64 BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS 



the contrary is the case, for acquiring a knowledge of good hardy 

 plants, and learning how to arrange them, is a delightful study. 



Our coloured plates do not show us wild tangles of plants, 

 huddled together in dense, indistinguishable masses dishevelled 

 and incoherent. They show us beautiful groups of particular plants. 

 And the lover of herbaceous borders will do well to take to heart the 

 lesson that they teach, and which is here emphasised. It is far 

 better to make up a border of a dozen different kinds of plants than 

 to pack it with fifty genera. If the objection is raised that this 



entails a want of diversity, the answer is 

 that such is far from being the case, be- 

 cause of the number of varieties which 

 exist of all the principal kinds. Let the 

 flower gardener take up a catalogue of 

 hardy plants, and he may find anything 

 between twenty and fifty distinct varieties 

 of Phloxes, Sweet Peas, Paeonies, and all 

 the leading hardy flowers. 



Forethought is very necessary. It is 

 hard for the amateur to realise that the 

 little plants which he puts in in spring 

 will, at the end of three months, have extended several feet. In 

 the remarks on special plants which are to follow an idea of their 

 dimensions will be given as a guide, and to further help the 

 beginner the colours of the varieties will be mentioned also. 



The arrangement of the plants in a series of groups, in order to 

 secure similar effects to those seen in the coloured plates, really 

 simplifies, rather than confuses, the task of making beautiful borders. 

 If a flower gardener with little experience saw before him a long 

 stretch of bare earth, and attempted to formulate a collective scheme 

 for filling it, he would find himself perplexed and bewildered. Many 

 do find themselves in such a dilemma, and in sheer helplessness and 

 ignorance put in ( " stick in " would be a pardonable phrase in such 



NEGLECTED CLUMPS 



Large clumps, when left for a long time 

 without lifting and dividing, become 

 weak near the centre. A, A, outside 

 of clump growths are strong. B, in- 

 side of clump growths are weak. 



