SUMMER-BEDDING. 209 



which place the art of gardening on a level so much lower than it 

 deserves to occupy. We can have all the variety, all the grace, all 

 the beauty of form, all the glory of colour of the world of flowers 

 and plants, without any of the pattern business which is now the 

 rule. But we cannot make much progress in this direction except 

 by suppressing the elaborate pattern beds as much as convenient, 

 and by letting the vegetation tell its own story. The plants 

 we must feed and the soil we must enrich ; but finicking beds 

 reminding one of the art on fire-shovels and such productions, are 

 not necessary. Let us then begin by adopting a bold, large, and 

 simple type of bed, from which the flowers will spring and make us 

 think more of them than of the pattern. By way of variety, succu- 



Stone basket of flowers and fine-leaved pLints (Heckfield Place). 



lents are desirable plants for dry positions and under the shade 

 of trees, where other bedding plants do not flourish satisfactorily. 

 From their power of withstanding storms of wind and rain, and even 

 drought and cold, they are always in good form ; and they should 

 have a place in summer flower-garden arrangements of any extent. 

 They harmonise well with many hardy plants that may serve as 

 cushions for them to display their quaintness on. The term " succulent " 

 includes all plants of a fleshy character, the more common types 

 being the Echeverias, Cotyledons, and Kleinias. Agaves and Aloes 

 are more rare, but are none the less valuable for bedding. 



