196 GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



The majority of gardens are rectangular, they follow the 

 lines of the house ; and usually a border at the sides and grass 

 in the middle suffice, without any needless cutting up of the 

 middle into small, patchy beds. Keep away all shrubs, espe- 

 cially such things as Elder, from the borders. It is not always 

 possible to do this, but unless the roots of trees and shrubs are 

 kept out of the soil where perennials are to go, endless atten- 

 tion in the way of mulching and manuring will be needful 

 during the late spring and summer. 



Hardy Perennials. The sheet anchor of the beginner in 

 gardening is the hardy perennial, which requires no lifting in 

 the winter to shelter it from the frost, and comes up again 

 each season to again give pleasure to the possessor. The 

 writer has had considerable experience with town gardens, 

 and can place faith in border Auriculas, sweet-scented, finely- 

 coloured flowers, so gay and green that even a strong tuft 

 will almost flower itself to death ; and again it may be men- 

 tioned that everything referred to here is alluded to in some 

 part of the present book, so that a detailed description is need- 

 less here. Campanulas, or Canterbury Bells, in rich variety of 

 form and colour ; Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia), 

 Day Lilies (Hemerocallis) for shady places, Dielytra spectabilis, 

 Larkspurs, or Perennial Delphiniums, Evening Primrose 

 (CEnothera biennis), and some of the other QEnotheras, such as 

 (E.fruticosa and the rich orange-flowered Fraseri ; Everlasting 

 Peas, Spiderwort (Tradescantia), Phloxes of good colours, 

 London Pride, Papaver umbrosum, delightful for edgings ; 

 Michaelmas Daises, Oriental Poppy {Papaver orientate, and its 

 variety bracteatum), Primroses, Polyanthuses, Snapdragons, 

 Wallflowers, Sweet Williams, double and single Pyrethrums, 

 Thrift, Solomon's Seal, Anemone japonica and its beautiful 

 white variety alba, also known as Honorine Joubert ; Arabts 

 albida (White Rock Cress), Alyssum saxatile (Rock Mad- 

 wort), with rich yellow flowers ; Aquilegia hybrids, particu- 

 larly the beautiful spurred varieties ; Aubrietias, dwarf plants 

 for edging the border, or forming groups near the front ; 

 Cerastium tomentosum (silvery foliage), Carnations, Pinks, 

 Doronicums, early-flowering perennials with large, handsome 

 yellow flowers D. plantagineum excelsum is the finest ; Gypso- 

 phila paniculata, wavy masses of flowers ; German Iris, 

 Lupines, Golden Rods (Solidago), Forget-me-nots, Crimson 

 Paeony, many kinds of Saxifrage, especially Saxifraga hyp- 

 noides, and the large leathery-leaved Megaseas, Stonecrops, 

 Sempervivums,Tuf ted Pansies, Monkshood (AconitumNapellus), 

 Campanula glomerata dahurica (with deep purple flowers) ; C. 



