THE PERENNIAL BORDER 13 



THE PERENNIAL BORDER 



PERENNIALS may be planted in any situation except hit and 

 niiss tliroughout a lawn. Pity in plenty should be showered upon 

 the man who must, cut a lawn in which a Peony, a Sw^et WiUiam 

 and a Phlox have been planted in the sod. Furthermore, it is not in 

 conformity with good taste to make small square, circular or star- 

 shaped beds. Someone has described such beds specked about the 

 greensward as "an Itahan pastry cook's idea of the beautiful." Let us 

 then have masses of our garden favorites bordering the driveways, 

 the fences, the law^n and the dooryard, or assign a definite garden area 

 and there plant our flowers. 



PLANNING 



A border may be formal or informal; the plants may be set in 

 definite ribbon-fike bands or placed in natural clumps. Generally, the 

 latter method is to be preferred unless we are planning a prim garden 

 of geometrical form on a large estate. Assuming, then, that enough 

 space is available, it is interesting to have two borders separated by a 

 grass, gravel or stone walk. To have the greatest satisfaction the 

 border should be planned on paper. Some persons will say that they 

 are gardeners, not draughtsmen, but no drawing abihty is necessary. 

 The idea of sketching is merely to place the plants properly. 



HEIGHTS 



Obviously, the tall plants should be at the back of the border, the 

 dwarf edging plants in the front and those of medium height tucked in 

 between the two extremes. Nevertheless, this rule should not be 

 followed too strictly, otherwise the result will give a border which will 

 be too monotonous. Allow bold groups of tall plants to come to the 

 front of the border. For the best efi'ects in the Springtime some of the 

 earliest dwarf plants may be planted toward the center to give a mass 

 of color throughout the width of the border. 



WIDTH 



Having mentioned the word "width" it may be said that the 

 border should be at least 4 feet wide; otherwise the grass roots will 



