The girls were each to raise something special at their own home and then each was to have a share in a big garden.  Katharine, who had quite a lovely yard, was to give the space for the general garden.  This was largely because Katharine’s home was on the river road, a bit out of the village and near none of the boys’ places, for the girls wished to keep the knowledge of their work from the boys as long as possible.  Helena lived next house to George and the land she might have used for this big garden would have bordered George’s corn patch.  So that, of course, would never do.

The garden while formal was ornamental.  The girls were all to work on the staking out and preparation.  But each girl was then to take a section of it and plant and care for that.

Katharine was to take the centre portion of grass and cannas.  Now a grass plot is very pleasing in a garden.  It is restful to the eye and is much more harmonious with the other colours in a garden than a mass of brilliant blossoms.  Cannas have some height, a delicate splash of colour in the blossom and so work in well.  It is always well to put some tall-growing plant in the centre.  The effect is that of working up to a climax.  One should not immediately jump from very low flowers in the beds to a few tall ones in the centre.  This is ludicrous.  Make the gradation gradual from low to high.

This garden of the girls may seem almost to violate this principle.  Not so, for the nasturtiums merely acted as a border.  Then all around the garden were the zinnias, poppies and marigolds a step up to the cannas.  One may buy tall or rather low growing cannas.  These latter grow about four feet high.  They chose these low ones with yellow and orange in the blossom to harmonize with the yellow and orange of the nasturtiums.

Note the proportional amount of grass space in the girls’ garden.  Observe too that it is the centre of interest.

The nasturtium border was Elizabeth’s.  Zinnias were chosen by Helena, and Katharine was to help in this work.  Eloise loving the mignonette had asked for it, poppies were Josephine’s and marigold was for Dee.  Ethel wanted the border of sweet alyssum although it represented a long strip to work.

[Illustration Diagram:  Scale 1/8 in.-1 ft.

Note the proportional amount of grass space in the girls’ garden. 
Observe, too, that it is the centre of interest.]

If you think over this garden with its brilliant poppy colour, the heavy yellow of the marigold, the lighter colour effect of yellow in the nasturtium, the dark red zinnia—­quite a splash of colour, was it not?  In order to have great masses of brilliant colour in the same garden one must break them in some way.  There are two possibilities that are good:  first, paths between beds, and second, borders of white or inconspicuously coloured plants.  Sweet alyssum is good for this purpose and so too is mignonette.  Mignonette has such a small and modest little flower that one thinks always of mignonette in terms of green.  The mignonette was massed at the entrance of the garden for pleasing and subdued effect.