THE GARDEN WEEK BY WEEK 



March every hardy plant that comes along into it, thinking of 

 ^"^5 nothing but height. We give careful thought to colour. 

 We arrange our borders in our minds, and convince 

 ourselves, before the plants are put in, that none will 

 disagree with its neighbours. Some may suggest that 

 this is just what the designer of the old " ribbon border " 

 did, and that we are drifting back to the horrors of 

 the bedding system, merely using hardy plants instead 

 of tender ones. Of course we are not doing, and we 

 do not intend to do, anything so crude. We see enough 

 of ribbon borders and the bedding system still, and we 

 shall avoid the mistake of aping them. 



Colour Schemes with Hardy Plants. — Let me give a 

 few examples of colour groups, and show the plants 

 which can be used for forming them. We can have 

 neighbouring groups of mauve, red, and white. You 

 may think that there are not sufficient mauve flowers ? 

 Have you forgotten, among tall plants, Phloxes and 

 Michaelmas Daisies and Erigeron Speciosum; and among 

 dwarfer ones Verbena Venosa, annual Asters and Stocks 

 (which can be bought in separate colours). Primroses, 

 and Aubrietias ? 



Red flowers are, of course, abundant, and comprise 

 both annuals and perennials. Here are a few, all 

 good : Gladiolus Brenchleyensis is a really mag- 

 nificent grouping plant, graceful in growth, and full 

 of vivid colour. Dry roots can be got from the 

 bulb dealers for three or four shillings per hundred. 

 Lobelia Cardinalis and L. Fulgens are both handsome 

 plants, growing about the same height as the Gladiolus 

 (two to two and a half feet), and very bright. They had 

 better be bought as young plants. Lychnis Chalce- 

 donica is a very bright and cheap plant, reminding one 

 of the Campion. If sown early it will flower the same 



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