68 FLOWER GARDENING 



edges of the lawn on the sides that are not adjacent 

 to the house or street. This is one of the best kinds 

 of borders, since it is not only very beautiful as a 

 nearer background but may be made to serve the 

 purpose of a screen. If the flowers are largely 

 here, and the borders by the house and front path 

 are given over to shrubs, the foliage of which is of 

 rather more importance than the blossoms, there 

 is an advantage not so commonly apparent as might 

 be. 



For, with all the cottage garden charm of a house 

 framed by flowers, or a front yard well nigh filled 

 with them, something is lost when the borders are 

 open to the full gaze of every passerby. The cot- 

 tagers do not mind ; for generations they have had 

 no privacy and, ignorant even of what it means to 

 the more sensitive, are happy in brief intervals of 

 morning and evening garden intimacy that their 

 long hours permit. 



While the cottager has no other choice, it is a 

 small place indeed that does not allow a second. 

 This is the relegation of at least some of the bor- 

 ders to the rear of the house, or where they will 

 provide a walk with a semblance of seclusion if 

 not the thing itself. To what lengths the relegation 

 is to be carried is a matter for every individual to 

 decide for himself, but that the extreme need not 

 be too far in certain circumstances is clearly enough 

 demonstrated by small places where the house and 

 lawn are framed only by shrubbery borders, the 

 flower borders being largely, or quite, out of the 



