In the most beautiful garden,” my friend said enthusiastically. I “Just wait ’til you see it; there isn’t anything like it.”
I listened politely but said nothing. We had often heard great reports only to arrive at the promised land to find a mass of flowers with no apparent design or well-laid out beds with no bloom.
Often, we have been told that “the roses have just gone by,” “the clematis was ruined by that rain last night,” and that “the phlox will be in full bloom in a week or two.”
“A beautiful garden” does not mean the same thing to the average observer as it does to a garden photographer, who wants a picture, which means good design and background, flowers in hill bloom, and good weather.
A Breathtaking Picture Of Landscaping
As we drove up to the home of Dr. and Mrs. Edward Howe in New Vernon, New Jersey, I noted the attractive landscaping, though not a flower was in sight.
When we passed the front entrance and went around the garage to the backdoor, before us lay a breath-taking picture: a broad ribbon of bright gold marigolds, pink petunias, and deep blue Plumbago caerulca, spiked with white colchicums, ran along the top of a low stone wall, against a backdrop of green lawn, brilliant autumn foliage, and blue sky.
A walk of mellowed brick beside the flower beds led through a miniature rose garden to a comfortably furnished, shaded terrace.
Here was a beautiful garden by any standard, with masses of bloom, in well laid-out beds, where the plant material’s size, shape, and color were artistically used to create pleasing lines and design, and the whole was placed for enjoyment from any angle.
“The Howe’s must have been gardening since they were children,” I thought, “or they must have a professional gardener.
This kind of thing doesn’t just happen”. Then I met Mrs. Howe and learned how it came about.
“This is my garden,” she told us. “Of course, it’s for the enjoyment of everyone, but what I mean is that I do the work myself.
The children each have their own plot below the waIl.
Janie (aged seven) loves gardening and really has a green thumb. She brings in wildflowers from the woods, and the ‘discards’ other people can’t grow.
Professional Advice
“Dr. Howe plows the vegetable garden, where we also grow berries, glads, and dahlias, and that is about all.
However, I must give credit to our landscape architect, who, 4 years ago, before the house was finished, studied exposures and made a blueprint for us which has been a great help.
He suggested that we move the terrace away from the house so evergreens could be planted in between, that we build the wall at the edge of the terrace, which is the basis for the flower beds, and that we add some desirable shrubs at strategic points.
Otherwise, this garden I laid out and made myself, though I had never done any gardening to speak of before.”
We learned that the long beds are full of bloom from early spring to late fall.
First are the bulbs—scarlet Eichleri tulips, yellow and white daffodils with lavender-blue grape hyacinths, and pink and white tulips. Then come the candytuft and blue phlox.
These are followed by perennials:
- Pink columbine
- Dianthus
- Blue Chinese delphinium
- Carpathian bell-flower (Campanula carpatica)
- Clump speedwell (Veronica maritima subsessilis)
Germander, with its short rosy spikes of bloom which the bees enjoy, starts to flower in July, shortly after the annuals set out in May.
These keep blooming until frost when the nearby chrysanthemums and autumn foliage of maple and dogwood join them in the grand finale.
“Of course, I didn’t start with this in mind,” Mrs. Howe said. “To begin with, I put in whatever plants I liked—peonies, poppies, and iris.
I soon found they were too big and tall for the spot. They cut off the view from the terrace and made us feel hemmed in. So I transplanted them below the wall where their blooms could be seen without obscuring the view.
From then on, I kept low plants, very low in the front and not much higher in the back. Chrysanthemums, I pinch and pinch back to keep them low. It makes for maximum bloom, too.
“Then, at first, I planted everything in perfectly straight lines but soon found I needed to get away from all those straight lines rather than accentuate them.
Since then, I’ve been aiming for a curving ribbon of bloom. My results are achieved by working with a garden plan on correctly-scaled squared paper.
Each plant, with its size and color, is marked in the square, corresponding to its location in the beds.
By consulting my plan, I can plant new bulbs without the danger of digging into the old ones.
By September, I look to find where the colchicums will be coining up, so the rampant plumbago can be trimmed back to give them light and air.
Such a plan is indispensable when carrying out designs and color schemes.
“And right now, while this year’s garden is in bloom, is the time to decide about next year.
I’ll soon be planting more pink and white tulips to make deeper curves in my ‘ribbon,’ with two shades of yellow tulips and some in a dark tone for accent.
“When the delphinium and veronica were in bloom, I made red notes where I will replant them when dividing them in the spring.
A friend left the chrysanthemums on my doorstep, and I didn’t know what type or color they would be.
Now that they are starting to blown, I can decide what to do with them for a more pleasing effect next fall.
I’ll divide the whites and space them better and add a few more whites and some reds. The annuals’ yellow, blue and white are good, but I’d like more white.”
When we commented that we thought it seemed a lot of work for a busy woman, Mrs. Howe disagreed.
The biggest aid in caring for a garden by oneself is a good mulch of buckwheat hulls. This keeps down the weeds yet allows rain to go through to the soil, which stays moist and cool.
Buckwheat hulls, light and loose, can be raked aside from the spot where a new plant is to be set and then put back.
Since manure or compost cannot be spread easily on a hull-mulched garden, they are dug in well at planting time. In addition, liquid fertilizer is applied in the spring.
“So, with practically no weeding or watering, all I have to do is some planning and planting in the spring and fall.
I just enjoy my garden the rest of the time,” added Mrs. Howe. “After all, that’s what a garden is far, isn’t it?”
44659 by Mary Alice Roche