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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS




PRACTICAL ARTS FOR LITTLE GIRLS

A Series Uniform with this Volume

_Each book, illustrated, 75 cents net_


    COOKERY FOR LITTLE GIRLS
    SEWING FOR LITTLE GIRLS
    WORK AND PLAY FOR LITTLE GIRLS
    HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS
    GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

[Illustration: PUZZLE PICTURE,--FIND THE LITTLE GIRL]




GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

BY

OLIVE HYDE FOSTER

    AUTHOR OF
    "COOKERY FOR LITTLE GIRLS"
    "SEWING FOR LITTLE GIRLS"
    "HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS"

[Illustration]

    NEW YORK
    DUFFIELD & COMPANY
    1917




    Copyright, 1916 by
    HOUSE AND GARDEN

    Copyright, 1916, by
    HOUSEWIVES MAGAZINE

    Copyright, 1917, by
    ST. NICHOLAS
    The Century Co.

    Copyright, 1917, by
    COUNTRYSIDE MAGAZINE
    The Independent Co.

    Copyright, 1917, by
    OLIVE HYDE FOSTER




    _DEDICATED TO
    Junior and Allan,
    Two of the dearest children that ever showed
    love for the soil._




Preface


Children take naturally to gardening, and few occupations count so much
for their development,--mental, moral and physical.

Where children's garden clubs and community gardens have been tried, the
little folks have shown an aptitude surprising to their elders, and
under exactly the same natural, climatic conditions, the children have
often obtained astonishingly greater results. Moreover, in the poor
districts many a family table, previously unattractive and lacking in
nourishment, has been made attractive as well as nutritious, with their
fresh green vegetables and flowers.

Ideas of industry and thrift, too, are at the same time inculcated
without words, and habits formed that affect their character for life. A
well-known New York City Public School superintendent once said to me
that she had a flower bed every year in the children's gardens, where a
troublesome boy could always be controlled by giving to him the honor of
its care and keeping.

The love of nature, whether inborn or acquired, is one of the greatest
sources of pleasure, and any scientific knowledge connected with it of
inestimable satisfaction. Carlyle's lament was, "Would that some one had
taught me in childhood the names of the stars and the grasses."

It is with the hope of helping both mothers and children that this
little book has been most lovingly prepared.




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                        PAGE
     I FIRST STEPS TOWARD A GARDEN                                  1
    II PLANNING AND PLANTING THE FLOWER BEDS                        9
   III FLOWERS THAT MUST BE RENEWED EVERY YEAR (ANNUALS)           19
    IV FLOWERS THAT LIVE THROUGH TWO YEARS                         30
     V FLOWERS THAT COME UP EVERY YEAR BY THEMSELVES (PERENNIALS)  37
    VI FLOWERS THAT SPRING FROM A STOREHOUSE (BULBS AND TUBERS)    48
   VII THAT QUEEN--THE ROSE                                        58
  VIII VINES, TENDER AND HARDY                                     71
    IX SHRUBS WE LOVE TO SEE                                       78
     X VEGETABLE GROWING FOR THE HOME TABLE                        82
    XI YOUR GARDEN'S FRIENDS AND FOES                              94
   XII A MORNING-GLORY PLAYHOUSE                                  102
  XIII THE WORK OF A CHILDREN'S GARDEN CLUB                       107
   XIV THE CARE OF HOUSE PLANTS                                   115
    XV GIFTS THAT WILL PLEASE A FLOWER LOVER                      130
   XVI THE GENTLEWOMAN'S ART--ARRANGING FLOWERS                   137




ILLUSTRATIONS


  PUZZLE PICTURE,--FIND THE LITTLE GIRL,       _Frontispiece_
                                                  FACING PAGE
  FIRST WORK IN THE SPRING                                 14
  KIM AND COLUMBINE                                        40
  TAKING CARE OF TABLE FERNS                               56
  CLEANING UP AROUND THE SHRUBS                            78
  ALL READY TO HOE                                         90
  AN OUTGROWN PLAYHOUSE                                   112
  SPRING BEAUTIES                                         126


LINE DRAWINGS IN TEXT

                                                         PAGE
  PLAN FOR A SMALL BACK YARD                               12
  AN ARTISTIC ARRANGEMENT OF A NARROW CITY LOT             14
  FLOWERS THAT WILL BLOOM FROM EARLY SUMMER UNTIL FROST    16
  BLOSSOMS IN JAPANESE ARRANGEMENT                        138




NOTE


As the desire is to give the widest possible range of information about
the plants and flowers mentioned herein, and space forbids going into
details in each case, the writer has endeavored to mention all the
colors, extremes of height, and entire season of bloom of each kind. But
the grower must find out the particular variety obtained, and NOT expect
a shrubby clematis to climb, or a fall rose to blossom in the spring!




GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS


    A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!
        Rose plot,
            Fringed pool,
        Fern'd grot--
            The veriest school
            Of peace; and yet the fool
    Contends that God is not--
    Not God! in gardens! when the eve is cool?
        Nay but I have a sign:
        'Tis very sure God walks in mine.
                          --_Thomas Edward Brown._




GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS




CHAPTER I

First Steps Toward a Garden

      And because the breath of flowers is far sweeter in
      the air (where it comes and goes, like the warbling of
      music) than in the hand, therefore nothing is more fit
      for that delight than to know what be the flowers and
      plants that do best perfume the air.
                                              --_Bacon._


IF you want a flower garden, you can begin work as early as March. Does
that sound strange,--with cold winds and occasional snow? Ah, but the
plans should all be laid then, and many things started in the house.

Four steps must be taken before starting actual work:

_First._--Find out what space you can have for your garden.

_Second._--Consider the soil, situation, surroundings.

_Third._--Make a list of seeds, bulbs, etc., desired.

_Fourth._--Decide on planting with view to height and color.

As to the first step, find out positively where you can have your
garden. It makes considerable difference whether you can have the whole
back yard, a plot along the walk, a round bed in the center of the lawn
(only worse than none at all!), or a window-box. You can not very well
decide on a single plant until this is settled.

As to the second step, learn all you can about the soil, situation,
surroundings. Is your ground rich or poor? If light and sandy, you can
grow such flowers as nasturtiums and mignonette. By adding fertilizer
you can have poppies, roses, and dahlias. If the ground is heavy and
stiff with clay, you can still have your roses and dahlias if you will
add both manure and sand. So find out what kind of earth you are going
to work with. Quite poor soil will grow sweet alyssum, California
poppies, coreopsis and geraniums, while rich soil is needed for asters,
larkspur, zinnias and marigolds. And think about your location (a dry
spot being necessary for portulaca, and a cool, moist place for
lily-of-the-valley), as well as bear in mind whether your garden is
sheltered and warm or exposed to the chilly winds. Any desert can be
made to blossom as the rose,--if you only know how.

As to the third step, make the list of the seeds, bulbs, etc., that you
would like, with the idea of having some flowers in bloom the whole
summer long. If you are lucky enough to have a kind friend or neighbor
give you of her store, they will probably be good and come up as they
should. If you have to buy, though, be sure to go to a first-class,
reliable dealer, for you don't want to waste your time and money on old
things that won't grow.

Then last of all, decide on your planting from this list with a view to
height and color, so that you will arrange to the best advantage,--the
nasturtiums which climb, for instance, going to the back of the bed
against wall or trellis, while the dwarf variety should be at the front.


BIG WORDS FOR COMMON THINGS

To select your flowers intelligently, though, you must know something
about their nature, habits, and tendencies, and certain words always
found in seed catalogues and garden books may be puzzling to a beginner.

      a. _Annuals_, for example, are the plants that live
      but a year or a single season.

      b. _Biennials_, however, continue for two years before
      they perish, making roots and leaves the first year
      and usually flowering the second.

      c. _Perennials_ are the kind that continue for more
      than two years.

      d. _Deciduous_ refers to the shrubs and trees that
      lose their leaves in the fall.

      e. _Evergreens_ are those that keep their verdure the
      whole year round.

      f. _Herbaceous_ plants may be annual,