CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
TOWN-GARDENING
 PAGE
London in summer-time—Bought flowers versus growing plants—Plants that do well in towns—Gardens of the suburbs—Some of their joys1
 
CHAPTER II
THE EARLY WINDOW-BOX
Spring gardening in the window-box—Bulbs: gold, white, and blue—Moss carpets, dainty beds—Flowers that grow well together—Some combinations—Encouragements8
 
CHAPTER III
“THE SEASON” WINDOW-BOX
Not to start summer flowers too soon—Not to buy plants that have been forced—Not to be like everybody else—Asparagus Sprengeri—A kitchen window-box—Herbs—The watched pot—Prize window-boxes at Exeter—The nursery window-box—Seed Song14
 
CHAPTER IV
BALCONY-GARDENING
Pot-plants—Climbers—Tubs—London in June—The pleasant balcony—Practical hints20
 
CHAPTER V
ROOF AND BACK-YARD GARDENS IN THE CITY
St Andrew’s Rectory garden, Doctor’s Commons—“Struggles in Smoke”—Roof-jungle at the Home for Working Boys, at Bishopsgate Street, E.C.—Amateur gardening among the slates and chimney-pots—City gardens—Tempting the sea-gull, land-bird, and butterfly26
 
CHAPTER VI
PLANTS FOR THE CITY POOR
Window-box Society, St. Cuthbert’s Lodge, Millwall—Mr. Cadbury and his operatives—Town board schools—Gardening at Crook’s Place Board School, Norwich—Country board schools in England and in Germany—Helping the poor—Miss Jekyll and the factory lad31
 
CHAPTER VII
THE BEGINNER
Choosing the window-box—Making it—Placing it—Filling it—The hanging basket—Cleansing—Watering—The Fern window-box—Virginia Stock36
 
CHAPTER VIII
FOLIAGE PLANTS FOR TOWNS
The window-box and the man in the street—The advantages and merits of the foliage-plants—Which to order44
 
CHAPTER IX
FOG, FLOWERS, AND FOLIAGE
Air—Fog—What urban fog is made of—Darkness—Poison—An analysis from Kew—Can we counteract effects of fog?—Mr. Toope at Stepney—Fog-filters—What plants suffer least?—Professor Oliver’s report on ferns in fogs—Bulbous plants—Precautions—Coal-smoke Abatement Society—Resolutions48
 
CHAPTER X
THE LADY DECORATOR AND THE FLOWER-GIRL
Arranging flowers—Balls, dinner-parties, weddings—Fashions in flowers—Dyed flowers—Flowers as symbols—Primrose Day—Floral trophies—The early and mid-Victorian bouquet—Street-selling flower-girls—Buttonhole-making—A skeleton parasol in France55
 
CHAPTER XI
THE SMALL SUBURBAN GARDEN
A good word for it—The motor-car—Corner houses—Making the most of a small garden—Turf—Trees—Back and front gardens—Individuality—Good taste62
 
CHAPTER XII
“NEXT DOOR”—A PARENTHETICAL CHAPTER
Garden etiquette in Suburbia—Codes and customs—Barriers—Brides—Music—Children—Bonfires—The family wash71
 
CHAPTER XIII
GRASS, GROUND, OR GRAVEL
The new suburban garden—The restful garden—Country Life on English and Continental suburban gardens—The lawn and flower-beds—Grass walks75
 
CHAPTER XIV
FERNS AND WILD FLOWERS
The hardy fernery—How we made our own—Wild flowers for the fernery—The fernery all the year round—Amusing May—The Pale Osmunda—The neglected fernery of London and the suburbs—Roadside Ferns and hedge-haunters80
 
CHAPTER XV
CREEPERS AND CLIMBERS
The Vine and Fig-tree—Ampelopsis Veitchii—Trellis-work—Wire netting—Supports—Roses, Jasmine and Magnolia—The Passion-flower—Hops and Honeysuckle—Morning Glories—“Ivy Lane”88
 
CHAPTER XVI
EASY ROCK AND WALL GARDENING
How to get “rock” and place it—Alpine and English rock-plants—Mr. Barr’s nursery ground—Encrusted Saxifrages—The double wall—Thrift, Wallflower, and Red Valerian—One pleasing Thought95
 
INDEX103