82 FLOWER GARDENING 



ennials; but trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials 

 and bulbs are the strength of her gardens. Hers 

 are hardy gardens. 



They are by far the most beautiful, the hardy 

 gardens. Not that supremely beautiful gardens 

 that are only of a summer's life may not be made, 

 but the beauty is of a less satisfying kind. Ob- 

 served once it enchants, for the lavish display of 

 color cannot fail to impress; but when the July 

 vision is like unto that of June, and August sees 

 little or no 'change, the beauty is of the palling 

 kind. Fancy living with a garden made up of 

 such beds as are to be seen at Hampton Court 

 in summer, for example glorious as these master- 

 pieces are for an ever-shifting public. 



The beauty of the hardy garden owes much of 

 its charm to the fact that it does not endure, 

 save as a varied pageant. May's splendor is its 

 own, and so with the other months. There is al- 

 ways beauty from April to November often in 

 winter as well; but so frequently does it change 

 that at all seasons today's beauty scarcely can be 

 called tomorrow's beauty. As in nature, picture 

 follows picture. 



Plants almost incredibly numerous and varied 

 make this possible. Grandmother had relatively 

 few to draw from; but now the world has been 

 ransacked and the array is nothing short of be- 

 wildering. No matter what it is, any effect can 

 be planned and carried out and with the feeling 

 that it will become the better with age. 



