34 HARDY PERENNIALS 
paths are made and then planting cUmbers close to 
the fence, for their roots will ramify under the 
pathway. 
With a broad unbroken sweep covering all the 
central part of the garden, one may give play to 
personal taste in regard to arrangement. A good 
deal may be said in favour of marking out a number 
of small beds, the spaces between them being 
converted into grass paths. It is then possible to 
utilize each bed for a different class of plant, thus 
ensuring that one or other will be in full display at 
any particular period. Another plan is simply to 
make a series of groups of plants with irregular 
paving or stepping-stones rambling between them 
to facilitate easy access to any spot. These are, 
to our mind, better methods than the ordinary 
herbaceous border idea, although we hasten to 
remark this is solely a matter of taste. 
Beds of Hardy Perennials 
It has been so persistently reiterated for many 
years that the herbaceous border is always gay, that 
it is almost counted heresy to remark that the state- 
ment may be slightly inaccurate, but ardently as 
one may love hardy perennials, it must be admitted 
that with the average mixed border only parts are 
gay at any one time, and there are apt to be bare 
or untidy patches where some late blooming plant 
has not developed or an early flowering subject has 
finished its season's display, and it is this gappiness 
