CHAP. IX VILLA GAEDEXIXG 51 



golden or variegated foliage, lose their colour when spring merges 

 into summer. 



The Reserve Garden. — In small places this need not occupy 

 much space, as a border in the kitchen garden will serve to raise 

 seedlings and strike cuttings. It is always desirable to have a 

 plot of ground set apart as a kind of nursery to sow such things 

 as Walltiowers, Anemones, Delphiniums, Foxgloves, and dozens 

 of others, of which it wiU be desii-able to have young plants in 

 the course of preparation. Many choice hardy plants may be 

 raised from seeds, and though it may perhap.s be better to sow the 

 seeds of these in pans in a frame, yet, as soon as they will bear 

 handling, a bed in the reserve garden till they gather strength to 

 group in the border wiU be the best place for them. Cuttings 

 that have been rooted under the handhghts or frames may be 

 allowed a time to get up strength. Xew things brought in fi-om 

 the nursery, which, as a rule, are small and often delicate when 

 they arrive, should have their proper bed to recruit their health 

 for a season, where they will be under the eye and not lost amid 

 the crowd in the border. The experimentalist will rec|uire a 

 reserve garden for many things. The choice seedlings of bulbs 

 will there find a suitable home. Cuttings of choice trees or shrubs 

 can be gi'own on till they are strong enough to plant out finally. 

 The most convenient form for a reserve garden will be a square or ' 

 oblong, and it should be laid out in parallel beds 5 feet or so wide, 

 so that the little plants can be conveniently hoed amongst and 

 cleaned. The alleys or paths between need not be more than 

 18 inches wide, just giving sufficient space to walk between and 

 attend to the wants of the plants. Such beds need never be idle, 

 as, if not required for growing on young stock, they can be planted 

 with Pinks, Carnations, Pentstemons, Phloxes, Pyrethrums, etc., 

 to produce flowers for cutting. In short, such a garden will 

 always possess an interest of its own to any person who really 

 loves flowers for their own sakes. One of the purposes of the 

 reserve garden will be to receive the plants that have done their 

 work in the spring garden. There the Daisies can be planted 

 after division, the Aubrietias, Arabis, and Forget-me-nots can be 

 pulled to pieces and started again on a new career. 



CHAPTER IX 



Hardy Bulbs. — The cultiu-e of hardy bulbs and rhizomatous 

 plants is one of the most interesting phases of gardening. There 

 is such an endless variety, and the colours of the flowers are im- 



