CHAPTER IX 



PANSIES IN THE FLOWER GARDEN AND HARDY BORDER 



There are few hardy flowers that give such a wealth 

 of display and continuity of flowering as the Pansy. 

 Commencing to flower early in the Spring and continuing 

 far into the Autumn, it is obvious that their sphere of 

 usefulness is much greater than that of the average 

 hardy plant. Specially delightful are these flowers 

 when used as edgings. Not necessarily formal straight 

 edgings, but planted so that the line becomes a wavy mass 

 of colour. It is in cases such as this that the Tufted 

 Pansies, or Violas, and Violettas are again seen to so 

 much greater advantage than the Fancy and the Show 

 Pansies. Not only is this due to their free flowering 

 qualities being so much better, and the far longer period 

 they are in flower, but owing to the fact that they are 

 far more useful for colour effects. Being obtainable in 

 almost every shade of colour, most delightful floral pic- 

 tures may be created by an artistic blending of colours, 

 or striking contrasts created by planting different varieties 

 in masses in close proximity one with another. Beds 

 made on a gentle slope, planted wholly with Violas, 

 look superb if a judicious colour blending or contrast 

 be effected. In Regent's Park there is an undulating 

 bed which for many years past has been planted with 

 Violas almost exclusively, and very pretty it has always 

 looked. 



Then, apart from being useful for edgings and mass- 

 ing, the delicate shades of the Tufted Pansy make an 



