32 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



let a bold plant come to the edge ; and, on the other hand, let a 

 little carpet of a dwarf plant pass in here and there to the back, 

 so as to give a varied instead of a monotonous surface. Have 

 no patience with bare ground, and cover the border with dwarf 

 plants ; do not put them along the front of the border only. Let 

 Hepaticas and double and other Primroses, and Rockfoils, and 

 Golden Moneywort and Stonecrops, and Forget-me-nots, and 

 dwarf Phloxes, and many similar plants cover the ground among 

 the tall plants betimes, at the back as well as the front. Let 

 the little ground plants form broad patches and colonies by 



Border of hardy flowers on open margin of lawn. (Newton Don, Kelso.) 



themselves occasionally, and let them pass into and under other 

 plants. 



Thoroughly prepared at first, the border might remain for years 

 without any digging in the usual sense. When a plant is old and 

 rather 'too thick, never hesitate to replant it on a wet day in the 

 middle of August any more than in the middle of winter. Take 

 it up and put a fresh bold group in fresh ground ; the young 

 plants will have plenty of roots by the winter, and in the following 

 spring will flower much stronger than if they had been trans : 

 planted in spring or in winter. Do not pay much attention to 

 labelling ; if a plant is not worth knowing, it is not worth growing ; 

 let each good thing be so bold and so well grown as to make its 

 presence felt. 



The plants of the older kind of mixed border were, like the 



