The open season for “Garden Days” returns to delight hundreds of people and, incidentally, to secure financial aid for all sorts of worthy causes. Of those who take advantage of the opportunity to visit gardens, few can hope to possess anything that approaches the more pretentious. Yet, the more modest gardens are within reach of … Read more
Opaque walls have given way to transparency in most of today’s houses. Outdoors, banks, if any, have given way to walls of brick or stone or ledges, broken by flights of flagstone steps. Courtyards and terraces cut into lawn areas. These changes, the marriage of indoors and outdoors, demand a new look for your garden … Read more
Entrance or approach plantings for present-day houses offer more of a challenge than some homeowners realize. The ancient practice of setting out a few shrubs, a vine, or a tree near the entrance of a house has been commonplace for centuries. This seemingly artless custom, apparently traditional and without a plan, usually resulted in a … Read more
My home is in the woods, so far north that from mid-October to May, the garden is frost-hound. Therefore I must content myself for the most part during this period with the things that grow naturally all about me on the forest floor. These I encounter most frequently in the daily trips between the house … Read more
When Walter Duncan Bellingrath established a camp on the banks of the Isle-Aux-Oies (Fowl) River, some 20 miles south of Mobile, Alabama, in 1917, he did so with the idea of making a recreational fishing spot for himself and his friends. The wild countryside around consisted of native trees and shrubs—oaks, pines, sweet gum, black … Read more
New Years! Bells are ringing everywhere, and one of the happy events they presage is the arrival of gloriously illustrated, shiny new garden catalogs. For all gardeners this is a season of cheerful dreaming and high optimism as they scan the gay pages. But stop! Before diving headlong into the order blanks, make this resolution … Read more
“IMPULSE BUYING” is a part of modern merchandising in supermarkets, gift shops, drug stores, and even nurseries. If you depend on such a practice for selecting your plants, however, your garden is likely to be a hodgepodge of colors and effects. Worse, maintenance will probably be heavy and many losses. When you go to your … Read more
Ever since I contracted “gardening fever,” I dreamed of a “careless garden,” devoid of much of the backbreaking labor and constant attention my friends found necessary to maintain their home grounds. Imbued with this idea from the first, I planned my garden to provide year-round color, using only plants that require a minimum of care. … Read more
Actually, a house built on a slope need not be a problem for the owner who tackles the job after carefully studying all angles. Part I of this story of the October issue of “Horticulture” tells how to make slopes stable. In Part II of this story, Dr. Viertel discusses moving the soil, grading, and … Read more
The first killing frosts have stopped visible activity in the garden. But many straightforward, warm days give the gardener an urge to dig. This is good because digging the soil is one of the top things that need to be done in November. Expose the earth to the freezing and thawing action of winter. Garden … Read more