bicolor has flowers of white and blue, but is apt to strike a bizarre note. Any tint from white to dark blue is found among the forms and hybrids of blue African lilies; the hardy ones-known collectively as the Headbourne Hybrids-belong to Agapanthus campanulatus and the trials at Wisley brought forth some splendid named forms which should soon become available. Aster amellus and its named forms provide short large-flowered daisies of violet, blue and pink although eclipsed in the hybrid Aster x frikartii 'Monch', whose clear lavender-blue flowers are produced for about three months on plants 3 to 4ft(i to 1.25m) high; it is thus one of the most valuable of all plants. All these asters need some support. About midsummer it would be difficult to do without Campanula lactiflora in one of its forms, lavender-blue, pinkish or violet. It does, however, create a horrible gap later and late summer or early autumn flowers should therefore be grown in front of it. There are two very good blue herbaceous clematis, Clematis heracleifolia var. davidiana whose flowers, shaped like those of a hyacinth, are borne in sprays over a leafy sprawling bush, taking up some 4ft(i.25m) square when established, and С. x durandii. This last, a beautiful hybrid of C. x jackmanii, has large indigo-violet blooms and is best when trained up over a spring-flowering bush at the back of the border. Prickly foliage and flowers come from the sea hollies, species of Eryngium, such as the large-flowered E. alpinum, the small-flowered garden plant known as E. tripartitum and the several good hybrids, and the globe thistles, of which 1 should choose Echinops ruthenicus or £. ritro. Their knobs of steely blue are very effective over the dark green, silver-backed leaves. Nepeta (or Dra-cocephalum) sibiricum is a charmer with spires of Spode-blue sage-like flowers, with a darker tint echoed in the masses of flowers of Polemonium foliosissimum. In this splendid grouping of lavender-blues we also have the spiderworts (Tradescantia X andersoniana, hybrids of T. virginiana) whose purplish-blue flowers may be pale or dark, or they may be white or verging to crimson; they are imperturbable plants and please except for their untidy foliage; powder blue from Veronica longifolia, a less good plant than V. exaltata; the comparatively new Russian sage, Perovskia 'Blue Spire', which is semi-shrubby and should be cut right down every spring, producing when fully established sheaves of lavender flowers over fragrant leaves and stems; and those two stalwarts of the border, Salvia nemorosa 'Superba' and Phlox. The salvia long known as S. virgata nemorosa, gives us rich purple spikes which, if reduced when their colour has gone, will produce more. In addition to the usual plant of 3 to 4ft(i to 1.25m) there are two useful short ones, 'Lubeca' and 'East Friesland'. When it comes to the cultivars of Phlox paniculata one has to take a deep breath. Besides lavender-blue and violet-purple, there are many other tints from white to crimson.