50 
House & Garden 
MIDDLE PLANTS FOR THE PERENNIAL BORDER 
This Backbone of Herbaceous Bloom Offers a Great I ariety in Color 
and Form of Flower and Foliage 
H. STUART ORTLOFF 
T HERE is such a host of possible claim¬ 
ants for the important position of middle 
foreground in the perennial border, that 
it is only a process of elimination to secure just 
the ones we desire to work out our plans, and 
to secure our idea of a pictorial array. It is 
not, however, an easy process, for there are a 
number of things which we have to know and 
take into consideration in order to secure the 
best results. 
First, perhaps, is color. Some, like the bril¬ 
liant reds and purples, will on the slightest 
pretext declare an open feud on certain pinks, 
yellows and blues. Then it is necessary to use 
lavishly a number of peacemakers, such as 
white and pale yellow flowers, or plants with 
much foliage and few or later blooms. '1 hen, 
too, color is an important factor in working out 
special arrangements or ideas in gardening. 
We must know the average or the ultimate 
height of plants in order to give them a correct 
location so as to obtain the best possible ar¬ 
rangement. It would never do to hide some 
short but lovely little beauty behind a tall, 
luxuriant plant, which will delight 
us with its bloom only late in the 
season. The smaller plants must be 
favored and given a place of vantage 
in the front, behind the edging 
plants. 
It is easy to talk knowingly about 
“riots of color” and “continuous 
bloom,” but in order to obtain such 
utopian perfections we must be well 
aware of the time and duration of 
each and every plant we use, and 
then perhaps we fail. It is a hard 
problem to solve. Many have divid¬ 
ed their gardens, or their borders, up 
into sections, each given over to a 
particular period or season. Others 
resort to inserting potted plants, and 
remove the faded ones. But it is 
possible to get in one garden, or one 
border, an average amount of color 
ranging all summer. Who wants the labor in 
a garden to become such a burden as to make 
it cease to be a joy? Careful arrangement in 
the first place, with an eye to the season and 
duration of bloom, will go a long way in 
eliminating these gaps and pauses or making 
them few and far between. 
Another important consideration is prompt¬ 
ed by the fact that many of our garden beau¬ 
ties flourish and then disappear, foliage and 
all. We must value the effect of good foliage 
as well as bloom in selecting plants. If a plant 
has a foliage which is not persistent after 
blooming, but which is a valuable addition for 
its color, then we must place beside it another 
plant, which has full and excellent foliage, in 
order that it may spread out and obliterate the 
unseemly gap left by its neighbor. 
Many plants have stems which are so limber 
as to bend under the weight of bloom. Then 
it is necessary to plant around them lower, and 
stiffer plants to bolster them up, or taller ones 
to hide unsightly but necessary stakes. 
If we become acquainted with the charac¬ 
teristics of the flowers we use, which 
answer these questions or require¬ 
ments, we will be able to decide what 
and where to plant, but we still must 
consider the important question of 
how to plant. It is hard to lay down 
a hard and fast rule of thumb to 
cover all, for each individual plant 
varies in many ways. One gardener 
says, “Allow a square foot to each 
plant,” but when questioned he has 
to admit that he does not give each 
plant a square foot, but plants ac¬ 
cording to common sense. We all 
have a certain amount of this Yan¬ 
kee quality, but it is a hard task to 
apply it to planting. We are at a 
loss how to begin. So we just offer 
the old English rule of allowing one- 
half the ultimate height of the plant 
between each one. That is, if a 
Foliage varies with the types of 
delphiniums. The type of flower 
is distinctive 
at all seasons if one will not object to a few 
masses of foliage at times, and an oversupply 
of color at others. There will be gaps, that 
cannot be helped, unless we give the garden 
almost unceasing care, digging up and rear¬ 
Tlte day lilies have a foli¬ 
age which is long, nar¬ 
row and apt to droop 
This border is composed of middle and back perennials — 
spirea and delphinium. Each presents a marked individu¬ 
ality in foliage and flower. Contrast the long spikes of the 
delphinium with the feathery character of the spirea 
While the foliage of phlox 
is not striking, the flowers 
form wonderful panicles 
