CHAPTER VIII 
HARDY HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS 
As the glowing colours to a beautiful picture, so are the 
flowers to our gardens. In many books written on 
garden design, we find no mention whatever of the best 
kinds of plants, wherewith to fill the beds and borders 
when they are made. Surely this is a mistake, for our 
object in making a garden is to provide a home for 
flowers and trees. Were an artist attempting to in- 
struct us in the making of a picture, he would not stop 
when he had completed the rough sketch in charcoal. 
The most important work has yet to come. The filling 
in of the colours, the harmonising of the various shades, 
and the final touches which proclaim the good or bad 
workman, are points over which the novice is likely to 
stumble. A faulty, ill-balanced plan will to a certain 
extent ruin the appearance of our garden for all time; 
but Nature is kind, and the flowers which spring 
luxuriantly from the earth will by degrees help to hide 
many crudities. But this fact must not be abused, as is 
frequently the case with the careless worker. How 
often it is said in effect ‘‘Oh, of course the garden does 
not look nice yet, but wait until the things have grown, 
so as to hide the ugly corners.” It is the designer’s 
duty to see that there are no “‘ ugly corners,” and there 
ought to be beauty, because so full of promise, in the 
bare outlines of paths, beds and lawns—the charcoal 
sketch of the picture. The best effects are generally 
obtained by boldly defined colour masses, providing of 
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