72 JOTTINGS OF A GENTLEMAN GARDENER 



A useful exercise is to obtain small strips of coloured 

 material and put them each in turn side by side. The 

 reader is advised to do this with the following colours : 

 Crimson, Orange- Yellow, Violet, Red, Yellow, Blue, 

 Magenta, Scarlet, Ultramarine Blue, Dark Green, and 

 Purple. Study them carefully by daylight. 



A box of cheap paints and a piece of drawing paper 

 may provide another very useful exercise. Let us suppose 

 we wish to arrange the colours of the plants in a narrow 

 border as follows : First four feet red plants ; second 

 four feet violet ; third four feet golden yellow, and 

 others to the end of the border. Paint blotches of those 

 colours on the drawing paper. First red ; then violet ; 

 then golden yellow, and so on. This will give a picture 

 of what the colour scheme of the border will look like, 

 and should show which colours blend naturally and which 

 do not. It is a practical exercise ; do it if possible, making 

 careful observations, and it will be of service both in follow- 

 ing the suggestions in this chapter and in arranging the 

 plans for a border. It may seem to have little to do with 

 gardening, but it is a good method of training. 



The Width of the Border : Gardeners are generally 

 agreed that the larger the area the easier it is to make a 

 first-rate colour scheme. But of course this depends 

 partly on the size of the plants used. A pretty colour 

 border is obtainable with dwarf compact annuals on an 

 area not more than 4-5 ft. wide. With perennials the width 

 must be increased unless the very small kinds alone are 

 used. A border 6-7 ft. wide is quite workable, but 10- 

 12 ft. is not too much. The length does not matter so 

 much, but it should be as great as possible. 



The " Patch " System : On narrow borders it is best 

 to divide the ground into patches running right across the 

 width. Each patch, say 4 ft. wide and 5 or 6 ft. long, should 

 be devoted to one colour, and the colours of the patches 

 next to it must harmonise. 



In wide borders, however, such as those 10-12 ft. wide, 

 the whole width of the border should not be taken up with 



