THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 17 



entrance from the station on the Brighton and South Coast Railway, 

 On the mount, Mr. Thomson has designed a series of eighteen beda. 

 which, seen from the broad walk at the foot of the glacis, have an 

 exceedingly beautiful appearance; for, from this point, the bold 

 outlines appear to great advantage ; and, from the walk above them, 

 they are by no means ineiiective. The beds are circular, and of a 

 uniform size, the diameter being twelve feet. The designs worked 

 out are more or less complicated, but they are all characterized by 

 great taste, and in a critical examination, one is struck by the fact, 

 that the materials employed are simple in character and limited in 

 number. There were Jess than a dozen difterent subjects employed in 

 the colouring of the beds, yet the designs were perfectly distinct, and 

 all were alike satisfactory. To describe the designs would be prac- 

 tically useless, for, without the assistance of diagrams, no one would 

 be able to copy them in a satisfactory manner. In one, the leading fea- 

 ture is a Maltese cross ; in another, a lovers' knot ; in another, a star, 

 and so on. Indeed, these examples prove to demonstration that the 

 combinations which may be formed with leaf-plants are well nigh 

 endless, and that, in consequence, even when the number of beda is 

 large, new designs may be employed every year, and an immense 

 amount of interest created thereby in the embellishment of the 

 flower-garden. We shall now speak as if the beds were before us. 



The principal plants employed in the carpet-beds on the rose 

 mount are — Altertianthera amcena, A. inagnifica, and A. parony- 

 chioides, three dwarf-growing plants, with carmine, orani^e red, 

 crimson, and bronzy foliage ; Coleus Verscliaffelti, a well-known, dark- 

 leaved plant, Eclieveria secimda r/lauca, a most useful succulent 

 for edgings ; Lobelia pumtla gramliflora, a well-known variety of 

 cushion-like growth; Lobelia Bright Eye, a compact growing form of 

 L. speciosa ; Fgrethrum Golden Feather, the well-known yellow-leaf 

 plant; Cerastiamtomeniosum, one of the most useful of silvery-leaved 

 plants of low growth ; Mesembnjantliemum cordifolium variegatum, 

 a decumbent growing plant, with small leaves broadly, margined 

 with creamy yellow ; and Tagetes sic/nata pimiila, which is employed 

 for forming green bands. The flowers are removed, and by mode- 

 rate pinching, it forms capital bands of green. These are the only 

 subjects used, but there are several others which may be used with 

 good effect. There is, for example — 



Aliernantliera amana spectabile, a robust growing variety of this 

 highly-coloured plant. The leaves are of the same brilliant carmine 

 hue as the type, but the growth is more vigorous, and it is, there- 

 fore, a decided acquisition. A. magnifica, used extensively at the 

 Crystal Palace, is of more robust growth, and has foliage of a 

 bright orange-red and pale carmine, and is more generally useful 

 than A. amojna or its variety, as these are not so hardy or so free, 

 and have to be planted much closer togettier. But they are not 

 surpassed in brilliancy of colours. 



Coprosma Baueriana variegata, a beautiful shrubby greenhouse 

 plant, with shining leaves broadly margined with yellow. It is 

 rather difficult to propagate, but when strong plants are put out, 

 and the branches pegged down, it is the most sumptuous yellow 



January. 



