HARDY BEDDING 311 



months, and in addition have exquisite flowers, even if they only 

 last a fortnight. 



THE LONG-BLOOMING EFFECT 



We now have at least twenty-five perennials and low shrubs 

 that will bloom as long as tender bedding plants say two months 

 or more, e. g., hydrangeas (plate 103), gaillardias, Miss Lingard 

 phlox, Stokes's blue aster, the Napoleon III pink, the Baby 

 Rambler rose, two kinds of hydrangea, Eupatorium ccelestinum, 

 and certain varieties of Veronica and ragged robin with names a 

 foot long. 



But I place no emphasis on " everb looming" plants, because 

 they are somewhat like a thirty-cent dinner with wine they 

 give rather too much for the money. It is an excellent idea to use 

 a bed or two of them, so as to be sure of colour always, but to 

 make them dominant is to destroy one of the keenest pleasures, 

 viz., a sense of the procession of the seasons. I hope the great 

 majority of hardy plants will always definitely mark certain 

 months, for the best thing to live with is not a "continuous per- 

 formance" by flowers. Much better is a broken series of dramatic 

 floral events. Therefore, let us turn from these "harpers on a 

 single string," and see how we can have a variety of flowers at 

 different times. 



FOUR CROPS IN EVERY BED 



Anybody can have four crops of hardy flowers in every flower 

 bed, and I think most of us ought to be satisfied with that, provided 

 the foliage does not become shabby. For instance, let the main 

 feature be peonies. Between these plant bulbs of Lilium spec- 

 iosum. Edge the bed with trailing myrtle. Then under this 

 plant tulips. Thus you will get a small show of tulips in 



