Right here is the place to stop and draw a map of your proposed garden, and mark off the spaces for your chosen plants. You might draw half a dozen plans, and then choose the most suitable. Only never forget the simple rules of a famous landscape gardener:—
| 1. Plant in masses, not isolated. |
| 2. Avoid straight lines. |
| 3. Preserve open lawn centers. |
When you have decided on the location of your garden, coax some one stronger than yourself to dig up the ground thoroughly, and spade in some fertilizer,—preferably farmyard manure. Plants live on the tonic salts they draw out of the soil through their roots, as much as they do on the carbonic acid gas which they take out of the air through their leaves. So have the ground nourishing, and also nicely pulverized and free from sticks and stone, that the little rootlets can easily work their way through and find their needed nutriment.
Never forget that third rule before mentioned,—"Preserve open lawn centers." A beautiful lawn is as satisfying to the eye as flowers, so never spoil one by cutting it up with beds. They can be put along the sides, used for bordering walks, and nestled close to the house.
PLAN FOR SMALL BACK YARD
One of the loveliest gardens I know is at the back end of a city lot, not more than thirty feet square, with a plot of velvety grass in the center. The irregular border surrounding this bit of lawn is a mass of flowers from earliest spring until black frost,—from March until December,—and delights the whole neighborhood. The secret lies in the fact that the owner knows how to plant for succession of bloom. The ground is laid out this way.
PLAN FOR A SMALL BACK YARD
If you can have only a single flower bed, however, try to get it in a sunny, protected spot, preferably facing south, where the cold winds of early spring and late fall will do the least damage. Make a list of the flowers that like such conditions,—and most of them do,—and then pick out those you prefer, writing after each name the time that it blooms. Be sure to select some of each of the early spring, late spring, summer, early fall, and late fall, so that you will have flowers to enjoy the whole season through.