Chapter 1: Root-pruning (2)

By using a soil-test kit or, better still, sending a sample to your state agricultural service to be tested, you can easily find out whether the soil in your garden is acid or alkaline, and to what degree. Then, to make acid soil more alkaline for plants that need it, mix in small quantities of agricultural lime--the amount depends on the degree of acidity and on the plant itself. Don’t overdo it. Too much lime can do as much harm as good. Alkaline soils are not quite so readily converted to acid, but you can use oak-leaf compost (not completely rotted), acid peat, or pine “duff” (rotted pine needles). Or you can be satisfied with the tremendous number of rockery plants that really prefer alkaline soil. These preferences vary, not only between different plant families, but also between individual members of the same family.

For our small gardens, I’ve found it not too tiresome to provide soils of several types. For specially precious plants, I often mix special, small batches of soil. Then I clean out the planting pocket, make sure that it is tightly closed in with rocks so water won’t wash this soil out or other soil in, and refill it with the preferred mixture.

_Watering_

Except during rare droughts in spring, when the plants are in active growth, we seldom have to water our rock and wall garden. Our summer rains are usually sufficient for their needs. But whenever or wherever there are long weeks of extreme heat and dry winds in summer, water may be needed. Use a fine spray gently, so that the small plants won’t be washed loose. And let the water soak in long enough so the entire area is moist in depth.

_Fertilizing_

Some rock plants can take and use fertilizer, in spring; but most alpines are better off without it. For them, we mix a little leaf mold with the gravel mulch when we renew it. For the more ordinary types, we provide a very light feeding of whatever balanced fertilizer we have on hand.

_Grooming_

In rock gardens (and particularly in very small rock gardens) even slight untidiness or imperfection shows up all too clearly. But I consider it a pleasure to weed and care for the little plants a few minutes every weekend. Faded flowers are snipped off. Weeds are removed with determination, but with gentle protection for any small, weak plants. Spreading shoots that grow long and out of line are cut off, or sometimes uprooted, and removed. Louise Beebe Wilder says it’s an art to keep a rock garden in balance, with the proper proportion of plants against stones. And she is an artist with hers.

In spring, even before the last of the winter mulch is removed, we look for cracks in the soil and for plants that have been heaved out by frost, and press them firmly back into place so their roots can take hold again. We also fill any washed-out pockets with fresh soil mix, and top-dress any low areas. Any rotted leaves and stems and other debris are removed; and the entire garden gets a thin fresh layer of stone-chip mulch.

In fall there’s the general cleanup operation--weeding, pressing in loose roots and packing them with soil, trimming back rambunctious growers, replenishing the mulch of stone chips if needed.

_Winter Protection_

If you can count on a continuous cover of snow over your rock garden all winter, there’s little you need to do for these hardy little plants. But we can’t; we have the danger of alternate freezing and thawing that can do so much damage. So we provide special protection.

In winter, after the ground is frozen at least an inch deep, we cover the complete garden with salt-marsh hay. (Some types of Fiberglas, and wood excelsior from packing cases, are also suitable, reusable materials). This light, airy blanket keeps plants cold and dark, yet gives them air to breathe. If it threatens to blow away, we hold it in place with a few light evergreen branches.

PROPAGATING ROCK-GARDEN PLANTS

These are, of course, perennials and with slight variations can be propagated like other perennials. (See pages 255–59.)

_Seeds_

Some need a pre-germination cold and some don’t; some germinate best at cool temperatures, some at warm; some need light, others need dark. Check seed packet, catalogue, or reliable reference book for specific information for each type of seed.

We start seeds of delicate varieties in the greenhouse, where we can hover over them, in late winter; others may be sown in the cold frame in March or April, so the plants will be as mature as possible before their first winter.

_Stem Cuttings_

For the smaller plants, these can be as short as three inches or less. Try to take snappy new growth, neither weak and watery nor hard and tough. Sharp sand is a suitable rooting medium for many types.

_CHAPTER 12_

MINIATURE POOLS AND
WATER PLANTS

If you can work out a way to use water in your landscape, by all means do. Whether it’s a dime-sized tub the birds dip into, or a full-scale formal pool in a tiled patio, any garden with water attracts immediate attention, gives quick pleasure, becomes an unquestionable center of interest. Actually, the excitement water adds to any landscape scene is the antithesis of its calm, cooling, serene effect. I don’t know of any other feature that, with a few plants and a minimum of care, makes a garden spot at once so dramatic, artistic, and restful. And if the water moves--ripples through a stream, drips over stones, falls from one level to another--soothing sound is added to the other assets.

Natural brooks, streams, and pools usually require little designing beyond bringing out the best of their inherent beauty. But there’s also not a suburban lot for which some kind of artificial water garden can’t be designed, and few grounds that are not thereby enhanced. The only requisite is that the design be in harmony and scale with its setting; that it be conceived, located, and constructed with imagination and skill.

The fact that pools are inevitably natural focal points makes their faults more obvious and more difficult to correct. The most you can do, once a pool is in the ground, is to soften or otherwise improve its outline with coping, rocks, or plants. If there’s too much cement, you can’t hide it with aquatic plants without covering, too, the desirable reflections on the water. If it’s too small, you can hardly make it larger. If the shape is uninteresting, you can’t change it very easily. If it’s in the wrong spot or faced the wrong way, you can’t move it.

On the other hand, the charm of water itself is so strong that it is comparatively easy to create a design that looks just right, particularly if simplicity is the keynote in both pool and planting. Simple shapes are safer and more effective than intricate ones; few plants, well placed, are better than many; water spraying from a concealed pipe is often more desirable than a formal fountain or statuary.

Depending on architecture and terrain, garden pools may be of formal design--a perfectly regular shape; semiformal--the shape balanced but not usually regular, often in severe contemporary style; or informal, completely asymmetrical, and integrated so naturally in the landscape the pool looks as if it has always been there. Each type of design can be executed in so many different ways that, even for tiny pools, there’s good reason to study photographs and articles in gardening and homemaking magazines. There’s also inspiration in the designs in books about water gardens, plus detailed information on various types of construction that I’ve had to omit. I’ve built miniature rock gardens but never a pool. Someone who fathoms the mysteries of water levels and understands the intricacies of cement work can give much more reliable advice than I.

_Formal Design._

Small square, rectangular, circular, or oval pools can be extremely effective in almost any kind of landscape except one so rocky and untamed as ours. They’re usually best in level ground, and most harmonious with borders and other plantings of fairly formal pattern. And, of course, they’re constructed of materials that give a formal effect, such as concrete, tile, or brick.

A raised pool in the center of a small terrace, with a foot-high wall of tile or brick, can be scaled down from classic designs of other eras. A wide coping on the wall provides a place to set potted plants, or to seat yourself to feed the goldfish and dabble your fingers in the cool water.

A quadrant-shaped pool in the corner where garden walls meet can be either raised or level with the ground. Its water might reflect the image of a saint in a shrine above it, or might catch the constant stream from a lovely fountain.

At one end of a narrow garden a rectangular or oval pool becomes a striking focal point. A path may lead to a bench on a far side, between the pool and a background of shrubs.

At the end of a garden path a fountain may spout from a mortared wall into a projecting pool set at convenient dipping height from the ground, for filling watering cans. The planting underneath can be permanent, or an arrangement of potted plants.

And why not a tiny, formal pool in the center of a miniature rose garden? Or under a piece of traditional garden statuary? Or simply in the center of a garden path that splits to make room for it? If it’s of proper proportion, a formal pool can even be set in the center of a garden, sometimes even in the center of a small lawn area.

_Semiformal Design_

Here’s where the popular kidney-shaped pools are most useful. They’re neither formal nor informal, but especially attractive with contemporary architecture. Planting is usually sparse but dramatic, making extreme use of contrasting colors and textures, and of unusual lines. Construction materials are simple to keep them subordinate in interest to the over-all design.

A refreshing sight outside a picture window is a small pool recessed in the patio floor. A recirculating pump sends up a spray of water from a pipe that ends just below the surface of the pool. These pumps make it possible for fish and plants to coexist with fountains because they reuse water in the pool. Fresh water from a spring, a stream, or the pipes that supply the house is too cold; and it may lack the small organisms on which fish feed.

Pools of contemporary design can also be placed in a corner of the property, with a tasteful grouping of shrubbery behind; on the bottom level of a series of terraces; in a depressed spot in the lawn; in the curve of a path; or at one side of a breezeway. They can be illuminated dramatically with the new underwater lights available in many sizes and styles.

_Informal, Naturalistic Design_

These are either adaptations of existing streams or pools, or designs of uneven form deliberately created to look as if they had been there all the time. They’re best suited, of course, to naturalistic landscapes where slopes, rocks, and hidden springs give them a reason for existence. The water-holding basin may be of any material, as long as it is not noticeable. Any edgings, copings, or nearby trimmings should be just as natural as the pools.

A rock garden on a slope is a perfect setting for a pool with rocks that jut out over the water and, if possible, a rock or two coming up through the water from below. Or two small pools, one above the other, can be joined by a miniature waterfall. If there’s no water supply on the spot, use a recirculating pump. But be careful that the waterfall doesn’t resemble man-made steps. It should be as craftily haphazard as if the elements had worn it into the rocks.

A dripstone is another delightfully musical device--an overhanging rock from which water drips down onto the surface of the pool. The sound has more resonance when there is an empty chamber behind the dripping water.

A meandering brook can be widened to make a pool. Or a completely artificial brook can be constructed of cement, like a pool, with drainage and overflow pipes and similar appurtenances. This isn’t easy to execute effectively, but it can be completely intriguing. It might be wise to try to re-create part of a real stream in the nearby countryside.

One small boulder half-sunk in the ground can inspire an irregular, shallow pool that makes a natural birdbath. A miniature shrub may back up the boulder; rock-garden plants may grow at its base.

Many nooks and corners in the naturalistic landscape spontaneously suggest the creation of a tiny pool, and become exciting little garden surprises. These can often be so simply made that there’s not even a drainage hole in the bottom. Scooping out the water, as needed, is no chore at all.

CONSTRUCTING MINIATURE POOLS

There are as many materials and methods for building pools as there are sizes and shapes. The depth depends on the requirements of the aquatic plants to be grown, and so does the location in sun or shade. Pygmy water lilies, for example, need all available sun, and at least ten inches of water--four inches for the container that holds soil and roots, eight inches above the crowns or growing points. Other miniature water plants are satisfied with much less.

One vitally important construction detail is that the sides of even the smallest tub garden be perfectly level, parallel with the water surface. Otherwise, there will be an unattractive expanse of bare wall at one side--one of those awkward errors that quickly catches the eye and spoils the whole effect.

Some pools are simply sunk flush with the surrounding lawn or other surface, without edging or coping of any kind. This can be messy and sometimes disastrous to plants when surface water collects and floods the pool during heavy rains. Extending the rim an inch or so above the surrounding area usually avoids this problem, but then the rim should be concealed with a coping of some sort--bricks and tiles in formal pools, well-arranged rocks, gravel, or flagstone paving in informal design.

_Tubs and Other Containers_

Attractive but relatively impermanent miniature pools can be improvised or specially planned with many kinds of containers--metal or wooden tubs made and sold for the purpose; half-barrels or half-kegs; discarded tanks, kettles, dishpans; even discarded sinks and laundry tubs. These last can be eyesores, we found out, if their ignominious origins are not kept carefully secret. Rubber-base paint is the only way we found to conceal the pristine white porcelain, and it was tricky to use so that it wouldn’t peel off. The rim at the top of the sink is an unpleasant giveaway that must be covered with something such as overhanging rocks. Finding a plug or stopper that fit the drainage hole wasn’t the least of our problems.

For the welfare of both aquatic plants and wildlife such as fish and scavengers, some containers need special treatment before they can be used, and some should not be used at all. Wooden kegs and barrels that have held oily substances such as gasoline, roofing compound, and wood preservatives can’t be cleaned sufficiently to be safe. Copper poisons fish; so do paints with oil or lead bases. Steel, lead, iron, and other metals should be protected against rust and corrosion with sound coats of rubber-base paint.

Containers freshly made of new wood (except white cedar) can be unhealthy for fish. Let them stand out in the weather for the winter, or season the wood by filling the container with water, slaking a chunk of lime in it for a few days, and rinsing well before using.

_Prefabricated Pools_

These are now available in metal or plastics of a sturdiness that varies with the cost, in a wide range of sizes and shapes. Many of them make lovely miniature pools which, because they’re small, are not necessarily calamities if they don’t last forever. Most have been designed after consultation with experts on fish and water lilies. And most are simply installed by digging a proper hole and setting them in place.

_Permanent Pools_

Permanency increases, of course, with sound construction. Concrete laid on a gravel or cinder base and strengthened with wire-mesh reinforcement is usually considered best. But the new concrete must be cured and the alkalinity of its lime neutralized before the pool can be safely used for plants or fish. Leaving the pool open to the weather for the winter will usually accomplish this purpose. Or the pool can be drained and refilled several times, then thoroughly cleansed with household vinegar, as in the “quick cure” recommended by G. L. Thomas, Jr., of Three Springs Fisheries.

Steps in constructing a no-cost pool out of materials on hand:

a. An old kitchen sink
b. Placing rocks that were a nuisance anyhow
c. Finished pool with goldfish, and an interested cat]

Bricks, cement blocks, tile, puddled concrete--for each type of material there are detailed procedures to be found in readily available and up-to-date reference books. Prefabricated pools can be found in the catalogues of most water-lily specialists.

CARE OF POOLS

Miniature pools are easy to scrub in the spring and to keep clean through the summer season. Floating dead leaves or other organic debris that can give off poisonous gas are skimmed off with your hands. Discolored or dying leaves of lilies and other plants can be cut away cleanly. Plants can be thinned out by removing superfluous leaves or pulling out portions of weedy varieties. The pool is kept nearly filled with fresh water--but without adding so much at one time that the water is dangerously chilled.

Permanganate of potash will control slimy, green algae. To one gallon of water add about two teaspoons of permanganate; let it stand until there is little residue at the bottom. For every gallon of water in the pool, add one teaspoon of this saturated solution whenever algae become unsightly. Don’t make the solution too strong. It might kill the fish.

Insects such as the black aphids common on water lilies can be sprayed off with the garden hose to make a juicy meal for the fish. Spraying pool plants with insecticides or fungicides is dangerous unless you use a preparation made specifically for pools, and use it strictly according to package directions.

In winter, most tubs and other containers should probably be lifted and stored indoors. I should think this would lengthen the useful life of small prefabricated pools, too. Small permanent pools should be drained, so ice will not form and crack the construction. This means that the pool must remain empty; either the drain must be kept open or a roof of canvas or boards should be fitted over the top.

FISH AND SCAVENGERS

Goldfish earn their upkeep--a pinch or two of food a week--by gobbling up mosquito larvae the minute they start wriggling. In pools where the mud at the bottom does not freeze, they’ll winter safely out of doors.

Several kinds of snails, tadpoles, and other scavengers offered by specialists consume impurities in the water, including algae. Frogs are just for fun. They’ll often make themselves at home in a pool without any invitation. A grandpappy bullfrog lived in our tiny sinkpool all last summer, retreating to a dark cave between the rocks when the dogs came down for a drink.

It seemed to me the epitome of modern efficiency when I first learned, as a city-dweller, that full-grown frogs could be bought by mail. That purchase made us the most popular family on the block. But we couldn’t offer them comfortable winter quarters in the city; and the last I saw of the frogs, in early fall, they were hopping down the gutter of Fortieth Avenue toward the sewer drain.

MINIATURE AQUATIC AND POOLSIDE PLANTS

Obviously, the location of a pool (in sun or shade, warm climate or cool), its size (some plants would smother a miniature pool in a few weeks), and its design should be considered in selecting plants to grow in or with it. In fact, very tiny pools carefully placed to catch an artistic reflection may be better without any plant embellishment.

A frequent error is overplanting, with the water surface covered by a confusion of foliage and flowers, the perimeter a jungle. In small pools one pygmy lily is plenty; it needs clear, open water to set it off.

For pools of all designs--formal, contemporary, informal--plants are seldom arranged in neat rows, groups that repeat themselves regularly, or matching masses in perfect symmetry. The closest to formal balance might be adding accent and height by placing the tallest plant in the center of a formal pool. More often, it’s effective in one corner or at one side.

Few plants offer such striking variation in the forms available to create interesting patterns and dramatic contrast. There are flat, leathery leaf pads and slim, spiky swords; glorious china-like cup flowers and fluffy plumes; modest creepers and bold elephant leaves. Seldom does a flower-arrangement artist have such a wealth of exciting material with which to make her prize-winning compositions.

_Miniature Water Lilies_

Of the two general types of water lilies--tropical and hardy--the tropicals are least likely to be in scale with miniature pools. The leaves and flowers are larger, the leaves spreading out wider and the flowers standing out higher. The tropicals need lots of sun and warmth, can be shocked into dormancy if the water chills, and are usually treated like annuals and planted fresh, each summer. Some can be propagated from viviparous plantlets that grow on the leaves.

Among hardy water lilies there is a selection of pygmies with four-inch leaves and two-inch flowers in many colors--white, yellow, pink, red, and bicolors, some with attractively marbled foliage. Given generous sunshine, warm quiet water, and good nourishment, they will flower from July to frost, and can be held over the winter either outdoors or in.

In our area we set out hardy water lilies in late April or early May. If a late cold snap occurs when the plants arrive by mail, we keep them moist until it’s over. Since the roots are hardy only if they do not freeze, and since it’s difficult to keep small pools from freezing, each lily is planted in its own box, which is set on small stones or blocks so it is raised off the floor of the pool. Or plant in soil at the bottom of a tub-pool that will be taken up in fall. Lay the rhizome horizontal, with its growing tip out of the soil. Cover the surface with a web of clean sand, to keep the soil from muddying the water. If the plant is leafed out and the leaves don’t reach the surface of the pool, they’ll lengthen their stems in a few days.

For best growth and flowering, a pygmy lily needs at least a third of a bushel of soil and about eight inches of water over its crown. Soil can be heavy and clay-like, or average garden loam. If possible, add one-fourth the quantity of well-rotted cow manure--no other kind. Experts recommend strongly against the use of other-than-cow manures, swamp muck, leaf mold, peat moss, sand, or lime.

Lacking cow manure, you can get fertilizers prepared specially for water lilies, or you can use commercial garden fertilizers like those with 5-10-5 analysis. Supply nourishment at planting time, and once again a month or so later. Wrap balls of rotted cow manure, or handfuls of commercial fertilizer, in thin paper (a paper napkin will do) and thrust them down into the soil around the roots. Water lilies have voracious appetites, and even the pygmies eat heartily. On a starvation diet, they’ll stop growing and flowering.

In winter, store the rhizomes in an unheated cellar or garage where they will keep cool but not freeze. Don’t let them dry out completely. Keep the soil in the container barely moist; or if the rhizome is not in soil, wrap it in burlap that can be kept moist.

Hardy water lilies are propagated by planting divisions of the roots, with each section having at least one growing point.

In the wide selection of available varieties, the following pygmies are suitable for most miniature pools.

=Nymphaea= _Nymphaeaceae_ Pygmy Water Lily

_adorata minor_--Pint-sized variety of the native pond lily
with fragrant, dainty, white three-inch flowers in generous
profusion; leaves lined with red beneath. ‘Helen Fowler’ is a
fragrant pink-flowered variety.

_aurora_--An old hybrid, more dwarf than miniature, but
suitable for small pools. Changeable flowers open soft yellow,
darken to rusty orange in the second stage, then to deep red
in the third stage. The small leaves are mottled with wine-red
lines.

‘Jo Ann Pring’--True pygmy with three-inch leaves, dusty-pink
flowers lighter in the center.

‘Patricia’--One of the few small tropicals with crimson flowers,
brown-metal buds. Young plants are borne on the leaves.

_tetragona (pygmaea)_--Smallest of all, with long-lasting
two-inch white flowers with a fragrance like China tea,
four-inch soft green leaves. Easy to grow, even in shallow
water. The variety alba, or white pygmy, seems the same to me
as the variety helvola, an old hybrid usually listed as yellow
pygmy, and is even smaller than the species, with brown-blotched
leaves and glowing yellow, star-shaped flowers.

‘Royal Purple’--A new red-purple, tropical lily.

_Floating Plants_

Another advantage of miniature pools is that any of the attractive surface plants that multiply too fast can be easily scooped out as often as you wish. And they are unusually attractive in forms, colors, and textures. Feeding from nutrients in solution in the water, they make shade for fish, and their dangling roots provide a safe place for fish to spawn. Simply drop the plants in the water and let them grow. Or, if you want them to raise a family, put some soil in a shallow spot where the roots can anchor. Most are annuals, to be bought each year.

_Oxygenating Plants_

These are aquatics that grow down in the water and help keep it sweet and clean. Bunches of some can be simply dropped in the pool. But all will grow better and save you the trouble of replacing them if their roots are in soil, in pots set on the pool floor. Although they’re mostly perennials, we prefer to start each season with a fresh supply. They’re available in variety at pet stores or by mail from lily specialists. Since they’re neither true miniature plants nor as decorative as they are functional, separate descriptions are not included here.

_Other Aquatic Plants_

With the water lilies and other aquatics, these are the only plants that can grow with their roots standing in water--some in deeper water than others. With few exceptions, this does not mean sour, stagnant water. Even in bogs there is some circulation. Adding chunks of charcoal that absorbs impurities will often help keep the water fresh and healthful.

Some of these plants are hardy, some are not; some need their roots in soil; some can do without it; some are better growing in the water of the pool; some in the boggy soil beside it.

Earlier in this chapter I said I had never built a pool. I meant that I had never done it personally and worried about water levels and the general engineering. But we have had several pools, little more than puddles, which my husband constructed. Small though they were, they gave us the chance to enjoy water lilies and bog plants. It was then that I began to realize the delights and magnitude of this sort of gardening. Someday I hope to have a pond of some size--a spot for lilies, frogs, and goldfish and all of those things G. L. Thomas, Jr., writes about so charmingly in his book, _Garden Pools, Water-Lilies and Goldfish_. I also get great pleasure out of the catalogues several suppliers send out. They are most delightful reading. Read that book, and the catalogues, and I know you will be converted to water-gardening.

_CHAPTER 13_

MINIATURE WOODLAND
GARDENS AND PLANTS

For ten years we lived within the boundaries of New York City in a big, old house that occupied more than a third of the squared, bare eighty-by-hundred-foot lot. Now we have a smaller house, and the gardenable land is completely surrounded by woodlands where native plants grow as they please. In both places we’ve had small woodland gardens; and no matter how pleasurable our other plantings, we’ve loved these best.

If your idea of a pretty garden centers around statuesque delphiniums, precise rows of roses, bold splashes of boisterous color, you may call insipid what we find enchanting. But if your senses respond to the fresh, sharp aroma of moist woods soil, the whispering of trees, the patterns of cool shadows, the shy delicacy of the spring beauty, or the gnome-like pomposity of a Jack-in-the-pulpit, be sure to have at least a tiny woodland garden, whether you have to create a spot for it or have it naturally. Once established, it gives more refreshment for less care than any other garden I know.

NATURALISTIC DESIGN

Here, of course, there is no place for classic or contemporary formal design. The single purpose is to create, or re-create, a small section of the woods with the shade, humus, and other environmental conditions woodsy plants can’t live without. The essence of the tiniest planting--even a colony of trillium at the foot of a spreading evergreen--is its naturalness. It doesn’t look planted, it belongs; it’s been there all the time. And it looks natural, of course, because it’s been planned that way.

Planning a woodland garden for the informal landscape is simplified by the fact that you begin with what you have--a shaded spot (preferably shaded by trees that drop needles or leaves, to enrich the soils) where hot, dry summer winds can’t parch the plants. There may be a natural stream, rocks, a slope, a hollow; or a place to put a rustic bench, rotting log, small pool--a focal point harmonious with the naturalistic theme. Or the size, shape, or contour of the garden may make it the object of interest without additional accent.

I know of one design that began with pruning a stunted sapling to reveal its bonsai-like lines, another that featured the trunk of a rheumatic, old, lightning-shattered evergreen. A soggy, low spot can be planted as a bog and backed up by rocks and shrubs. A brook can be coaxed to make space for a small, hummocky island. The narrow, meandering, stepping-stone path through the sharp point of our land invites you to take a walk in the woods.

Originality has challenging freedom in creating a woodland garden for level, regularly shaped grounds. You may replace the ubiquitous pachysandra in the needle-carpeted shade of a tall pine tree with native plants. Or use one of those difficult areas such as the angle of a hedge, wall, foundation or shaded patio; an unused corner of the property; the space underneath an overhanging bay window.

We used a useless area, about six feet wide and less than thirty feet long, between our city house and the property line, shaded not only by a few straggling pines but also by the house next door. There was a path, a pool, and a little bench. This was the last place I visited before I left for work in the morning, and the first when I came home at night. Somehow, the flower face of a bloodroot with a shawl of unrolling leaf around its shoulders had added piquancy in the city, where building banished the wild flowers a hundred years ago. The bloom of the first lady-slipper was a noteworthy triumph; the green of the ferns seemed specially fresh and mossy; the blue of the bottle gentians was almost unbelievable.

CLEARING THE SITE

Even when we planned that metropolitan oasis, there were a few existing features we carefully kept--a valiant, five-leaved woodbine to train over the rail fence that kept out the trampling feet of the neighborhood small fry; a scrubby shrub I never managed to identify, which had voluntarily masked an ugly cellar window; a few precious patches of moss.

A wild garden in New York City]

In Connecticut, of course, the area was almost completely overgrown, mostly by poison ivy. After that was cleared away, undesirable undergrowth was removed, leaving a rock here, a dogwood or azalea there. Baring the ground let us see more clearly what we had to work with.

A wild flower grows in New York City: bloodroot]

When the ground is cleared, the designer makes a final decision about permanent features such as steps, path, pool, bog, bench. You might make a mental note of the place where an old tree stump might be artfully installed, when you find one, or where a dead branch might fall and make a background for some small plants. Of course, these are all kept carefully in scale and harmony. A path should be narrow and not sharply defined, perhaps just a series of barely matched flat stones. Steps are not conspicuous, but made to look as natural as possible.

SOIL

The next is the most laborious but most vitally important part of the procedure--supplying suitable soil. Woods plants grow naturally in soil so rich in humus that it will hold many times its weight in water. Season after season the trees drop leaves, needles, twigs, and branches that decay and maintain the high level of humus, which contains micro-organisms that help sustain the plants. In our area and in most other woodsy sections, forest soil is very acid. But the loam in a cleared area adjoining the forest may contain little or no humus, and may not be nearly acid enough for the native plants growing a hundred feet away.

When a miniature woodland garden is planted in a wild, woodsy spot, the soil is probably suitable, and the trees will probably keep it that way. Then, you simply use plants that thrive naturally where the amount of available light, and the composition of the soil, are the same or similar. Otherwise, you need to prepare the soil thoroughly and deeply--a minimum of eight inches, and up to eighteen inches for small native shrubs.

You’ll need incredible quantities of leaf mold, very old manure, or composted leaves and grass. Over humus-poor soil, spread a layer of at least six inches, and mix it in by digging the soil and turning it over several times. At the same time, remove matted roots, stones, and other unwanted obstructions to planting. For a very small garden, you may find it simpler to remove all the soil to a depth of twelve to eighteen inches, and replace it completely with humus and leaf mold brought in from the woods or purchased for the purpose. Leaf mold, by the way, is the layer of partially decayed leaves immediately under the top layer of whole leaves; humus, in the next layer down, is more completely decayed. Don’t buy humus from door-to-door salesmen offering “big bargains.” This is a racket the police and Better Business Bureau are trying to extinguish. Buy only from a nurseryman you can trust.

While you’re conditioning soil, make sure there is good drainage. Only bog plants will grow with their roots in muck or standing water. You may need an initial layer of fine gravel or course sand. Raising the surface of the garden will also help.

If you think that the importance of suitable humus-rich soil is either exaggerated or overrated, think also of this: With the type of light and humus (usually acid) in which they grow naturally, woodland plants will settle down contentedly in your garden and establish families and colonies that increase every year. If you don’t provide it, they’ll get homesick and pine away. Not only that, but once they’ve made themselves at home, they’ll require practically no care. They don’t want to be cultivated, fertilized, weeded, watered, mulched, or given special protection in winter, as long as there are trees that drop leaves. The most you might have to do will be making sure the leaves aren’t blown away, or, if there are no trees, lugging in leaves from somewhere else.

PLANTING

Although plants are chosen for any garden according to light, soil, moisture, and other cultural requirements, woodland plants permit less leeway than most others. This is a matter of ecology, defined as “the total impact of the environment and the plant’s accommodation to it.” Some delicate plants are, of course, less adaptable than other more rugged species. Check catalogues, reference books, and other sources to learn all you can about each plant before you plant it.

A quick word about shade. There is full shade, or deep shade, created all year by evergreens, walls, or buildings. And there is woodland shade created only in summer by deciduous trees. The hill near our house where rattlesnake plantain, pipsissewa, and pink lady-slippers grow is dark and cool in summer, but bright in spring, fall, and winter when the trees are bare of leaves. This is an important distinction.

In the interest of conservation--American wild flowers are threatened not only by bulldozers but also by thoughtless, criminally careless humans--private woodland gardens often become the home for plants dug from the wild. Last fall, one of my dearest friends methodically moved dozens of maidenhair ferns into a tiny bit of woods on her property to save them from extinction when their fronds were being picked in bunches to fill out bouquets. But this is conservation only when the plants are transplantable (a number of the most precious species are not) and are moved to quarters with growing conditions to their liking. Otherwise, they might as well die where they are.

In digging woodland plants, always dig deep and take as much of the surrounding soil as possible, and disturb the roots as little as you can. Protect the transplants against drying sun and wind until they are set in their new homes. If you can dig them with the roots intact, you can take most plants at any time during the growing season. The safest times are immediately after flowering or during fall dormancy.

Unless it is a matter of conservation, I never dig woodland plants. I buy them (they’re surprisingly inexpensive) from a local nursery or from several mail-order specialists. The nursery plants are pot-grown, and even fussy types transplant without loss. By mail they arrive bare-rooted--in early fall for all but the summer and fall varieties--but crisp and lively in their packing of moist sphagnum moss. Sometimes they even start to send out new roots and sprouts en route. If I can, I get mail-order plants into the ground before dusk on the day they arrive. Soil around transplants is kept moist and mulched with leaves until they take hold.

Years ago some suppliers collected the plants they sold, and some sources of slow-spreading types were completely devastated. Today, I believe, specialists grow their stocks of woodland plants, either under glass or in woodsy nurseries. They’re doing more to preserve these native treasures than to annihilate them.

The best of all sources is by propagation--seeds, cuttings, division of wild plants--because you’re not only increasing the population, but you’re also starting with plants that from babyhood are accustomed to your growing conditions and don’t have to make difficult adjustments. Even though it may be slow, this is the only method for a number of nontransplantable species.

If the garden contains shrubs that will serve as background for small, shy woodland plants, that’s fine. If it doesn’t, you may want to plant some (these, too, are available by mail), because few native woods plants are spectacular enough to make a big display of their own. And because woods plants are modest, they’re best planted in colonies a half dozen or more of one species, not in mixed colors or varieties. Set the groups in the foreground, where they’re easy to see. Allow plenty of space between groups for natural increase without crowding. Arrange more striking, tall, spiky plants here and there to add the interest of accent, just as you would in a conventional flower bed.

Care after planting includes the expected careful watering, and keeping the plants moist and shielded from heat and wind until they are growing on their own. For their first winter, you may want to supplement the natural mulch of leaves with salt hay or something similarly light and airy, held in place by chicken wire or branches. This mulch must be removed extra early for early-flowering species. By their second season the plants should be ready to be watered by rain, and fed and protected by trees, without your help. Don’t fiddle with them, pull off leaves or seed pods, or move them about unless you must.

PROPAGATING WOODLAND PLANTS

These are, of course, hardy perennials. Except for seeds, propagating methods are much the same as for cultivated types. It is important only that, if possible, you find out what is the most effective (often, the only) way each plant can be reproduced. If you can’t track down this information, try several ways at once. In general, those with masses of fibrous roots can be divided immediately after flowering. For upright and branching types, you can usually root stem cuttings in a frame or propagating box. If everything else fails, try layering. You can’t lose anything by it.

Seeds are planted the minute they are ripe, in a cold frame--or in flats that can be set in the cold frame--in a finely sifted mixture of equal parts of loam, woods leaf mold, and coarse sand. For varieties adapted to extremely acid soil, use half as much coarse sand as Michigan peat, without soil. For added insurance, acidify the planting mix with leaf mold or peat, or neutralize it with lime, until the _p_H is somewhere near that of the soil the plant grows naturally in.

Set the flats in shade and keep the soil moist, and leave the seeds to their own devices, summer and winter, until they germinate. Some species take two months, some take two years. After germination they are handled exactly like other perennial seedlings, except that the only safe fertilizer is very weak liquid manure at very infrequent intervals. Tender types should be grown in pots until they are fully mature, before they’re set out in the garden.

PLANTS FOR WOODLAND GARDENS

=Aquilegia canadensis= _Ranunculaceae_ Columbine

Although the native Eastern columbine can grow two feet tall, it seems to stay closer to six inches in my woodland garden and on the banks that line our Pine Tree Road. The clover-like leaves, and characteristic columbine flowers with yellow sepals and knobbed red spurs, are scaled down proportionately.

CARE. Poor, dry soil, acid (strong to neutral). Fertilizer promotes growth that is too rank. Full sun to three-quarter shade.

PROPAGATION. Seed.

SPECIAL USES. Woodland planting, bank planting.

=Arisaema triphyllum= _Araceae_ Jack-in-the-Pulpit

The pulpit stands eight inches tall or more, curving up and over the stiff preacher-like spadix in late spring. The divided leaves also exceed true miniature size. But prim Jack spreads himself slowly enough to allow him entry to all but the very tiniest woodland garden; and his comical dignity is not to be dispensed with.

CARE. Humus-rich soil, moist. Shade or light shade.

PROPAGATION. Tuberous roots.

SPECIAL USES. Wild gardens.

=Asarum= _Aristolochiaceae_ Wild Ginger

In the Northern part of the country this is a deciduous plant, while in much of the South it retains its kidney-shaped leaves. Its purplish flowers are somewhat hidden under the foliage. There are three general types.

_canadense_--Eastern wild ginger.

_caudatum_--Western wild ginger.

_shuttleworthi_--Mottled wild ginger (native of Virginia
and South).

CARE. Rich soil, moist. Shade or partial shade.

PROPAGATION. Division.

SPECIAL USES. Wild gardens, ground cover.

=Asplenium= _Polypodiaceae_ Spleenwort (Fern)

Lilliputian, native evergreen fern with deeply cut fronds.

_platyneuron_--ebony sweetheart--Eight-inch feathery fronds
with brownish-purple stems in tidy circles. (Needs acid soil.)

_trichomanes_--maidenhair spleenwort--Thick, closely
clustered three-to five-inch fronds with crowds of little
one-inch leaflets on black ribs. Plant it sideways, its roots in
a rock crevice, with leaf mold and a touch of lime.

CARE. Soil acid or neutral according to variety. Leaf mold. Shade.

PROPAGATION. Division.

SPECIAL USES. Terrariums, rock gardens, wild gardens.

=Camptosorus rhizophyllus= _Polypodiaceae_ Walking Fern

Small native evergreen fern, hardy from Canada to Georgia. Its name comes from the fact that the fronds are pointed on the ends and root on contact with the soil. It prefers to creep around limy rocks.

CARE. Lime-bearing soil, shade, dry. Hardy.

PROPAGATION. Root division.

SPECIAL USES. Terrariums, rock gardens, wild gardens.

=Claytonia virginica= _Portulacaceae_ Spring Beauty

When the leaves of the forest trees are barely ready to break out in early spring, this lovely little plant is already in full bloom down on the ground. It makes colonies and even mats of precious white flowers which are tinged and streaked with pink and scarcely a half-inch across. But before the trees are in full leaf the spring beauty has gone back to sleep and disappeared, flowers, five-inch grass-like leaves, and all.

CARE. Woodsy soil, moist, shady or semishady.

PROPAGATION. Tubers.

SPECIAL USES. Rock gardens, bog gardens, swamp planting.

=Clintonia= _Liliaceae_

Woodsy plants spreading out into colonies by underground rhizomes. The leaves are rather broad, and thin and glassy. The little lily-like flowers are held atop stems above. The berries that follow are blue, blue-black, or black.

_borealis_--broadlily--Nodding, greenish-yellow flowers on
seven-inch stems in May. Berries are blue, a half-inch long.

_umbellata_--Leaves lightly fuzzy; purple-spotted white
flowers in clusters; shiny black berries.

_uniflora_--Western native with one precious flower per
stem (one and a half inches across), berries bright blue.

CARE. Rich, humusy, acid soil. Shade or partial shade. Moist.

PROPAGATION. Division of roots in spring.

SPECIAL USES. Rock gardens, bog planting.

=Convallaria majalis= _Liliaceae_ Lily of the Valley

This fragrant ground cover is a favorite for under trees and other shady spots. Perhaps it spreads too fast for very small gardens. The oval, lily-like leaves are lasting, but not evergreen. The dangling flowers, all on the same side of the stem, are like scalloped petticoats. Unless you need a ground cover, try one of the fancier and less robust varieties, such as rosea, with light-pink flowers that fade to near-white in the sun. Or try flore plens with double white hoop-skirts.

CARE. Garden soil, shade, moist, hardy. Persists for years and doesn’t have to be touched. If you want to increase your planting, dig and thin every three years.

PROPAGATION. Division of small bulbs.

SPECIAL USES. Ground cover, forcing in February and March.

=Coptis trifolia= _Ranunculaceae_ Goldthread

This tiny bog plant, only four inches high, has three-way clover-like leaves and tiny white waxy flowers. It creeps and spreads by means of thready yellow roots.

CARE. Humusy, peaty, sandy, and decidedly acid soil. Plant needs a cool, moist location and will not survive warmth and dryness.

SPECIAL USES. Bog planting.

=Cornus canadensis= _Cornaceae_ Bunchberry, Creeping Dogwood

This is a real dogwood, but a very miniature one. The stems standing about six inches high are encircled by a whorl of rich green leaves. Above are the up-facing flowers (in May), like elves wearing white ruffs. The clusters of red berries are as gay as Christmas, in August. After taking a year or so to get settled, the plants spread out into colonies or clumps.

CARE. Rich woods soil, highly acid, damp, but with drainage. Shade, cool location. Takes several years to get established. Needn’t be disturbed once settled. Can be transplanted if large chunks of sod are lifted with it.

PROPAGATION. Separate clumps when dormant. Seeds from ripe berries will germinate the following spring.

SPECIAL USES. Bog planting, ground cover.

=Cryptogramma crispa= _Polypodiaceae_ Parsley Fern

This is a small alpine fern with clusters of six-inch evergreen fronds so finely cut and frilled they could garnish a standing rib roast in place of parsley. Don’t overlook this one when next planning a terrarium.

CARE. Peaty, dry soil. Hardy.

PROPAGATION. Division.

SPECIAL USES. Rock gardens, terrariums.

=Cypripedium= _Orchidaceae_ Lady-slipper, Moccasin Flower

This is the fabulous earth-growing orchid that is native to many parts of the country, with culture varying accordingly. The broad, long fresh leaves fold around the stem at the base. The flowers have a lip inflated into a pouch and are in various colors.

_acaule_--Northeastern native with dusty-pink flowers.
Requires dry, sandy, woodsy, intensely acid soil, full shade.
Difficult to transplant unless taken with a large amount of
soil. Attempt it only after flowering, or in October. Don’t
cover crown more than a half-inch. No good method of propagation
is known.

_calceolus pubescens_--Fuzzy yellow lady-slipper from
moist, wooded hillsides of the North and mid-South. Not
difficult to transplant and easy to grow. Likes dappled shade
and slightly acid, humusy soil.

_candidum_--Small white flowers marked and veined with
brown and purple. From limy, marly bogs. Needs moisture and
shade.

CARE. Soil, moisture, and shade as described above.

PROPAGATION. Division when dormant.

SPECIAL USES. Rock and wild gardens. Can force.

=Dalibarda repens= _Rosaceae_ Dewdrop, False Violet

Precious little creeper, pretending to be a violet, with two-inch heart-shaped leaves on long stems and five-petaled, half-inch white flowers in July. A native of the Northeastern section.

CARE. A sheltered spot. Rich woodsy soil.

PROPAGATION. Seeds and division.

SPECIAL USES. Woodland and rock gardens.

=Epigaea repens= _Ericaceae_ Trailing Arbutus

Flat evergreen creeper with overlapping hairy stems and bright-green oval leaves. In early spring it has white or pink phlox-like flowers, not very large but interestingly fragrant. Although it is usually cultivated in shady, protected spots, it can thrive in hot dry areas.

CARE. Humusy and very acid soil, sandy, with leaf mold. Good drainage. Moist. Don’t dig wild plants which are difficult to transplant. Use pot-grown plants.

PROPAGATION. Cuttings. Seed if strictly fresh.

SPECIAL USES. Wild gardens, rock planting.

=Erythronium= _Liliaceae_ Adder’s-Tongue, Trout Lily, Dogtooth Violet

A very large clan of bulbous wild flowers native to many parts of the country. All species have the marks of family resemblance--two leathery basal leaves, often beautifully marbled, and miniature lily flowers nodding from the tops of central stems in spring. Height, usually six inches.

_albidum_--Leaves may be matted or not. In the East flowers
are white, in April.

_americanum_--Best-known Yankee with marbled leaves and
bright-yellow flowers in April.

_californicum_--fawn lily--Mottled leaves, creamy or
pale-yellow flowers. (From California, of course.)

_dens-canis_--dogtooth violet--European emigrant with green
leaves splotched with brick red; flowers are rosy purple. Also
available in white and other colors.

_grandiflorum_--Giant of the family, plain leaves, golden
flowers in clusters. The variety parviflorum has the most midget
flowers. Western.

_hendersoni_--Mottled leaves, dark-centered purple flowers.
Western.

_revolutum_--Western with brown-blotched leaves,
purple-tinged white or lavender flowers. The variety johnsoni
has rosy-lilac flowers, white in the center.

_tuolumnense_--California with unmarked chartreuse leaves,
large deep-yellow flowers.

CARE. Woodsy soil, not especially acid, with leaf mold. Drainage. Moist, never hot and dry. Winter mulch.

PROPAGATION. Seeds, offsets (from underground stolons).

SPECIAL USES. Rock gardens, woodland gardens, forcing.

=Goodyera pubescens= _Orchidaceae_ Rattlesnake Plantain

This terrestrial herb is a close relative of the most glamorous of orchids and bears no resemblance to a reptile or the weed that is part of its common name. On the woodland floor you will come upon it as a flat cluster of durable, oval, deep-green leaves with gleaming-white veins that cross and recross in a delicate pattern. Perhaps you will find it in bloom with tiny whitish flowers on tall spikes.

CARE. Woodsy acid soil, with humus. Slightly damp. Cool. Shade. North side of a glacial ridge is ideal.

PROPAGATION. If possible, buy section of root from dealer who specializes in woodland plants and seeds. Pick sparingly in the woods, by breaking off section of rhizome with rootlets and plant. New plant will appear in about one month.

SPECIAL USES. Terrariums, woodland gardens.

=Hepatica= _Ranunculaceae_ Liverleaf

Six-inch evergreen plants that shed their old leathery leaves for new after the blue-lavender (or pinkish-white) flowers fade and fall in May.

_acutiloba_--Sharp-lobed hepatica, distinguished by the
points on the lobes of its leaves. (Needs alkaline soil.)

_americana (triloba)_--Round-leaved hepatica with dainty
flowers on stems upholstered with silky hairs. Leaves maroon in
winter

CARE. Not too acid soil. Full shade. Drainage. Not difficult to transplant but needs time to get established. Plants in the woods best dug in the fall.

PROPAGATION. Seeds, division of roots.

SPECIAL USES. Woodland gardens, colonies.

=Houstonia= _Rubiaceae_ Bluets, Quaker Lady

This is an enchanting wildling with grass-like leaves and flowers less than a half-inch across in the shape of four-pointed stars. It is a very profuse bloomer throughout the spring and early summer.

_caerulea_--Northeastern favorite with leaves in tufts
about an inch high. Flowers are blue or lilac, often fading to
white in the sun. Seeds itself willingly.

_purpurea_--Larger than miniature, and native from Maryland
to Georgia. It makes a soft evergreen foliage mat, and in July
has purple flowers, several per stem.

_serpyllifolia_--creeping bluets--The stems stretch out
to ten inches or more with little half-inch teardrop leaves.
Sky-blue flowers.

CARE. Loamy, acid soil with peat. Moist. Part shade.

PROPAGATION. Division. Some varieties are self-seeding.

SPECIAL USES. Rock and woodland gardens.

=Lemna minor= _Lemnaceae_ Duckweed

This tiny one is often called the “smallest known flowering plant.” A floating plant that has quarter-inch leaves (actually the body or “thallus”), it has hair-like rootlets and flowers so small one needs a magnifying glass to see them. In the fall the plants sink to the bottom of the pond, to rise again in the spring.

CARE. No attention is needed.

PROPAGATION. None necessary. Increases naturally.

SPECIAL USES. Dish-garden pools, rock-garden pools, fish food.

=Lycopodium= _Lycopodiaceae_ Club Moss