CHAPTER XIII 



COLOUR COMBINATIONS IN THE GARDEN AND AS 

 HOUSE DECORATIONS 



T TNFORTUNATELY, too many people grow 

 \^J dahlias as collections only, planted in the 

 kitchen garden or behind the barn or anywhere 

 the soil seems suitable. The borders are seldom 

 resplendent with them at a time when they are 

 in dire need of colour. How many dahlia gar- 

 dens are there which are planned and planted 

 with a deliberate intent at colour harmony and 

 decorative effect? 



The stumbling block in the minds of most 

 people to the planning of a dahlia garden is 

 that the ground is bare in the early spring and so 

 becomes an eyesore. This can easily be over- 

 come by judicious foreground planting. One of 

 my dahlia gardens is situated just beyond and 

 below the rose garden. Its beds are edged with 

 small boulders quite hidden with creeping 

 phlox, through which nearly fifty varieties of the 

 rarest narcissi appear each spring, some thou- 

 sands in number. In June, when the "daffy" 



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