i6 THE GARDEN BLUEBOOK 



front row, with the pink and red Peonies coming in when the lavender 

 is gone, is the composition of our May garden and, with the exception of 

 the Peonies, of our April garden also. 



One last thing we have to decide, and that is the nature of Shrub 

 "A". What it is to be depends on when we will most need its bloom. 

 Obviously May is this time, unless we are especially anxious to start 

 off with a rush in April. There are several May blooming shrubs which 

 would answer, and of these I choose the low-growing Mock Orange 

 (Philadelphus Lemoinei), though Deutzia would serve equally well, and 

 the beautiful bush rose, Mme. Georges Bruant, though commencing a little 

 later, would give us white fragrant flowers until frost. 



So then, as we have planned it, this httle strip of border will furnish us 

 the whole summer long, from May-day almost to Thanksgiving, with a rich 

 display of bloom, constantly changing as the seasons pass — in mass, in 

 color, and in form of flowers — but always complete and harmonious. And 

 the best of it is, these plants are all perfectly hardy and year after year 

 will greet us in their due order without any other service on our part than 

 the cultivating, spraying and mulching, and occasional dividing which all 

 gardens demand. 



Of course this particular scheme could be varied in a great many ways. 

 This is where individual taste and fancy come in. For example: sup- 

 pose instead of Peony "B" we should decide to put in a plant of Dictam- 

 nus (No. 72), white, then; as this blooms in June and July the patch of 

 Campanula persicifoHa in front is obviously unnecessary and its place 

 may be given to something which will help our early spring compositions. 

 This latter must not make a high foHage growth and yet should cover the 

 ground fairly well after its bloom is past, and it would also be well if it 

 were a little higher than our edging plants. To all these requirements 

 Anemone sylvestris (No. 126) answers perfectly; so with these two we have 

 rearranged our pictures for April, May, June, and July, and in this way we 

 might continue almost indefinitely. The great thing in any planning is to 

 proceed in an orderly manner and to make each picture satisfactory be- 

 fore we proceed to the next. 



After our planning is all done and the garden planted we will find in 

 the course of the year, especially at first when our plants have not grown 

 to full size, many spots, that may be wisely embellished with occa- 

 sional annuals set in and taken out as occasion offers, and also many spots 

 under shrubbery and among edgings where perennial bulbs may flaunt 

 their dainty flowers to welcome the coming of the first spring days. But 



