THE GROWING OF THE ORNAMENTAL PLANTS 223 
to run together, thereby giving one continuous effect. Most 
shrubs should be set 3 feet apart. Things as large as lilacs may 
go 4 feet and sometimes even more. Common herbaceous 
perennials, as bleeding heart, delphiniums, hollyhocks, and the 
like, should go from 12 to 18 inches. On the front edge of the 
border is a very excellent place for annual and tender flowering 
plants. Here, for example, one may make a fringe of asters, 
geraniums, coleus, or anything else he may choose. (Chap. II.) 
Into the heavy borders about the boundaries of the place the 
autumn leaves will drift and afford an excellent mulch. If 
these borders are planted with shrubs, the leaves may be left 
there to decay, and not be raked off in the spring. 
The general outline of the border facing the lawn should be 
more or less wavy or irregular, particularly if it is on the 
boundary of the place. Alongside a walk or drive the margins 
tay follow the general directions of the walk or drive. 
In making borders of perennial flowers the most satisfactory 
results are secured if a large clump of each kind or variety is 
grown. The herbaceous border is one of the most flexible parts 
of grounds, since it has no regular or formal design. Allow 
ample space for each perennial root, — often as much as three 
or four square feet, — and then if the space is not filled the 
first year or two, scatter over the area seeds of poppies, sweet 
peas, asters, gilias, alyssum, or other annuals. Figures 237-239, 
from Long (‘‘ Popular Gardening,” i., 17, 18), suggest methods 
of making such borders. They are on a scale of ten feet to the 
inch. The entire surface is tilled, and the irregular diagrams 
designate the sizes of the clumps. The diagrams containing 
no names are to be filled with bulbs, annuals, and tender plants, 
if desired. 
It must not be supposed, however, that one cannot have a 
border unless he has wide marginal spaces about his grounds. 
It is surprising how many things one can grow in an old fence. 
Perennials that grow in fence-rows in fields ought also to grow 
