rous, and so rich and varied in color that it is
almost an ideal plant for border-use. It varies greatly in habit. Some
varieties attain a height of five feet or more. Others are low
growers,--almost dwarfs, in fact,--therefore well adapted to places
in the very front row, and close to the path. The majority are of medium
habit, fitting into the middle rows most effectively. With a little care
in the selection of varieties--depending on the florists' catalogues to
give us the height of each--it is an easy matter to arrange the various
sorts in such a way as to form a bank which will be an almost solid mass
of flowers for weeks. Some varieties have flowers of the purest white,
and the colors of others range through many shades of pink, carmine,
scarlet, and crimson, to lilac, mauve, and magenta. The three colors
last named must never be planted alongside or near to the other colors,
with the exception of white, as there can be no harmony between them.
They make a color-discord so intense as to be positively painful to the
eye that has keen color-sense. But combine them with the white kinds and
they are among the loveliest of the lot. This Phlox ought always to be
grouped, to be most effective, and white varieties should be used
liberally to serve as a foil to the more brilliant colors and bring out
their beauty most strikingly.

[Illustration: THE PEONY AT ITS BEST]

Peonies are superb flowers, and no border can afford to be without them.
The varieties are almost endless, but you cannot have too many of
them. Use them everywhere. The chances are that you will wish you had
room for more. They bloom early, are magnificent in color and form, and
are so prolific that old plants often bear a hundred or more flowers
each season, and their profusion of bloom increases with age, as the
plant gains in size. Many varieties are as fragrant as a Rose, and all
of them are as hardy as a plant can well be. What more need be said in
their favor?

In order to attain the highest degree of success with the Peony, it
should be given a rather heavy soil, and manure should be used with
great liberality. In fact it is hardly possible to make the soil too
rich to suit it. Disturb the roots as little as possible. The plant is
very sensitive to any treatment that affects the root, and taking away a
"toe" for a neighbor will often result in its failure to bloom next
season. Keep the grass from crowding it. Year after year it will spread
its bra