BORDER. 



30 



BORDER. 



of their spikes of succulent scarlet fruit. 

 The English names of the species are 

 strawberry blight and spinach blight. 



Blood-flower. — See Hemanthus. 



Blumenbachia. — Loasacece. — 

 Dwarf annuals, with pretty white 

 flowers, and very curiously twisted 

 seed-pods ; which only require sowing 

 in the open border in April. There 

 is, however, one drawback to their 

 general cultivation, which is, that they 

 sting as badly as a nettle. 



Bluebottle. — See Centaurea. 



Bluets. — See Centaurea. 



Bog earth. — See Peat and Heath 

 Mould. 



Bona Nox — See Ipomjea. 



Bonapartea See Lytt^ea. 



Borage. — See Borago. 



Borago. — Boraginece. — Annual 

 and perennial plants with blue, white, 

 or pink flowers. Natives of the 

 South of Europe and Persia ; of easy 

 culture in any common soil. 



Border. — A border differs from a 

 bed in having a walk only on one 

 side ; and an ornamental border, in 

 which flowers or shrubs, or both, are 

 grown, ought to have the plants so 

 arranged in regard to height and dis- 

 tance, as to have them seen to the 

 greatest advantage from the walk. 

 For this purpose the lowest-growing 

 plants should be placed in front, and 

 the highest kinds behind them, and 

 the distance between the different 

 plants should be proportioned to their 

 breadth, not to their height ; because 

 a very tall-growing plant, such as the 

 common lily, is sometimes a very 

 narrow one, and a low bushy plant, 

 such as the peony, is sometimes three 

 times as broad as it is high. Hence, 

 in a border which is to be composed I 

 of a great variety of flowers, the 

 plants cannot be placed in rows, or at 

 regular distances ; but a space must 

 be apportioned to each plant according 

 to its width keeping in view the ne- 



cessity of always leaving a clear space 

 of a few inches, round every plant 

 whether large or small. The spaces 

 round the large plants, say those 

 which are from one to three feet in 

 diameter, ought not to be less than 

 six inches or nine inches on every 

 side ; while those round the small 

 plants, under six inches in diameter, 

 need not be more than three inches. 

 It is much better to have the spaces 

 too wide than too narrow ; for in the 

 latter case, an appearance of confusion 

 is produced ; while in the former 

 order and proportion appear to reign 

 through the whole. The same ge- 

 neral principles and proportions will 

 apply in the case of a border composed 

 wholly of shrubs. (See Shrubbery.) 

 With regard to the mode of arrang- 

 ing herbaceous plants in borders with 

 reference to the colour of their flowers 

 and time of flowering, the object ought 

 to be to have an equal number of 

 plants in flower in each of the floral 

 months ; and among the plants of 

 each month to have as nearly as pos- 

 sible an equal number of each of the 

 principal colours. This is the beau 

 ideal that the cultivator should keep 

 in view ; but it is not easy to carry 

 it out into practice without the assist- 

 ance of a reserve garden, and a number 

 of plants in pots, that can be brought 

 out when in flower on the shortest 

 notice, and substituted for any plant 

 which perhaps has not come into 

 flower sufficiently soon, or which has 

 not produced a proportionate quantity 

 of flowers. In actual practice in 

 this case, as in many others, where 

 strict rules are laid down to act upon, 

 the object is endeavoured to be ob- 

 tained by what gardeners call trial 

 and correction, and the consequence 

 commonly is, that it is never at- 

 tained effectually. To explain this, 

 we may suppose a gardener about 

 to plant a border of flowers which 



