CHAP. VII VILLA GARDENING 47 



should be planted amid the background for the sake of their 

 sweetness and beauty in spring, and the Laburnum for its long, 

 dangling chains of gold. And what an opening there is for bulbs 

 among the Ivies and other low-gTowing plants, which can be used 

 for filling up every spare corner ! for it is one of the features of 

 the natural garden that there are no bare places. Plants will 

 grow up in spring and flower, the foliage ripen and die down in 

 its season, and forthwith others spring up to fill their places. 

 There will be no edgings to the paths — that is, no formal edgings, 

 such as tm-f or Box ; but low-growing, -ft-ide-spreading plants, as 

 the Arabis, Aubrietias, -Saxifrages, Sedums, dwarf Phloxes, Pinks, 

 and a host of other dwarf hardy things, may be planted in irregular 

 masses to form the outlines and fronts of the borders, and fill up 

 anywhere. If any of them grow too far, so as to encroach on the 

 path — which in all probability they will— they can easily be cut 

 away with the spade. Places can be found for Pseonies, Crown 

 Imperials, Alstrcemerias, and many other bulbs which dislike 

 being disturbed. Then 



The "Winter Aspect will be very agreeable and interesting. 

 The different tints of foliage of the low masses which hug the 

 ground are of a striking character, and may be contrasted with 

 some of the silver and golden-foliaged conifers, and the warmer 

 tints of the variegated Holly and Aucuba. Standard bushes of 

 P>Tacantha and Cotoueaster laden with bright berries in winter 

 brighten up everything immensely, and the Skimmias and Per- 

 nettyas are at home on the mounds. With a place well and fully 

 planted there is no room for weeds ; and if the preparation of the 

 site has been thorough at the first, there can be no pressing 

 necessity for much heavy labour for a number of years. And the 

 jobbing gardener, with that propensity, so deeply ingrained in his 

 nature, to dig up and cut oft' what comes in his way, may be given 

 a wide berth. Top-dressings of rich soil can be given to those 

 things that seem to require it. 



If a strong plant seems disposed to grow over or overshadow a 

 weakly one, it should be at once curtailed. But a system of group- 

 ing should be adopted, whereby all weakly delicate plants can be 

 l^lanted by themselves on a raised bed or a moimd of rockwork 

 immediately under the eye, and not likely to be forgotten. In 

 spring, vacant places can be filled with hardy annuals that will 

 establish themselves and scatter their seeds and come at their 

 season without any trouble of annual sowing. Among these are the 

 Virginian Stocks, the Forget-me-nots, Candytufts, branching Lark- 

 spurs, and others. Not the least beautiful and interesting plant 

 that will take care of itself in this way is the old biennial Honesty, 



