192 YAKD AND GARDEN 



they are in bloom they not only perfume the air, 

 but serve, to some extent at least, as a screen. 



Another effective composition is the use of 

 tulips — especially the May-flowering varieties 

 — with dwarf deciduous and evergreen shrubs. 

 As the somber winter browns and the dull 

 greens of the deciduous and evergreen plants 

 give way before the magic touch of spring, they 

 are suddenly converted into an ideal setting for 

 an array of brilliantly colored flowers. Fur- 

 thermore, blooms cut from such plantations of 

 bulbs are not missed as they are when taken 

 from formal beds where the removal of a single 

 blossom mars the perfection of the whole de- 

 sign. 



Hardy bulbous plants may be used effectively 

 in borders by themselves and occasionally bold 

 clumps of the taller plants of the sort may not 

 be ineffective when given a somewhat isolated 

 position. In almost every instance, however, 

 they show to best advantage when supplied 

 with a background of shrubbery or of taller- 

 growing plants. 



In such situations, where the object desired 

 is a brilliant mass of one color, which is all the 

 more striking on account of the contrast with 



