to be seen from various distances and from many different points of 
view. 
A long life of gardening, and some early training in the fine arts, 
have taught me the supreme importance of having the flowers well 
arranged for colours, so that the whole border becomes a picture 
instead of a scattered collection of unrelated colourings. I have found 
it the most convenient, as well as the most effective plan, to have at the 
two ends plants of cool colouring and to come gradually, by a pro- 
gression of related colour harmonies, to a culmination of gorgeousness 
in the region of the middle of the length. Thus, supposing the border 
to face nearly south, we begin at the western end with some good blues 
in bold groups — Delphinium and Anchusa, to be followed by the 
steel-blue of Eryngium. There is something about flowers of pure blue 
colouring that seems to demand a treatment with a contrast, so that 
just here the rule that in general seems the safest to follow, that of 
harmonious sequence, is in abeyance, and though there- is nothing 
against treating the pure blues with a progression of violet and purple, 
they are to me more enjoyable if they are given a distinct contrast 
of palest yellow and white. Here we have a pure white Foxglove, 
the tall yellow ThaHctrum, MuUein and Oenothera Lamarckiana. The 
two last are specially suited for the place I have in mind, as it is 
partly shaded by a high wall and a large Spanish Chestnut that stands 
not far off, and neither of these plants are at their best in hot sunshine. 
The pale yellows in the border are followed by the deeper yellow 
of Coreopsis, Helenium, and some of the less weedy of the perennial 
Sunflowers. Soon we come to the splendid deep orange of African 
Marigolds and the rich mahogany browns of the French Marigolds, 
both tall and dwarf. Then come deep orange DahHas backing fier>- 
clumps of Tritomas, passing on to the pure scarlet of DahHas and 
Cannas, Salvias, GladioH and bedding Geraniums. The use of these 
grand summer plants is one reason why the border had better not 
be called hardy or herbaceous, for there are no hardy plants that will 
answer the same purpose. It is true that there are Monarda and 
Lobelia cardinalis and some grand Phloxes, but the border is too dry 
for the two first, which are happier in almost boggy ground, and the 
scarlet Phloxes brown badly in hot sunshine — moreover it is certainly 
more important that the border shall be beautiful than that it should 
be either strictly hardy or herbaceous. 
' At the back of the mass of rich red is a group of towering Holly- 
hocks, blood-red, with a few of a rich, dark claret colour. The whole 
of the red region has also an interplanting of the red-leaved form 
of Atriplex horiensis, and, nearer the front, of a French form of annual 
Amaranthus with dull red flowers of a pleasant quality and red-tinted 
6 
