HOUSE AND GARDEN 
September, i 
9 T 3 
149 
flowers, especially as they keep their character until the very last 
of the season. There are seven light blue iris in the border that 
bloom in early June, and six dark blue ones that bloom in the 
beginning of July. Between them, the sweet williams and clove 
pinks give a lavishness of lovely pink color and spicy fragrance. 
If you have had no experience with perennials, you will find 
that there is a greater difference between them and annuals than 
their names suggest. It is all very well to know that perennials 
outdo annuals by coming up year after year, but it sometimes 
takes experience to real¬ 
ize, that, unlike annuals, 
they do not reach their 
prime for a few seasons. 
Our phlox is now four 
feet high, but it would 
have been very lonesome 
the first year if the seeds 
of the cornflowers and 
Shirley poppies had not 
come to the rescue and 
responded with a mar¬ 
velous host of blue and 
a fairy-like gamut of 
pink. Then in fall there 
was a high, filmy row of 
cosmos with its lovely, 
daisy-shaped flowers of 
pale pink, lavender, and 
plum. There used to be 
sweet peas blooming by 
the wall while the Bos¬ 
ton ivy was young. Once 
there was a September 
mass of garden asters, 
and again a various dis¬ 
play of annual dahlias. 
Nasturtium seeds, especially the picked rose and deep red ones, 
were always at hand to help as ground cover. For this purpose 
the climbers have their value. But these were all signs of youth¬ 
ful days, for, with all their charm, these annuals lacked the dig¬ 
nity, the structural 
value, which a front 
border should have. 
Of course, even now 
the annuals come in 
handy now and then. 
Sweet a 1 y s s u m is 
planted in time so it 
will bloom when the 
.clove pinks have 
passed. It has a way 
of acting as a charm¬ 
ing ground cover 
about the iris, and its 
white flowers and 
light green leaves 
'.have a way of con¬ 
trasting with the 
■deeper green and the 
-shadow depths be¬ 
hind it that gives the 
.border a valuable 
feeling of perspective 
and density. 
When the border 
was first made, it was 
mot specially fertil¬ 
ized. Since then we have learned more about plant hunger. In 
a border of this kind where many flowers grow in succession, 
there must be special nourishment. Our border has a good rich 
top dressing of cow manure for a winter covering, and besides 
that, we have learned how to feed it periodically during the sum¬ 
mer with bone meal or wood ash. If one part of the border lags 
behind the other in bloom, we rush for some nitrate of soda 
for a tonic. 
For all that, a garden has its losses and its sorrows, but if they 
are taken in the right 
spirit, they often bring 
fresh charms through 
fresh endeavors. The loss 
of many sweet williams 
last winter, for instance, 
gave the border its stalks 
of dull rose foxgloves for 
a June recompense. They 
were lovely beyond de¬ 
scription and dominated 
the border. Foxgloves 
recall the story of the ugly 
gosling, for they are like 
kin of cabbages until they 
rise to bloom. Then they 
are prime favorites with 
the bees and butterflies, 
and small wonder, for the 
inner sides of their droop¬ 
ing bell flowers are pat¬ 
terned like the choicest 
textiles of the fairy tares 
and charming as only 
flower linings can be. 
There are, too, two high 
plants of larkspur near 
the ends of the border. These are the only plants that were not 
planted in rows, for, on the whole, the very idea of the border 
was to let it stretch without break or vertical accent like the wall 
itself across the front, softening the outlines and modestly add¬ 
ing its charm of bloom 
and the quaint sug¬ 
gestions of its flower 
names to the interest 
of the house, for in 
the scheme of the 
front lawn the trees 
were grouped as ver¬ 
tical accents, and 
there is planting of 
barberry, spirea and 
deutzia to give soft¬ 
ened lines to the cor¬ 
ners of the main 
walls. The larkspur 
this year has held 
many spikes of deep 
blue and bloomed 
steadily for some 
weeks. The first two 
years it had a sorry 
time. It grew up 
strong and healthy un¬ 
til ready to bloom, 
and then it died at a 
(Continued on 
page 166) 
Iris and clove pinks give to the border in June a delightful combination of color 
and fragrance 
In early spring, just after the crocuses have faded, the pink, white and blue hyacinths 
make the border bright 
