Flower Beds at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

The grass has had no lime, fertilizer, weed control measures or treatment for pests or diseases. Neither has it been watered, but because it is located in a low-lying area this is not serious. Except hi the severest droughts the soil is reasonably moist beneath. The interesting thing is that after a quarter of a century the outlines of the flower beds are clearly discernible. Within the beds the grasses are practically all. Kentucky Blue and other desirable kinds, except for odd places where sod has been kicked up by ball players or others or has been disturbed by a badly handled mowing machine, or in other ways, and crab grass has invaded. This survival of desirable grasses would not be so surprising were it not for the fact that between the beds (and the between the beds area is far more extensive than that of the beds) there is practically nothing but crab grass; it is almost a pure stand.seriously injured. The reason the turf in the beds is thick enough to repel crab grass through all these years is simple. The soil there was originally spaded and generously nourished.

This enterprising Roof garden is perhaps best undertaken by an expert, since major alterations on the already established building are necessary if heavy objects such as raised flower beds or ponds are to be supported. The plot is a basic square incorporating two smaller squares placed at opposite corners. One of these squares contains a pond, in the center of which stands a white bird sculpture. An arbor covered with climbers, and a Table and chairs, occupy the other corner. There is a raised bed by the side of the pool, which repeats the style of the peripheral raised beds.

It is an entire outdoor apartment, and your problem as a designer is to tie the various rooms together into one satisfying, congruous whole. True, the element of surprise may be introduced. Plan so that the entire area is not seen from any one place. Inviting paths may lead the visitor to unexpected views and places of special interest, but transitions must be easy and natural, not awkward and shocking. Above all, don't stick patches of flower beds about like postage stamps on a letter. The garden that consists of a few beds imposed on a lawn without relation to other features in the general picture is, I hope, as dead as a dodo.