HARDY BORDERS 39 



uses only pure blues and tender colours. Theoretically, blues 

 and purples blend, and theoretically it is better to get harmony by 

 __. using similar colours than complementary colours, for easy transi- 

 tions are more restful than contrasts. Practically, it is best to free 

 the blue section from all purple, lilac, magenta, and allied colours. 

 Only in this way can blue flowers be made to rival the sky in brill- 

 iancy. And since blue is a tender colour, Miss Jekyll allows in 

 her blue section no other colours but the tenderest the palest 

 pink, the palest yellow, and white. 



The pale yellow is important because it m'akes the transition to 

 the yellow section. As the yellows become stronger, they merge 

 into orange and then into scarlet, which is the middle section of the 

 border. This is, of course, the strongest colour and is, therefore, 

 entitled to the central position in her scheme. At this point 

 many people ruin their borders by trying to pass from scarlet 

 through crimson to purple. A better way is to come down again 

 through orange to yellow and end with a purple section. The 

 danger, here, is to make the transition from yellow to purple. 

 Miss Jekyll does it by carpeting the ground in the purple section 

 with gray-leaved plants and she uses the gray ground cover in her 

 blue section also. 



-k By this time it must be evident that the only way to plan an 

 artistic flower border is to draw it to scale on paper, laying off the, 

 whole area in blocks, say five feet square. Nearly everybody 

 plants perennials in irregular but solid blocks. A much more 

 artistic way is to plant in "drifts," i. <?., long and rather narrow 

 patches, which should generally lie somewhat diagonally. The 

 chief advantage is that the effect is more pictorial. Another 

 great advantage is that long, thin colonies do not leave big, unsightly 

 places when the flowers are past; their deficiencies are more easily 



