27 2 
Old Time Gardens 
as Blue-eyed Grass, or Innocence, or Scilla, and the 
whole plant regarded closely by itself isn’t at all bad ; 
but whenever and wherever you find it growing in 
a garden, you never want it in that place, and you 
shift it here and there. I am convinced that the 
Lobelia is simply impossible ; it is an alien, wrong in 
some subtle way in tint, in habit of growth, in time 
of blooming. The last time I noted it in any large 
garden planting, it was set around the roots of some 
standard Rose bushes ; and the gardener had dis- 
played some thought about it ; it was only at the 
base of white or cream-yellow Roses ; but it still 
was objectionable. I think I would exterminate 
Lobelia if I could, banish it and forget it. In the 
minds of many would linger a memory of certain 
ornate garden vases, each crowded with a Pandanus-y 
plant, a pink Begonia, a scarlet double Geranium, a 
purple Verbena or a crimson Petunia, all gracefully 
entwined with Nasturtiums and Lobelia — while 
these folks lived, the Lobelia would not be for- 
gotten. 
You will have some curious experiences with your 
Blue Border ; kindly friends, pleased with its beauty 
or novelty, will send to you plants and seeds to add 
to its variety of form ‘‘ another bright blue flower.” 
You will usually find you have added variety of tint 
as well, ranging into crimson and deep purple, for 
color blindness is far more general than is thought. 
The loveliest blue flowers are the wild ones of 
fields and meadows ; therefore the poor, says Al- 
phonse Karr, with these and the blue of the sky 
have the best and the most of all blueness. Yet 
