AND THEIR SETTINGS. 255 



next to these a mass of hollyhocks of stocky growth ; next the 

 Mirabilis (four o'clock), and on the points the Colleus verschafdti. 

 In the centre of the fourth bed may be a stool of Japanese striped 

 maize, five to six feet high; next on either side a plant of the 

 striped-leaved Canna zebrina, five feet high; next, and in the 

 centre-line of the bed, the Lillium auratum, with the Lillium longi- 

 florum near the edge of the bed ; next the Salvia argentia, three 

 feet ; and for the ends of the bed the Amaranthus melancholicus 

 ruber, one to two feet high. The four outside circles may be filled 

 respectively with the Colleus verschafelti, of gorgeous crimson and 

 purple leaves ; the mountain-of-snow geranium, with white foliage 

 and scarlet flowers ; the Amaranthus bicolor, with green and crim- 

 son leaves ; and the Lady Pollock geranium with variegated 

 leaves. The vase for a group of beds of this size should be large, 

 and well filled in the centre with gay-leaved plants, with more deli- 

 cate foliage drooping over its sides. If such groups are made 

 without a vase in the centre, we suggest in place of it, the planting 

 of an Arunda donax within a circle of Japanese maize, the bed to 

 be about three feet in diameter, and well enriched ; or the Irish 

 juniper may be planted as a permanent and more formal centre. 



Fig. 51 is a design for a number of beds occupying so great 

 a space that it would constitute a flower-garden. The centre bed 

 is supposed to be cut within a circle of four feet radius, so that 

 it will be eight feet in diameter from point to point. The eight 

 circular beds surrounding it are each three and a half feet in 

 diameter, and laid out so that their centres are on a circle eight 

 feet from the main centre. The inside ends of the outer circle of 

 beds are segments of circles struck from the centres of the small 

 beds, and may be made of any form that the surrounding features 

 of the place suggest. The most elegant feature for the centre of 

 the central bed would be a broad shallow vase two feet in height, 

 and four in breadth, on top, elevated on a pedestal two feet 

 high, which should be concealed by a dense mass of shrubby 

 flowering plants around it; the sides of the vase to be draped 

 with pendulous plants overhanging its sides, and its centre filled 

 with plants of a tropical appearance. Next in elegance to the large 

 vase-centre would be a basket-bed similar to the one shown in the 



