CHAPTER VI 



ROGKWORK AS EDGINGS TO FLOWER 

 BORDERS 



THE prevailing idea iiere is to produce an informal 

 edging of living plants as opposed to the dead 

 formal edgings of brick and tile for all hardy flower or 

 other borders. In some few instances, grass or turf 

 walks take the place of gravel, and though they are not 

 infrequently arranged on the straight line plan, we 

 infinitely prefer them to others which destroy rather 

 than make for beauty. The worst offenders in the case 

 — and it were better for the gardener and all concerned 

 that they should be mentioned by name — are the so- 

 called garden-edging tiles in their varied and usually 

 ugly patterns and colours. Not far removed are those 

 others of plain brick set slantwise in the ground, and 

 both are easily kicked out of place unless well cemented 

 in. Set in position theyare ugly in the extreme, wretched 

 usurpers of ground otherwise easily adorned with rock 

 and garnished with plant life and beauty. The rock- 

 work edging may, on the other hand, when furnished, 

 bristle for a long time in spring and summer with 

 many-hued flowers, creating picture effects of their 

 own, at once pleasing and natural. 



Moreover, such creations, while beautifying the 

 margin of the border for a very considerable period, 

 also mirror into greater life the contents of the 

 border itself. In other words, it is the very threshold 

 of the border, and, later on, becomes an integral part 

 of it. Not the least attractive feature of such an ar- 

 rangement would be the cushioned tuft or trailing 

 habit of the plants, the latter now spreading^ on to the 



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