The Garden Magazine, October, 1920 
89 
ALONG THE GREAT SOUTH BORDER WHERE OLD APPLETREES STAND GUARD 
In August these snowdrifts of Phlox Tapis Blanc refresh; and through the seasons the procession of Flora, 
planned with only sufficient lull after each feature to allow assimilation of its beauty, is continuous 
bright reds will be found there, the deeper reds next, then the 
purples and deep blues in succession, and the lighter blues and 
lavenders at the far end. In short, 1 follow, as far as practicable, 
Nature’s plan in distributing colors, putting the colors of distance 
at the end of the planting usually and farthest from the obser- 
ver. The character of the foliage however and the height to 
which a plant grows govern its use in grouping for pictorial ef- 
fect quite as much as the color of the bloom. There is through- 
out the whole border a lavish use of white — rightly the emblema- 
tic color of peace, for it adequately separates and harmonizes 
otherwise jarring tones. An attempt is made, too, to have the 
periods when the border is full of flowers, as different species 
come into perfection, quite distinct in character and separated 
from each other by a lull, so to speak — a reversion as far as 
possible to plain greens again. Whenever such a lull comes in 
the border, we try to have some other part of the garden at a 
climax of bloom. 
T HERE are nine more or less distinct acts in the summer per- 
formance here. The Snowdrops and Squills, in broad 
patches among the other plants, usher in the pageant, at the same 
time that the Crocus riot along the front of the border. Next 
the early Tulips scattered throughout the planting hold sway for 
a brief week or two, soon to be followed by the taller red and yel- 
low Parrot Tulips; and these need to be still taller, for by the time 
they come into flower, each of the hundred odd Peony plants 
is a considerable mound of green, the Larkspurs are rapidly 
pushing above the Peonies and the Phlox are making a slower 
but none the less rigorous growth. 
Someone will feel like suggesting here that Cottage or Dar- 
win Tulips might be more satisfactory than the Parrots. 1 must 
confess that occasionally, as in this instance, sentiment tempers 
what might at times be a too ruthless application of preconceived 
maxims. The Parrot Tulips were in the first place a gift from 
a very dear friend, and they have thriven so well in this situa- 
that 1 have not had the heart to make the change. (Besides, the 
Cottage Tulips are elsewhere!) 
As the late Tulips are passing, the clumps of Fleur-de-lis — solid 
colored sorts are best for such planting — come into bloom. The 
Irises are used here mainly for the sake of their foliage, because 
they will over-lap into the Peony season unless cut down when 
hardly past their prime. By counting the buds on a half dozen 
plants at the approach of the Peony season, 1 have estimated 
that there must have been in the whole border close to three 
thousand healthy buds. Keeping any count of the actual num- 
ber of blooms was never attempted, however, as the lavish cut- 
ting would have sadly interfered with any such procedure. But 
for three weeks they form a surpassingly beautiful picture; and 
with that I am satisfied. 
As they finally wane, the white and blue Peachbells begin 
to nod, along with the buff-colored Foxgloves. These are all 
tall plants, and with reason, for the full grown Peonies must 
now be overtopped and the stiff Lily stalks and towering Lark- 
spurs are also to be reckoned with. These latter, in a wide 
range of delicate and deep blues and purples (grown from choice 
imported seed) with the early white Phlox Miss Lingard, 
scarcely allow the Foxgloves and Peachbells a moment’s breath- 
ing space before making their presence known, and that in no 
uncertain fashion. Some of them indeed attain a growth fully 
four feet taller than the modest thirty-six inches the English 
seedsman claimed for them. They and the Phlox, which are 
grouped in considerable masses about them, open at the same 
