270 BULBS 



to make flower beds interesting all summer without the annual 

 digging of bulbs in May and planting of geraniums or cannas. 



He has several large beds of Darwin tulips in which seeds of 

 annual flowers are sown. Among many that I saw in bloom were 

 clarkias, godetias, lupines, candytuft, the annual Anchusa, love- 

 in-a-mist, catchfly, Shirley poppies, larkspurs, Nemophila, cal- 

 liopsis, Statice sinuate, and Phacelia campanularia. 



To my depraved taste these flowers seemed very pretty, but 

 I dare say that park gardeners will pooh-pooh the idea. 



BORDER EFFECT WITH BULBS 



Formal beds appeal strongly to the beginner, but he soon 

 finds that an irregular border of hardy perennials gives him a 

 greater variety, a larger season, and more flowers for cutting. 



The only drawback to a border is that most perennials bloom 

 for only two weeks. Nobody likes to have large portions of his 

 border devoid of bloom for a long time, and so many good gardeners 

 have gotten into the habit of alternating perennials, e. g., a clump 

 of peonies, a clump of chrysanthemums, then peonies again and 

 so on. This gives two crops of bloom from every square yard or 

 thereabout. 



I saw a still better idea in England, viz., bulbs and carpeting 

 plants. The objection to alternating peonies and chrysanthe- 

 mums, or any other plants that make a lusty growth at the same 

 time, is that they compete with each other. On the other hand, 

 bulbs and carpeting plants supplement each other. The carpeting 

 plants protect the bulbs from alternate freezing and thawing quite 

 as well as unsightly manure, and the bulbs look their prettiest 

 when they have a background of foliage instead of dirt. (See 

 Chapter XXIV.) 



