82, Hardy Plants for Cottage Gardens 
ders that are not revealed to the common eye. I recall an 
episode that occurred in Florida which illustrates this point. 
In front of the house we took for the winter stood a live- 
oak tree that gave me peculiar pleasure as I walked home at 
sunset, and saw its delicate tracery of foliage against a rose- 
tinted northwestern sky. I frequently chose that hour to re- 
turn in order to enjoy the perfect beauty. I spoke of it so 
often, that the owner of the house asked me to show it to her. 
I walked her off to the place where it was loveliest, and then 
bade her turn around and look. ‘“ Why,” exclaimed she, “it 
is beautiful, but I never saw it before, though I have lived 
here twenty years. Indeed I have been on the point of 
having that tree cut down, for it looked so ugly from my 
window.” 
An interesting feature of a garden is the use of a succession 
of low border plants as an edging. There is no one plant that 
will continue to bloom throughout the season, and instead of 
using a single variety, try planting three or four that will sup- 
plement each other. For example, one may use rock cress 
(Arabis alpina), which blooms early in May and alternated 
with this the forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris),a hardy variety 
that blooms later in May, and the Scotch pink, Dianthus 
plumarius, that blooms in June, leaving spaces where sweet 
alyssum or candytuft may flower during the remainder of the 
summer. By this arrangement a flowering edge may be main- 
tained throughout the season without lifting or setting out 
a plant. I have planted forget-me-not and Agopodium 
varigata just outside the board enclosures of my beds in 
the walks, and they completely hide these ugly but useful 
boundaries. 
For border plants I recommend among blue and purple 
perennials; Scilla Siberica, Anemone pulsatilla, pansy and 
lady’s delight for April; Aubretia deltoides, var. Eyeri, Myo 
