CHOICE OF FLOWERS 



throw some old manure Into the pit, and from 

 that time forth it will care for itself. Its natural 

 term of life is over twenty years. As the peony 

 ends its blooming early, it is willing to share its 

 bed with any plant of a later season and different 

 form. We are to prefer harmony in forms as 

 well as in colors, yet we are to avoid monotony, 

 hence it is pleasant to find the bushy masses and 

 decorative leaves of the peony in company and 

 contrast with the green fountains of lilaceous 

 plants, or with flowers of an upright or spiky 

 habit, like foxglove, larkspur, nicotiana, the tall 

 phlox, scabiosa or salpiglossis. 



The prejudice that certain good people have 

 against the petunia arises partly from its abun- 

 dance; for if sunsets happened every hour, there 

 are thousands who would not look at them any 

 more than they do at present, and partly from 

 the injury it suffers in being thrown into contact 

 w^ith vivid leaves and blossoms, that make its 

 tender, purple tones weak, cold, even ugly. 

 Petunias deserve a place to themselves, and I 

 have seen beds of them, forty or fifty feet in 

 their greater dimension, on a Long Island farm, 

 that were like drifts of snow dashed with a 

 i8s 



