PREPARING BORDERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21562, 5 August 1933, Page 8 (Supplement)

PREPARING BORDERS

RIGHT AND WRONG WAYS ■ In preparing borders the soil should te thoroughly drained, trenched to a d6pth of two feet and well manured. A good loam is tho best of soils for a general collection of plants, but except where the soil is unsuitable for gardening, it is not necessary to do more than drain, trench and manure before planting. To merely clear a border of shrubs and trees that hare impoverished the soil and plant it with a collection of hardy plants would be to court failure. If "the border is skirted with trees and shrubs it must periodically bo freed from encroaching roots, and in practice it' will pay to lift all the plants and retrench and, manure every second or third year.. Unless this is done the strong growing , plants encroach on their weaker neighbours, .often killing them outright. It is a bad practice to attempt to proveilt this by cutting off with a spade all the outside of the clumps,, as this means the destruction of tho youngest and most vigorous in favour of the old and weakened. Such plants as Michaelmas daisjes and helianthus. are .much better if lifted periodically and replanted. On tho other hand, there are those that are best left undisturbed;, for instance, paeonies and phlox- arc impatient of root disturbance. • IMPORTANCE 'OF*STAKING The appearance oF-a" border depends bi a very great measure on the neatness - »f the staking. As a rule,never stake ii Dnless support is absolutely required. There is no operation in the management of herbaceous plants in which discretion and knowledge are more essential than in this; nothing looks more unnatural than to see a procumbent plant tied up to a-stake, or to eee a strong stake placed where a slender one would do, or a stake obtruding itself on notice, it is sure to do if it bQ twice the plant. That knowledge is absolutely essential i£ allotting stakes to the various plants is obvious. " ARRANGEMENT OF PLANTS The arrangement of plants in a mixed border requires a knowledge of the plants themselves' and their requirements as to space. It is here we can show the true summer flowers at their best. For the main spaces plants should be chosen of bold and striking beauty, but as a border of all large plants would have a monotonous appearance, certain spaces, chiefly toward tho front but also running back in many parts among the groups of taller things, should* be planted with those of dwarfer growth. ;jj SUITABLE PLANTS The chief plants for such a border arc Oriental poppies, paeonies, the • boldest of the irises, herbaceous spiraeiis, some of the taller campanulas, delphiniums, lilies, perennial sunflowers, the tall hluo cryngium, kniphofias, thalictrum and hollyhock. These are tho plants that will provide the best effect of the border. The nearer spaces between tho taller growths should have groups of plants of smaller stature, and yet of a ■,somewhat bold form of foliage. * Tho broad leaved saxifrage and funkia are among' the best. Still dwarfer plants such as pinks and pansies are suitable for the extreme edge. Each kind of plant in tho mixed border should stand in a bold group, and tho groups, differing in size and shape, should follow one another in a sequence of colour, keeping plants of the samo colour together. In practice it is better to exclude bulbous plants from the mixed border, as the disturbance of the ground, occasioned by division of the plants and manuring, is perilous to tho bulbs. , An exception can bo made of the commoner lilies. LILIES AND PAEONIES Some families of plants whoso beauty is in infinite variety may best be enjoyed in places almost by themselves, where the eye would be undisturbed by the consideration of other kinds of flowers. A garden of lilies can be made yery beautiful, tho groups of lilies appearing among dwarf or moderate-sized shrubs and hardy ferns. The paeony family is another example of a large range of summer flowers that deserve such treatment in addition to their use in other places. A whole wealth of beauty exists in this one tribe alone, for apart from those best known there are many other kinds —both species nnd their cultivated varieties —that are now available for garden use. THE TREE POPPY Such another example is offered by the California)! tree poppy (Romneya Coultorii), which, when well established, will grow in one season into a bush seven feet high and as much through. Jt is a remarkably beautiful plant, singularly pleasing in the relation of its large milk-white flowers and pale blue-green leaves. It delights in a sunny, well-sheltered place in a light soil. HERBACEOUS BORDERS Where room can be afforded a spacious border should be given' up almost entirely to a collection of hardy perennials. . Croups of such shrubs as roses, daphne, Forsythia, spiraeus or deutzias may be effectively mixed with the herbaceous plants in a large border. The position most suitable is one exposed to full sunshine all day and sheltered on. the south and east by trees or shrrths "or ,a , building. Such a position would f)e perfect, but borders on each side of a lawn or by the sides of walks could be suitably made to •erve both for effect and to supply the Jequirements of the plants.