CHAPTER VIII 



HARDY HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS 



As the glowing colours to a beautiful picture, so are the 

 flowers to our gardens. In many books written on 

 garden design, we find no mention whatever of the best 

 kinds of plants, wherewith to fill the beds and borders 

 when they are made. Surely this is a mistake, for our 

 object in making a garden is to provide a home for 

 flowers and trees. Were an artist attempting to in- 

 struct us in the making of a picture, he would not stop 

 when he had completed the rough sketch in charcoal. 

 The most important work has yet to come. The filling 

 in of the colours, the harmonising of the various shades, 

 and the final touches which proclaim the good or bad 

 workman, are points over which the novice is likely to 

 stumble. A faulty, ill-balanced plan will to a certain 

 extent ruin the appearance of our garden for all time ; 

 but Nature is kind, and the flowers which spring 

 luxuriantly from the earth will by degrees help to hide 

 many crudities. But this fact must not be abused, as is 

 frequently the case with the careless worker. How 

 often it is said in effect "Oh, of course the garden does 

 not look nice yet, but wait until the things have grown, 

 so as to hide the ugly corners." It is the designer's 

 duty to see that there are no " ugly corners," and there 

 ought to be beauty, because so full of promise, in the 

 bare outlines of paths, beds and lawns the charcoal 

 sketch of the picture. The best effects are generally 

 obtained by boldly defined colour masses, providing of 

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