March 16, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUaE AND COTTAGE GAUDENEB. 



2U 



requires a gainea snbecription, and for that you have the same 

 privileges aa at the Boyal Horticulturul Society. 



I hope, therefore, the Council will adopt Mr. Wilson's sug- 

 gestion, for I feel confident that if tbey do the accession of 

 new Fellows will be large. — John B. M. Camm. 



SIMPLICITY OF ARRANGEMENT IN FLOWER 

 BEDS. 



A HEXiGON-A BORDER— A SCROLL. 

 For a copyiat of the somewhat complicated designs of the 

 carpet beds in the public gardens of the metropolis to be 

 really suocessfal, it is indispensable that he should possess an 

 abundant stock of plants and sufficient knowledge of geometry 

 to enable him to trace the figures with accuracy. Given these, 

 with a certain amount of manipulative ekill and good taste, 

 there is no reason why a private garden may not equal or even 

 excel any of the public gardens, as was so strikingly demon- 

 strated by Mr. Legg at Cleveland House last season. In the 

 majority of small gardens, however, such facilities do not 

 exiet ; restricted means, such as want of space under glass, 

 and perhaps only a factotum to make the most of that space, 

 quite preclude any such ambitious attempts ; the proprietors 

 acting wisely and well to confine their efforts to a few good 

 sorts of plants, not necessarily the newest or most fashionable, 

 blended together in simple designs, easily arranged and kept 

 in order. Under such a guise their gardens are much more 

 beautiful, and — mark the term I — really enjoyable than they 

 could be under a more elaborate but less successful system of 

 decoration. 



Fig. 66. 



1. Echeveria secuuda glauca. 



2. Alternanthera verBicoIor. 



8. Golden Pjrethram. 

 4. Lobelia speciosa. 



WINTER. 



1. Sednm glaucum, dotted with blue Crocus. 



2. SempervivTim caUfornicum, with white Crocag. 



3. Ajaga rcptaos and yellow Crocna. 



4. Golden Pjrethruiu and deep purple Crocus. 



SPEINO. 



1. Saponaria calabrica, with the entire centre of Myosotif? sylvatica. The 



planting of these to immediately follow the flowering of the Crocus. 



The class of gardens to which I allude is an extensive one, 

 much more so than those in the hands of skilled practitioners, 

 and I am very much afraid that one's ideas often take so high 

 a flight as to pass quite over the heads of very many whom 

 one would really wish to assist; so I am now going to try and 

 forget Kew, Battersea, and the Crystal Palace, and to offer a 

 few plain hints concerning flower beds simple in design, and 

 containing plants not very new but of easy culture, yet which, 

 taken apart from the merit of novelty, are no unworthy rivals 

 of the latest " sensation," whatever that may be. 



" T. 0. J." has three beds, a hexagon, a plain Ecroll, and a 

 parallelogram of 80 feet by 3. We shall, therefore, strive to 

 answer the queries of our correspondent, and also impart in- 

 formation to others, by explaining something of what may be 

 done to embellish each of these beds in spring, summer, and 



winter. Figs. CG and 67 set forth so plaiuly the planting of 

 a hexagon that no descriptive note is called for. 



Although a border of 3 feet is Eomtwbat narrow, it yet 

 affords scope for so many simple designs as to ensure the 

 requisite annual change. Beginning with the straight lines 

 of a formal iibbon pattern, we could manage four distinct 

 bands of blue, grey, crimson, and yellow; or grey, blue, pink 

 and white, ranging through a variety of shades of those colours, 

 taking good care to graduate tho plants with reference to 

 their growth from back to front, or from sides to centre. For 

 example, a border along the verge of a shrub belt might have 

 Mesembryanthemum cordifolium variegatum with its charm- 

 ing pale yellow variegation for the front line ; next might 

 come the deep crimson Iresine, then the sprightly grey Leuco- 

 phyton Brownii, or the soft grey Gnaphalinm lanatum, with 

 the purple-leaved Chenopodium Atriplicis or the elegant Humea 

 elegans behind. If the border stands out upon turf it might 

 have a margin of Mesembryanthemum with an inner line of 

 silvery grey, such as Cmeraria maritlma orCentaurea ragueina, 

 with a centre of any favourite kind of scarlet Lobelia — always 

 ornamental with crimson stems and foliage of a deeper hue, 

 and imparting much life and brilliancy to a design in autumn, 

 when the flowers of rich liquid scarlet expand abundantly. 



Fig. 67. 



SUMMEB. 



1. Alternanthera amcpna. 



2. 8edum Rlaucum, dotted with Ncrtera dcpressa. 



3. Coleas Verschaffeltii splendens. 



4. Blue Lobelia, dotted with Fuchaia Sunray. 



1. Sednm glaacum, with a single specimen of f^axifraga longifolia in centre 



of angles. 



2. Sempervivum moutanum 



3. SempGrvivDm caUfornicum. 



4. Saxifra^a nepalensis. 



This arrangement can of course bo dotted with bulbj. 



SPBING, 



1. Nemophila insignis. 



2. Saponaria calabrica. 



o. Silene pendula alba. 

 4. Myosotis sylvatica. 



As a relief and change from the monotony of straight lines 

 we could form a curved or serpentine band flowing gracefully 

 from end to end of the border along its centre, and yet with 

 its outer curves just touching the sides, which might have an 

 edging of one row of plants of a small glaucous Echeveria. 

 The serpentine band would thus form a number of semi- 

 circular spaces, which could be filled with suitable plants. 

 We might have a curved band of Colenses with alternating 

 semicircles of a Golden Tricolor Geranium and blue Lobelia ; 

 or a band of Polemonium caruleum variegatum with pink 

 and blue patches along the sides ; or a grey baud with any 

 shade of rose, pink, carmine, blue, lilac, or crimson along the 

 sides. A serpentine band of pink Geranium Master Christine, 

 with semicircles of the dwarf white variegated Geranium Litib 

 Trot with its flowers kept picked off would form a charming 

 bed, the combination beiug mure chaste and lovely than alinot 

 any other. Such simple jet effective combinations may be 

 wrought out in almost endless variety. 



I cannot now afford the time to dwell upon tho great beauty 



