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would belobellia, yellow and white allysum and roses. My father had given me a set of Bradleys Crayons. Until then, (I must have been about nine) I had merely used myself with them, crayon sketches of landscapes, the outline of the foothills, the shapes of trees and shrubs. Now I settled down with the crayons to the serious business of designing my garden. First, I tried to duplicate the colors of flowers I intended to use by this was not successful. Well, it would be like the bouquets; I would have to experiment until the colors came out as I wanted. Then I sketched in four pathsm radiating from the centerpiece to the edges of the lot, one on a diagonal. Lacking the boxwood of Versailles, I would use blue iris for borders.

The next morning, before sunrise, I was hoeing in the empty lot.

My mother and father encouraged me, as they did in all these first faltering steps toward what I was eventually to be, a designer. But my brothers, Fred and Bill, soon came to regard the project as a total nuisance. I insist they must help with it before we all went to school. I must confess I was a boss, headstrong child. With one stratagem or another, I managed to get my brothers out of bed every morning at 6 which was by no means an early hour in the ranch country.

Transcription Notes:
the sentence - I must confess I was a boss.... should say I was a bossy....