HARDY FLOWER CULTURE. 89 



In short, hardj-'flower culture presents so many aspects, provides 

 us with material suitable to every kind of soil, condition, and 

 elivironment, flowers for spring, summer, and fall, in unlimited 

 variety, as to make utterly inexcusable the generally prevalent 

 monotony of so called flower gardening. Instead of practicing 

 universal imitativeness in the display of tender summer flowers, 

 we should make original, adaptive plantings of those that are 

 hardy and permanent, and this we must do with the knowledge 

 that no garden can do justice to them all. 



Between planting for beautiful effects and planting for collec- 

 tive interest, or botanical study, a wide gulf exists. It must be 

 admitted that the very much mixed border of hardy flowers that 

 is usually seen where hardy flowers find favor at all, is at its best 

 little more than a botanical collection of living specimens. The 

 true consideration of hardy flowers is governed by their relation- 

 ship and fitness to all parts of the garden except the roads we 

 walk upon and the essential lawns that we mow. 



