FLOWEE-BORDER AND PERGOLA 209 



and at the time of preparation I mark places for 

 special Dahlias, according to colour, and for groups of 

 the tall Cannas where I want grand foliage. 



There are certain classes of plants that are quite 

 indispensable, but that leave a bare or shabby -looking 

 place when their bloom is over. How to cover these 

 places is one of the problems that have to be solved. 

 The worst offender is Oriental Poppy; it becomes 

 unsightly soon after blooming, and is quite gone by 

 midsummer. I therefore plant Gypsofhila paniculata 

 between and behind the Poppy groups, and by July 

 there is a delicate cloud of bloom instead of large bare 

 patches. Eryngium oUverianum has turned brown by 

 the beginning of July, but around the group some 

 Dahlias have been planted, that will be gradually 

 trained down over the space of the departed Sea-Holly, 

 and other Dahlias are used ia the same way to mask 

 various weak places. 



There is a perennial Sunflower, with tall black 

 stems, and pale-yellow flowers quite at the top, an old 

 garden sort, but not very good as usually grown ; this 

 I find of great value to train down, when it throws up 

 a short flowering stem from each joint, and becomes a 

 spreading sheet of bloom. 



One would rather not have to resort to these [ar- 

 tifices of sticking and training ; but if a certain effect 

 is wanted, all such means are lawful, provided that 

 nothing looks stiff or strained or unsightly ; and it is 

 pleasant to exercise ingenuity and to invent ways to 



