks entirely the gay and changeful spirit that is so lovable a characteristic of less- studied gardens. We miss the challenge of the unexpected. 4 COLOUR IN MY GARDEN To know that blue is indelibly stained upon this spot and scarlet upon the next, that only devastating frost will dull the yellow glow of another, and that to gather a Rose is to leave a rent in the tapestry, is surely at variance with our most cherished garden ideals. It is perhaps fortunate that our climatic conditions render this sort of gardening almost an impossibility, so that we must of necessity be satisfied with something much more simple and approachable. On account of the extreme heat and dryness of the American summers, flowers here enjoy a far shorter individual life tenure than in the damper atmosphere of the British Isles.