This is also sufficient for lilies and other single stalk bulbous plants. Bearded iris can be planted as close as 1 square foot per plant, but each Japanese and Siberian vari ety will need 3 square feet. Tulips may be planted as thickly as 3 to a square foot, and narcissus may be even closer.

Some gardeners may feel that such thin planting will be ineffective, but our advice is based on long experience. Most gardens are overplanted in the beginning and become crowded after the first year. It is wiser to leave adequate space for the natural growth of perennials and to use a few annuals, not too thick, as fillers during the first and second seasons. Poor growth, mediocre bloom, and such diseases as rust and mil dew can often be attributed to too close planting.

Professional Assistance

Many home owners are somewhat reluctant to engage pro fessional help in laying out their gardens. This is understand able since the profession of landscape architecture, rightly or wrongly, has acquired the reputation of being expensive.

That it was once so is undeniably true. During the first part of the century, it fixed its sights firmly on the large country estate and on extensive municipal work, both of which en tailed enormous outlay. Conditions today are quite different and competent professional help in laying out modest proper ties is now reasonable.

There are so many technical problems in the developing of even a simple garden that the trained professional can be most helpful. He knows how to lay pavements, build walls and fences, solve drainage problems, and the like. He is familiar with an extensive list of plant material and knows the sun, soil, and climatic preferences of various plants, as well as where they may be purchased in the sizes you need.

On the esthetic side, he can bring about a solution of a par ticular problem which will make the most of inherent possi bilities of a site. In almost every case we have observed, the "professional touch" is easily discernable wherever a profes sional has been engaged, if only for the beginning phases of the work. Such help at the start sets the home owner on the right track, at least. Thereafter he may often dispense with such services, except in a consultive capacity.

Perhaps in your case it will be wise before you start any thing (and begin to make mistakes that will be costly to cor rect), to consult a professional landscape architect. Let him give you a general idea, at least, of how to solve your prob lem. If then you want him to work out details, well and good, or you can work them out yourself with the help of an occa sional conference or letter of advice.