XXX INTRODUCTION. 



discernible in the latter style than in the former, 

 but if often repeated it will have the same bad effect, 

 although the cause may not be always easily defined. 

 Although the object of this book is to bring about a 

 more frequent use of hardy perennials in garden embel- 

 lishment, I do not think it is desirable to recommend 

 their exclusive use in even mixed planting, for which 

 style they are better fitted than for any other. It would 

 be a difficult matter to make a selection of hardy peren- 

 nials capable of keeping up a sustained interest all the 

 year round ; and such a selection, when made, would 

 probably present too little individuality or variety to be 

 valuable in any but small gardens, or for any but limited 

 or specific effects. But supposing it were otherwise, it 

 would not be desirable in all cases, for it would not meet 

 all the ends for which flowers are, or should be, culti- 

 vated, and would lead to many of the limitations of 

 enjoyments obtainable therefrom that are complained of 

 in the exclusive practice of the massing system. Good 

 annuals and bedding plants are invaluable materials in 

 the arrangement of mixed borders for effect ; but hardy 

 perennials — especially such as flower in spring and in late 

 autumn — ought to form the groundwork of such arrange- 

 ments, and the others, according to desire or neces- 

 sity, should be regarded as temporary and subordinate 

 aids to the end in view. Spring-flowering plants, owing 

 to their usually low stature, are planted at the front of 

 mixed borders as a rule; and in so far as concerns many 

 of the fibrous-rooted evergreen and deciduous species, 

 the practice is right, and consistent with order. But 

 with regard to spring-flowering bulbs, there does not 

 appear to me to be any reason why they should be 



