54 HERBACEOUS GARDEN 
of shoots and size of plants. It needs to come 
about half way up, and when the bloom is 
over can be rolled up and put away till another 
year, or moved on to another plant. 
Another much-advocated way is to insert 
feathery branches in and round the clumps, 
while they are beginning to grow ; but this 
has not always proved a success in a heavy 
wind, as it seems difficult to get branches 
stout enough to bear the strain. It answers 
well for smaller plants, however. 
The old way of stout stakes driven into 
the ground is a very good one if a sufficient 
number of stakes are put in, and each shoot 
is looped up separately, three or four shoots 
being looped up to each stake independently 
of each other. This entails much labour and 
quantities of tarred twine, green tape, or 
raffia, as the case may be, but is eminently 
satisfactory in the end. 
A wonderful example of staking was seen 
in Mr Williams’ garden at Lanfair one 
year, when clumps of the pink aster, St 
Egwin, had been so carefully and artistically 
trained and guided, by means which presented 
no evidence of their existence, that from a 
distance they looked like clumps of rhodo- 
dendrons edging the drive, and were rounded 
