194 THE FLOKAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



planted and verbenas may be pegged down, and that bedded petunias 

 may be held up against the wind to prevent their being blown to 

 rags. A certain amount of bedding is wanted everywhere, but the 

 majority of people got it into their heads that nothing else was 

 wanted, and so the bedders came to be the Alpha and Omega of 

 horticultural enterprises in too many of our private gardens. 



We take to ourselves no credit for having eflected a change, or 

 for having induced a few thousands of our countrymen and country- 

 women to consider this matter. The fact is, in the ranks of reflec- 

 tive horticulturists there are many who hold the same views as 

 ourselves, and who have from time to time raised their voices ener- 

 getically against the system of making every little garden a bad 

 nnitation of the terraces at the Crystal Palace. It is important, 

 however, to note that a change is taking place. The public are less 

 mad about bedders, and are awakening to a love of flowers. In a 

 bedding display we have no flowers ; that is to say, we take no 

 notice of their forms and characters, for these are merged in the 

 mass. All we take note of is the colour, and that occasionally is so 

 brilliant that our vision is placed in jeopardy. In a good border of 

 herbaceous plants we see flowers, and in an orchid-house we see 

 flowers ; yes, and we see flowers, too, when we get amongst the 

 roses. But English gardeners have yet to learn how many wondrous 

 and beautiful forms of vegetation may be gathered together in the 

 common soil and open air of this country, and these they cannot 

 become acquainted with by any royal method ; they must begin 

 collecting, observing, and cultivating, taking flrst those things that 

 are best known to men of taste and judgment in such matters, and 

 then, if their means allow, making experiments for themselves. But 

 they will have quite enough to do to embellish the ground with 

 plants that are as hardy as chickweed, and as beautiful as the 

 plumes of the ostrich, or the spots on the peacock's tail, or the 

 iridescent colours of the humming-bird ; for the truth is, hardy 

 herbaceous plants alone, good enough for places in the choicest 

 garden, may be counted olf by thousands, to say nothing of hardy 

 trees and shrubs, that only need to be seen to win the admiration 

 they deserve. 



Amongst the proofs of a revival of the taste for beautiful plants, 

 we may instance the enormous collection of herbaceous plants to be 

 found at Messrs. E. Gr. Henderson's nursery, Wellington Road, 

 St, John's Wood. Here, at the head-quarters of the bedding 

 system, are thousands of rare, popular, expensive, cheap, interesting, 

 and beautiful hardy plants, from the useful Alyssum saxatile, which 

 throughout the month of May displays a mass of golden flowers 

 which even the calceolaria cannot equal, to the rare Linn^ea borealis, 

 which many good botanists have never seen, and which may be con- 

 sidered a good index of the catholic spirit in which this great collec- 

 tion lias been massed together. The catalogue in which these are 

 described comprises no fewer than 2005 species and varieties, ex- 

 cluding bulbs, tubers, and corms. The collections of Messrs. Back- 

 house and Son, of York, enjoy a world-wide fame, and have recently 

 been assailed most vigorously by eager purchasers of the exquisitely 



