306 COMMON SENSE GARDENS 



season on a rainy day; and if the sun should come 

 out strong it would be better to protect them. 



PHLOX is one of the most useful as well as the 

 most beautiful of hardy plants. It has many qual-^ 

 ities to recommend it besides its hardiness; it is 

 easy to grow from seed; it multiplies rapidly; its 

 growth is rampant and it is free from most insects 

 and blights. All these qualities are crowned by its 

 free blooming proclivities and the length of its 

 flowering season. In the old gardens of the last 

 century two colours were to be found, white and 

 the homely purple-red which so detracts from the 

 beauty of other blossoms; but of late years new 

 colours of the softest yet most dazzling brilliancy 

 have been introduced by growers who have made 

 this plant their specialty. It is found in many 

 shades of pink and light lavender; white, and white 

 with a red eye or a pink eye ; red, scarlet, crimson, 

 carmine. Large clumps of Phlox give brilliancy 

 and colour to the garden from early July until Oc- 

 tober, an effect and brilliancy that can be obtained 

 with no other plant. Some of the new shades have 

 an exasperating way of " thro wing back" to the 

 original purple-red, and these flowers should be 



