102 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



to plan out your geometric garden 

 consider lirst the several points from 

 which it may be viewed, also reason- 

 ably, one angle and one of those 

 points should be the drawing-room 

 windows. From one of these points 

 make your plan on this principle, that 

 the colours in front are to contrast 

 harmoniously with those next in the 

 rear, and so on to the further side of 

 the whole is to be a composition at 

 which a true artist will clap his hands 

 with delight. Hundreds of garden 

 plans pass through my hands every 

 year, and I have one uniform way of 

 judging them. I take a box of water 

 colours, and draw on a slip of paper 

 the predominant colours m stripes, 

 each in the proportion it has on the 

 plan, and if tbey do not harmonize 

 on the paper they will not on the 

 ground, and this I have proved again 

 and again in practice. When I go 

 to Kew or Sydenham, or where else, 

 I make a plan in pencil on a page of 

 my note-book. Not that I really 

 want it, for I have a tremendous 

 memory, but to make sure in case of 

 a nice point arising out of some 

 matter I did not trouble at the time 

 to lix on the wheel of my sensorium. 

 When I get home I paint out the 

 pattern, and I invariably find that 

 what I thought good on the ground 

 will be good on the paper. It ought 

 to be so, for orange and violet look 

 well side by side m a flat mosaic, in 

 a lady's bonnet or dress, in a bouquet, 

 and in a scheme of bedding. Well, 

 you set out your colour, and you find 

 that for your centre you want a 

 neutral tint, to prevent the eye being 

 drawn that way, and to prevent the 

 scheme shrinking, for it will shrink 

 almost to nothing, with strong colours 

 in the centre. Now try again with 

 the colours ; make mere daubs of 

 red, blue, yellow, crimson, etc., etc., 

 close together or meeting closely. 

 What a mess it will be. But take 

 some strong grays, blues, whites, and 

 ambers, and with these paint sharp 

 lines between the strong colours to 

 separate them. Presto! how the 

 scene is changed. If two colours 

 come side by side that do not very 

 well harmonize the divisional line 

 makes them tolerable. Put amber 



on your purples, whites on your blues 

 and scarlets, blue on your orange, 

 gray anywhere. By the way, gray is 

 a good relief to any strong colour, so 

 gray edgings come in generally, and 

 are wonderful for geraniums. Now 

 you see how necessary it is to colour 

 your ground as the Moors coloured 

 their pavements. Pale green will 

 light up any combination of deep, 

 rich colours, such as purples, crim- 

 sons, and scarlets, and you have that 

 always at hand in grass turf. But 

 you say, " Why then find fault with 

 the green leaves of Tom Thumb 

 when a mass is closely inspected ? " 

 For this reason, that the scarlet 

 fi^owers are sprinkled on the green. 

 But when a mass of scarlet lias a 

 green boundary, the green is pure 

 green and green alone ; if it is even 

 dotted with daisies, you ought to 

 be ashamed of it. But go on with 

 the colouring. Tear up the paper on 

 which you made the daubs for illus- 

 trating the use of edgings, and paint 

 another. Put in the centre a patch 

 of creamy white, and suppose that 

 to be Flower of the Day geranium. 

 Eound that put patches of lavender, 

 cerise, and flesh ; these are your 

 semi-tones ; and you cau do them in 

 ageratum, geranium, heliotrope, and 

 verbena. Edge these with halt' tones 

 opposed to the half tones of the mass. 

 Now surround them witJi patches of 

 orange, purple, scarlet, and crimson, 

 in the order named, all round, and 

 edge these with blue and silver, and 

 the deed is done. From whatever 

 point you view the group it will be 

 harmonious. You can do all these in 

 calceolaria, geranium, verbena, and 

 petunia, and the edging will require 

 cerastium, lobelia, Stachys lanata, 

 Gnaphalium lanatum, and Anten- 

 naria. As easy done as said. You 

 only want plenty of plants, and cou- 

 rage to use them in sufficient quan- 

 tity, and if you can't do that, level the 

 beds down, and sow grass seeds, and 

 make up your mind that bedding 

 must be bedding, and not patching ; 

 and, at the same time, remember that 

 the Flobal World is no enemy of 

 bedding, but a decided enemy of 

 bad bedding, as a degradation of 

 gardenesque. S. H. 



