30 
WORTHY OF GENERAL CULTURE. 
TRF.F. PEONIES. 
situations supposed to be necessary for us. We should not so much follow an idea because we have seen it carried out 
somewhere else, but rather develop features that suit the ground and all the surroundings. 
General Directions. — Mixed borders may be made in a variety of ways ; those interested in them will do well to 
bear in mind the following points : Select only good plants ; throw away weedy and worthless kinds ; there is no scarcity 
of the very best. See good collections, and consult good judges in making your selection. Place borders where they 
cannot be robbed by the roots of trees ; see that the ground is thoroughly prepared, and rich and deep enough — never less 
than 2 '/ 2 feet of the best friable soil. The soil should be so deep that in a dry season the roots should seek their supplies 
far below the surface. On the making of the border depends, in fact, whether the vegetation will be noble and graceful, or 
stunted. If limited to one border only some variety will be necessary to meet the wants of peat and moisture loving plants. 
In planting, plant in groups, and not in the old dotting way. Never repeat the same plant along the border at intervals, 
as is so often done with favorites. Plant a bold, natural group of it, or two or three groups if you must have so many. 
Do not be particular to graduate the plant always from the back to the front, as is generally done, but occasionally let a 
bold and sturdy plant come toward the edge ; and, on the other hand, let a little carpet of a dwarf plant pass in here and 
there to the back, so as to give it a broken and beautiful, instead of a monotonous, surface. Have no patience with bare 
ground. Cover the border entirely with dwarf plants ; do not put them along the front of the border only, as used to be 
done. Let Ilepaticas and double and other Primroses, and Saxifrages, and Golden Moneywort, and Stonecrops, and 
Forget-me-nots, and dwarf Phloxes, and many similar plants, cover the ground everywhere — the back as well as the 
front of the border — among the tall plants. Let these little ground plants form broad patches and colonies here and there 
by themselves occasionally, and let them pass into and under other plants. A white Lily will be none the worse, but 
all the better, for having a colony of creeping Forget-me-nots about it in the winter or spring. The charming variety 
that may be thus obtained is infinite. Thoroughly prepared at first, the border should remain for years without any digging 
in the usual sense. All digging operations should be confined to changes and to filling up of blanks with good plants, 
and to the re-arrangement of ground plants. If the border is in the kitchen garden, or any other position in which it is 
desired to cut it off from its surroundings, erect a trellis at its back from 6 to io feet high and cover this with 
climbing plants — Clematises, Roses, Sweet Briars, Honeysuckles, or any beautiful and thoroughly-hardy climbing plants, 
not twined too stilTly, but allowed to grow into free wreaths. Roses of the very hardiest kinds only should be employed, 
so as to guard against gaps in severe winters ; the old single Clematis, the mountain and the sweet autumn Clematis 
(C. flammula), as well as other single kinds, should have a place here as much as the larger forms. The trellis may be 
made in the usual way, of wood or iron, or in a simpler and certainly handsomer way of rough tree posts and branches. 
In case the soil is not very deep or not very well prepared, and the surface is not covered with green life in the way advised 
above, it will be well in many cases to mulch the ground by placing a couple of inches of some light, sweet dressing 
