290 THE GARDENER. [July 



We have lost much, very much, by this ; but we have gained an experi- 

 ence that will do much to exalt in the time to come the plants for 

 which we now plead. 



The mixed border, by bringing into its arrangement a little know- 

 ledge, and by the exercise of a little judicious care, can be made a kind 

 of floral panorama the year through. There are so many flowers easily 

 accessible, and as easily managed, that bloom at all seasons of the year, 

 and at almost any one particular season, such a border can be so tinted 

 with flowers as to be continuously bearing a cheerful appearance. The 

 eye, satiated with staring masses of colour, turns with quick joy to 

 such a border as this, when the full flower-harvest of the month of 

 July crowns the summer with fruitfulness, and sees here a quiet and 

 changeful beauty, so modest and unpretentious, and yet much more 

 capable of satisfying the requirements of a true taste than yonder 

 gaudy robe of many colours covering the breast of "Earth, our mother," 

 and which we term "a flower-garden." 



A glance at a list of perennials and biennials gives the following as 

 among the most useful as decorative agents : those who know them 

 intimately can fully appreciate the high floral service they are capable 

 of rendering. An alphabetical arrangement gives us the fine dark 

 blue Aconitum Napellus, the charming varieties of Alstroemeria, an 

 exceedingly beautiful and profuse genus of tuberous-rooted plants of 

 easy growth ; Anemone japonica, its pale variety of hybrida, and that 

 beautiful pure white variety Honorine Jobert, all so useful for cutting 

 from ; Anthericum Liliastrum, or St Bruno's Lily ; Aquilegias, or Co- 

 lumbines, especially the beautiful A. glandulosa, and the scarcely less 

 attractive A. Skinneri and A. caerulea ; the blue Baptisia Australis, 

 with its pretty pea-shaped flowers; Borago officialis, the common 

 blue Borage ; Campanula persicifolia, both white and blue, and its 

 fine varieties, coronata cserulea and coronata alba ; together with the 

 varieties of Campanula media, better known as Canterbury Bells, 

 among which the new and charming rose-coloured variety should have 

 a place ; the old red-flowered Centranthus ruber, very hardy and of 

 free habit ; the class of Delphiniums, one of the handsomest and most 

 useful of all perennials, especially D. Hendersoni and D. formosum, 

 the latter with an almost unapproachable rich hue of blue ; the fine 

 and showy varieties of Dianthus hybridus, almost perpetual summer- 

 bloomers ; Dictamnus fraxinella, both red and white, that so richly 

 deserve a place in every garden, because both effective and fragrant ; 

 the fine new spotted Foxgloves, showing a march of improvement almost 

 unimaginable by those not conversant with it ; the fine and showy 

 Gaillardia Richardsoni, one of the gayest ornaments for a summer 

 flower-bed ; some of the early-blooming Gladioli, such as G. Byzan- 



