Gardening Suggestions, by "Veronica" — I. 



EDGINGS FOR FLOWER BORDERS — SOME ARE A SOURCE OF ENDLESS 

 TROUBLE AND EXPENSE — ONLY ONE PLAN SEEMS BEST IN EVERY WAY 



[Editor's Note. — Please do not ask us who "Veronica" is, and please do not send letters for her in our care. The communications 

 which we are about to publish were not sent anonymously, but they are pseudonymous. They come from a lady who is not a professional 

 gardener, and in that way these "suggestions" may perhaps be more interesting to other amateurs. To 'us they seem remarkably brief and 

 pointed. We violate no confidence in saying that she lives in the State of New York, for the practicability of gardening ideas cannot be 

 judged without knowing the region in which they are written. But remember, "Veronica" must not be bothered with questions.] 



TN garden making, one of the first ques- 

 *■ tions is, how to edge the borders. 

 Many people, to get an immediate effect, 

 put in grass edgings, forgetting what an 

 endless source of trouble and expense they 

 will be. They must be mowed, have their 

 edges clipped straight, weeds taken out (for 

 weeds look even worse in an edging than 

 on a lawn) — and flowers hanging over will 

 be injured by all these operations. 



Box edgings are charming, but they are 

 very expensive, and parts have to be replaced 

 every year. Except in favored spots, or near 

 the sea, they are not hardy, and must be 

 heavily protected, which is, of course, both 

 ugly and extravagant. Another delightful 

 evergreen edging plant is the spring-bloom- 

 ing heather, Erica herbacea, var. carnea, 

 but I hardly dare recommend it, as I have 

 only seen it in my own garden. Two 

 plants made a dozen in three years; it 

 has proved itself perfectly hardy, and the 

 little flower buds show all winter long. 



We have put a few hemlock branches over 

 it in winter, but that is, perhaps, unneces- 

 sary. The heath family requires peaty soil 

 and perfect drainage, so this heather should 

 not be tried in low or limy soil. Its flowers 

 are among the very first in early April, and 

 last a whole month, changing from soft, 

 pale pink to magenta. The great objec- 

 tion to this plant is the price. 



In England tiles and lead edgings are 

 sometimes used, but they must be very good 

 and unbroken to look well, and they are 

 easily broken. Not long ago I saw a big, 

 square kitchen garden, with flower borders 

 about eight feet wide. It happened to con- 

 tain a lot of the gray-leaved Dianthus 

 plumarius, and this was being divided so 

 as to form an edging. A grass edging 

 about one foot wide being left, how- 

 ever, the two were not harmonious. In 

 Miss JekylPs charming book, "Colour 

 in the Flower Garden," there are several 

 pictures of just such borders, edged 



with the dianthus, and very well they 

 look. 



There remains making edgings of our 

 own native stones, which are very plenti- 

 ful in most places about New York. A 

 small ditch should be dug, and the stones 

 laid in with a line. The flowers will soon 

 hide them, sow themselves between them, 

 and delight in them generally, for the stones 

 keep the roots moist and the flowers dry. 



These photographs show self-sown plants 

 of Campanula Carpatica, and Eschscholzia, 

 and they are very fine specimens. The seed 

 germinated between the stones because of 

 the moisture there, and the blooms have 

 revelled in the dry path. 



Of course, such an edging is not for the 

 formal garden, but if there were fewer for- 

 mal gardens among people not very rich, 

 there would be more garden beauty. A 

 formal garden has to be so very perfectly 

 kept up to be worth while, and it is not in har- 

 mony with rough, rocky country. 



California poppy (Eschscholzia) and, on the right, Carpathian bellflower, both self-sown, are the striking features of these informal edgings 



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