October 28,1880. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
387 
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J rCOMING EVENTS1 
28th 
Tn 
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29 th 
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30th 
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Sale of Bulbs at Mr. Stevens’ Booms, Covent Garden. 
31st 
SUN 
23rd Sunday after trinity. 
1 st 
M 
2 nd 
Tu 
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3rd 
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MAKING AND FURNISHING AN OLD-FASHIONED 
FLOWER BORDER. 
reaction which set in a few years ago in 
favour of old-fashioned border flowers has 
lately gathered much strength and is quite 
likely, in many gardens where sufficient thought 
may not be given to the subject, to be carried 
to extreme lengths, so that “ bedding-out ” may 
fairly be expected to crop up in a new form in the 
shape of these hardy flowers. For small gardens these, 
supplemented with some of the finer hardy florists'flowers, 
may well be left to hold their own against the ordinary 
bedding plants as usually managed, always provided the 
selection and arrangement of the plants are correct. Pelar¬ 
goniums and Calceolarias have obtained a hold in many 
country gardens that it will be difficult to displace, nor is there 
any necessity for it. A lady of high rank expressed her 
opinion to me the other day that far too few of these were 
grown now-a-days. Certainly there is nothing to approach 
them for autumn effect when planted en masse with a large 
expanse of grass as a setting ; yet for these, fine-foliaged 
plants, hardy florists’ flowers, and the commoner hardy border 
plants, there is plenty of room and to spare in the larger class 
of gardens. 
Especially grateful must those gentlemen be who have had 
their periodical fit of grumbling at their predecessors who 
removed the old occupants of borders to the rubbish heap, 
that the}' can again fill these same borders with the same kind 
of plants without running counter to that bedding fashion 
which does so much to break the backs of so many of us poor 
gardeners. It is to such borders I wish these remarks to 
apply. Bedding plants are entirely out of place, as a rule, in 
the positions the borders occupy—the kitchen garden, and 
even the poorest attempt at arrangement we have seen in these 
borders has been redeemed from failure by the interest the 
individual plants call forth : but now that effect in planting 
has been thoroughly mastered, and our employers have 
been accustomed to this effect for so many years, we must not 
suppose that they will tolerate any return to a system where 
effect does not hold a place of first importance. We can 
safely claim for mixed borders effect quite as good as can 
be procured from any other style of arrangement. Ordinary 
bedding plants, mixed anyhow so long as height is considered, 
make a border of great beauty—so great that only those who 
have seen them can realise what can be made out of odds and 
ends otherwise of no value ; and so a border of well-selected 
herbaceous plants supplemented with florists' flowers produce a 
display that cannot easily be excelled. Such borders as these 
have always been favourites of mine from their great value as 
cut flower depots. From February or March into November 
we can always rely on obtaining a quantity of cut flowers 
from these mixed borders—flowers, too, that are always weleome, 
more especially in the spring months. 
In commencing the formation of a border for hardy flowers 
a thorough preparation of the ground is of the first importance. 
I had occasion to make such a border seven years ago ; and as 
the soil was of the poorest character, and had apparently never 
been cultivated more than a spade’s depth, I cleared the worst 
of the subsoil out, and added a foot in depth of fresh material 
from an old rubbish heap, thus securing a good border about 
30 inches in depth ; as a reward for my labour I saw some 
Delphiniums in that border last summer averaging 9 to 10 feet 
in height. I also made and planted two borders five years 
ago, but had much better soil to work on, so that nothing 
but an ample dressing of dung was given, the borders being 
trenched three spits deep. With two surface dressings during 
that time all kinds of hardy plants have succeeded well. This 
autumn the borders have been emptied, and will again be 
trenched and a good dressing of manure worked in, when they 
will be expected to keep the plants in good flowering condition 
for a few. years. 
Though these borders have been under crop for five years, I 
would have preferred having them trenched again at the end of 
the third year. That is quite long enough for the majority of 
herbaceous plants to remain in the same position without being 
divided and replanted in freshened ground. As I was guided 
in the two cases just cited by the nature of the soil, so I advise 
others to be. In a poor unworked soil it is hopeless to expect 
the strong-growing species to do well, but provide them with a 
deep and good soil and they will flourish. In most gardens there 
are heaps of rubbish lying waste which can be made very good 
use of in improving the flower borders. If the soil is already 
in good condition I do not think it necessary to do more than 
trench deeply and work in a heavy dressing of manure, or manure 
and soil, as the work proceeds. This should be done imme¬ 
diately. It is also important that the plants be obtained at 
once. Many bulbs require planting without any delay if they 
are to be of much use for next year’s display. Other plants 
should either be purchased or procured from friends at the 
earliest moment. A few years ago plants were to be had 
which could be divided at this time into, in some cases, a 
dozen pieces, which with a little kindness in the intervening 
period would have formed good plants by the following March ; 
but nurserymen now divide the plants themselves, so that 
sometimes it is necessary to exercise much care to have the 
single plants sufficiently strong by planting-out time. In 
spring, when the bulbous plants have all made an appearance 
above ground, a further dressing of half-decayed manure should 
be forked-in about 6 inches in depth, and placing in it the 
remainder of the plants which are quite hardy, those that are 
tender to follow. 
Different styles of arrangement are advocated. I prefer the 
mixed system, and will explain more about it presently. First, 
there is the formal laying-out of the borders in “ parterres," 
employing large quantities of a very few kinds of plants to 
give effect; secondly, grouping the species together instead 
of scattering them about the borders ; and thirdly, planting 
No. 18.—Yol. I., Third Series. 
No. 1674 .—Von. LXiY., Old series. 
