2S4i 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



more effect, than by means of any otlier 

 framework. 



There is no better effect to be had in 

 the way of colours in gardening, than in 

 using stone as a contrast of gray against 

 blue, or purple, or scarlet. A box edging, 

 neat as it is, only gives the hue that we 

 have everywhei-e as a ground colour ; but 

 stone gives its own striking gray-white 

 ■with precision and unmistakeable effect ; 

 and nearly all the plants we vise for front 

 lines in ribbons tell beside it wouderf\illy. 

 My forecourt is edged with Hogg's tiles, 



surfacing of fresh green moss. They have 

 had their day ; out with them, and plunge 

 a }nixture of cinerarias, hardened first in 

 an airy pit, witli four three-year-old plants, 

 of Cjtisus Atleeana, at equal distances 

 round the deodara. The weather may 

 soon pinch these, for our springs are trea- 

 cherous, but they are pretty sure to hold 

 till you get the lively Alyssum saxatUe 

 and Aiibrietia purpurea nearly into bloom ; 

 then make the change again with pot plaiits, 

 plunged as before, and the pots hidden 

 with fresh moss. Put the yellow next the 





now no longer manufactured. They are 

 kept white by means of an occasional wash 

 ■with masons' dust, and the first line of 

 the ribbon is Lobelia speciosa in front of 

 Flower of the Day ; the fu-st from seed 

 sown last March, and in full bloom on this 

 20th of September, though in many places 

 near here it has been gone a fortnight. 

 My friend, whoso garden is here sketched, 

 manages his jardiniere on the same plan as 

 I manage mine — a constant succession all 

 the year round — making it, in truth, a 

 "little garden/' which the seasons are 



cedar, and the purple round next the rim 

 of the stone basin, and you have the best 

 spring bed ever planted, from materials that 

 you may buy almost for pence, or grow in 

 any quantity for nothing. By clipping olf 

 dead blooms these will hold their ground 

 until you get pot annuals of autumn sow- 

 ing into bloom, and another mixture may 

 take their place. Or, as the plants are 

 neat-looking things, let the Alyssum and 

 Aubrietia remain, with a few stray blooms 

 upon them, till you plant the bed for the 

 summer. Strange to say, white-leaved ge. 



m4 



not permitted to lay a withering hand 

 upon. 



Let me here give the planting of my jar- 

 diniere for twelve months roiind, premising 

 that the bed measures eight feet through. 

 Begin with the hyacinths. Cedrus deo- 

 dai-a, two and a-haif feet through, in pot, 

 plunged in the centre. Next tliat a circle 

 of white hyacinths, then a circle of cherry- 

 pink, then an outer ring of purple, say 

 Baron Fitzallan — one of the grandest we 

 have for a mass. The hyacinths are all in 

 pots, plunged, and the pots hidden by a 



^X. 



ranimns, white -leaved Alyssum, the silvery 

 Cerastium tomentosum look well next this 

 bright sihceous stone, provided there are 

 strong colours next them for support ; and 

 if the jardiniere is to be done in geraniums, 

 Mangies's makes an exquisite edging either 

 to Cerise, Ignescens superba, or Mr. Bea- 

 ton's new Imperial Crimson, which will be, 

 perhaps, the best geranium ever raised for 

 I planting m a bed of this kind. Not that 

 I have used it so, but I have it in a line 

 next to stone-work, and its dwarf habit 

 and rich crimson colour are perfection for 



