But we do not mean that you can grow all the plants we talk about in one summer. We have chosen a few from thousands, and from those few you must choose again, according to your taste and your conditions. All the beautiful annuals and perennials we speak of will grow in any country garden that has sun part of the day, and we will tell you which do best in towns. But it is most important not to grow more things than you have room for or time to tend. There is no pleasure in a crowded, badly-grown annual, for instance, that is mean and stunted, because twenty plants are struggling for life where one would just flourish comfortably. You must consider well what you want to grow and what you can grow, both in your flower and your vegetable garden. You must find out what size the plants will be, what colour, and when they will flower. It is no use to say to yourself that a scarlet autumn Gladiolus would look well next to a white Foxglove; you must remember that the Foxglove flowers in June and the Gladiolus in August. You must be careful not to put orange and magenta next to each other; but, on the whole, we should advise you not to trouble much about colour yet. Out-of-doors flowers harmonize in unexpected ways. You should consider the height of your plants, and put the tall ones at the back of your border. There are some exceptions to this rule, but we will leave you to study those in any well-kept gardens you are lucky enough to see. As long as your garden is a child’s garden you had better put your dwarf plants in front and your tall ones behind. But you must find out which plants will like your climate and your soil, and which you have room for comfortably. If you have a tiny plot, do not choose anything that will make a big bush. Some lovely plants are quite small, so that you could grow a good many in a garden two feet square. We have not said anything yet about the edging of your garden, because you are quite likely to find that ready-made. Tiles have the merit of keeping clean and tidy; a Box edging is pretty, but it has to be clipped neatly, and it affords shelter to snails and slugs. Turf requires much attention, and wears bare easily. The best edging is one of rough stones laid well into the soil, and with soil worked into the spaces between them. In case you have not seen these edgings, and yet can get some stones, we had better explain that each stone should be wedged as firmly as possible into the ground, but not covered; then in the pockets of earth between the stones you plant all kinds of tiny creeping plants, and these soon make a charming border. We will give you the names and habits of some in the chapter on rockeries. Do not, at any rate, have an absurd border of little pebbles, as they get out of place at once, and look untidy. CHAPTER II ANNUALS