36 Hardy Plants for Cottage Gardens 



umbine; white larkspur and Stokesia cyanea; deep blue colum- 

 bine and the white Hes peris matronalis, also caraway; white 

 Achillea Ptarmica pi. fl. and nigella or cornflower (if the 

 latter does not grow too tall) ; purple Japanese Iris and Gyp- 

 sophila paniculata (Infant's breath) ; blue monkshood, elder- 

 berry and meadow rue; blue larkspur, meadow rue and white 

 wild carrot; Michaelmas daisy and the tall white Cosmos; 

 forget-me-not and perennial candytuft; blue lupines and gar- 

 den heliotrope; Canterbury bells and feverfew; snowdrops 

 and scilla; grape hyacinth and Arabis albida; but in arrang- 

 ing combinations you must not only have the bloom of plants 

 coincident, but also an equality of height for each to act as 

 a foil to the other; everything depends on the two blades of 

 the scissors acting in conjunction. 



The more beautiful a bed is at any given time, the more 

 sure it is to show blanks at other times. Through a mistake 

 of judgment I grouped one year an entire bed with blue spring 

 flowers, and until the end of June the effect was all that could 

 be desired, but during the remainder of the season it was noth- 

 ing. Few flowers remain in bloom longer than three or four 

 weeks and some last but a week or ten days; one must recog- 

 nize that each is but a small passing contribution to the sum- 

 mer glory, and make provision for an understudy when a par- 

 ticular star retires from the floral stage. I now know my 

 flowers so well that I can count on the precise time when they 

 come and go, and I have tried the experiment of planting cer- 

 tain things at intervals over the garden, so that, for a week or 

 two, when those plants are at the height of their bloom, a wave 

 of that color is all over the beds instead of being massed in one 

 place, to leave a great void when they go. Great care must be 

 exercised if you place a little pink or blue in a yellow bed to 

 end the engagement before the yellow plants rise in combat 

 to the eye. It takes more knowledge to manage color this way, 



