CHAPTER VII 



TIDY PLANTS 



Do not all of us, despite our affection for naturally disposed 

 flowers, really prefer to see the garden tidy ? 



THE incorrigible untidiness of some otherwise fascinating 

 hardy flowers must have caused much uneasiness and 

 heart-burning to many sympathetic gardeners. How 

 miserably some favourites fade and die when their blos- 

 soming season is over ! And what a blank they leave ! 

 One of the biggest problems the flower-grower has to 

 face is that of making good the blanks the June blossoms 

 leave behind them. Never was there such a dilemma. 

 By their gross untidiness when they have given of their 

 best they ought, in all conscience, and by all the rules 

 of gardening for there is none that condones real un- 

 tidiness to be pulled up and thrown away. But their 

 bewitching beauty prevents one from laying hands on 

 them, and the evil remains. How to ameliorate, if not 

 to eradicate, the evil is the question I have set myself 

 to answer. If one must grow such lovely flowers as 

 Lupins, Larkspurs, Oriental Poppies, and others that 

 bloom in early summer and of course one must it 

 will be more or less always with us. 



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