CHAPTER VIII

THE FLOWER BORDER IN AUGUST

By the second week of August the large flower border is coming to its best. The western grey end, with its main planting of hoary and glaucous foliage--Yucca, Sea Kale, _Cineraria maritima_, Rue, Elymus, Santolina, Stachys, &c.--now has _Yucca flaccida_ in flower. This neat, small Yucca, one of the varieties or near relatives of _filamentosa_, is a grand plant for late summer. A well-established clump throws up a quantity of flower-spikes of that highly ornamental character that makes the best of these fine plants so valuable. White Everlasting Pea, planted about three feet from the back, is trained on stout pea-sticks over the space occupied earlier by the Delphiniums and the Spiræas. A little of it runs into a bush of Golden Privet. This Golden Privet is one of the few shrubs that has a place in the flower border. Its clean, cheerful, bright yellow gives a note of just the right colour all through the summer. It has also a solidity of aspect that enhances by contrast the graceful lines of the foliage of a clump of the great Japanese striped grass _Eulalia_, which stands within a few feet of it, seven feet high, shooting upright, but with the ends of the leaves recurved.

Snapdragons, tall white and tall yellow, spire up five feet high, following the earlier Foxgloves. At the back is the pretty pink Dahlia Asia, with sulphur and pale pink Hollyhocks. A little further along, and staked out so as to take the place of the clumps of _Verbascum Chaixii_ that were so fine in the end of June, is Dahlia Mrs. Hawkins--palest yellow with a slight pink flush. Forward is a group of a Pentstemon of palest pink colouring named Spitzberg, that I had from Messrs. Barr's nursery, then a patch or two of palest blue Spiderwort, and, quite to the front, in any spaces there may be among the grey foliage, Lobelia "Cobalt Blue," the taller _Lobelia tenuior_, and the pretty little blue-flowered Cape Daisy, _Agathea cœlestis_.

The whole border is backed by a stone wall eleven feet high, now fully clothed with shrubs and plants that take their place in the colour-scheme, either for tint of bloom or mass of foliage. Thus the red-leaved Claret Vine shows as background to the rich red region and _Robinia hispida_ stands where its pink clusters will tell rightly; Choisya and _Cistus cyprius_ where their dark foliage and white bloom will be of value; the greyish foliage and abundant pale lilac blossom of _Abutilon vitifolium_ in the grey and purple region, and the pale green foliage of the deciduous _Magnolia conspicua_ showing as a background to the tender blue of a charming pale Delphinium.

The shrubs and plants on the wall are not all there because they are things rare and precious or absolutely needing the shelter of the wall, though some of them are glad of it, but because they give a background that either harmonises in detail with what is in front or will help to enrich or give general cohesion to the picture. The front of the border has some important foliage giving a distinctly blue effect; prominent among it Sea Kale. The flower-stems are cut hard back in the earlier summer, and it is now in handsome fresh leaf. Further back is the fine blue foliage of Lyme Grass (_Elymus arenarius_), a plant of our sea-shores, but of much value for blue effects in the garden.

Now is the time to begin to use our reserve of plants in pots. Of these the most useful are the Hydrangeas. They are dropped into any vacant spaces, more or less in groups, in the two ends of the border where there is grey foliage, their pale pink colouring agreeing with these places. Their own leafage is a rather bright green, but we get them so well bloomed that but few leaves are seen, and we arrange as cleverly as we can that the rest shall be more or less hidden by the surrounding bluish foliage. I stand a few paces off, directing the formation of the groups; considering their shape in relation to the border as a whole. I say to the gardener that I want a Hydrangea in such a place; and tell him to find the nearest place where it can be dropped in. Sometimes this dropping in, for the pots have to be partly sunk, comes in the way of some established plant. If it is a deep-rooted perennial that takes three or four years to come to its strength, like an Eryngium or a Dictamnus, of course I avoid encroaching on its root-room. But if it is anything that blooms the season after it is planted, and of which I have plenty in reserve, such as an Anthemis, a Tradescantia, or a Helenium, I sacrifice a portion of the plant-group, knowing that it can easily be replaced. But then by August many of the plants have spread widely above and there is space below. _Lilium longiflorum_ in pots is used in the same way, and for the most part in this blue end of the border, though there are also some at the further, purple end, and just a flash of their white beauty in the middle region of strong reds.

In order to use both blue and purple in the flower border, this cool, western, grey-foliaged end has the blues, and the further, eastern end the purples. For although I like to use colour as a general rule in harmonies rather than contrasts, I have a dislike to bringing together blues and purples. At this end, therefore, there are flowers of pure blue--Delphinium, Anchusa, Salvia, Blue Cape Daisy and Lobelia, and it is only when the main mass of blue, of Delphiniums and Anchusas, is over that even the presence of the pale grey-blue of _Campanula lactiflora_ could be tolerated. Near the front is another pale grey-blue, that of _Clematis davidiana_, just showing a few blooms, but not yet fully out.

Now, giving a pleasant rest and refreshment to the eye after the blues and greys, is a well-shaped drift of the pale sulphur African Marigold. It was meant to be the dwarf variety, but, as it grows two and a half feet high, it has been pulled down as it grew. Some of it has been brought down some way over the edge of the path, where it breaks the general front line pleasantly and shows off its good soft colouring. We grow only this pale colour and a good form of the splendid orange. The intermediate one, the full yellow African Marigold, has, to my eye, a raw quality that I am glad to avoid, and I have other plants that give the strong yellow colour better. Now at the back are some plants of the single Hollyhock _Hibiscus ficifolius_, white and pale yellow, recalling, as we merge into the stronger yellows, the colouring of the region just left. They are partly intergrouped with that excellent plant Rudbeckia Golden Glow, brilliant, long-lasting, and capable of varied kinds of useful treatment.

Now we come to a group of the perennial Sunflowers; a good form of the double _Helianthus multiflorus_ in front, and behind it the large single kind of the same plant. By the side of these is a rather large group of a garden form of _H. orgyalis_. This is one of the perennial Sunflowers that is usually considered not good enough for careful gardening. It grows very tall, and bears a smallish bunch of yellow flowers at the top. If this were all it could do it would not be in my flower border. But in front of it grows a patch of the fine Tansy-like _Achillea Eupatorium_, and in front of this again a wide-spreading group of _Eryngium oliverianum_--beautiful all through July. When the bloom of these is done the tall Sunflower is trained down over them--this pulling down, as in the case of so many plants, causing it to throw up flower-stalks from the axils of every pair of leaves; so that in September the whole thing is a sheet of bloom. Thus the plant that was hardly worth a place in the border becomes, at its flowering time, one of the brightest ornaments of the garden. Other plants that are in front of the Sunflower, that have also passed out of bloom, are the Scarlet Bee-balm (_Monarda_) and the very useful alpine Groundsel (_Senecio artemisiæfolius_).

Next we have an important group of a large-leaved Canna, the handsomest foliage in the border; good to see when the sun is behind and the light comes through the leaves. Here also, at the back, is a patch of Hollyhocks--one very dark, almost a claret-red, and a fine, full red inclining to blood-colour. They tower up together, and close to them are Dahlias, the dark red Lady Ardilaun, deep scarlet Cochineal, bright scarlet Fire King, and its variety Orange Fire King, now the most brilliant piece of colouring in the garden. These lead on to a gorgeous company--Phlox Coquelicot, scarlet Pentstemon, orange African Marigold, scarlet Gladiolus, and, to the front, a brilliant dwarf scarlet Salvia; _Helenium pumilum_ and scarlet and orange dwarf Nasturtium. Here and there within this mass of bright colouring there is a patch of the fine deep yellow _Coreopsis lanceolata_, a plant of long-enduring bloom, or rather of long succession, for, if the dead flowers are removed it will be brightly blossomed for a good three months.

As this gorgeous mass occupies a large space in the flower border, I have thought well to subdue it here and there with the cloudy masses of _Gypsophila paniculata_. Five-year-old plants of this form masses of the pretty mist-like bloom four feet across and as much high. This bold introduction of grey among the colour-masses has considerable pictorial value. As the grey changes, towards the end of the month, to a brownish tone, some of the tall Nasturtiums are allowed to grow over the bushes of Gypsophila.

Now we have got beyond the middle of the length of the border, and the colour changes again to the clear and pale yellows, and then again to the grey foliage as at the beginning. Where this occurs, at a little more than two-thirds of the way along the border, it is crossed by the path, leading, through an archway in the wall closed by a door, to the garden beyond. This cross-path is flanked by groups of Yuccas, slightly raised, as will be seen in some of the illustrations. (_See_ pp. 51, 102.) Yuccas all like a raised mound and some good loam to grow in. I have them here as well as at the two extreme ends of the border. No plants make a handsomer full-stop to any definite garden scheme. The grey treatment comprises the two Yucca mounds to right and left of the cross-path; the other grey plants are as before--_Cineraria maritima_, Santolina, Stachys, Elymus and Rue--but at this end, besides some plants with white, pink and palest yellow colouring, the other flowers are not blues but purples, light and dark. Among these a very useful thing is Ageratum; not the dwarf Ageratum, though this is good too in its place, but the ordinary _Ageratum mexicanum_, a plant that grows about two feet high. This is also the place for some of the earliest Michaelmas Daisies that will bloom in September, such as _Aster acris_ and _A. Shortii_. At the back there are Dahlias, white and pale yellow, with white and sulphur Hollyhocks, and, in the middle spaces, pale pink Gladiolus, double _Saponaria officinalis_, and pale pink Pentstemon. At the back, also, there is a clump of Globe Thistle (_Echinops_) and a grand growth of Clematis Jackmanni, following in season of bloom, and partly led over, a white Everlasting Pea, that in the earlier summer was trained to conceal the dying stems of the red-orange Lilies that bloomed in June.

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There is also a short length of double border specially devoted to August, of the same character, though not so fully developed, as what will be described in a further chapter as the Grey Garden. Here, the space being small, it has been given specially to the more restricted season. The scheme of colouring has a ground of grey foliage, with flowers of pink, white and light and dark purple.

Next the path is the silvery white of Stachys, _Cineraria maritima_, and _Artemisia stelleriana_, with the grey foliage and faint purple of the second bloom of Catmint. Then bushy masses of Lavender and Gypsophila, and between them _Lilium longiflorum_, Godetia Double Rose, and white Snapdragons. Behind and among these are groups of the clear white Achillea, The Pearl, and the round purple heads of Globe Thistle. Here and there, pushing to the front, is a Silver Thistle (_Eryngium giganteum_). At the back shoot up Pink Hollyhocks, the kind being one of home growth known as Pink Beauty. The deep green of a Fig-tree that covers the upper part of the landing and outside stone steps to a loft is an excellent background to the tender greys of these August borders. Unfortunately, the main group of pink Hollyhock, that should have stood up straight and tall and shown well against the window and silvery grey weather-boarding of the loft, failed altogether last season; in fact, all the Hollyhocks were poor and stunted, so that an important part of the intended effect was lost.

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Of Lavender hedges there are several, of varying ages, in different parts of the garden. Lavender for cutting should be from plants not more than four to five years old, but for pictorial effect the bushes may be much older. When they are growing old it is a good plan to plant white and purple Clematises so that they can be trained freely through and over them.

There are comparatively few shrubs that flower in autumn, so that it is quite a pleasant surprise to come upon a group of them all in bloom together. The picture shows the satisfactory effect of a group of _Æsculus macrostachya_ and _Olearia Haastii_. It would have been all the better for some plants of the beautiful blue-flowered _Perowskya atriplicifolia_ and for _Caryopteris mastacanthus_ in front, but at the time of planting I did not think of the _Caryopteris_ and did not know the _Perowskya_. (_See_ p. 75.)

August is the month of China Asters. I find many people are shy of these capital plants, perhaps because the mixtures, such as are commonly grown, contain rather harsh and discordant colours; also perhaps because a good many of the kinds, having been purposely dwarfed in order to fit them for pot-culture and bedding, are too stiff to look pretty in general gardening. Such kinds will always have their uses, but what is wanted now in the best gardening is more freedom of habit. I have a little space that I give entirely to China Asters. I have often had the pleasure of showing it to some person who professed a dislike to them, and with great satisfaction have heard them say, with true admiration: "Oh! but I had no idea that China Asters could be so beautiful."

It is only a question of selection, for the kinds are now so many and the colourings so various that there are China Asters to suit all tastes and uses. My own liking is for those of the pure violet-purple and lavender colours, with whites; and to plants with these clear, clean tints my Aster garden is restricted. In other places I grow some of the tenderer pinks, a good blood-red, and a clear pale yellow; but these are kept quite away from the purples. The kinds chosen are within the Giant Comet, Ostrich Plume and Victoria classes--all plants with long-stalked bloom and a rather free habit of growth. For some years I was much hindered from getting the colours I wanted from the inaccurate way in which they are described in seed-lists. Finally I paid a visit to the trial-grounds of one of our premier seed-houses, and saw all the kinds and the colourings and made my own notes. I cannot but think that a correct description of the colours, instead of a fanciful one, would help both customer and seed-merchant. As it is, the customer, in order to get the desired flowers, has to _learn a code_. I have often observed, in comparing French and English seed-lists, that the French do their best to describe colours accurately, but that the English use some wording which does not describe the colour, but appears to be intended as a complimentary euphemism. Thus, if I want a Giant Comet of that beautiful pale silvery lavender, perhaps the loveliest colour of which a China Aster is capable, I have to ask for "azure blue." If I want a full lilac, I must order "blue"; if a full purple it is "dark blue." If I want a strong, rich violet-purple, I must beware of asking for purple, for I shall get a terrible magenta such as one year spoilt the whole colour-scheme of my Aster garden. It is not as if the right colour-words were wanting, for the language is rich in them--violet, lavender, lilac, mauve, purple;--these, with slight additions, will serve to describe the whole of the colourings falsely called blue. The word blue should not be used at all in connexion with these flowers. There are no blue China Asters.

The diagram shows a simple arrangement for a little garden of China Asters of the purple and white colourings. The seed-list names are used in order to identify the sorts recommended. A Lavender hedge surrounds the whole; the paths are edged with _Stachys lanata_. Taking Messrs. Sutton's list and translating into colour-words as usually understood, the tints are:

Azure blue Tender pale lavender-lilac. Blue Light purple. Dark blue Rich dark purple.

I am very glad to learn that Messrs. Sutton have in contemplation a revision of some of these puzzling colour-names.