312 HARDY BEDDING 



May, a good display of peonies in June, scattering flowers from 

 the myrtle all spring and summer, and a fair show of lilies in 

 September. This bed may last ten or even twenty years without 

 radical change. You avoid all the expense and ugliness of annual 

 digging. You have perfect foliage in peonies and myrtle, and the 

 deficiencies of any lilies you may plant will be hidden. For most 

 lilies are thin or stiff in foliage effects, and are hard to arrange 

 effectively, but here they have a good background. 



Dozens of good combinations like the one given above can 

 be made from the plants mentioned in this article, with the help 

 of these four rules : 



1. Try for an early and a late spring, a summer, and an 

 autumn flower. Simultaneous effects are appropriate in the 

 border, but for a bed, successive effects are better. 



2. Select first the centre piece, preferably a low shrub or a 

 perennial that grows two or three feet high. 



3. Next choose the filler for the centre piece, preferably 

 a bulb. 



4. Then select a carpeting plant for the edging, making 

 sure that it has perfect foliage. If the centre piece is bare or 

 shabby at the base, choose an edger high enough to screen this 

 fault. You can have a different kind of bulb under the edging. 



THE BEST CENTRE PIECES 



The late or Chinese peonies are the best for centre pieces 

 because they are the longest lived perennials that can be obtained 

 in many colours. They generally bloom in early June in the 

 North. I would reject columbines, European peonies, sweet 

 williams, foxgloves, larkspurs, poppies, Japan iris, bee balm, 

 and most varieties of phlox. 



