84 PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GARDEN PLANTS 



to give the months in the year at which representatives of most of them 

 are usually in blossom. 



General Arrangement of the Flower Border. — This has been 

 treated so well by Miss Jekyll, of Munstead, in a paper read before 

 the Horticultural Society that I take the liberty of reproducing her 

 remarks here : — ■ 



' An essential feature in a garden of hardy flowers is a well-arranged 

 mixed border. It is here that we can show the true summer flowers 

 at their best, but it is here, more than anywhere else, that the " art of 

 many sacrifices " must be put in practice. For the main spaces plants 

 should be chosen of bold and striking beauty, but as a border of all 

 large plants would have a kind of monotony, certain spaces, chiefly 

 towards the front, but also running back in many parts among groups 

 of taller things, should be planted vdth those of lower growth. The 

 chief plants for such a border are Oriental Poppies (p. 191), Paeonies 

 (p. 165), the boldest of the Irises (p. 917), Day-Lilies (p. 815), Herbaceous 

 Spirffias (p. 364), CEnotheras (p. 453), a few of the best Campanulas 

 (p. 562), Delphiniums (p. 158), Lilies, (p. 842), three or four of the best 

 perennial Sunflowers (p. 515), the tall blue Sea-Holly (p. 465), Tritomas 

 (p. 817), Mulleins (p. 701), Thahctrums (p. 137), DahHas (p. 519), 

 Hollyhocks (p. 272), and a few others. These are the plants that will 

 form the great effects of the border. The nearest parts, and some 

 spaces between the taller growths, should have groups of plants of 

 lower stature, and yet of a somewhat bold form of foliage. Of these 

 the broad-leaved Saxifrages (p. 415), and Funkias (p. 816), are among 

 the best. Still dwarf er plants, such as Pinks (p. 238), and Pansies 

 (p. 233), are suitable for the extreme edge. 



' Bach kind of plant in the mixed border should stand in a bold group, 

 and the groups, differing in size and shape, according to the aspect of 

 the plant, should follow one another in a carefully arranged sequence 

 of colour, keeping plants of a colour together, such as Mulleins with 

 CEnotheras, and Tritoma with Oriental Poppy. In the case of the last 

 named, it is convenient to actually intergroup the two kinds, for the 

 foliage of the Poppies dies away early and the blank space it would 

 have left becomes covered by the later-growing leaves of the autumn- 

 blooming Tritoma. 



' Groups of red, orange and strong yellow follow well, and help each 

 other by forming a rich colour harmony. Flowers of a strong blue 

 colour, like Delphiniums, seem to ask for a contrast, such as that of 

 white Lilies (p. 846) or the pale yellow of (Enothera lamarckiatta 

 (p. 453), and Verbascum phlomoides (p. 702), the best of the Mulleins. 

 In practice it is perhaps best to exclude bulbous plants from the mixed 



