28 
A FEW FLO WEES 
particularly distinguished for beauty, which may bloom well or not and present as little variety as possible — or, will you 
have your garden a home for a selection of the most varied and beautiful of Nature’s floral productions, presenting a con¬ 
tinual succession of lovely and ever-changing forms and colors during three-fourths of the year ? 
Flower Borders. —The usual way, then, in which people generally attempt the cultivation of hardy flowers is in 
what is called the “ mixed border.” This sort of garden may be made in a variety of ways, and its success to a great 
extent will depend upon how it is made, and scarcely less on the position in which it is placed. Frequently it is made on 
the face of a planta¬ 
tion of trees and 
bushes which rob it. 
The roots of the 
trees and shrubs will, 
of course, occupy 
the ground, and 
there is less for the 
plants. These plants 
in their turn require 
deep digging ; the 
trees and shrubs will 
be injured by this 
operation. There¬ 
fore, while the effect 
of a good shrubbery 
as a background to 
a mixed border is 
very good, the re¬ 
sult from a cultural 
point of view is 
bad, because of the 
double call on the 
soil, so to say ; yet 
one of the most charming of mixed borders 
can be made on the face of a shrubbery by 
accepting the conditions and meeting them. 
The face of such a shrubbery should be broken 
— that is to say, the shrubs should not form a 
hard line, but the herbaceous plants should 
begin at that line, and the shrubs should come out to the edge and 
finish it here and there, thereby breaking the border agreeably. 
The variety of position and places afforded by the front of a shrub¬ 
bery is delightful. Even here and there, in a large open space, 
one might have groups or masses of plants that require good culti¬ 
vation, but generally it would be best to avoid this attempt, and use 
things which do not depend for their beauty on high culture — 
which, in fact, fight their way among dwarf shrubs — and there are 
a great many such growths. Many hardy flowers require good 
culture to be appreciated ; certain others take their chance, like an 
evergreen Candytuft, and the large-leaved Saxifrage, and the 
Acanthus, and the Day l ily, the Everlasting Tea, and a great 
many others. 
A Shrubbery Border.— A scattered, dotty, mixed border 
along the face of a shrubbery produces a miserable effect at all times; 
whereas a good one may be secured by grouping the plants in the 
bolder spaces between the shrubs, making a very careful selection 
of good things, each occupying a sufficient space and carefully 
studied as regards the shrubs around it. Nothing can be more de¬ 
lightful than a border made in this way ; but it wants good taste, a 
knowledge of plants, and that desire to consider plants in relation 
to their surroundings which is never shown by those who make a 
labeled, “ dotty,” mixed border, which is the same all the way along, 
and in no place looks pretty. The presence of tree and shrub life is 
a great advantage to those who know how to use it. Here is a group 
of shrubs over which we can throw a delicate veil of some pretty 
COLUMBINES. (AQUILEGIA.) 
