JANUARY 



IRISH GARDENING. 



The Hardy Flower Border. 



By G. Satterlev. \'ice-Rej<-al Gardens. 



THE above title describes a branch of gardening-, 

 a good knowledge of whicli is important to 

 present-day gardeners, because in most gardens 

 of note there has been a marked tendency in late vears 

 to develop the possibilities for 

 beautiful effect ot the former- 

 1\' half-neglected herbaceous 

 border." At first it was intend- 

 ed to deal with herbaceous 

 subjects only, but in practice 

 better results are obtainable 

 when choice is not limited 

 to this class of plant. Un- 

 doubtedly these may give a 

 very picturesque effect for a 

 certain period in the year, 

 but too often it is such as 

 might be compared to a fire- 

 work display-very fine while 

 it lasts, but soon over. 

 Personally, it has been very 

 interesting to watch the 

 evolution of the modern 

 flower border. A few years 

 since there was a craze 

 for using only herbaceous 

 plants in the strict mean- 

 ing of the word, but to 

 anyone with practical ex- 

 perience these used alone 

 have many obvious short- 

 comings. 



On the other hand, tln^ 

 other extreme has sometimes 

 been reached by the too frei" 

 use of tender subjects. 

 Such have their own sphere 

 of usefulness without takiiig 

 up valuable space which 

 might be allotted to more use 

 ful hardy plants, that insteael 

 of perishing on the coming 

 of the first frost, often last a 

 good while after. Further- 

 more, the foliage of many 

 of these hardy subjects pro- 

 duce while passing into their 

 seasonal period of rest, very 

 charming colour effects most 

 pleasing and picturesque. 

 What are we to consider 

 as being suitable material 

 for our piu'pose ? 



To a great extent the 

 object for which planting is 

 being done will decide this 

 question. Usually the bor- 

 ders are planted for garden 

 decoration andtthe pro- 



IJRAl Xamagl'anum 



(Growing in tlie Rocky Desert, Bush;i 

 East .Africa) 



vision of cut flowers. For the fulfilment of these objects 

 a selection maj- be made from choice shrubs, her- 

 baceous plants, many evergreen and certain Alpine ones. 

 With this amount of material available choice may be 

 made for either small space or the boldest border 

 conceivable. There is no hard and fast rule as to selec- 

 tion of site. The border might be formed so as to skirt 

 a pleasure-ground, through a lawn, in front of a terrace 

 or wall, or two borders might be made one on either 

 side of a walk, and in such 

 a case a pergola, clothed 

 with choice climbers, would 

 help to give a fine effect. 



It is desirable to have a 

 good background where this 

 is provided by a wall or 

 terrace ; such should be 

 furnished with honeysuckle, 

 roses, wistarias, clematis, 

 and similar climbers. A 

 shrubbery forms a nice back- 

 ground, but care must be 

 taken to have sufficient space 

 between to prevent the roots 

 of strong'- growing shrubs 

 from encroaching. Such a 

 space could be utilised as a 

 grass walk. Another way 

 of avoiding this difficulty- is 

 by having a sunk background 

 for the shrubbery. 



Having decided on the 

 site plans should be drawn 

 out to work by. It is then 

 necessary to ensure a suffi- 

 cient depth of good soil. A 

 well enriched garden soil, 

 with a depth of three feet or 

 over, should give the best 



If the soil is sufficiently 

 friable the ground should be 

 trenched, the bottom of the 

 trench broken up, and a 

 liberal layer of manure 

 placed over it, then a spit of 

 soil, another sandwich of 

 manure on this, finishing up 

 with the last spit of soil. 



Where the bottom soil is 

 unsuitable for bringing to 

 the surface the manure should 

 be put in as above, but the 

 bottom spit of soil must not 

 be brought to the surface. 



Ou a soil inclined to dry 

 quickly preference should be 

 given to cow and pig manure, 

 while on heavy land plenty 

 of leaves, stable manure, 

 sandy matter, vegetable re- 

 fuse, ashes and lime should 

 be incorporated. This pre- 

 paratory work should be 



