38 HARDY BORDERS 



scheme and he said no. Their main idea was to have every foot 

 of ground covered, and they depended on white to soften all the 

 colour discords. Rarely did they remove any plant for lack of 

 harmony. This is the cheapest way of keeping a border up to 

 high C that I know. 



But such a plan would never suit Miss Jekyll, because there is 

 no definite colour scheme. <hShe believes that each important colour 

 should be assigned a section in the border, where that colour is to be 

 dominant but not exclusive. Moreover, these sections should 

 be so arranged that each one is the best possible preparation for the 

 next. For example, suppose you spend five minutes enjoying 

 the flowers of the yellow section. Your eye has unconsciously 

 acquired an appetite for the complementary colour, viz., blue. 

 Passing next to the blue section, it seems as if no blue flowers 

 ever before appeared so pure or vivid in colour. It is an amusing 

 experiment to gaze for thirty seconds at marigold flowers in iull 

 sunshine and then look at the leaves. Although they are normally 

 a dull green they now appear a bright blue. 



These are not mere tricks. They are examples of optical or 

 colour laws that open a wonder world of delight, in which any one 

 may be an explorer and discoverer. We miss all this if we scatter 

 colours anywhere in the border and make our enjoyment of colours 

 simply a matter of feeling, instinct, or taste. ^jThe artistic and 

 -^exciting thing is to work out a definite colour progression. Miss 

 Jekyll's border begins with a blue section, then a yellow, then 

 orange and red, then yellow, and finally purple. This may 

 sound very crude and mechanical, but so does every colour scheme 

 in outline. S-You should know how the transition is made from 

 one colour to the next. 



For example, in the blue section of her border Miss Jekyll 



