230 PERENNIALS 



most artistic way to use larkspurs is to place them where they will 

 be seen in combination with strong vertical lines in architecture, 

 e. g., the columns of a pergola or summer house. Against 

 rounded bushes they may not look so well. Most people mix 

 all the different shades of blue and purple together. Mr. 

 J. William Barr's idea is to have about six pale blue larkspurs in 

 one group, six dark blue in another and six purple ones in a third. 

 And he would choose varieties that come one after another instead 

 of all together. Personally I cannot "go" the double larkspur, 

 especially those with blue petals and purple centres. 



The English have made a great exhibition flower of the lark- 

 spur, and lords and] ladies flock to see three-foot spikes of the 

 variety called Monument, while individual flowers of the Duke of 

 Connaught are said to attain two and a half inches in diameter (I 

 measured one that was two inches across). These large flowered 

 varieties, however, are not always the most effective in the garden. 

 They need a rather open spike in order to show their individual 

 flower to advantage. In the garden, the long, dense spikes of 

 small flowers suit me best, because the soul of the larkspur seems 

 to be aspiration, and this idea is most clearly suggested when the 

 flowers approximate the spire in form and the sky in colour. The 

 fashionable idea, however, is to make the larkspur a collector's 

 flower. People often import fifty varieties at a time from England, 

 but such collections often disappear in a few years because of the 

 black spot a disease unknown in England. The best way to 

 control this disease it to propagate these improved varieties by 

 cuttings. 



PERENNIALS FOR ARCHITECTURAL EFFECT 



A moment ago I spoke of the pleasant harmonies produced 

 by larkspur when they repeat the vertical lines of porch or 



