CHAPTER VIII 

 BORDERS FOR A SMALL PLACE 



FLOWER beds, that exhaust the possibilities of 

 geometrical design and then wander off into all 

 manner of devious paths, are well enough in their 

 place. They are necessary, within decent bounds, 

 to the rigid formality of the partere. And there is 

 a theory, which may or may not be tenable, on the 

 part of park superintendents that such plantings, 

 even when turned into living signs and like freaks, 

 are one of a municipality's horticultural duties to 

 the public. 



Unless there is a parterre grouping, the home is 

 better off without flower beds in the accepted sense. 

 Stuck there is no other word that fits in the 

 lawn they are always out of place and very fre- 

 quently are nothing short of atrocious. Then, in 

 their set gaudiness, they remind one of what Bacon 

 said of lawn designs of colored earth: "You may 

 see as good Sights, many times, in Tarts." 



Flowers for the edge of the lawn, but the stretch 

 of sward itself unbroken save by suitable planting 

 of trees or shrubbery, or both, is a good rule that 

 does not have to be qualified other than to admit 



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