THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



{^January, 



enadc right through France, from the Hduthern- 

 most const on the Mediterranean to Havre on 

 the channel, and there are certainly great difler- 

 encea of soil, climate and habita, and of natu- 

 ral products, between Provence and Nor- 

 mandy. One pa.^scs pretty much through the 

 entire scale of pomology — from the orange, 

 which ruined Atalanta, to the a])plo that ruined 

 Mother Eve. Nevertheless, science seemingly 

 generalizes proceedings and helps nature propa- 

 gate her products from one zone to the other. 

 Hence, I hnd the gardens ornamented pretty 

 much all over with the same plants and on the 

 same artistic plan. I have started from Nice, 

 the city of flowers; have psissed through Lyons, 

 Dijon, Paris, and reached Havre, and have found 

 everywhere throughout France a kind of com- 

 paratively recent garden decoration, called Mosai- 

 culture. The word is new and known only by 

 specialists and amateurs. It might, however, 

 be universally adopted, because it tells at once 

 its meaning, expre-ssing as it does an artistical 

 disposition of plants, leaves and flowers, of such 

 shades as will form masses, beds, wreaths — in fact, 

 all sorts of designs, which are truly vegetable 

 mosaics. I have seen the most charming speci- 

 mens, and I will bring here a few of them to 

 mind. 



" In Lyons, the place where art, closely allied 

 with industry, creates tissues which are the ad- 

 miration of the world, horticulture stands in high 

 honor ; and possibly the delicate taste for it enters 

 far more than we think into the inspiration of the 

 workingman — artist. Public and private gar- 

 dens are numerous, rich and well-kept. The 

 Pare de la TSte d'Or for, instance, with its mag- 

 nificent shade-trees, its vast lawns, its elegant 

 greenhouses, showing not only a natural love 

 for flowers, but also profound notions of the hor- 

 ticvritural art and science. In this noble park 

 have I found the best compositions of vegetable 

 mosaic. Long and wide beds (platebandes) and 

 immense massed groups present a great variety 

 of brilliant and select eflects. The divers varie- 

 ties of Alternanthera and Teilanthera ; of the 

 various Coleua, of Achyranthus, of Amaranthus 

 melancholicus ruber, etc; the Mesembryanthe- 

 mum tricolor, the Sedum carneum, the fine 

 Centaurea candidissima, the Gnaphalium lana- 

 bum, the golden-leaved Matricaria, etc., are 

 planted so as to form initials or words, or to rep- 

 resent richly shaded elegant ribbons, or com- 

 plicated arabesque figures, or pretty designs of 

 marqiceterie, etc. 



"Dijon, the capital of Burgundy, — where, al- 

 niostns soon as you got into it, there rises to your 

 ])alate the flavor of those fine wines, which de- 

 light the French aa well the inhabitants of this 

 globe, — Dijon also aspires to a high degree of 

 floriculture. In the ornamental part of its bo- 

 tanical garden I saw also very successful mosaic. 

 There I have 8«en and afterward also found in 

 Paris— but whatdon'tyou find in Paris of anything 

 line that has been produced anywhere in the 

 world? — a happy use in mosaic compositions 

 and in borders of Alyssum maritimum fol. varie- 

 gatis; a charming plant, compact, low, almost a 

 creeper, resembling somewhat Sedum carneum, 

 but apparently more robust and vigorous. 



" Paris has wiped out the traces of vandalism 

 and has got a new set of jewels in her gardens. 

 She still, and more than ever, is the capital of 

 the kingdom of flora, just the same as she is the 

 capital of France and of civilization. Her Pare 

 Monceaux is the richest floral gem in the world. 

 The plan in both its ensemble and its details is 

 admirable, and it is excellently kept up. From 

 the mosaic composition in it I quote : 



" ' A mass of Pelargonium zonale with white 

 spotted leaves mixed with Perilla nankinensis, 

 with Lobelia erinus — charming effect. 



" ' An oval formed of ribbons of Coleus of 

 well-contrasted shades, bordered with an edge of 

 Lobelia erinus. Crystal Palace. 



" ' A mass of Pel. jonale foliis sanguineis 

 mixed with Centaurea candidi-ssima, edged all 

 round with Lobelia erinus and Alternanthera. 



" ' A mass very much shaped like a cupola 

 (bomb§) dominated over by a strong growing 

 Agave atrovirens, round which there is a beauti- 

 ful mosaic of Althernanthera, Sedum carneum, 

 and other low growers.' 



"A good many isolated specimen shrubs on 

 lawns are set in a setting of jjlants of one single 

 color, and that a brilliant one, of either leaf or 

 flower; or of a mosaic. These settings look like 

 flowery nests put in the grass. 



"On the sides of a large lawn there rises a 

 heavy mass of Acer negundo with spotted leaves, 

 rounded by a double border of Pelargonium zo- 

 nale, with flowers of a brilliant red and salmon. 

 The eff'ect of it was both powerful and charming. 



" But I would not be able to finish were I to 

 enumerate all that is seductive in this admirable 

 park, half mundane, half mysterious; one of 

 the glories of Paris and yet hardly known to 

 the multitude. 



" Havre calls me, and there, too, I find mosaics 



