ON THE GROUPING AND PLANTING OF FLOWERS. 173 



From the centre pin to the outside ones I place wires in a neat 

 manner : one is fixed from pin to pin on the outside, so that the whole, 

 when finished, resembles a wheel. Both the centre pin and the out- 

 side ones are fixed very firm, to admit of the wire, which is not very 

 strong, being drawn straight and tight. The outside pins should not 

 be too high, as the twiner intended to be planted to run thereon is to 

 form, as it were, an edging to the whole. At each of the outside pins 

 I plant my plants, the more tender sorts in pots; these, as they grow, 

 are kept neatly tied to the wire and trained towards the centre pin. 

 Other twiners or climbers, of a different kind from those that are 

 trained towards the centre, are planted at intervals, according to their 

 habits or luxuriant growth, round the outside wire, to form the 



aforesaid edging. 



The beauty and success of this method depends on the neatness 

 with which the plants are trained to the wire, and in their being 

 placed at a proper height, so as to mingle, as it were, their blossoms 

 with those forming the mass of the bed. A little taste is also neces- 

 sary to assimilate as near as possible the plants forming the mass, 

 and those trained to the wires, both as regards size, and, as far as 

 practicable, shape too, as will be seen by the manner in which the 

 following kinds are grouped together. 



No. 1. A bed of Escholtzia crocea, with Convolvulus major, on the 

 converging wires, and Clematis Sieboldii for the margins. 2. A bed 

 of Hybrid Mimuluses, with Mannandya Barclayana for the rays, and 

 Lophospermum scandens for the margin. 3. A bed of Nolan a 

 atriplicifolia, with Thunbergia alata for the rays, and Petunia nycti- 

 -iniflora for the margin. 4. A bed of Streptocarpus Rexii, with 

 Tropceolum tricolorum for the ray, and Cobrca scandens for the 

 margin. 5. Anagallis Philipsii in a bed with Thunbergia alata 

 alba for the ray, and any of the small growing Ipomeas for the 

 margin. 6. Calendrinia discolor for the bed, with Loaza aurantiaca 

 for the ray, and Rhodochiton volubile for the margin. 1. A bed of 

 Lobelia bellidifolia, with Lantana Sellowii for the ray, and Verbena 

 Tweediana for the margin. 8. A bed of Verbena Mclindres, with 

 Tropceolum Pentaphyllum for the ray, and Thunbergia alata for the 

 margin. I have merely given the above list to show what may be 

 done in the way of grouping, and which can easily be multiplied at 

 pleasure. The plants I use for training on the wire I always con- 



