APRIL 85 



Proper borders are to be planted as it were 

 antiphonally. If a group of Madonna lilies 

 stands at the end of the right-hand border, 

 another group must stand at the left. There 

 must be two clumps of bluebells, not one, and 

 two flat cushions of the grey-green leaves, and 

 fringed white or rosy moss-pinks. Strong 

 little bushes of Hermosa roses must be balanced 

 by more Hermosas, and if one is forced to 

 begin with only two blades of the small blue 

 iris, which is like a baby's eyes for blueness, 

 one must be planted in each border, with a 

 view to the future. The iris are not called 

 iris in a proper border, but flags, and great 

 sheaves of them in royal blues and glacial 

 whites must grow along the fences beside the 

 peonies, the tall Greek valerian, the lemon 

 lilies and the columbines. 



A front yard is no place for trees. Trees 

 grow outside, in the strip of clean grass be- 

 tween the walk and the roadway, where their 

 shadows cannot harm the flowers. It is 

 always permitted, however, that a few old apple 

 and pear trees stand about, for the very 

 obvious reason that they are bouquets them- 

 selves, the hugest and sweetest imaginable, 



