TIDY PLANTS 



divided, elegant leafage remains attractive long after 

 the double white Daisy-like blossoms are past their best. 

 While the ordinary herbaceous Lupin is quite out of the 

 question as a subject for this chapter, the Tree Lupin, 

 on the contrary, deserves inclusion. It is quite a tidy 

 plant when its flowers are past. So, too, is the exquisite 

 little Meadow Rue (Thalictrum minus), its neat, graceful 

 greenery contrasting vividly in autumn with the wither- 

 ing stems of the other Meadow Rues. 



The best way to deal with hardy border plants that 

 are notoriously untidy is to cut the stems (when they 

 are only flowering stems) down to the ground as soon as 

 flowering is past ; usually fresh basal growth is made, 

 and a blank with green at the base of it is preferable 

 to a mass of dead and dying leaves and stems. This 

 answers well with Larkspur, Oriental Poppy, Helenium, 

 Spiraea, Hollyhock, and Pyrethrum. The Larkspurs 

 and Pyrethrums will then give a second crop of bloom 

 in late summer. 



43 



