10 MY GARDEN 



behave themselves behind Box edgings they do not get 

 out into the path, nor sprawl about, but seem somehow 

 imbued with the prim manners of Box but this will be 

 considered romancing, and the fact is that Box is fright- 

 fully expensive and grows very slowly, but if one can 

 afford both to pay for it and to wait for it there is 

 nothing quite so good to possess. 



Turf edgings are very popular and always look well if 

 taken care of, but they must be kept absolutely true to 

 line and shorn the sleekest, or they will present a ragged 

 and slovenly appearance. Edgings of brick set on end 

 are sometimes used, but the frost is apt to throw them 

 out of place during the winter. Concrete edgings are 

 durable and satisfactory, and edgings of boards firmly 

 pegged into the earth and painted white or green are 

 both quaint and useful for unpretentious gardens. 

 Grass and Scotch Pinks make pretty border edges, and 

 in Elizabethen days Thrift and Germander were much 

 utilized for this purpose. Dwarf Irises such as pumila 

 and cristata are firm and pretty along the front of the 

 borders, and English Ivy, pegged down and trained to 

 form an edging, has also been used. Here we have the 

 stone edgings mainly, and also some concrete in the 

 main garden, and, in the Nursery and Herb garden, we 

 have used wood painted white. 



The question of what to put in our beds and borders, 

 now that we have them enclosed and trimly edged, is 

 such a broad and beguiling one that it may not be 



