THE MIXED BORDER 



IN the gardens of to-day the mixed border is not forgotten. 

 In it are plants that remain beautiful for a longer period 

 than beds filled with summer-flowering plants, bright for a 

 few short weeks. Moreover, the possession of a beautiful 

 mixed border is not exclusively confined to the wealthy, for 

 the humblest amateur or cottager may produce the most 

 delightful pictures without the aid of a single pane of glass 

 in the rearing or winter-protection of his favourites, whereas 

 in the culture of bedding-plants glass shelter is essential 

 during the winter and spring. Where the larger herbaceous 

 subjects are under-planted with bulbs, clumps of Snowdrops 

 poise their white, drooping flowers above the bare earth in 

 the earliest days of February, followed by the golden Crocuses 

 and blue Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa), spring Snowflakes 

 and Daffodils, yellow and white. As the season advances 

 the border gains in beauty day by day, and loses but little 

 of its attractions in the autumn months, when the peren- 

 nial Sunflowers, Michaelmas Daisies, Dahlias, Sternbergias, 

 Autumn Crocuses (Colchium), and other late-blooming 

 flowers make breadths of colour, followed later by the 

 winter-blooming Algerian Iris (/. stylosa) and the Christmas 

 Rose. As regards the dimensions of the mixed border, it 

 must be impressed upon the amateur that want of space 

 should not deter him or her from proceeding with its forma- 

 tion, for even in a plot ten feet by two feet it is quite possible 

 to provide a pretty show of colour and form. Where space 

 is no object, a border twelve feet or fourteen feet in breadth 

 by one hundred yards in length may well be arranged for ; 

 but, whether large or small, its formation should be pro- 

 ceeded upon with equal care. There is, unfortunately, a 

 very general impression amongst amateurs that hardy plants, 

 of which the mixed border should mainly consist, can grow 

 anywhere, and are indifferent to such matters as soil, situa- 

 tion, and ordinary attention. This, however, is far from 

 being the case, and where, under this belief, they are planted 

 in shallow, hungry soil, in dense shade, in exposed, wind- 



