82 Hardy Plants for Cottage Gardens 



ders that are not revealed to the common eye. I recall an 

 episode that occurred in Florida which illustrates this point. 

 In front of the house we took for the winter stood a live- 

 oak tree that gave me peculiar pleasure as I walked home at 

 sunset, and saw its delicate tracery of foliage against a rose- 

 tinted northwestern sky. I frequently chose that hour to re- 

 turn in order to enjoy the perfect beauty. I spoke of it so 

 often, that the owner of the house asked me to show it to her. 

 I walked her off to the place where it was loveliest, and then 

 bade her turn around and look. "Why," exclaimed she, "it 

 is beautiful, but I never saw it before, though I have lived 

 here twenty years. Indeed I have been on the point of 

 having that tree cut down, for it looked so ugly from my 

 window." 



An interesting feature of a garden is the use of a succession 

 of low border plants as an edging. There is no one plant that 

 will continue to bloom throughout the season, and instead of 

 using a single variety, try planting three or four that will sup- 

 plement each other. For example, one may use rock cress 

 (Arabis alpina), which blooms early in May and alternated 

 with this the forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris)^ hardy variety 

 that blooms later in May, and the Scotch pink, Dianthus 

 plumarius, that blooms in June, leaving spaces where sweet 

 alyssum or candytuft may flower during the remainder of the 

 summer. By this arrangement a flowering edge may be main- 

 tained throughout the season without lifting or setting out 

 a plant. I have planted forget-me-not and jEgopodium 

 varigata just outside the board enclosures of my beds in 

 the walks, and they completely hide these ugly but useful 

 boundaries. 



For border plants I recommend among blue and purple 

 perennials; S cilia Siberica, Anemone pulsatilla, pansy and 

 lady's delight for April; Aubretia deltoides, var. Eyeri, Myo 



