THE HABDY HERBACEOUS BOBDEB 81 



and only those plants should be grown that will flourish with ordinary 

 good care and attention. It must be borne in mind that some plants 

 thrive in one locality and make glorious pictures in the flower border, 

 while in other districts — perhaps not many miles distant — they prove 

 to be utter failures, notwithstanding every attention to cultural details. 



Unfortunately, this is one of the peculiar things that puzzle gar- 

 deners not a little. Many, of an experimental turn of mind, resolve 

 to make a difficult plant grow by hook or by crook if good cultivation can 

 do it. Very often they are highly successful, and very often not. And 

 curiously enough, many of these so-called difficult plants to cultivate, 

 when they fail under what is considered the best treatment, often 

 astonish the disgusted cultivator by growing vigorously and flowering 

 profusely when they have been neglected and left to shift for them- 

 selves. A writer in the ' Garden ' has illustrated this point very clearly 

 in connection with Tropceolum speciosum (see p. 291). He says : — 

 This species was planted in many positions, care being taken to afl'ord 

 a porous root-run and a sufficiency of shade, for in the south it is 

 almost impossible to establish this Tropaeolum in a situation exposed to 

 the full rays of the sun. After the planting was concluded a certain 

 quantity of roots remained over, and these were placed in holes dug at 

 the foot of a spreading young yew tree, the soil not being disturbed 

 further than was necessary for covering the roots. After this was 

 effected, these latter were not given another thought, as they were not ex- 

 pected to succeed, and had only been roughly planted as an alternative to 

 being thrown away. In course of time all the carefully planted and 

 tended Tropseolums disappeared, and for a couple of years the forgotten 

 roots beneath the yew did nothing to advertise their existence. In the 

 third year, however, a vivid splash of vermilion on one of the branches 

 of the yew drew attention to the fact that the plants were not only 

 alive, but in the best of health, in which state they have since remained, 

 garlanding the sombre foliage during the summer months with an 

 opulence of colour that year by year increases in extent.' 



The moral of this is that the reader must not be discouraged if he 

 should fail to grow a plant under one set of conditions. Should this 

 unfortunately happen, then he should at least try totally different condi- 

 tions in his garden before finally rejecting the plant as unsuitable. 



Site of Herbaceous Borders. — Where a large and varied selection 

 of plants from all quarters of the globe is to be grown in the same 

 border, the best general site is one facing any point of the compass 

 between east and west. There are several choice plants — Tropaolum 

 speciosum, mentioned above, for example — that will flourish facing north 

 or east ; but the great majority of choice border plants require a position 



