HOUSE AND GARDEN 
May, 1910 
it may dawdle along in all manner of curves, according to the thing 
it follows. That is a matter that settles itself; likewise its length 
is pre-determined and sometimes, though not always, its width. 
A border that can be reached from both sides can of course be 
wider than one which must be tended from only one. 
Generally speaking, it is safe to say that walks within private 
grounds ought always to have a border, on one side anyway, if not 
on both — the exigencies of the situation will decide this — and the 
hedge, fence or lattice divisions between different parts of the 
grounds also invite such treatment, invariably. I should, how¬ 
ever, hardly call the planting of perennials in the foreground of 
shrubbery, a border in themselves, for they are placed intermittently 
when thus used and only when they and the shrubs are considered 
together, does a “border” result. 
COLOR AND GENERAL ARRANGEMENT 
Any wild roadside border where Nature has been allowed to 
have her way undisturbed, is usually an unrivalled object lesson 
in planting, for both color and mass. One of the loveliest borders 
1 have ever seen followed the bank of a tiny brooklet as it mean¬ 
dered across a meadow which lay at the foot of a gentle slope, 
whereon dwelt some splendid beeches. Here Nature and Art 
combined and from early, tender spring until the lusty autumn, 
color succeeded color in the magic broidery that fringed the little 
stream and divided the pleasaunce from a hay field beyond. 
Only the native plants and “weeds” had found lodgment there, 
and it was wild in the best sense of the word. One thing or another 
dominated it at different times during the season, but there was 
never an unbroken line of bloom the entire length of it. Early in 
the summer clumps of iris, bearing a scattered dozen blossoms, 
broadened suddenly here and there into great masses which pre¬ 
sented a marvel of almost solid blue, but these gave way to long 
stretches of vari-colored green where no blossoms were. Later, 
marsh mallows spread their pink loveliness like rosy clouds at 
intervals; daisies flourished in dazzling whiteness, and elder and 
the meadow sweet; then came goldenrod, and white and purple 
wild aster. Each month brought its dominant note, but always 
there were quantities of green and plenty of white, so nothing ever 
clashed, though each strong color held over until its successor was 
well established. And the whole length of the border—several 
hundred feet—was always a treat for even the weariest eyes or 
head, every day, all summer. 
Here then is one of the fundamental secrets—if secrets they 
be — of planting a border, or, speaking more broadly, of planting 
flowers. Let there be a succession of dominance, not merely a 
succession of bloom; let one color in different shades be repeated, 
here in a mass, there in a few fugitive blossoms throughout the 
whole. By this I do not mean that other colors are to be excluded, 
by any means—but everything should be secondary to blues when 
blues prevail, to yellows when they lead, to scarlet, to pink, to any 
dominant hue. 
Of course this means that clumps, varying in size, of the lead¬ 
ing varieties chosen should be planted more than once and possibly 
several times in the length of a border. These, blooming simul¬ 
taneously, carry the color throughout the whole; then, when they 
have finished blossoming, they furnish the necessary intervals of 
green, while their neighbors, who have been their green reinforce¬ 
ment, go on with the procession under the color which they have 
to offer. White-flowered plants of one kind and another will 
supply blossoms to keep each delegation company, while odds and 
ends, planted one kind in a group here, another kind there, may 
fill in the “chinks” and give sufffcent variation to stimulate 
interest. 
In other words a multitude of colors may and should be present 
at all times, but in this multitude one should always be more in 
evidence than the others. It is practically the same as a color 
scheme in anything else; a gown, a room, a jeweled bauble, a 
For the flower border it is much more satisfactory to avoid these long, 
straight rows and to plant so that there will not be an unbroken 
line of bloom in the entire length at any time 
picture—each one has its color motif. Other colors appear, com¬ 
plementing sometimes, contrasting or harmonizing, as the case may 
be, but always secondary to the leading color; and if this is not 
so, what a disastrous failure any one of the things mentioned is 
sure to be! 
Certain tones dominate when used in much less quantity than 
others. Yellow for example comes right out and shouts wherever 
it appears, and for this reason less plants producing yellow flowers 
are needed than of any other hue. Blue, on the contrary, con¬ 
tinually retires, consequently it must be used in profusion; this 
is true of the purple also, only in less degree. Red stands about 
midway between the yellow and blue, growing less obtrusive as 
it grows darker. 
Remember, too, that blue is the color to use when a sense of 
distance in small space is to be produced, or actual space exag¬ 
gerated, while yellow diminishes space in rather more than inverse 
ratio, bringing even remote points forward and into the picture 
in a sometimes startling fashion. 
The kinds of flowers to plant are of course largely a matter 
of individual preferment. Annuals, lovely though they may be 
can hardly be seriously considered in a composition that must, 
primarily, be permanent in order to enjoy that charm which is 
(Continued on page xiv) 
Bacon said of such as these “ They be but toys; you may see as 
good sights many times in tarts ” 
