FLOWER BORDERS. 
43 
PREPARATION OF FLOWER BORDERS. 
In the ordinary course of gardening operations there is usually 
a good deal of work to be done in the flower garden through 
this and the succeeding month, in the way of preparatory mea¬ 
sures, and, unless well attended to in this respect, the garden 
through the next summer will wear but a meagre appearance; 
so that, where a really anxious desire is entertained to secure 
a fine display, no amount of pains should be spared or time lost 
in making the necessary provision. 
It is not only required to have abundance of plants of the 
suitable kinds in the best health at the proper season, but also 
that the beds and borders they are destined to fill be in equally 
good condition. It is a very prevalent and erroneous idea that 
the earth in which flowers are to grow need not be rich. Oh, 
it is said, poor soil suits them best, as then they do not get 
leafy. Never was a greater mistake adopted for a rule under 
any circumstances, as though it was not necessary to have 
healthy leaves in connexion with the blossoms, that no drawback 
may be presented to the eye in its search for beauty. Plants 
in a flower garden should be each one perfect in itself, whether 
viewed separately or in masses. There can be no real beauty 
where a deficiency of vigour is apparent in any part, nor can 
fine flowers be expected to proceed from sickly, starved plants ; 
in fact, the very principles of a gardener’s art should teach him 
the necessity of imparting sufficient strength into the primary 
portion of the subject, which is its leaves, ere it will be reason¬ 
able that blossoms in their greatest beauty can be produced. 
There ought to be no doubt on the matter, and yet we find, 
in practice, the contrary notion obtains the greatest number of 
followers. 
That an error of almost equal magnitude may be fallen into 
through the opposite extreme must be allowed, though, as it 
occasions so much more trouble to raise the condition of the 
borders to a point beyond which it would be dangerous to go, 
without incurring an over-luxuriance, equally destructive to the 
