AUTUMN BORDER FLOWERS. 



531 



better not to destroy the beauty of the summer border by trying to 

 get it in partial bloom spring, summer, and autumn. 



When one is shown round a friend's garden, one is so often 

 told, " You should have been here a fortnight ago," or else " in a 

 month's time." It is a curious fact, never mind what time of year 

 one is in that garden, there is always some excuse; the reason is 

 that too much has been attempted. The border may look fairly well 

 in May and June ; it has a hard struggle in July, and in August it 

 throws up the sponge and decides not to try any more. 



To have a grand effect in the border one must take particular care 

 to have the ground thoroughly trenched ; if this is done properly at 

 first, a border will last several years, though it will, of course, require a 

 top-dressing every year, and the dividing and replanting of most of 

 the strong perennials. It is extraordinary how plants that have been 

 split up each year will withstand a drought, whereas those that have 

 been left in position for several years and grown into hard clumps 

 show very early in any drought that they are in trouble. 



The planting is one of those things that cannot be done in 

 haphazard style, and before it is begun it is far better to work out a 

 proper plan than simply to put in the plants regardless of time of 

 flowering or colour; and, what is still more important, to choose those 

 plants that will hide others whose period of bloom is over. 



Do not make the mistake of getting the plants in regular rising 

 heights from the path to the back of the border. Allow some of the 

 taller plants to come boldly to the front, and get some of the dwarf ones 

 to recede into the border and form small bays of colour, which are always 

 pleasing, bearing also in mind that it is more effective to plant in long 

 irregular clumps than in the ordinary round clump generally seen. 



The constant repetition of the same kind of plant should be avoided 

 as much as possible. One generally has a particular favourite, and 

 one likes more than one clump of it ; but, as a general rule, plant 

 a good patch and have done with it. 



Plant thickly ; no ground should be visible when the border-season 

 is on ; there is again the double advantage in that it looks better and 

 saves weeding, as in a thickly-planted border the weeds have but a 

 poor chance. Now with the summer border (by which I mean that one 

 that starts with the Delphiniums and is ended by the frost destroying 

 the Dahlias), its plan of colouring is gradually unfolded from the 

 beginning of July, and from the middle of that month to mid-September 

 it is a blaze of colour, and in ordinary seasons is still looking bright well 

 into October. It must be our aim not to make the mistake of colouring 

 as in the small beds before mentioned, but by starting as you enter the 

 border at either end with flowers of light colouring and foliage plants 

 of grey-glaucous or bluish leaf. As one passes towards the centre 

 the colour is allowed to become stronger and stronger, till in the centre 

 position you get one strong colour vying with another. There is all the 

 difference in its effect now, as the eye has been gradually educated up 

 to it, and with a little selection it will be found the colours do not clash. 



2 N 2 



