4 THE GARDEN BLUEBOOK 



JULY will give us all the plants blooming in that month; that section 

 of it between four and two feet high will include all those of medium 

 height and we find at once that No. 79, Platycodon, is the only one that will 

 answer. Having found our plant, we move to the right to those columns 

 between the season and height columns, and here we will find indicated 

 by the presence or absence of a black spot whether our plant will grow 

 well in sun, partial shade, or shade, or in two or more such situations; and 

 whether it is fragrant or not. 



Now while all the plants given can be grown in the ordinary border 

 with little trouble, some are so constituted that they will thrive in sand 

 and drought (though presumably doing better under kinder circum- 

 stances), and others do not mind how wet their roots may be. These 

 are marked under the headings DRY and WET and by running down 

 these columns you can find at once all the plants suitable for naturalizing 

 on dry banks or by the water side, but also remember they do not abso- 

 lutely demand these situations. Lastly, we have a column indicating 

 which of our plants are suitable also for the rock garden. 



When all this is done and we know that we have something that fits 

 all our requirements we look to the left, and there we find the names of 

 this something. 



CONCERNING NAMES 



I might almost say that the names, too, are approximate only. The 

 English names are often legion as can be seen under the individual de- 

 scriptions of the plants in the text of this book, and as but one could be 

 given for each plant it had to be the one "approximately" most used. 

 The same is true to a less extent of the Latin names, for the botanists 

 have wrangled considerably over what to call some of these friends of ours, 

 and even when they agree we frequently find that the nurserymen com- 

 monly use a name quite different. So when there has been much diver- 

 gence of opiniori, that form of the name most in common usage has been 

 chosen. In several cases it is not botanically correct, but it will help us to 

 find our candidate in the catalogues, and that, for the third time, is the im- 

 portant thing. The most approved botanical name, where not the one used 

 in the chart, will be found indicated by an asterisk in the text descriptions. 



THE SIGNS USED 



If in front of the Latin name a little dagger be found, it means that the 

 plant in question will hold its foliage and be quite presentable after bloom- 

 ing, but it will count as a mass of green of considerably less height than 



