Uay 30, 1867. ] 



JOUBNAL OP HORTIC0LTDBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



369 



ISOLATED PL.VNTS IN FLOWER GARDENS. 



CANNOT tell wliether or 

 no any great changes have 

 been developing since last 

 autumn in the pits and 

 propagating-houses of the 

 " upper ten " of the garden- 

 ing world, but I am inclined to believe that there has 

 already set in a decided reaction favourable to the intro- 

 duction of softer and more graceful features into our sys- 

 tem of flower-garden decoration. 



For several years rumours of dissatisfaction have been 

 afloat with regard to our present style, some of them faint 

 and half-regi-etful, like the first indications of the breaking 

 up of an old love, others degenerating into sarcasm as to 

 the greater cheapness and adaptability of red lead, yellow 

 oolire, and various pigments, for the pui-pose of colouring 

 our beds : then come the epithets " Dutch forraalit}-," 

 '• Cliineseism," " patchwork," &c., with which we are now 

 so familiar, all indicating that the taste for the geome- 

 trical arrangement of great expanses of mere colour is on 

 the wane. This, though not to be wondered at, is yet 

 cause for regret ; for although masses of hard unbending 

 colour are not pleasant to look at, be they produced by 

 what they may, yet when relieved, as they always are in 

 gardens, by more or less of green foliage, and when in the 

 arrangement of the colours due respect is paid to the few 

 but important laws of harmony and contrast, then a well- 

 designed geometrical flower garden, even though wanting 

 in indi^'idual forms of gracefulness, will still be " a thing 

 of beauty and a joy," if not " for ever," at least for four 

 montlis or more in the year. 



The adoption of fine-foliaged plants in what is called the 

 sub-tropical style is a grjat move in the right direction, 

 but having had no experience in the matter. I am, in con- 

 sequence, totally unfit to say anytliing about it ; only this 

 much must be obvious to every one — that in half the places 

 tliroughout Scotland and the north of England it would be 

 something very near akin to madness to plant out sucli 

 subjects as Drac»nas, Caladiunis, Ferdinandas (how it 

 would rejoice our cold northern hearts to be able to grow 

 a Calabash I), most of the Cannas, and many of the larger- 

 leaved varieties of the Castor-oil plant, not to mention many 

 other plants even more fragile which were last season used 

 with such effect in Battersea Park and elsewhere. 



Much, however, may be done in taking away the some- 

 what wearisome tameness of our present system by the 

 more extensive use of isolated specimens of hardier and 

 commoner plants, care being exercised that these do not, 

 either by their size or proximity, overpower the beds, and 

 thus more than neutralise the effects they are intended to 

 produce. For this purpose some of tlie larger ornamental 

 No. 822.— Vol. XII., New Series. 



Grasses are pre-eminently adapted, and not the least so is 

 the old unfashionable Arundo donax versicolor, which in 

 rich soils attains a considerable height. Arundo conspiciia 

 is also a very remarkable object on an open lawn ; it is a 

 recent introduction, and well worth gi'0\Wug. Erianthus 

 Ravenna', a most ornamental Grass with large plumes of 

 pure white inflorescence, grows to the height of 4 or 5 feet. 

 Then there is that prince of all the Grasses, Gynerium 

 argenteum (the Pampas Grass), than wliich. when well 

 grown in single plants, notliing can be more elegant ; but 

 if grown in a small flower garden where there is no very 

 heavy background of trees or shrubs it should not be 

 allowed to flower, as its mammoth spikes seem to dwarf 

 everything in its neighbourhood. 



The time-tried Humea is also of much value in this way, 

 as it can endure a great amount of wind, if well secured to 

 a neat tapering stake up to \rithin a few inches of the top. 



Coronilla glauca variegata, grown pyramid fashion in 

 pots and plunged in any part that requh'es to be lighted 

 up, has a very fine efl'ect. It is one of the easiest of all 

 plants to grow, and makes also a very neat edging for beds ; 

 I have several times used it as such in a small way. 



Other two plants, very diflerent from those last men- 

 tioned, yet having a grace of habit peculiarly their own, 

 are the Agave americana and Yucca gloriosa, both so well 

 known and much used that little need be said about them. 

 The first maj' be grown to a considerable size in small 

 pots, which are easily plunged to the rim in lawns, being 

 careful to make the hole deep enough to admit of an- 

 other smaller pot being inverted in the bottom as a safe- 

 guard against stagnant water and worms. Tlie Yucca may 

 also be made portable by being kept in large pots where 

 annual re-arrangements are desirable, but succeeds best 

 when planted out in any soil that is dry and deep. In 

 winter the heart of tlie plant should be protected by tying 

 up the outer leaves, a few Spruce branches being placed 

 round them in very severe weather. Although Yucca glo- 

 riosa is the species most frequently met with, there are 

 many other Yuccas worthy of a place in the flower garden, 

 las Y'. obliqua, acuminata, aloifolia, serrulata, draconis, su- 

 perba, and several variegated varieties. 



All wlio have grown greenhouse Fuchsias in a slovenly 

 manner, and there are very few who have not done so at 

 some time, must have noticed how easy it is to bring them 

 into the form of standards, a little neglect at first and a 

 little timely pinching afterwards are nearly all that is re- 

 quired to make handsome plants for our present purpose. 

 The stronger-growing old dark sorts do best, but some of 

 the light are quite robust enough ; for instance, Pearl of 

 England and Venus de Medici. Unfortunately all of them 

 are easily damaged by wind, so that for places entirely 

 exposed to the west and south they are not very well 

 adapted. I once tried a pair of them on wire umbrella 

 trellises, but could not "compliment myself on their ap- 

 pearance. 



The plants I have named, it will be seen, are all of 

 secondary importance hi tliemselves. but fitted by elegance 

 of form to remove to some extent that rather stift' appear- 

 ance so much complained of Some people say that at the 



Ho. 971,— Vol. XXSVn., Old Series. 



