158 GARDENS OF ENGLAND 



the front, but convenient for access to the wall 

 shrubs and for working the back of the border. 



"As it is impossible to keep any one flower 

 border fully dressed for the whole summer, and as 

 it suits me that it should be at its best in the late 

 summer, there is no attempt to have it full of 

 flowers as early as June. Another region belongs 

 to June, so that at that time the big border has only 

 some incidents of good bloom, though the ground 

 is rapidly covering with the strong patches, some of 

 them from three to five years old, of the winter- 

 flowering perennials. But early in the month 

 there are some clumps of the beautiful Iris pallida 

 dalmatica in the regions of grey foliage, and of the 

 splendid blue-purple bloom of Geranium ibei'icum 

 platyphyllum, the best of the large cranesbills, and 

 the slow-growing Dictamnus FroidneUa (the white 

 variety), and meadowsweets white and pink, fox- 

 gloves and Canterbury bells, and to the front some 

 long-established sheets of Iberis sempervirens that 

 have grown right on to the path. The large yuccas, 

 Y. ghriosa and Y. recurva, are showing up their 

 massive spikes, though it will be July before they 

 actually flower, and the blooms on some bushes of 

 the great Euphorbia Wulfenii, although they were 

 flowers of May and their almost yellow colour is 



