STRIKING PERENNIAL COMBIN ATIONS 
ISABELLA PENDLETON 
To Know the Most Effective Foil and Contrast to Each of the Garden’s Favorites 
Is to Know One of the Greatest Secrets of the Art of Planting Flowers 
perenne and Columbine make a 
happy June picture. 
The Phloxes are a large group 
of flowers, many of which, if truth 
were told, are better left unplanted. 
The wise gardener will confine him- 
self to the soft pinks, the mauves, 
and the white varieties. The fol- 
lowing are the best 1 have yet 
seen: — pink varieties: Elizabeth 
Campbell, salmon; Madame Paul 
Dutrie, blue-pink; Peachblow, 
mauve-pink; America, pink with 
Tyrian purple eye; Rynstroom, 
rose; white varieties: Miss Lin- 
gard, early; Jeanne d’Arc, late; 
Tapis Blanc, dwarf; Antoine Buch- 
ner, mid-summer; Mrs. Jenkins, 
late; mauve varieties: Crepuscule, silver-mauve 
with Tyrian eye; Le Mahdi, dark bluish-violet; 
Iris, bluish-violet; Pharon, mauve with white eye. 
The Globe-thistles (Eryngium amethystinum 
and Echinops ritro), are lovely with the Phloxes, 
also Statice latifolia and the blue Salvias. And 
I do not understand why Phlox Arendsii is not 
planted more frequently. It is highly effective in 
combination with lavender Candytuft and pur- 
ple Foxgloves. Add to these, Delphinium and 
S THE long lists in nursery cat- 
AY V^; alogues are often bewildering 
j/WV the aim here is to help the 
JitJwail gardener, especially the novice, 
by presenting a list containing varieties 
of striking effect — notably so in com- 
bination. No plant seems better quali- 
fied to head the list than Thalictrum 
glaucum which, for tall accents in the 
back of the border, is unrivalled. Its 
masses of yellow, ball-shaped flower- 
clusters rise above a sturdy growth of 
silver-gray foliage. With it drifts of 
blue Delphinium are effective and a 
pink climbing Rose in the background 
makes an ideal third in this colorful 
group. 
Salvia farinacea affords a sensation 
when seen for the first time — and it is 
not common. It makes a large plant 
four feet high, and its gray plume-like 
branches are jewelled all over with 
mauve flowers. The effect is dazzlingly 
brilliant in combination with copper- 
color and yellow Zinnias, Gladiolus pri- 
mulinus hybrids. Antirrhinum Orange 
King and soft Ageratum. And if you 
have never tried the Gladiolus primuli- 
nus hybrids you have one of the gar- 
den’s most exquisite surprises in store for 
you. These fairy-like creatures come 
in tones of yellow, pink, and old rose. 
They are particularly irresistible when 
seen through the white mist of Gypso- 
phila paniculata. 
A bewildering spot of color and of 
life is Buddleia variabilis superba with 
Japanese Iris, the former invariably a- 
flutter with the butterflies who love it. 
length of thirty inches! This plant needs plenty of space since it is shrubby 
in growth, and in order to obtain the effect desired it should be massed in 
quantity. In front of shrubbery Lycoris squamigera is suggested. In early 
spring attractive green foliage appears which grows until July, when it ripens 
off and disappears; but a month later, as if by magic, the flower stalks 
spring from the ground to a height of two or three feet and develop an 
umbel of large and beautiful lily-shaped flowers of a delicate lilac-pink 
shaded with clear blue. If you plant with it Amsonia salicifolia (A. Taber- 
naemontana) its graceful foliage will provide ground cover as well as a soft 
setting for the pink flowers of the Lycoris. 
With regard to Iris, one safe rule, if you don’t know much about them, 
is to “stay clear” of the Squalens section of the Bearded Iris. They 
are suffused with neutral tones and lose brilliance in the garden. On the 
other hand, the Pallida section contains all the clear colors. Some of the 
best mauve varieties are: — Chester Hunt, Juniata, Albert Victor and the 
always good and reliable Iris pallida dalmatica. 
Deliciously fresh looking is the Iris in those varieties that border on 
pink and some stunning new introductions bordering on the rose shades 
are:— Isolene, Mt. Penn, Lent A. Williamson, and Mildred Presby. A num- 
ber of other new varieties are particularly pleasing because of their deli- 
cate markings. Anna Farr is white veined blue, Minnehaha is white 
shaded yellow, and Wyomissing is suffused with a delicate soft rose. These 
three blooming together with Phlox Lapharpii, Heuchera (rose pink), Linum 
THE COMPLEMENT 
OF EACH OTHER 
In both color and form the Columbine, 
when it is yellow, and the Iris in the blue 
shades are altogether delightful in each 
other’s company 
1 have seen its panicles achieve a 
8t 
