The Gardening World, January 18, 1908. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
good time is the main secret of successful gardening .” —Alfred Austin. 
CO NTEN TS. 
Amateur's Letter to Amateurs, An ... 29 
Apple King of Tomkins County 
(illus.) . 35 
Carnations : Work for January (illus.) 33 
Carnation Winsor (illus.) . 39 
Chrysanthemums for General Pur¬ 
poses . 30 
Chrysanthemums Sheltered in 
Autumn . 37 
Competition Awards . 30 
Competition, Prize Letter . 32 
Dragon’s Head, The Large-flowered 32 
Enquire Within .. 41 
Flower Garden, The (illus.) . 36 
Fruit Garden, The (illus.) .. 36 
Fruit (Hardy) Culture . 34 
Greenhouse, A January Da} r in a ... 39 
Greenhouse Plant, A Handsome 
(illus.) . 38 
Greenhouse, The Amateur's . 36 
Hoya carnosa variegata . 33 
Hydrangea, A New (Editorial) . 34 
"Orchids for Amateurs . 37 
Peas, Autumn Sown . 31 
Tritoma (Kniphofia) . 30 
Vetch, The Rosy Crown (illus.) ...... 31 
Work of the Week (illus.) . 36 
- ¥++ - 
“ Gardening World ” Pocket Diary. 
In reviewing our Pocket Diary, the Edi¬ 
tor of the “Journal of Horticulture” says 
he “ cannot but think that our own ‘ Hor¬ 
ticultural Directory : must have proved a 
useful guide to the compiler of the 
names.” This was in reference to the 
list of names of those who hold the Vic¬ 
toria Medal of Honour. Ah, to be sure; 
it is well to “ hae a guid conceit o’ oor- 
sels,” but our contemporary is mistaken. 
If he refers to The Gardening World 
for October 30th, 1897, p. 141, he will find 
a full and correct list of the original 60 
recipients of the medal. Since then we 
have been recording the names of addi¬ 
tional recipients. 
-- 
National Rose, Society. 
The next Metropolitan show of this So¬ 
ciety has been fixed for July 3rd and will 
be held at the Royal Botanic Gardens; 
the provincial show will be held at Man¬ 
chester on July 21 st, and the autumn 
show at the R.H.S. Hall, Westminster, 
on September 17th. Mr. Edward Maw- 
ley, the hon. secretary, states that 577 
new members joined the society last year, 
the total membership being now 2,484. 
The society had at the end of the year a 
balance in hand of ^294, in addition to 
the reserve fund. 
CXXVI. 
Planting Hardy Borders. 
Although we are well ahead of the time 
for actual spring planting, we may yet 
spend a little time on thinking out how, 
and what, we shall plant at a somewhat 
later period. It is a very important mat¬ 
ter, as upon it depends much of the future 
beauty and length of display in our gar¬ 
dens. It would be a good thing if owners 
of gardens would ask themselves, “Are 
there not positions in our gardens that 
might be made to yield flowers that now 
are bare, or almost bare of them ?” In 
nine cases out of ten it would be found 
possible to use many more carpeting 
plants in odd corners, out-of-the-way posi¬ 
tions under shrubs; dwarf plants for 
flowering before the tall subjects grew to 
any great height at the back portions of 
hardy borders ; spaces under deciduous 
trees, and other positions that will come 
to mind. Dwarf plants that are so won¬ 
derfully useful for work such as this give 
a grand decorative display, as it often 
happens that they are more profusely 
laden with flowers than taller varieties. 
It adds greatly to the beauty of the bor¬ 
der if many a tall subject springs from 
a setting of dwarf things. Think of it! 
a great clump of Crown Imperials in 
some half-shady position is many times 
more picturesque if it has about it a car¬ 
pet of blue Forget-me-not; or, the still 
unfaded foliage of Winter Aconite, for 
even if it does not remain until it flowers 
it is yet a dainty ground work for the tall 
growing stems. In an example which I 
recall to mind a great colony of Polyan¬ 
thus Primroses made a grand under¬ 
growth* for the noble 'Heracleum gigan- 
teum during the early stages of its 
growth. This was a little bit of north 
border that was very beautiful for many 
weeks in the spring time and so closely 
planted that it was as bright and gay 
as a sunny warm border facing the south. 
And now let me mention some of the 
dwarf subjects that are the most suitable 
for this work. In the more open positions 
Violas are invaluable, as they remain in 
blossom over a long period. Forget-me- 
nots, especially as a wide edging or other¬ 
wise massed, are very beautiful. The 
Polyanthus Primroses that I have already 
named are more effective than the ordin¬ 
ary Primroses for border work, and in 
colouring are exactly similar to the wild 
Primrose. For Carpeting the ground 
between shrubs or under large trees the 
Woodruff is excellent, as it flowers some¬ 
what late in the spring, but it is necessary 
to add that as it is of a decidedly smother¬ 
ing nature, it should not be associated 
O 
with other plants of a like dwarf char¬ 
acter. 
A plant of this same somewhat 
smothering habit, but excellent where it 
has space to spread and grow into wide 
patches, is the St. John's W ort—Hyperi¬ 
cum calycinum. It flowers for months 
during the late summer and throughout 
the autumn. Even now, as I write on 
one of the last days of the year, a clump 
of it, many feet across, shows a mass of 
flower buds, so that even in mid-winter 
it is a thing of promise (though these late 
buds may never develop) and like all 
plants that show buds in winter is an ob¬ 
ject of interest in the garden at the pre¬ 
sent time. 
Some of the dwarf Campanulas are to 
be recommended for open positions of 
cool aspects for summer flowering, and 
few things are more dainty than C. 
pusilla of either the blue or white variety 
on some north border. But I need not 
make a long list, everybody will rather 
experiment with his own' favourite sub¬ 
jects, or the particular plants that may 
be grown to the greatest perfection in his 
particular garden. I should, however, 
like to emphasise the decorativeness and 
beauty of using some of the dwarf plants 
amid" the taller subjects of the border. 
A large proportion of our high growing 
perennial plants are summer flowering. 
What an opportunity, then, of achieving 
spring colour and spring beauty round 
about them lies in this planting of dwarf 
subjects at their bases that shall long 
precede them in blossom and so make 
their portion of the border beautiful in the 
spring time. 
And this may be done without to any 
extent curtailing the number of the tall 
bold subjects. In the particular case I 
have referred to it was, literally, as a 
filling in or carpeting between that the 
dwarf subjects were used. We do not 
plant the taller subjects farther apart 
on account of the dwarf things—the 
Heracleum is not less stately and noble 
because the dwarf plants meet about its 
stems—the tall summer flowering Acon¬ 
ites (those splendid subjects for a some¬ 
what sunless aspect) are none the worse 
for having risen out of a carpet of W ood- 
ruff. And in the sunny spots the Holly¬ 
hocks do not suffer for having had the 
little Aster alpinus close about their 
stems for spring blooming. 
F. Norfolk. 
The Gooseberry mildew is doing serious 
damage in the Wisbech district, where 
1,500 acres of gardens have been 
scheduled. 
