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THE CHOICE GARDEN.— No. I. 



nARDY HEEBACEOUS PLANTS. 



iJHE Editor has requested me to furnish a few notes on 

 very choice subjects of an inexpensive nature, adapted 

 to the requirements of ladies and gentlemen who do not 

 keep many gardeners, or possess costly stoves and 

 greenhouses for the culture of rare exotics. Having 

 been in the midst of such things, and having the care of many large 

 collections, both here and on the Continent, during many years past, 

 I have great pleasure in complying with the Editor's request. 



I will begin by saying, that to grow herbaceous plants in a 

 satisfactory manner, a good deep sandy loam and an open, sunny 

 position are the first requisites. To be sure, many beautiful subjects 

 will grow in the worst of soils and the worst of situations ; as, for 

 example, Solomon's Seal, one of the most elegant plants in English 

 gardens, will thrive iu the deepest shade and the most trashy soil. 

 So of many other things. Nevertheless, for anything like a collec- 

 tion, the beds and borders require to be exposed to all the winds of 

 heaven ; they should not be overshadowed by trees ; they should be 

 well drained, yet naturally retaining a certain degree of moisture 

 all the summer, and in the first preparation a liberal dressing of 

 manure should be deeply dug iu, and the soil left quite rough until 

 the time of planting. The month of October is the best in the 

 whole year to prepare the beds and borders, because bedding plants 

 can then be taken up, and, if desirable (and it is ver]] desirable), a 

 variety of early-floweriug bulbs may be planted with the herbaceous 

 plants ; and November is the best time to plant both classes of sub- 

 jects. Just in time, therefore, for everything needful. If the work 

 cannot be done now, the preparation of the ground may be attended 

 to any time during winter, and the planting may be performed in 

 February ; but I say emphatically, now is the time to prepare for a 

 display which shall begin with the dawn of spring, and change con- 

 tinuously all the summer long, and even show some gaiety in the 

 gloomy months of late autumn and winter. 



There are two points of the utmost importance — first, as to the 

 disposition of the ground ; and second, as to the order of the plant- 

 ing. The elaborate parterre is not adapted for such mixtures as we 

 contemplate in our herbaceous garden, though many of our hardy 

 herbaceous plants are invaluable in the parterre — as, for example, 

 Delphinium formosum, Alyssum saxatile, Auhrietia purpurea, Iheris 

 saxatilis, Arahis albida, Tritoma (jlaucescens, and others, which may 

 be used as true bedding plants with the most splendid efl'ect. But 

 I confess that I enjoy these things best when mixed without plan, 

 when thrown together as Nature plants her wild-flowers in the 

 hedgerows, and with a background of shrubs to give relief to their 

 colours, and with clumps of trees to separate the different borders, 

 and clumps from each other. By this plan, there is always some- 

 thing to charm the eye, and every separate spike or umbel is seen 



