SHRUB BORDERS AND HARDY FLOWERS. 



garden should be without F. Sieboldi. Acanthus Mollis should be grown either for the sake or 

 foliage, when it is a very handsome covering to the ground, or in large solitary groups where its 

 great flower spikes make it complete in itself. Few know that the perennial Phloxes do a great 

 deal better in crowded borders if grown in a resol ve garden, put in place in July and well 

 watered, than when left in the beds, even if divided in the autumn. 



All the early Chrysanthemums, of which there are now so many improved varieties, 

 can also be moved in July, and the low-growing Asters, though not quite as fine as those 

 divided in autumn, move quite well. To obtain a bright and full border in July, it is a ureal 

 help to scatter some mixed Poppy seed in March, pulling up later on all that are not wanted. 



The annual Purple Orach (Atriplex hortensis atro-sanguinea), w hich is really a kind 

 of spinach, has beautiful claret-coloured foliage, which contrasts well with white or yellow 

 flowers; seed can be sown in March and the seedlings thinned out or even transplanted. 



It has been impossible in the space of a short article to do more than name a few of 

 the less well-known herbaceous plants, including neither annuals nor bulbs. The real thing 

 for everyone to remember in making a garden of any kind is that the right cultivation of 

 all plants has been amply written about. All details can be learnt from books, but the 

 discretion and judgment necessary in the matter of selection and adaptation to the particular 

 soil or situation must ever rest with the reader, and can never be expected from a working 

 gardener, however intelligent or even well educated. Considerable imagination and a dash o1 

 artistic feeling, not unmixed with poetry, are absolutely necessary for the success of any 

 garden that is the least out of the common. It is far more a matter of temperament than 

 of sex or age; but, as with the other arts, gardening is a jealous mistress, and no success 

 can come to those who take it up violently one month and drop it the next. 



To those who really love it, it becomes too quickly an all-absorbing occupation. 

 Many will say, " Is it worth while ? Who can answer ? 



SHRUBS AGA1NSI WALi-S tfun-y-bwlch, Nuitr. Wales) 



