Gentle Reader, I present to you, this week’s weird Victorian term explained:
herbaceous border
This style of gardening, begun well before the Victorian Era, remains a hallmark of the English landscape to this day: shorter plants to the font, and taller ones to the back, arranged closely together.

Scotland Stirling Castle
Despite its name, herbs do not necessarily have to be involved in a herbaceous border, although they often are.
Usually herbaceous borders are a riot of different colors, running alongside a path or a wall.
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Helen Allingham (British, 1848-1926). A Garden In October, Aldworth, 1891. Watercolor. |
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Quote of the Day:
“What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it.”
~ Charles Dudley Warner