Perennials for a Thought-out Garden 213 



progression, too, when one may run up the scale through crimsons 

 to the dark, velvety carnation, sweet Williams and herbaceous 

 peonies of richer hue than Jacqueminot roses, or down to the 

 pinkish gray-white of garden heliotrope (Valerian) and the warm 

 white of the fleecy meadow sweet, fraxinella and immortelle. 



Or, the border may have a complete change of color every 

 month or six weeks, as when a pink phase succeeds a blue one; 

 but this is difficult to manage because of the perversity of plants. 

 The larkspurs unexpectedly prolong their bloom because of 

 cool weather and frequent rains, perhaps, whereas they should 

 have given place in early July to rosy hollyhocks that marshal in 

 the pink group which, in turn, may linger long enough to swear 

 at its successor. However, cutting off the larkspur spires merely 

 insures a second crop of flowers in the fall; nipping the heads off 

 phloxes that may rush inopportunely into bloom insures flowers 

 from the lateral shoots when they are wanted. Companion crops 

 have undeniable fascinations. Each gardener has some pet com- 

 bination. One will plant blue spirea to conceal the rusty 

 peonies that dry off in the fall; another will hide the long shanks 

 of his crown imperials behind Shasta daisies. Canterbury bells 

 swing where columbines lately were in another garden. Chrysan- 

 themums conceal the downfall of pentstemons and monkshood. 



Another way to secure harmony in a garden is to devote 

 certain spaces in it to certain seasons one part of the home 

 grounds for spring bulbs and plants, one for early summer effects, 

 one that shall be bright during the drought and dog-days of mid- 

 summer, and another section for autumn. Indeed, one authority 

 declares it to be the only way to secure the finest effects, arguing 

 that if a given area be expected to produce flowers from early 

 spring to late frost there are sure to be flowerless spaces in it 



