24 BEGINNER'S BOOK OF GARDENING 



blooming flowers, so that when the Roses are bare and 

 the Delphiniums and Phloxes have not pushed above 

 ground, the border should even then be a blaze of 

 beauty. Crocuses, Snowdrops, Aconites, and Primroses 

 are quite enough for that purpose. The whole space 

 under the Roses I should cover with the common Wood 

 Anemone, and the golden Wood Anemone, and early 

 Cyclamens, and the earliest Dwarf Daffodils. And 

 among the Roses and Paeonies and other medium-sized 

 shrubs, I would put all the taller Lilies, such as require 

 continual shade on their roots ; and such as Bardalinum. 

 and the Californian Lilies generally, the Japanese, 

 Chinese, and finer American Lilies. Now we come more to 

 the front of the border, and here I would have combin- 

 ations, such as the great St Bruno's Lily and the delicate 

 hybrid Columbines, Primroses planted over hardy autumn 

 Gladioli, so that when the Primroses are at rest the 

 Gladioli should catch the eye ; Carnations and Daffodils, 

 planted so that the Carnations form a maze of blue-green 

 for the delicate creams and oranges of the daffodils. 

 When the Daffodils are gone there are the Carnations in 

 the autumn. A mass of Iberis correafolia happens to 

 have been the very best thing possible for some Lilium 

 Browni to grow through, for the Iberis flowered early 

 and then made a protection for the young growth of the 

 Browni, and then a lovely dark green setting for the 

 infinite beauty of the lily flowers. As for saying this 

 cannot be done, I say that it is nonsense, for the Iberis 

 flowered beautifully under such circumstances, and the 

 Lilies too. If once you get it into your head that no 

 bit of ground ought ever to be seen without flowers or 

 immediate prospect of flowers, heaps of combinations 

 will immediately occur to those conversant with plants, 

 and the deep-rooting habits of most bulbs and the surface- 

 rooting of many herbaceous plants — for instance, Colchi- 

 cums and Daffodils, with a surface of Campmiula pusilla 



