DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16633#0399
Modern English Gardening
379
on both faces, so that room is provided for an increased number of plants, while at the
same time those planted in the border itself, on the level, are not robbed. Supports may be
of various kinds and materials, including rustic work; but those who are prepared to go to
the first expense of iron espaliers must reap their reward in time, for metal espaliers are
practically everlasting. Such woodwork as is attached to them—and some is almost
indispensable—need not come into contact with the ground, and consequently it also has
a long life. Admittedlv the erection looks somewhat crude at the outset, but it is covered
in a year or two, and thereafter is an object of great beauty. A similar framework may be
used at will for the back of a border on the outskirts of a lawn or elsewhere.
THE BEST HERBACEOUS PLANTS
One of the difficulties in the way of colour-harmonies in herbaceous borders is the
unexpected extension of coarse-growing kinds, which often affects less rampant subjects
injuriously. Thus there are certain plants, by no means without ornamental value—moon
and ox-eye daisies, anchusas, Japanese anemones, even Michaelmas daisies—which are
apt to become a nuisance. The Japanese anemones are very beautiful, but they are terrible
rovers in soils which they like, and their roots penetrate so deeply that if once they get
out of hand it is almost impossible to bring them under control again.
As plants which do not encroach, which are easily kept under control, and which
yet are exceedingly beautiful, hollyhocks, phloxes, pyrethrums, peonies, lupins and
delphiniums must be considered best for the herbaceous border. Hollyhocks are never
more beautiful than when used as the back of an informal border beside a walk (Fig. 638),
and it is a mistake to suppose that they must necessarily become unsightly through disease,
which can be kept in check by spraying with Bordeaux mixture. Phloxes are almost ideal,
and it is very gratifying to know that there are now large numbers of splendid varieties.
As a matter of fact, phloxes are well worth growing in beds to themselves, so far as summer
effect is concerned; earlier blooms can be got by planting bulbs with them. At Gravetye
Manor, Mr. William Robinson's place in Sussex, one sees a bed of summer-flowering
phloxes which in June is brilliant with the little-grown but exceedingly attractive Tropaeolum
polyphyllum, with its curious, twisted, creeping growth, grey leaves, and masses of
canary-coloured flowers; the bed is edged with lavender.
Pyrethrums are good or bad according as they are tended and staked or left uncared
for. The stems are not strong enough to sustain the flowers, consequently neglected plants
are ugly, but if some light, semi-natural support is used, such as the upper twiggy parts
of hazel pea-sticks, both foliage and flower-stems receive welcome support and the
plants show their full beauty; they are then capable of giving charming colour-effects in
the border.
The one drawback of herbaceous peonies as border plants, and particularly in colour-
blending, is their spreading, rather floppy habit, which prevents them from fitting in well
with more slender and upright growers. A better plan where space permits is to bed them,
using orange-coloured tulips to harmonise with the bronze of the young peony stems in
spring. It is easy to blunder with the staking and tying of peonies, and as a rule the less the
better. Nor should root interference go farther with peonies than is absolutely necessary.
379
on both faces, so that room is provided for an increased number of plants, while at the
same time those planted in the border itself, on the level, are not robbed. Supports may be
of various kinds and materials, including rustic work; but those who are prepared to go to
the first expense of iron espaliers must reap their reward in time, for metal espaliers are
practically everlasting. Such woodwork as is attached to them—and some is almost
indispensable—need not come into contact with the ground, and consequently it also has
a long life. Admittedlv the erection looks somewhat crude at the outset, but it is covered
in a year or two, and thereafter is an object of great beauty. A similar framework may be
used at will for the back of a border on the outskirts of a lawn or elsewhere.
THE BEST HERBACEOUS PLANTS
One of the difficulties in the way of colour-harmonies in herbaceous borders is the
unexpected extension of coarse-growing kinds, which often affects less rampant subjects
injuriously. Thus there are certain plants, by no means without ornamental value—moon
and ox-eye daisies, anchusas, Japanese anemones, even Michaelmas daisies—which are
apt to become a nuisance. The Japanese anemones are very beautiful, but they are terrible
rovers in soils which they like, and their roots penetrate so deeply that if once they get
out of hand it is almost impossible to bring them under control again.
As plants which do not encroach, which are easily kept under control, and which
yet are exceedingly beautiful, hollyhocks, phloxes, pyrethrums, peonies, lupins and
delphiniums must be considered best for the herbaceous border. Hollyhocks are never
more beautiful than when used as the back of an informal border beside a walk (Fig. 638),
and it is a mistake to suppose that they must necessarily become unsightly through disease,
which can be kept in check by spraying with Bordeaux mixture. Phloxes are almost ideal,
and it is very gratifying to know that there are now large numbers of splendid varieties.
As a matter of fact, phloxes are well worth growing in beds to themselves, so far as summer
effect is concerned; earlier blooms can be got by planting bulbs with them. At Gravetye
Manor, Mr. William Robinson's place in Sussex, one sees a bed of summer-flowering
phloxes which in June is brilliant with the little-grown but exceedingly attractive Tropaeolum
polyphyllum, with its curious, twisted, creeping growth, grey leaves, and masses of
canary-coloured flowers; the bed is edged with lavender.
Pyrethrums are good or bad according as they are tended and staked or left uncared
for. The stems are not strong enough to sustain the flowers, consequently neglected plants
are ugly, but if some light, semi-natural support is used, such as the upper twiggy parts
of hazel pea-sticks, both foliage and flower-stems receive welcome support and the
plants show their full beauty; they are then capable of giving charming colour-effects in
the border.
The one drawback of herbaceous peonies as border plants, and particularly in colour-
blending, is their spreading, rather floppy habit, which prevents them from fitting in well
with more slender and upright growers. A better plan where space permits is to bed them,
using orange-coloured tulips to harmonise with the bronze of the young peony stems in
spring. It is easy to blunder with the staking and tying of peonies, and as a rule the less the
better. Nor should root interference go farther with peonies than is absolutely necessary.