THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 281 



necessary to do it for some things, and may alvrays be so to some extent ; but to 

 have all the skill and labour thrown away upon fleeting things is really stupid, and 

 totally opposed to any permanent or dignified work being done in the garden. The 

 best and highest pleasure to be derived from our gardens will soon be found to lie 

 in those things which, when once well done, we may leave alone for years, and in 

 some cases for the course of our natural lives and t^e lives of those who come after 

 us. A result of this kind is now, and has been, frequently attained with trees, 

 etc. Our desire is to apply more and more to such things, but at the same time to 

 the humbler, but more immediately attractive world of flowers. So, to commence 

 with bed No. 1, wo will place a good plant of the very tall and late-flowering 

 Tritoma grandis, and then around it a circle of the excellent and somewhat smaller 

 T. glaucescens. Follow that with a ring of the beautiful white Anemone Hono- 

 rine Jobert, and the showy and splendid Rudbeckia Newraanni, mixed plant for 

 plant; and outside of that again place a circle of the fine new herbaceous Sedum 

 spectabile (sold and known as S. fabaria). This Sedum will form a grand edge to 

 the bed, and flower, like its fellows, finely in autumn ; while immediately outside 

 of it, and between it and the grass, might be planted a line of Snowdrops, or 

 Scilla bifolia, or both mixed. These would flower, ripen their leaves, and perish 

 before the stronger margins started np. The above would form a grand autumn 

 bed, and a uohle object from any point of view— its aspect all through the spring 

 and early summer being fresh, healthy, and in every way unobjectionable in such a 

 position as we have indicated for it. 



Should any reader be unable to procure the above plants in sufficient_ numbers 

 to make such an arrangement at once, he may soon obtain them by planting what 

 he has got of each in good ground. We shall confine ourselves as much as possible 

 in dealing wiih this suhjcct to things that everybody can grow and obtain without 

 diflaculty ; and we woTild advise every amateur and eveiy gardener to have a good 

 rich border in which to plant his first stock of each good thing, in which it might 

 increase with rapidity and become ready for any use that may be designed for it. 

 Of course we may plant them in borders and the like, and take them up and divide 

 them ; but much the best way is to have a border of good earth, in which they may 

 be planted in rows, and where all the new and rare hardy plants may be looked 

 after conveniently. Many a new subject gets an undeservedly bad character from 

 being placed among a mixed and already established lot, which shade or otherwise 

 injure it. When we got a new plant we immediately look to s^e if there be a 

 possibility of dividing it, and in nine cases out of ten there is. We then carefully 

 pull the roots apart, save every shoot or division, however small, and place them in 

 a line in a border of good soil, and thus get each bit to make a capital plant, in as 

 quick time perhaps as the complete root would make one if planted undivided — 

 indeed, often more so, for young plants of this kind frequently grow quicker thaa 

 old tufts. 



No. 2. This shall be an evergreen bed, highly suited for a position near small 

 clumps of choice shrubs, or indeed anywhere that a place may be found for it. In 

 the centre a healthy, good young plant of Yucca gloriosa, and around it a ring 

 mixed of Yucca filamentosa and flaccida mixed. These two kinds flower regularly 

 and well. If among them you could thoughtfully insert a few roots of Gladiolus in 

 early summer, they would add very much to the effect of the white flowers of the 

 Yuccas. Around "the Yuccas place a ring of Iberis sasatilis, and around that a 

 ring of that capital little spring plant. Erica carnea. Finally, if there be room— 

 and if you have your bed in an isolated spot you can of course make it as wide as 

 you like— put a little cushion of the beautiful Aubrietia grandiflora all round 

 your Erica carnea ; and if you have a few Crimean or common Snowdrops, or Scilla 

 bifolia, to spare, to drop here and there between the Erica and the Aubrietia, we 

 don't think you will regret it. 



No. 3. This shall be a grand bed of Lilies. Unhappily, the fine hai'dy kin^sof 

 Lilies arc anything but as plentiful as we could wish them, though in a free rich 

 soil they increase readily enough. Few, indeed, will have them sufliciently plen- 

 tiful for some time to make beds of them, but when once people know how truly 

 fine they are when seen well arranged in a large bed in an isolated place, they will 

 hardly rest content without such a glorious garden ornament. Wiih such kinds as 

 Liliura testaccum and tigrinura Fortunei in the centre, surrounded by the queenly 

 candidum, burnished croceum, spotted canadense, pomponium, colchicum, vivid 

 chalcedonicum, and gradually worked down to the edge with dwarf but beautiful 



