Garden Ornaments Part 6

For a simple Colonial cottage, such pieces as these would be appropriate for use in your garden and you can add a tea table and a few chairs suggestive of afternoon tea, the position being determined by views, for the placing is of as much importance as the piece itself. If possible, have low-growing trees droop over it to give the required shade.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A SIMPLE AND ATTRACTIVE GARDEN SEAT]

For the elegant mansion, the home of the wealthy, more elaborate pieces are a necessity. One thing should not be forgotten in their choice and that is they should be heavy enough to stay on the ground and resist the strong northeast winds that during a heavy rain sweep over your flower-plot.

Flagstone sometimes gives a variety as well as limestone, but there are several other materials that give a pleasing color and texture, such as the pink granite and the red, black and green slates. Of these, the red is most effective when streaked with another color. Do not choose the Quincy granite; the texture is cold in appearance and the weather never softens the color.

A fault that must not be overlooked is to build your seats too high, thirteen inches being the proper height. The back should always be taken into consideration and made tall enough to support the head so that you will be comfortable when you come to view your garden plot.

It is not always possible to have this piece of furniture placed under the shade of a tree or shrubbery. This necessitates the planning of a summer house, arbor or pergola. Over these, vines can be trained, so that in reality it is much more picturesque than if you had used simply the green shade.

Chairs can be used for this same purpose, in fact, they are very good as they provide a variation of the general theme. They are particularly advisable if it is a backyard garden where a settle might prove too overpowering. Like the garden seat, they can be made of wood. Cedar and locust are preferable if you wish pretty rustic effects. Cypress also is lasting, and if you prefer to give it a coat of paint, it will do service for many years.

For rustic chairs or seats, there is another idea for shelter that is practical. It is to roof it over and shingle the board. It has advantages over anything else in that it affords protection from the summer sun and acts as a windbreak on cold days, besides doing away with the dropping of insects from the leafy tangle of an arbor. No matter how charming a garden may be in its floral arrangement, it requires additions and accessories to display to the best advantage its worth.

Just as a house is cozy or barren according to the style of furniture employed, so a garden is beautiful in proportion to the type of ornaments used.

Probably the coming into style of the formal Italian type of garden has done much to develop this feature. Until late years, scant heed was paid to fitness, and in consequence much of the old-time charm found in the Colonial garden was lost.

When planning for your garden seat or chair, take into consideration the planting. In your choice of colors you should vary the scheme to fit in with the particular seat. A white requires different surroundings from a gray or a rustic type. Wrong coloring brings about inharmonious effects and they should be carefully considered in the making a perfect whole.

Another thing should be thought out and that is as to whether there is a shade provided by the over-hanging limbs of a tree or by the trailing of vines.

Vines are always interesting. You can use them in a ma.s.s, showing one general effect, or you can combine them. Nothing is so pretty in the early spring as the Wisterias, on account of their being not only hardy, but tall growers. Many people claim the best varieties are those grafted on to specially selected stock, thus making them sure bloomers. The soil should also be taken into consideration, for while they thrive in light, sandy conditions, yet deep, rich earth promotes stronger growth. The Magnifica is, perhaps, as vigorous as any. It is such a rapid grower that it shoots up from thirty to forty feet in a season. It blossoms rather later than some varieties which show soft, lavender blue blooms.

Why not mix this with the Chinese white, whose pure white flowers show long, drooping cl.u.s.ters.

If you are looking for foliage in the early fall, the Vitis Henryana can be used. Its leaves are decorative in effect, being a velvety green with veins of silvery white. It is of Chinese origin and in the fall the foliage turns to a beautiful red. For July and August blossoming, there is the Bignonia Grandiflora or Mammoth-flowered Trumpet creeper. This is a splendid climbing vine, perfectly hardy, giving a growth of from eight to ten feet in a season. Its flowers, which are shown during July and August, are orange red and trumpet-shaped, following as they do after the Wisteria has faded, they bring about an entirely different color scheme. This makes it practical for one to plant a succession of bloom, making each set of flowers correspond with the coloring of the vines.

A very pleasing contrast can be brought out by combining the magnolia-scented White Moon Flower, with a beautiful Blue Dawn. The former is a summer climber, growing from fifteen to twenty feet in height. It makes a beautiful shade for trellises and bears in the season a profusion of large trumpet-shape snow-white flowers that are richly scented and very beautiful. There is also a heavenly blue that combines artistically with the white. One feature of this vine is its thick, overlapping, glossy foliage, and its nightly scores of immense silky blooms which are of rare fragrance. By actual count a strong vine will bear from one to three thousand blossoms in a season. There has within the last few years been discovered a new variety that opens early in the morning and remains so nearly all day.

The beautiful blue of the Paradise Flower is used when one wishes for this color in decorations. The cl.u.s.ters are large, showing from twenty to thirty at a time and it blossoms continually from the time it becomes established until frost.

For a rustic seat, why not try the wild grape or Crimson Glory vine? It is so strong and hardy, notable for its heavy foliage which makes a splendid shade and in the fall is a ma.s.s of rich crimson. We have grown to think of morning glories as a pretty, small flower that grew in our grandmother's garden. Many of us have not realized that they have been developed until now they show gigantic bloom as large as the moon flowers. They have wonderful coloring, marking and variations of indescribable beauty. As a flowering vine they cannot be surpa.s.sed, the flowers being borne by the hundreds and of enormous size, measuring often five and six inches across. Many show a rich combination of shading blended together in an enchanting way, being spotted, penciled, mottled, and variegated in every conceivable manner.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STATELY LILIES ADD CHARM AND DIGNITY TO A GRAVELLED WALK]

If your garden seat is low, let your planting follow the same line, but if it is high and conspicuous, it can be accentuated by tall plants.

Hollyhocks, with their stately stalks, are charming for this particular use. There is the hardy perennial with the foliage dwarf and compact.

This is found in the Heuchera, which is easily grown from seed and reaches a height of eighteen inches. Of this variety, the Sanguinea is admirable, being the finest of all the red varieties, the flowers taking on the shade of coral red. If you wish, instead of a solid color, to make a combination, why not use the Sanguinea, Sutton's Hybrid, which is found in pretty shades of pink, as well as creamy white, rose and crimson. These blossom in July and August, their stately, well-filled cups, giving a distinction to the seat that could not well be missed.

Fleur-de-lis, sometimes spoken of as the Fairy Queen's home, is always satisfactory and never fails to bloom. No flower can surpa.s.s this in delicacy of texture and coloring, and it rivals even the orchids of the tropics in its beauty. They thrive in almost every soil, being one of the easiest plants to cultivate, although a fairly rich earth will materially increase the number and size of the bloom. In planting them, nearly cover the rhizomes. The earliest flowering ones are the Germans, which come into bloom the latter part of May or early in June. These are followed by the j.a.pan variety which follow closely on the former and stay in blossom for a month. Of the German, the Lohengrin is the most vigorous, deep violet mauve in coloring, and the flowers are nearly five inches deep, showing petals two inches across. In direct contrast is the Princess Victoria Louise, light sulphur yellow or rich violet red, edged with crimson, both of which varieties are very handsome.

The double Iris is particularly beautiful for some situations. There is the Antelope with white ground flaked with purple; the Diana, reddish purple flaked with white; the Mount Fell, grayish white, veined with blue and showing yellow center; and the Victor, white veined, violet blue with purple center. Each one of these is well worthy of cultivation.

Nothing is so beautiful as roses, be they climbing or dwarf. For the former, why not use the Climbing Jules Graveraux, which is one of the most valuable, ever-blooming climbers ever introduced. The value of this is that the blooms are immense in size, being as large or larger than any other rose. It even exceeds the J. B. Clark. These roses are perfectly double, white, tinged with blush pink, with a yellow base. In freedom of bloom, it is superior to either Mrs. Peary or Climbing Meteor. Then there is the Empress of China or Appleblossom rose, a strong rampant grower, and a very free bloomer. The buds are pointed, being soft red, turning to lighter. It blooms from May to December in the open ground.

Tea Roses, distinguished by the delicate tea fragrance, are absolutely ever-blooming. They are carried through the winter even in the northern states with careful protection. The most satisfactory method is the banking up with soil. Of these, the yellow Souvenir de Pierre Notting is the most beautiful. It has been introduced by one of the foremost firms of France and is not exceeded by any rose sent out from that country. The blossoms are large, well filled, and open easily. The buds are beautiful and elongated. When fully bloomed, they show an apricot yellow, tinged with golden and mixed with orange yellow. One charm of these flowers is that the edge of the petal shades to a beautiful carmine rose. The open flower is full and double, it being an extremely free blossomer.

One of the latest introductions is the Lady Hillingdon, the color being beyond description. Apricot yellow, shaded to orange on the outer edge of the petal, and becoming deeper and more intense as it reaches the center of the bloom. The buds are produced on long, strong, wiry stems, which are placed well above the foliage, thus giving it a slender and graceful effect. It is valuable in both the amateur and professional growers' gardens. It would be impossible to enumerate the different kinds that are used for this purpose.

GARDEN POOLS

[Ill.u.s.tration: A POND-LILY POOL OF A VERY ATTRACTIVE SHAPE]

CHAPTER VIII

GARDEN POOLS

With the revival of old-time garden features that has been brought about through interest in floriculture, fascinating specialties have been evolved. This is particularly true of the garden pool which lends itself to almost every kind of setting. It is no new idea, this introduction of pools into even small gardens.

The ancient Egyptians had great reverence for pools and we read of their interest in bringing into life the sacred Lotus, giving it a prominent place in their gardens. This may be better known to moderns as "the rose lily." In the early days it was used for religious purposes and was a prominent feature in their festivals. It was also used ornamentally for feasts where the walls were decorated with the beautiful blossoms that were repeated in the centerpiece for the elaborately-spread table. Not content with this use for decorative purposes, it was made in forms of garlands that were thrown over the shoulders of the a.s.sembled guests while wreaths of the same flower crowned their brows, great care being taken that a bud or cl.u.s.ter of blossoms was placed in the center of the forehead.

Ever since that period, we read of the constant introduction of water into gardens of every clime. While pools were not commonly used during the Colonial period, they have to-day, with the coming in of the formal and Italian gardens, grown to be one of the most interesting features.

The form and the immediate surroundings have been carefully thought out and depend upon the type and the shape of the whole plan.

When the mercury registers at ninety and the whirling dust rises in clouds, parching one's throat as it settles like a dingy pall on sun-burned gra.s.s and drooping foliage, it is a pleasure to come suddenly upon a pond where over-hanging plants cast lengthened shadows far over the surface. They shelter the waxen lily cups that gleam like pearls against a background of dark green pods--a perpetual joy and delight to the eye.

There is no doubt but water, be it large or small in area, holds a charm for us all. How much more if it is inhabited and made beautiful through the use of aquatic plants and fish. These scattered apparently carelessly over the surface of the water add much to its picturesqueness. This is particularly true during the season of bloom when we find varied colored cups, resting on saucers of green, lifting their heads above the surface as if in delight with their surroundings.

Surely when you view a pond such as this you will find a double delight in watching a flutter of wings, a hopping about on the plants and glad dipping of little bills and uplifting of heads. These are the birds that form a part of garden life and who are attracted here by the flowers and the chance of a bath. Splashing and sparkling in the sunlight, they dive into the water below, drying themselves on the large pads that float artistically on the surface. Over yonder is a large gray cat bird calling to its mate. We can but note the fine proportion, the poise of the black head and the beauty of the satin gray coat which is pruned by the hour. There is the Indigo Bird, a delightful symphony of blue and cinnamon red. He sits swinging on a lily while his musical note comes to our listening ears. The Ruby Throated Humming Bird swings noiselessly over the pond, dipping his long beak here and there to gather honey from the wide-open flowers.

It depends upon the size of the pool, the shape and the finish as to the planting. It is a great mistake to have it so thickly over-spread with leaves that no water is visible. A good rule to be observed is two-thirds water and one-third lilies. This gives a chance to watch the gold fish darting in and out for food. For a small beginning of a water garden, why not try a pocket in the rock? It is a very easy matter to arrange for lilies in a case like this. All you have to do is to cement the hollow, put in your loam and plant one or two roots. It is these diminutive water gardens that attract the birds more than the large pools, and they form a charming vista in the garden scheme. Little pockets of earth can be made to surround them, and here we can plant rock-loving plants that will give a touch of picturesqueness to this cunning little scheme.

The shape of the garden determines that of the pool. A square garden demands square treatment in the lay-out of your design. A round garden, to be correct, should have a circular formation for the planting of your lilies. Then, too, the treatment of the planting should be determined by the formality or informality of the plan. Great care should be taken that they are not aimlessly placed but form a part of the design. Any attempt to digress from this rule is fatal for correct composition.

Great attention should be paid to the margin. It should not be stiff and formal; it should rather be broken here and there, so that there will be open s.p.a.ces showing between. Copy nature in this treatment and you will not go far astray.

In order to make this pool successful, one thing should never be forgotten and that is that you are dealing with sun-loving plants to whom shadow is objectionable. There is another reason why the sunshine should fall un.o.bstructed on the pond and that is that it shows reflections that are effective, and bring cheer to your garden plot.

Many people consider that stagnant pools should not exist, as they are mosquito breeders. They do not realize that the stocking of pools with both fish and plants, carefully carried out so that they are properly balanced, results in the water never being putrid but remaining fresh and sweet, making a delightful water garden that is healthful and not malaria breeding.

There are two essentials if you wish your idea to be successful; first, that the bottom be water-tight and second, that it be proof against frost. While these two things are easy to accomplish, yet many people fail in them. Cement is the only proper material to be used for foundation. Some people have an idea that puddled clay is cheaper. It may be if properly handled, but great care has to be taken that it is thoroughly puddled or it melts away and your work has been for naught.

Cement is the most reliable material if correctly applied. Before putting it on, the pool should be dug out to the proper depth and size.

It should then be well packed for several inches with broken stone. Over this should be put Portland cement, using one part of the former to three of sand. Some people cement it for six inches while others prefer to use two coats, each three inches thick. It should never be so high that it will come above the frost line which is two and a half feet in depth.

Water lilies, as well as all kinds of aquatics, will grow in any kind of good garden soil; that is, if one-fifth well-rotted manure is added to it. Possibly this is not to be obtained and if so, a quart of ground bone allowed to each bushel of soil will bring about the right results.

It should be remembered that the plants should be set out so they will get the greatest exposure to the sunlight.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A LILY POND THAT FILLS CHARMINGLY A CORNER OF A GARDEN]

We have supposed that you have chosen a spot for your water garden that obtains the greatest amount of sun, also that it is sufficiently sheltered from the winds. It has been dug down from fifteen to twenty-four inches and then carefully cemented. Now you are ready to plant your pool, the soil being taken into consideration. If, by some chance, you are not able to secure the kind recommended, it can be made of three parts rotted sod and one part cow manure. Remember that it should be thoroughly rotted if you do not wish ferment in the water. Too many people take little care on this subject and then wonder at the disappointing results.