28 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



A frequent way in which people attempt to cultivate hardy 



flowers is in what is called the " mixed border," often made on the 



edge of a shrubbery, the roots of which leave little 



Flower borders fd or even light for the flowers. The face of 



fringing shrub- a shrubbery should be broken and varied ; the 



beries. shrubs should not form a hard line, but here and 



there they should come full to the edge and finish 



it. The variety of positions and places afforded by the front of a 



shrubbery so arranged is tempting, but it is generally best to use 



plants which do not depend for their beauty on high culture 



which, in fact, fight their way near shrubs and there are a great 



many of them, such as the evergreen Candytufts, the large-leaved 



Rockfoils, Acanthus, Day Lilies, Solomon's Seal, Starworts, Leopard's 



Banes, Moon Daisies, and hardy native Ferns. 



A scattered, dotty mixed border along the face of a shrubbery 

 gives a poor effect, but a good one may be secured by grouping 

 the plants in the open spaces between the shrubs, making a careful 

 selection of plants, each occupying a bold space. The presence of 

 tree and shrub life is a great advantage to those who know how to 

 use it. Here is a group of shrubs over which we can throw a 

 delicate veil of some pretty creeper that would look stiff and 

 wretched against a wall ; there a shady recess beneath a flowering 

 tree : instead of planting it up with shrubs in the common way, 

 cover the ground with Woodruff, which will form a pretty carpet 

 and flower very early in the year, and through the Woodruff a few 

 British Ferns ; in front of this use only low plants, and we shall 

 thus get a pretty little vista, with shade and a pleasant relief. Next 

 we come to a bare patch on the margin. Cover it with a strong 

 evergreen Candytuft, and let this form the edge. Then allow a group 

 of Japan Quince to come right into the grass edge and break the 

 margin ; then a large group of broad-leaved Rockfoil, receding under 

 the near bushes and trees ; and so proceed making groups and 

 colonies, considering every aid from shrub or tree, and never using 

 a plant of which we do not know and enjoy the effect. 



This plan is capable of much variety, whether we are dealing 

 with an established and grown shrubbery, or a choice plantation of 

 flowering Evergreens. In the last case, owing to the soil and the 

 neat habit of the bushes, we have excellent conditions in which 

 good culture is possible. One can have the finest things among 

 them if the bushes are not jammed together. The ordinary way 

 of planting shrubs is such that they grow together, and then it is 

 not possible to have flowers between them, nor to see the true form 

 of the bushes, which are lost in one solid leafy mass. In growing 

 fine things Lilies or Cardinal Flowers, or tall Evening Primroses 



