154 2Tt> e farDen's Sbtorjj. 



color can not be trained to arrange colors har- 

 moniously by any code -of rules ; but those who 

 have a natural feeling for color can find out 

 whether any two colors harmonize by a very 

 easy test. Place the colors separately on a gray, 

 white, or black ground. If they are brighter, 

 richer, and fuller together than separately, they 

 harmonize ; but if not, they should not be placed 

 together." 



I could say more in favor of spiraea or Hoteia 

 Japonica were it not so susceptible to the hot 

 sun. Charming so long as it remains fresh, dur- 

 ing average seasons its foliage is soon blighted 

 and its beauty destroyed. The hardy, large 

 perennial spiraeas are beautiful with their grace- 

 ful spikes and plumes and panicles. Of these, 

 5. aruncus, the familiar goat's-beard, is among 

 the finest when well established and allowed 

 sufficient room to attain its full development. 

 5. Humboldtii is equally robust, though its flow- 

 ers are not so pure a white. The species fili- 

 pendula and its double are worthy a place in 

 the border if only for their graceful, fern-like 

 foliage. 5. ulmaria fl, pi., and its form with 

 golden variegated foliage, are both desirable 

 species. The prairie Spircea lobata, with its 

 rosy carmine cymes, must take the place of the 

 finest of all the meadow-sweets, the Japanese S. 



