OCTOBER 169 



but one wants something more than colour in a border, 

 else we have gained nothing and lost assured brilliancy 

 by discarding mid- Victorian bedding-out. Why did we 

 discard it ? Because there was none of the mystery, 

 the variety, or the surprise which constitute the attrac- 

 tions of a well-arranged collection of hardy plants. 

 One wearied of the formality, the monotonous repeti- 

 tion, the absence of anything unexpected. In no 

 ornamental craft does the maxim Ars est celare artem 

 apply so urgently as to the herbaceous branch of 

 gardening. Design there must be, but it must not be 

 thrust upon one as it is in a bed of scarlet geraniums 

 all exactly the same size ; but directed to making the 

 plants look as if they had chosen their own position 

 and agreed with their neighbours. 



Moreover, care should be taken to impart an im- 

 pression of permanence, which is one of the chief 

 merits of hardy perennials. To maintain the rigid 

 discipline established in the herbaceous border referred 

 to above, the plants must be taken up and re-planted 

 so soon as they betray the least tendency to liberty. 

 Let me not be supposed to underrate the attention 

 needed to keep a herbaceous border in good order. To 

 do so requires far more varied knowledge and more 

 constant care than the bedding-out system ; but there 

 can be no approach to perfection if the plants are 

 constantly shifted. Some of them must be taken up 

 at short intervals and divided if the best is to be got 

 out of them, and if less vigorous species are to have a 

 chance of developing their character. Asters, alstro- 

 meria, montbretia, herbaceous phloxes and helianthus 



