BEDS AND GROUPS OF HARDY PERENNIALS. It 



attain their true dimensions and highest beauty, whereas as com- 

 monly grown they are starved, and rarely bloom. Another advan- 

 tage of this mode is the succession of bloom from the same surface. 

 As a rule, once the blush of early summer bloom has passed from 

 the American plants, they present an uninviting surface for the 

 season afterwards; whereas varied in the way described the beds 

 would be most attractive at other seasons. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE forming of bold groups and beds of the finest perennials, not 

 as part of the flower-garden scheme, but here and there on the 

 quiet grassy bays of a shrubbery, or in any other quiet green or 

 half- wild spot, is one of the most excellent ways of enjoying the 

 nobler perennials, and one of which I hope the advantages will be 

 clear to every reader of the following pages. 



As, in the case of the properly made mixed border, one prepara- 

 tion is all that we require, no sensible person will begrudge the 

 labour necessary in the first instance. Care should be taken that 

 the far-searching roots of trees do not get to the soil of the beds 

 and rob the plants of their nutriment. In a word, though the beds 

 or groups will be the better for being associated with handsome 

 shrubs and trees, they must never be so placed as to become mere 

 troughs of rich food for trees with voracious appetites. As the kind 

 of arrangements I recommend give little trouble after the first plant- 

 ing, they should get the best attention at first, and then they are 

 finished for years. It is a most unsatisfactory and to some extent 

 contemptible mode of gardening, that of continually " muddling" 

 over the same ground, spring after spring and autumn after autumn. 

 Doubtless it is necessary to do this for some subjects, and may 

 always be so to some extent ; but to have all the skill and labour 

 thrown away upon fleeting things is really stupid, and totally 

 opposed to any permanent or dignified work being done in the 

 garden. The best and highest pleasure to be derived from our 

 gardens will soon be found to lie in those things which, when once 

 well done, we may leave alone for years, and in some cases for the 



