May, 1907 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



113 



Why do Canadians go on, year after 

 year, putting in this expensive and un- 

 satisfactory stock when a similar ex- 

 pense would provide a greater num- 

 ber of the choicest hardy peren- 

 nial plants and shrubs, plants that 

 would furnish a continual but ever 

 changing display of color, of form, and 

 of grace from the passing of the snow in 

 spring till its return late in the fall! 

 And even then there is the assurance 

 that your plants are not dead and done 

 with, as in the other case, but are simply 

 taking a well-eanied rest in order to 

 make a showing next year far in advance 

 of what they have done this year. 



England has long ago discarded, and 

 our neighbors to the south are fast dis- 

 carding, the formal beds and bedding 

 plants thai still obtain here. The old- 

 lashioiied plants of their grandmother's 

 gardens are taking again their rightful 

 place, or rather the descendants of those 

 plants, descendants so improved, how- 

 ever, through the hybridist's skill and 

 the collector's zeal, that the common 

 liowers of their grandmother's time are 

 scarcely recognizable in the magnificent 

 aristocrats of to day that bear the names 

 of the old favorites, changed in all but 

 name. Imagine a well-laid out garden 

 comprising hardy phlox, KngUsh del- 

 phiniums, oriental poppies, irises, col- 

 umbines, paeonies, pyrethrums, bleeding 

 hearts, Canterbury bells, foxglove, core- 

 opsis, gaillardias, lychnis, heucheras, 

 hollyhocks, bocconias, anemones, Ice 

 land poppies, campanulas, lilies of 

 various kinds, helianthus, rudbeckias, 

 all of medium height or stately, while the 

 [space beneath might be filled with low 

 [growing plants stich as Sweet WilHam, 

 [cinquefoil, vinca, coronilla, creeping 

 |j)hlox, Uly of the valley, linaria, Scotch 

 jinks, armerias, veronicas, alyssums, 

 pcowslips, narcissi, arabis, and so forth. 

 The range of suitable and appropriate 

 [plants is so large that one scarcely knows 

 [where to stop. Such a garden gives 

 [everything desirable, an inexhaustible 

 ; wealth of color from earliest spring till 

 [the coming snow of latest fall, constant 

 rariety and change, gracefulness and 

 ease in the growing plants, a natural 

 [backgnjund to the unbroken lawn flank- 

 led by such flowering shrubs as spirjeas, 

 iviburnums, weigelias, mock orange, 

 frhododendrons, lilacs and the lower 

 jrowiiig berberis, deutzias and hardy 

 izaleas. The constant interest and 

 lever present joy and delight fell by the 

 lOwner of such a border can only be 

 dimly understood except by those who 

 have had the pleasure of growing these 

 kinds of plants. 



To obtain these results, there must be 

 no haphazard arrangement of plants. 

 The owner should have a dellnite plan 

 for the season's bloom, and plants should 

 be arranged in the border so as to carry 

 out this plan. A few general rules might 



here be apphcable in the laying out of 

 the border: 



1. As a rule, if the border runs along 

 a fence or path so as to be viewed from 

 one side, the taller plants should be in 

 the rear; if seen from both sides, the 

 taller should be in the middle of the 

 border. 



2. Plants should be so arranged that 

 colors in close proximity may harmonize. 



3. Plants should be selected and 

 placed in such a position that no part of 

 the border is at any time withotlt bloom. 

 As one kind of plant is through blooniing 

 another kind beside it should be coming 

 into bloom, thus keeping up a succession 

 of bloom the season through. 



4. The most striking effects are pro- 



border. After the frost has cut down 

 the tops, the roots should be taken up 

 and stored in a cool, frost-proof cellar 

 to be replanted the following spring. 

 Showy annuals, such as asters, pansies, 

 Phlox drummondi, dianthus and nas- 

 turtiums are also effective, and tender 

 bedding plants find .here congenial sur- 

 roundings, while their objectionable 

 features when planted in beds by them- 

 selves are entirely absent. Of course, 

 the above rules should be carefully fol- 

 lowed in placing these latter plants in 

 the border, and especial care must be 

 taken to place plants beside hardy ones 

 of similar colored bloom. 



To assist the amateur, a scheme is 

 appended giving a list of hardy plants 



Corner of a Home Where Flowers Abound 



In the garden nf Mr. P. G. Keyes of Ottawa. In the foreground is the dimbing rose. Prairie Queen. 



duced by large masses of color. For 

 this reason, it is better to plant together 

 several of one variety than one each of a 

 number of different varieties. 



Tender bulbous plants such as dahlias, 

 caiiuas, gladioli, tritomas, and Hya- 

 cinthus candicans lend themselves ad- 

 mirably to effective display in the hardy 



that will withstand our ordinary Ontario 

 winters, the month in which they usually 

 begin to bloom here, the predominant 

 color of their bloom, and their average 

 height. Most of them carry their bloom 

 into the next month, and many of 

 them throughout the remainder of the 

 season. See table on next page. 



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