The Oriental poppy {Papaver orientate) is the most splendid of Ihe red flowers of June. The young seedlings are often winter-Killed so should be protected the first year 



A Garden of Bright Red Flowers-By Helen R. Albee, 



New 

 Hampshire 



A GUIDE TO THE SELECTION AND USE OF TRUE RED AND SCARLET FLOWERS TO THE 

 EXCLUSION OF TONES BORDERING ON PURPLE AND MAGENTA— HOW WHITE IS USED AS A FOIL 



(Editor's Note — This is the second article in a series of "color studies" for the hardy border. The frst appeared in the September, 1906, Garden Magazine. 



THE term red as applied to flowers has 

 great latitude; it includes all tones 

 ranging from orange-scarlet, pure scarlet and 

 blood red, to those tinged with bluish shades, 

 which verge from deep purplish pink, solfer- 

 ino, and magenta into crimson. Therefore 

 one needs to exercise much care in arranging 

 places for the different plants. By keeping 



In the late summer, and until frost, the scarlet sage 

 overwhelms all otner red Mowers 



orange tones at one end of the border and 

 purplish tones at the other, uniting them by 

 pure red, a certain color harmony can be 

 maintained, but it is difficult. 



Matters are very much simplified if all 

 solferino and magenta colors are absolutely 

 debarred. Fortunately, however, the red- 

 flowered plants usually have an abundance 

 of foliage, so that each plant furnishes the 

 background for its own flowers; and if the 

 various tones in the foliage of red-flowered 

 plants are given consideration as a part of 

 the color composition subtile effects can be 

 produced. But it requires intimate know- 

 ledge of the plants, and for this reason a 

 red border involves many experiments and 

 upheavals before it can be finally and 

 satisfactorily arranged. 



Most of the flowers mentioned are pure 

 red, and (with the exception of the spiked 

 loosestrife and marvel of Peru) there is no 

 suggestion of either a magenta or solferino 

 tone. The plants named here and the 

 supplementary tables on page 36 comprise 

 such as I have tried and found desirable. 



As a foil to the bright reds I recommend 

 the butterfly flower (Gaura Lindheimeri) , a 

 tender perennial from Texas, usually quoted 

 in the catalogues as an annual. The num- 

 erous white flowers, perhaps an inch across, 

 resemble orchids delicately poised on slender 

 mahogany-colored stems two to four feet 

 high. At a distance these graceful waving 

 16 



flowers look like hovering butterflies, hence 

 the name, and give a delightful airiness to an 

 otherwise red bed. At first I grew mine as 

 annuals but as the plants looked singularly 

 vigorous at the end of the season I mulched 

 them lightly with coarse litter and a few 

 leaves, and in the following spring was not 

 a little surprised to find they had spread 

 from the root. The second summer, instead 

 of growing only two feet high, they were four 

 feet high, and the loose raceme became dense 

 — almost a spike of bloom. In sheltered 

 gardens where protection is given by deep 

 snow the butterfly flower can be looked upon 

 as a hardy perennial. 



My red border shows its first color in 

 April, and from then until October there is a 

 constant succession. The first flowers are 

 the tulips, and of the early singles, Artus, 

 with its blood-red flowers, is the best: among 

 the doubles, Cochinille, pure red. Nothing 

 in May can equal the brightness and gaiety 

 of the many varieties of the flowering almond 

 (sometimes, but erroneously, referred to as 

 a peach). Its deep red and pink varieties 

 are verily the glories of the month. The 

 flowers are double. When once established 

 it is certainly one of the most beautiful of 

 shrubs, and it is no wonder that the Japanese 

 hold Prunus Japonica, fl. pi., (sometimes 

 known as P. nana) in so great esteem. The 

 ground about it needs to be well fertilized 

 and a liberal dressing of wood ashes will also 



