"We haven't decided on the pink border," Dorothy reminded them.
"There's a dwarf pink candytuft that couldn't be beaten for the
purpose," said James decisively. "Mother and I planted some last year to
see what it was like and it proved to be exactly what you want here."
"I know what I'd like to have for the wild border--either wild ginger or
hepatica," announced Helen after some thought.
"I don't know either of them," confessed Tom.
"You will after you've tramped the Rosemont woods with the U.S.C. all
this spring," promised Ethel Brown. "They have leaves that aren't unlike
in shape--"
"The ginger is heart-shaped," interposed Ethel Blue, "and the hepatica
is supposed to be liver-shaped."
"You have to know some physiology to recognize them," said James
gravely. "There's where a doctor's son has the advantage," and he patted
his chest.
"Their leaves seem much too juicy to be evergreen, but the hepatica does
stay green all winter."
[Illustration: Wild Ginger]
"The ginger would make the better edging," Helen decided, "because the
leaves lie closer to the ground."
"What are the blossoms?"
"The ginger has such a wee flower hiding under the leaves that it
doesn't count, but the hepatica has a beautiful little blue or purple
flower at the top of a hairy scape."
"A hairy what?" laughed Roger.
"A scape is a stem that grows up right from the or root-stock and
carries only a flower--not any leaves," defined Helen.
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