THE NEW BORDERS 35 



I would never make a narrow border of shrubs and 

 herbaceous plants. If the ground available was a mere 

 strip I would plant it with Roses, or Sweet Peas, or 

 Carnations, or some other selected flower, with bulbs, 

 Primroses and Wallflowers for spring. In a word, it 

 should be rather a " bed " than a border. 



When we commence with a piece of bare ground we 

 feel that the whole world is before us. Perhaps it is the 

 autumn or winter season, when vegetation is at a low 

 ebb. We can plant, and plant, and plant again. Merrily 

 we put in Roses and Phloxes, Delphiniums and Paeonies, 

 Goat's Rues and Golden-rods, Michaelmas Daisies and 

 Lilies, Shasta Daisies and Sunflowers. There is no future, 

 we live in the present. 



The full reckoning comes only if the following summer 

 happens to be wet, but there is a reckoning, anyway. 

 The border is a wild and distressing tangle of ineffectual 

 things. 



Flower-lovers should not become obsessed of borders. 

 A good border is a beautiful thing, but a bad border is an 

 eyesore. The border-maker should think in yards, not 

 inches. Unless we can have a large, spacious border we 

 had better have a bed. 



Let us suppose that we stand in an unfurnished room. 

 It is small, being only fifteen feet square, but as it is 

 entirely empty, save for a carpet from wall to wall, it 

 seems large. We proceed to put a sideboard against one 

 wall, a dining-table in the middle, a few chairs here and 

 there, and lo ! the room is full. When we have put trees, 

 Rose pillars, shrubs, and groups of herbaceous plants in 

 our fifteen-feet border shall we have so much room to 

 spare that we can afford to put in every other plant which 

 we may buy or beg ? 



Fifteen feet wide ! It is a small room, when it is ade- 



