THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



29 



them. The outside edge is made up with 

 a collection of little curiosities, with the 

 exception of a fine paii' of Rhododendron 

 Cimniughami, a dwarf growing white 

 flowered kind, wliich spreads laterally into 

 a dense mass of dark and striking fohage. 

 Wherever rhododendrons are grown, this 

 should be used in the front Hne, because 

 of its distinctness and splendid character. 

 The Uttle plants on the outer edge consist 

 of Menziesii polifoUa, MitcheUia repens, 

 Rhododendi'on ciUatum, Vaccinium oxycoc- 

 cus, V. Catesbeii, V. vitis Idea, V. macro- 

 phyllum, Polygala chamsebiixis, Gaultlieria 

 Shallon, and G. fureus, Pemettyia phylly- 

 raefoHa, Empetrum nigrmn, Escallonia 

 rubra, and Menziesii alba globosa. 



Altogether, there are not less than ninety 

 plants in this bed, and it is by no means 

 so thick as it ought to be to screen the soil 

 entirely from the sunsliine. Time wiU 

 bring the matter right, and the thicker the 

 plants gi'ow the more certainly will they 

 prosper for at least fom* or five years to 

 come, and then to tliiu them will be an 

 easy matter, and the plants gained will 

 pay for the operation. But these do not 

 constitute the whole of the tenantry. At 

 regular intervals, all round, in small gaps 

 left for the purpose in the original plant- 

 ing, are sets of Lilium longifohum, LiUum 

 lancifoHum, and Gladioli gandavensis, and 

 near the outside edge occasional small 

 cliunps of Sisyi'incliium anceps, a pretty 

 dwarf iris, which ought always to have a 

 place in peat-beds rather than in mixed 

 borders, as much because it revels in tlie 

 same degree of moisture as Americans re- 

 quire, as for its preference of peat and leaf- 

 mould over all other soils. It would be too 

 taU, reacliing seven or eight inches when m 

 bloom, for the extreme edge m such an 

 an-angement as this, but placed just so far 

 back as to be able to peep through the 

 dense green of kalmias and rhododen- 

 drons, its graceful grassy foUage and bright 

 blue blossoms are most elegant and appro- 

 priate. This bed is simk below the level 

 of the spergula about two mches, so that 

 all the rain that falls in it is retained ; 

 the bottom is a moist tenacious loam, in- 

 cUning to clay, which is the staple soil 

 here, and no American wiU ventiu'e to 

 make root into it. 



In the composition of the bed there is 

 decided unity though the materials are so 

 various. The only objection tliat I can 

 raise against the planting — and I criticise 

 my own work more severely than I do other 

 people's — is the intermixture of azaleas, 

 which, being deciduous, show a few sticks 

 in winter time if you positively look for 



them ; otherwise, the evergreen foliao'c 

 being dense and harmonious in its several 

 shades, from the glaucous green of Kahnia 

 angustifoha, to the intensely deep olive of 

 Rhododendi'ou Cunninghami, the'deciduous 

 plants are not readily detected. This ar- 

 rangement subserves three distmct pur- 

 poses ; first, the bed is at all seasons an 

 agi'eeable object, and inclusive of the sper- 

 gula, makes a fine circle of twenty-tlu'ee 

 feet diameter, the outer zone of wliich is a 

 dead level raised above the surface of the 

 adjoming turf, at all times bright -with the 

 verdure of the carpet plant, and for some 

 time during summer agreeably spangled 

 with minute starry snow-white blossoms. 

 Another purpose is the securing of bloom 

 the whole of the summer, for R. Tam-ica 

 leads the way in Februai-y, the azaleas 

 follow, the genei-al mass of the rhododen- 

 drons come to their best before the azaleas 

 are exhausted, and after these succeed the 

 lihums and gladioh, while among the 

 Americans there are some that continue iu 

 bloom almost to the end of the summer. 

 The third pm-pose served is the bringing 

 together in a small compass the greatest 

 possible variety as representatives of dif- 

 ferent sections of the mteresting order 

 Ericeae, every one of which is an object of 

 botanical interest as well as of floral beauty, 

 proving that plants may, to some extent, 

 be ai'ranged botanically without violating 

 taste in gardening. There are as many as 

 ninety jDlants, counting the bulbs as such. 

 These of course reqiui-e only just enough 

 room to push through between the shrubs. 

 The species and varieties amount to thu'ty- 

 eight, counting all the hybrid rhododen- 

 drons and azaleas as one each. As these latter 

 are allditferent,the species and varieties are, 

 strickly speaking, about forty-eight in 

 number, a sort of miuiatiu'e botanic garden. 

 Once planted there is an end of all trouble 

 for some years afterwards, as none of the 

 bulbs need be taken up until the clumps 

 get too large and the bed too crowded, 

 and then it is but a matter of taste, not of 

 trouble, to rearrange them, for there is no 

 class of plants that lift better than Ameri- 

 cans, or that thrive with gi'cater certainty 

 if properly dealt ^^^[th in the first instance. 

 The first necessity in planting these 

 beds and clumps is good peat. If you 

 cannot get that be cautious. Ponticuni 

 rhododendrons may be planted in almost 

 any soil except chalk, which is poison to 

 them, but other kinds must have real good 

 peat, or a mixtm-e prepared with judgment 

 as a substitute. I may remark here that I 

 have a set of Kahnia latifoKa planted two 

 yeai's since iu artificial peat, prepared ac- 



