A moment ago I spoke of the pleasant harmonies produced by larkspur when they repeat the vertical lines of porch or pergola. Other flowers with long spikes are foxgloves, monkshoods, chimney bell-flowers (a great favourite in England), eremurus, Verbascum phlomoides, and the bugbane or cimicifuga. On a smaller scale are snapdragons, lupines, and veronicas. Hollyhocks make strong vertical lines with their stems and so do perennial sunflowers, the plume poppy, the madonna lily, and the giant reed or arundo..

Dome-like bushes often look well against public buildings crowned by domes. And if your house is characterized by horizontal lines, you may repeat those lines in flowers that have broad flat clusters, e. g., sweet williams, achilleas, Sedum spectabile, and some varieties of phlox. Doubtless it could be better done with shrubs, especially viburnums. But I hope no one will let such ideas run away with him. The vertical lines are worth considering, but I would always have something that combines vertical lines with the power to soften architectural hardness, e. g., the fluffy plumes of Stenanthium robustum, or the arching leaves of bamboos or reeds.

There is an architectural quality in the panicles of Rod-gersia shown on plate 80, and the leaves might almost be called "monumental," for they are bronzy green, about a foot across and parted into five broad divisions. I think Mr. Fremlin has done well to bring perennials and grass right up to his doorstep, for he lives among the flowers in a garden like that of Mr. W. C. Egan at Highland Park, 111. Ordinarily, however, a house needs some formal planting to make a transition between architecture and nature. And, while some of my readers may be captivated by the fine effect of this Rodgersia, they should remember that herbs die down in winter. The most appropriate plants for the immediate should use gray foliage chiefly to carpet the ground beneath blue flowers and those of the purple section.