464 THE GARDENER. [Oct. 



Upon the other hand, there are innumerable sources to draw from, at 

 a very cheap rate, which will supply us with adequate material to 

 embellish and beautify our dressed grounds. From seeds alone there 

 is an abundant wealth to be obtained of choice plants of rapid growth, 

 and possessing in no inconsiderable degree the habits and properties 

 that are best calculated to suit the tastes of the age in which we live. 

 I am not now going to enter upon any exposition of cultural treatment, 

 — my object is rather to ask all interested in flower-gardening to " com- 

 pare notes," and to insert in their note -books the "true" relative 

 eff'ects produced by the different plants generally employed for the 

 summer and autumn decoration of dressed grounds and flower-gar- 

 dens, I look in vain for anything like a show, to be obtained by 

 grouping hardy plants. The past dry summer has so completely ex- 

 hausted them, and in some cases reduced them to absolute poverty, 

 as far as appearance is concerned, that no amount of laudation upon 

 paper can possibly retain the position that was claimed for them 

 amongst summer decorative plants. No. A good many have lost 

 their lives (poor things !) during the past winter, and the reputation 

 of a great many more has been decently interred since the late heat 

 and protracted drought. Who will say that this is an over-coloured 

 picture 1 I am writing from practical experience, and some disappoint- 

 ment at the turn events have taken in regard to many so-called hardy 

 plants. What is a hardy plant 1 And who shall draw the line of 

 demarcation (accurately) between what is a hardy plant and what is 

 not, after the experience of recent winters 1 In all fairness, then, the 

 half-hardy plants, commonly called subtropicals, are as cheap, some 

 of them cheaper, and vastly, incomparably, more effective than the 

 stalwart specimens that have been dangled before our eyes for some 

 time past. 



We will now look at the opposite side of the picture, and glance 

 briefly at the material that can be raised from seeds within the short 

 period of four months, and the relative effect produced by the two 

 classes of plants. The different varieties of Ricinus, Cannas, Zea 

 japonica variegata (which is as handsome or more so than the finest 

 Pandanus Veitchii I ever saw when well grown), the lovely Acacia 

 lopantha, Solanum marginatum, and the green prickly varieties. 

 Daturas, with Balsams and different-coloured Pelargoniums for front 

 lines, and many other plants equally simple to raise and cultivate. 



I have omitted the many kinds of Palms, and other plants that 

 could be objected to on the ground of cost, which are of course addi- 

 tional attractions ; but as my object is to show how a fine effect may be 

 produced in a simple way and by simple means, and to contrast or 

 rather compare the display created by associating and blending plants 

 of graceful habits and different colours with Phloxes and Sun Roses, 

 I do not think it is necessary to give a very comprehensive list. But 

 what of the relative cost"? The short list that I have given as an 



