THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



the shrubs. The labour and time wasted in this way, if devoted to the 

 proper culture of a portion of the ground each year, would make our 

 gardens delightful indeed. Many shrubs, as fair as any flower requir- 

 ing the shelter of glass, have been introduced into this country ; but for 

 the most part they have been destroyed by the muddle " shrubbery." 



The idea of the murderous common shrubbery is so rooted in the 

 popular mind that it is almost hopeless to expect much change for the 

 better. The true way is to depart wholly from it as a mass of mixed 

 shrubs, for beautiful families should be grouped apart. Each family 

 or plant should have a separate place, free from the all-devouring 



Privet and Laurel, and each part of the shrubbery should have its 

 own character, which may easily be given to it by grouping instead 

 of mixing, which ends in the starvation of the choice kinds. We do 

 not allow stove and green-house plants to be choked in this way, yet 

 no plants are more worthy of a distinct place and of care than hardy 

 shrubs. Low flowering trees, like Hawthorns, group admirably on the 

 turf, but the finer kinds of flowering shrubs should be planted in beds. 

 The shrubbery itself need no longer be a dark dreary mass, but light 

 and shade may play in it, its varied life be well shown, and the habits 



