284 EDGING AND CARPETING PLANTS 



ever they are brushed against. Therefore, an evergreen edging 

 plant, with fragrant leaves would be a great advantage, but I fear 

 we shall never have any in the North, except box. Sweet gale i s 

 evergreen in England, but not here. Rosemary hedges are com- 

 mon in warm countries, but they would not be sufficiently hardy 

 or evergreen for Northern gardens. The most fragrant evergreen 

 native to the Northern United States is the balsam fir, which is 

 obviously unsuited to gardens. Wintergreen would be too low 

 for some gardens, and requires shade from the mid-day sun. Per- 

 haps some genius will give us a dwarf hemlock with foliage more 

 fragrant than the ordinary. 



Lavender is not only fragrant, but evergreen and hardy in 

 England. "Lavender walks" are a famous feature of English 

 gardens. One sees them four feet high and several hundred feet 

 long. Full-grown lavender is too tall for garden use without 

 clipping. However, there is a dwarf variety that minimizes clip- 

 ping or even renders it unnecessary. Unfortunately, lavender is not 

 hardy in the North and we cannot have lavender edgings except 

 as a summer feature. Thus, even if expense need not be con- 

 sidered, we miss the charm of age in this plant. 



Geraniums, also, are only a summer feature but they are so 

 easily carried over the winter that they are worth serious con- 

 sideration. They have a wonderful variety of odour in their 

 foliage, but some varieties have bad colours which would make 

 havoc in a garden. The nutmeg geranium, however, has white 

 flowers and white is the safest colour in edging. Some one ought 

 to make a collection of all the geraniums that have different odours : 

 the apple, lemon, nutmeg, rose, etc., and tell us about their 

 suitability for edging. 



Obviously, however, a fairly permanent plant should be the 



