WOOD AND SHRUBBERY EDGES 97 



There is a small-growing perennial Aster, A. corym- 

 bosus, from a foot to eighteen inches high, that seems 

 to enjoy close association with other plants and is easy 

 to grow anywhere. I find it, in conjunction with 

 Megasea, one of the most useful of these filling plants 

 for edge spaces that just want some pretty trimming 

 but are not wide enough for anything larger. The 

 same group was photographed two years running. 

 The first year the bloom was a little thicker below, but 

 the second I thought it still better when it had partly 

 rambled up into the lower branches of the Weigela 

 that stood behind it. The little thin starry flower is 

 white and is borne in branching heads ; the leaves are 

 lance-shaped and sharply pointed ; but when the plant 

 is examined in the hand its most distinct character is 

 the small fine wire-like stem, smooth and nearly black, 

 that branches about in an angular way of its own. 



These are only a very few examples of what may 

 also be done in a number of other ways, but if they 

 serve to draw attention to those generally neglected 

 shrub edges, it may be to the benefit of many gardens. 

 Where there is room for a good group of plants they 

 should be of bold and solid habit, such as Tree Lupine, 

 Peony, Acanthus, Spireea Ar uncus, the larger hardy 

 Ferns, Rubus nutkanus, or plants of some such size and 

 character. The low-growing Bambusa tessellata is a 

 capital shrub-edge plant. 



