HARDY-PLANT BORDERS. 



437 



or other tender plants may well be introduced yearly for the 

 like purpose. Nor will much ingenuity be required to introduce 

 into either plan a number of good things of even winter interest, 

 and for the sake either of their foliage or their flower at that 

 season. This winter interest, however, may perhaps be best 

 secured by mainly furnishing with evergreen plants the " rockery 

 edgings," which it will be seen are suggested for both of these 

 borders. Such edgings are to be recommended on several 

 grounds, e.g. as imparting a desirable " finish " to the border, 

 as increasing the variety and interest of the plants brought 

 together, and as enabling alpine and rock plants to be introduced 

 with success and effect. It is indeed surprising how many, even 

 high mountain, plants may thus be grown, and those who are 

 without rockery and rock garden may be content to grow their 

 alpines in the manner here suggested. 



These plans (figs. 103, 104) have not been drawn to any very 

 precise scale. The proportion of length to width is roughly, it will 

 be seen, about five to one. The larger the scale the better, up to, 

 say, 30 feet wide, and long in proportion. As regards the edgings 

 the stones should be sunk naturally, their largest face undermost, 

 to one-half or two-thirds of their depth, and so that when in 

 position they do not rise many inches above the level of the bed. 

 It is best that the front edge of the stones should be below the 

 ground level. That care is taken in regard to the depth and 

 quality of the soil in these borders is assumed. Effect will, of 

 course, be lost with much reduction in the size of the borders. 

 But the plans will still be found available, though on a much 

 smaller scale, and the selection of plants for their season will, 

 we think, be found good, although these may not be planted in 

 those large " colonies" or quantities which alone can do full 

 justice to their beauty. 



The form of the borders may well be varied, and be made 

 more natural and uneven. 



It should be added that, while in the first plan colour effect has 

 been much studied (and variety in the material used less so), in 

 plans 2 and 3 the main effort has been to collect and group as 

 many as possible of the beautiful and interesting plants of the 

 respective seasons. 



The " rockery-edging " surrounding the border is closely 

 furnished between the stones with such plants as the following: — 



