WINTER-FURMSHING FLOWER BEDS. Ill 



Among American plants, rhododendrons, azaleas, and kal- 

 mias, all of wliicli may be got to bloom at from six to twelve 

 inches high in pots, are most beautiful, and so varied in 

 colour and habit that they are of the greatest service in 

 beds and borders ; and although, in the larger space of lawn 

 and ornamental ground, there may be clumps devoted to 

 groups of these objects, dwarf plants in pots may be used 

 to precede or succeed other objects not less beautiful in 

 their prime. 



In the beds of a large garden, and in borders which are 

 kept up with a variety of flowers, there may be a good deal 

 done with perennials ; but they must not be planted close 

 enough to prevent the frequent changes and introductions of 

 more temporary, but often more beautiful plants. 



In places where the rose is to constitute a feature, regard 

 must be had to those varieties which are the most permanent 

 and constant in their bloom, and which, like the old China 

 and the Fellenburg, already mentioned, will keep up a succes- 

 sion of flowering aU the season ; for a rose-tree without 

 flowers is no very attractive object ; and all those summer 

 kinds which bloom in Jime or July, and then cease, should 

 be avoided. The cultivation of roses in pots, to exhibit, has 

 become quite the rage ; and there is no good reason why they 

 should not be cultivated in pots to furnish the more con- 

 spicuous parts of a garden from time to time, when they are 

 in good order, and other floral subjects fail. 



Plants gro^^Ti in pots to furnish miscellaneous borders need 

 not be confined to height nor size. Any bold, striking object 

 that can be made to occupy a conspicuous place, wliile in good 

 order, and be removed when done flowering to make room for 

 another, cannot fail to render the border more attractive, and 

 therefore are we favourable to pot culture for flower gardens, 

 beds, and borders. 



Flower Borders. — The management of borders upon a 

 large scale requires a few remarks, inasmuch as many estab- 

 lishments have borders all along the approaches to the 

 mansion, or round the boundary plantation. All borders 

 upon an extensive scale must depend for their general appear- 

 ance on perennials, and these, chiefly, the hardy ones ; and 

 it wants some care in the choice, and some little ingenuity in 

 the planting, to manage them, without immense labour, and 

 yet keep up as much inflorescence as possible. The width of 



