34 
THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
grown on the walls. Unsightly tree stumps, or trees which 
have lost their former beauty, can be used as hosts for 
supporting the growth of lovely climbing roses and other 
plants. The margins of formal fountain basins or lily ponds 
can be rendered less harsh and monotonous to view by a 
fringe of graceful hardy ferns or other plants ; shady corners 
converted into really delightful features by colonies of ferns 
and shade-loving plants ; bare banks beautified by trailing 
plants or shrubs, or colonies of hardy bulbs in spring ; in fact, 
the owner of any garden who takes a real interest in it, and 
possesses a more or less moderate amount of artistic talent, as 
well as a fair knowledge of plant life, may by the judicious use 
of the wealth of vegetation described in the main body of this 
work, successfully accomplish the task of converting his 
garden, whether large or small, into an exquisitely beautiful 
floral paradise. 
Having said so much by way of introduction, we will now 
proceed to deal in detail with the methods of garden beauti- 
fication to serve as a guide to those desirous of carrying them 
out. The first and most important theme to claim attention is 
the furnishing of borders with hardy plants in such a manner 
as to provide a continuous display of flowers from early spring 
to late autumn, and, at the same time, yield a progressive 
scheme of harmonious colour effects. 
The Hardy Plant Border. — There are several methods 
of planting borders with hardy plants. One is to grow them 
in rows graduating in height from the tallest at the back to the 
dwarfest in front. This plan is satisfactory in the case of 
narrow borders averaging two to four feet in width, but for 
those of greater width the arrangement is too formal and 
stereotyped, and certainly not artistic. For borders, therefore, 
averaging from four to ten or more feet in width the better 
way is to arrange the plants so that they form a series of more 
or less alternate bold groups and miniature valleys, thus 
imparting an undulating and less stereotyped effect to the 
surface of the plants when in full growth and blossom. Such 
a method, combined with an arrangement of the plants in a 
sequence of colour harmonies, is really the most fascinating 
and attractive of all modes of planting a herbaceous border. 
Borders in this case may be planted wholly with herbaceous 
