Often the solution to this problem is to turn what was once a conventional herbaceous garden into a green garden. This change may be brought about gradually, beginning at the time your choicest and most demanding plants fail to bloom successfully and continuing until most of the herbaceous ma terial has been replaced with more permanent shrubs and ground covers. Try to maintain the pattern of beds and path ways as before, since these are the basic elements in the de sign, but instead of beds filled with gay annuals and peren nials, rely mainly for effect on line and form, the silhouettes of surrounding shrub and tree masses, the play of light and shade across greensward, the colors of autumn foliage, and the pleasing texture of choice evergreens.

Such a garden is supremely restful and satisfying and much easier to keep in fine condition. Even though your gar den may not have reached the stage where a complete doing over into a green garden seems wise, you may wish to make the change to reduce upkeep. Frequently the gardens laid out in the flush of youthful enthusiasm, in middle age prove too burdensome to maintain. We dislike letting them run wild and yet feel unable to cope with their many demands. Why not, then, consider this change to more permanent material as a solution to the dilemma? Such a garden scheme takes less than half the time that must be lavished on the herbaceous garden. Once established, it requires little if any cultivation, much less weeding, no weekly tidying up to remove faded flowers. You may have to spray occasionally, but certainly not frequently. There will be some pruning and mulching to do, and bulbs and too vigorous perennials will have to be lifted, divided, and reset. But that is about all. When these chores are accomplished, you can relax and enjoy your gar den rather than work in it unceasingly.

Gardens in the Shade

Shadows cast over the garden by a neighboring tree create ever-changing pictures that give variety to the scene. Too many trees, however, in or near the garden can be a serious problem, especially if you want beds filled with colorful plants. When such a condition exists or develops, you have to decide between trees and a flower garden of the usual type. The practice of opening up subdivisions in heavily wooded sections has produced a garden problem of its own. It is partly a shade problem, but there are other difficulties. The soil is seldom the deep, well-worked loam of a garden built on what was formerly farm land. It is virgin-woods soil, highly acid, especially if the site is the remains of an oak forest.