140 GARDENS PAST AND PRESENT 



has a place and service of its own. But we must 

 discriminate between the congruous and its ob- 

 verse, and by far the safest plan to follow is the 

 rather troublesome one of sketching on paper a 

 scheme of colour-planting from which to work, 

 instead of leaving the garden design to hap-hazard. 

 An excellent effect can be made, for example, in 

 a detached bed or border by using only flowers 

 of shades of yellow deepening into brown, a com- 

 bination to be found in some of the fine African 

 and French marigolds. This precaution with re- 

 gard to the mixing of colours is perhaps never 

 more to be borne in mind than in dealing with 

 annuals, where variety is so boundless and in which 

 flowers predominate over leaves. 



There are not many strictly annual plants 

 that can be used with design as foliage. The 

 annual Japanese hop should not be forgotten, for 

 it is exceedingly elegant both in the green and 

 variegated form, and might be used in many ways 

 as an excellent background and foil for colour. 

 Cosmos, or cosmea, as it is generally set down 

 in the seed lists, is beautiful alike in feathery leaf 

 and flower, and ought to be grown more than it 

 is for the sake of greenery alone. 



These are but a few of the possibilities of a gar- 

 den entirely dependent for brightness and beauty 

 on the plants of a year. If the fates decree that 

 such a one happens, at any time, to be ours, let it 

 be looked upon as an opportunity and inspiration 

 rather than as a tribulation. If it is to be entrusted 

 to a gardener, in the sense of a professional, keep 

 watch lest a too great love of variety should warp 



