554 THE GARDENER. [Dec. 



of the dwarf Campanulas in shades of blue and white, Salvia patens, 

 Senecio squarrosa, yellow, the common double Feverfew, Pyrethrum 

 parthenium, Vittadinia triloba, the common yellow Saxifrage, Antir- 

 rhinums, dwarf Mimulus, and Nepeta caerulea are a few sorts which 

 mostly require the seeds removed in order to have a continuous dis- 

 play of flowers. Many other hardy flowers can be planted for dis- 

 play at certain seasons, as in spring, or late in autumn, when we have 

 the most gorgeous and stately flowers of the year to select from. 

 There is also a very neglected class of plants which are intrinsically 

 of the highest worth to the flower- gardener, provided he selects 

 with caution. These are hardy annuals. I think the two finest 

 flower-beds I have seen this past season were at Whittinghame, where 

 Mr Garrett had a bed of Godetia Lady Albemarle, and another of 

 Saponaria calabrica, both in perfect order. A very pretty arrange- 

 ment I saw at a ducal establishment last year, was formed of a ground- 

 work of Oxalis tropseoloides, dotted here and there with some large 

 growing plants. Lupinus nanus, Viscaria cardinalis, Nemophila in- 

 signis, Phlox Drummondii, Helichrysums, Collinsia bicolor, hardy 

 Nasturtiums, are a few I can think of as being excellent when well 

 managed. There are very many gardens where these can be used with 

 good effect, while, at the same time, there are other beds where Ger- 

 aniums, Verbenas, and plants of that class, can be utilised in a manner 

 that no other kind of plants can approach in effectiveness. There are 

 also beds which can be filled with that class of plants to which the 

 general name of carpet-bedding plants has been given. To cut up a 

 series of large beds into geometrical figures, and fill them with these 

 dwarf leaf-plants, is failing to abstract the greatest amount of beauty 

 compatible from such when compared with the glowing masses which 

 can be secured in most seasons from the same beds when filled with 

 flowering subjects. The same want of forethought is apparent when 

 small beds or narrow borders are planted with large-growing flowering 

 subjects, and the great multitude of dwarf leaf-plants totally neglected. 

 There is room for most styles o planting in the majority of gardens, 

 and he who studies the capabilities of the flower-beds and borders under 

 his charge, and makes use of that kind of plant best suited to his own 

 particular wants, will have and give most satisfaction in his arrange- 

 ments. There is a consideration to be borne in mind, however, which 

 alters somewhat the bias one may have in what is the best thing to do, 

 and that is the expressed wish of one's employer for certain kinds of 

 plants in certain beds or positions. It is of no use to work against 

 these conditions. The only mode of getting over the difficulty, should 

 it prove a difficulty, is to pay extra attention to have that particular 

 wish gratified to the fullest extent, and work the surroundings into 

 conformity with it. At the same time, there is no harm in expressing 

 one's own view, should it be very different from that of the owner. 

 Generally it is possible to get these more into the state which one 



