PERENNIALS 233 



should use gray foliage chiefly to carpet the ground beneath blue 

 flowers and those of the purple section. 



BOLD PICTURES ON LAWNS 



The English do not spoil their lawns as often as we do by scat- 

 tering fine specimens over them. But they often feel the need of a 

 formal bed of flowers near the edge of the lawn or near the house. 

 (See the Anchusa on plate 77.) Under such circumstances Ameri- 

 cans are likely to use tender plants when hardy ones would be more 

 pictorial in flower and more attractive in foliage. A good example 

 is the elm-leaved spirea shown on plate 77. If you will place your 

 hand over the flowers you will see how attractive the foliage is when 

 the plant is not in bloom. Many other long blooming perennials 

 and plants with attractive foliage are mentioned in Chapter XXIV. 



There is a right and wrong way of getting subtropical effects 

 in a northern country. Tender plants never look acclimatized. 

 Why not study the great tropical genera and find out the northern- 

 most species of each? For example, if we want the bamboo 

 feeling in our gardens why not use Phyllostachys nigra, viridi- 

 glaucescensj and other hardy bamboos, instead of fancy grasses 

 that must be raised every year from seed? If we want pinnate 

 foliage, there are the Aralia cordata and Cachemirica. The 

 classical leaf form of the fig is mimicked by the bocconias, of which 

 there are four hardy species. If gigantic leaves are desired, there 

 are six hardy species of Rheum. And if brilliantly coloured foliage 

 is needed, why not forget coleus for once in favour of the metallic 

 blue Eryngium and Echinops? 



DELICATE, MISTY, AIRY PICTURES 



We are inclined to overdo what might be called the masculine 

 element in our gardens. One can vulgarize a garden by having 



