THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 329 



for liardj plants are thought not good enough for such places, and 

 so they have tender plants that are destitute of all grace. 



A BED OP SAXIFEA6ES AND HOUSELEEKS. 



I shall now describe a very different sort of bed. It is to be seen 

 in the centre of the herbaceous garden in the grounds of the Royal 

 Botanic Society, Regent's Park. This also is a circular bed, raised 

 above the level by a gentle swell. It is divided from the centre into 

 compartments, each compartment being, of course, of a wedge shape, 

 the apex at the centre, and the base forming part of the boundary 

 of the bed. The bed measures about fifteen feet across, it is likely 

 to be a foot or so more in width rather than anything less. The 

 compartments are eight in number — four of them consisting wholly 

 of saxifrages, and four of sempervivums, the effect is most remark- 

 able, simple, yet grand ; and in the early part of the summer, a vast 

 sheet of flowers beautifully harmonized, at all other seasons luxuri- 

 ous in the most elegant leafiige, a masterpiece of effect with only 

 eight sorts of hardy plants. The saxifrages are, 8. liypnoides, 8. 

 indcliella, 8- oppositifolia, and 8. aizoides. The first-named has 

 swelled up into huge pillowy tufts of the brightest emerald-green, 

 looking like a bed for a weary man to recline upon and forget his 

 troubles ; the other sorts ai'e rich, without a break, and most luxu- 

 riant in growth. The sempervivums or houseleeks are *S'. hirtum, 8. 

 Californioum, 8. moniamim, and 8.a?-acJinoides, all of a fine growth, and 

 producing myriads of red flowers. When Mr. W. Robinson had the 

 care of the herbaceous garden there, I have stood with him on a 

 sunny day in June, and seen the flowers of 8. hirtum as thickly 

 covered with bees as the great sheet of vegetation was thickly 

 covered with flowers ; and we have agreed that for an inexpensive 

 and interesting sort of gardening, there could be nothing to surpass 

 such a bed as that, as it only needs to be made of sandy loam, and 

 planted with tufts of the proper plants a foot or so apart, and then 

 will take care of itself, and continually improve in appearance during 

 any ordinary lifetime. And it has this advantage, that on a small 

 scale it is equally eflective ; the reason it is on a large scale there is 

 that the place is large, and the herbaceous garden contains many 

 things that have no beauty, and this bed is a sort of compensation 

 to reward for their trouble of seeking it those who might feel dis- 

 appointment with a collection formed for botanical purposes only. 



A BED FOR THE DEAWING-EOOM WINDOWS. 



The bed I now describe is in the Editor's garden. I asked his 

 permission to place it in my " Choice Glarden," and, of course, ob- 

 tained permission directly. It is a great circle raised above the 

 level, the diameter is twenty-four feet, and the elevation above the 

 general level varies from eighteen to twenty-four inches, the ground 

 being a slope where the bed is situated, but tlie bed itself forms a 

 dead level. The centre consists of a mass of Bhododemlrons eighteen 

 feet across, which leaves a margin of three feet all round. This 

 margin is planted witli a ring of Cahhacje Moses close in front of the 

 rhododendrons, and outside the roses is a ring of the beautiful Coton- 



