CHAPTER XVI 



VARIETY IN THE FLOWER GARDEN 



We may grow certain plants season after season and become 

 firmly of opinion that there is nothing to excel them. 



NONE can deny the charm of variety in a garden, especially 

 when it leads to the inclusion of good plants not commonly 

 grown. Now there are many plants remarkable for their 

 beauty, either of flowers or foliage, particularly well 

 suited to the embellishment of the flower garden during 

 the summer months ; plants, too, that are not at all 

 generally made use of for this purpose. There is a woeful 

 monotony about the appearance of many flower gardens, 

 and by these I mean gardens of summer half-hardy 

 flowers. Year in, year out, we find similar plants used. 

 The designs are perhaps altered and the colours arranged 

 differently, but the general effect is still much the 

 same. Why this should be is not easily explained. 

 It often happens, however, that we may grow certain 

 plants season after season, and so become firmly of 

 opinion that there is nothing to excel them. Partly 

 for this reason, partly because we are too lazily inclined 

 to search for fresh ideas, or too fearful of the results of 

 growing fresh plants, we are content to rely on the same 



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