Work with nature,
the way the old-timers did, to create a lush, easy-to-maintain
country landscape.
Every true gardener loves his garden all the year round. He
prepares it carefully for the time when it becomes a memory and
a hope; and it is not without attraction to him even in the bare
aspects of winter. In New England it is necessary, not only to
clear up the rubbish and leave a neat looking garden for the
winter, but to protect many of the shrubs from the cold, the
wind, and the alternate freezing and thawing which assail them,
more or less, for five months of the year. We lately saw one
which we enjoyed looking at, although the ice and snow lay all
about it. The Rhododendrons, Altheas, some of the Roses,
Forsythias, Halesias, the Fringe tree, and various other shrubs
were protected by branches of common White Pine, easily procured
from the woods, and answering better for the plants than a close
covering. These Pine boughs tied around the shrubs were really
ornamental, bearing so gracefully the burden of the snow, and
waving their green tassels in triumph above it. A little care of
this kind can make your gardens pretty to look at in winter,
while the cheap protection is far better than the old pieces of
matting or carpeting, which disfigure what they guard.
