MAKING AND CARE 



condition for working. Allow the surplus 

 moisture to drain away from it before you stir 

 it. You cannot set out plants satisfactorily in 

 a soil heavy with water. At the North, the 

 ground is not in proper condition for this work 

 before the last of April, as a general thing. 



In planting the border avoid straight lines 

 and all formality. Let it curve gracefully 

 next the lawn. Where it is widest, plant your 

 groups of shrubs and such tall plants as the 

 Hollyhock, the Rudbeckia, and the Larkspur. 

 Give the lower growers, like Dicentra, Coreop- 

 sis, and the dwarf Phloxes, a place in the 

 foreground. If you know your plants, as 

 every gardener ought to, it will be an easy 

 matter to so group and combine them that 

 none of the smaller ones are hidden by the 

 larger ones. It will also be an easy matter to 

 get harmonizing colors together. In order 

 to make sure of this, if you are not familiar 

 with what you plant, study the catalogues of 

 the florists well. These generally give height, 

 color, and season of bloom, and if you are 

 governed by this information, you need make 

 but few mistakes in planting. Whatever mis- 

 takes you make this year can be rectified next 

 year. The gardener who loves his work will 



29 



