54 VARIETY IN THE LITTLE GARDEN 



benefit of the experience of the past and other summers' work 

 in the garden, we know more each year what we really want 

 in a garden; and to change the garden occasionally is one of 

 its best pleasures. "Change, the immortal factor of deliver- 

 ance!" I should never hesitate, in a good climate and with a 

 good soil, to remake my garden every few years; in fact I should 

 prefer that, if I had a small space and any desire to try new 

 things. There are certain things that might and should remain 

 in permanent places — peonies, roses, certain shrubs, and so on; 

 but the outlying plants, such as irises and phloxes, might easily 

 be varied by moving or by changing the varieties altogether. 

 The first year after moving a phlox will send up three or four 

 good heads of bloom, even though short; the third year in that 

 place it may be almost too large for the plants around it. Mov- 

 ing and changing about in the garden has always been to me a 

 pastime; but it is more than that — it is an education got in 

 the most enchanting way. And in order to learn as one replants 

 and freshens the border, I would suggest trying new and un- 

 known plants. By "unknown" of course I mean hitherto un- 

 known to yourself. Instead of using, for instance, scarlet sage 

 (unless you have a very pretty way of planting it with cream- 

 white and lavender flowers), try some of the others of the sage 

 family: Salvia farinacea beside pink stock; Salvia patens for a 

 bit of bright pure blue; Salvia virgata nemorosa to grow at the 

 foot of crimson rambler roses or close by dwarf ramblers of the 

 same variety. In annuals, those who have not grown Clarhia 

 have missed one of the loveliest of all summer flowers; the 

 pm-plish shades are very beautiful grown before the tall deep 

 purple annual larkspur, and if a few plants of white or palest 

 yellow pansies were seen before these two annual flowers, your 

 border would have a sure distinction in that spot. Collinsia 

 bicolor, as I have said earlier, is a delightful and little-grown 



