I 
CHAPTER VI 
THE MIXED BORDER 
For a small garden — Importance of careful selection — Only 
the best varieties— The restraining of one’s acquisitive- 
ness — Grouping and names of plants — List and plan. 
For small gardens no better example of a 
successful mixed border can be found than a 
cottage garden. Whether it is that the space 
is so limited that each individual plant is more 
carefully tended than in a large garden, or 
whether it is merely that each plant is better 
seen, the fact remains, that nowhere does one 
see more beautiful effects and better-grown 
plants than in some of our country villages. 
The outdoor chrysanthemums in Scotland and 
in Staffordshire are a perfect sight, and put 
many of us owners of larger gardens to shame ; 
and so it is with many another plant. Here 
are to be found not so much the broad masses 
of studied colour, but a kaleidoscope of vivid 
detail and good cultivation. These gardens 
are never without bloom from spring to late 
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