PLANTING OP FLOWER-BEDS. 27 



down to the front, on all sides, interspersing the colors so 

 as to form the most agreeable contrast in shades. But, 

 for grand effect, nothing, in our estimation, can ever be 

 produced in promiscuous planting to equal that obtained 

 by planting in masses or in ribbon lines. In the grounds 

 of the Crystal Palace, near London, and at the Jardin des 

 Plantes, in Paris, wonderful specimens of this mode of 

 planting are to be seen. The lawns are cut so as to 

 resemble rich green velvet ; on these the flower-beds are 

 laid out in every style that art can conceive ; some are 

 planted in masses of blue, scarlet, yellow, crimson, white, 

 etc., separate beds of each, harmoniously blended on the 

 carpeting of green. Then, ngain, the ribbon style is used 

 in the large beds, in forms so various that allusion can 

 here be made to only a few of the most conspicuous. In 

 a circular bed, say of 20 feet in diameter, the first line 

 towards the grass is blue Lobelia, attaining a height of 6 

 inches; next comes the famous Mrs. Pollock Geranium, 

 occupying the space of 1-J- foot wide and 9 inches high, 

 with its gorgeous leaves and flowers ; then, against that, is 

 a line of Mountain of Snow Geranium, with its silvery 

 white foliage and scarlet flowers, backed by the chocolate- 

 colored Coleus Verschaffeltii ; the centre being a mound 

 of scarlet Salvia. Another style is a fringe for the front 

 of the fern-like white-leaved Centaurea gymnocarpa; 

 back of that is the Crystal Palace Scarlet Geranium ; then 

 Phalaris arundinacea picta, a new style of Ribbon Grass ; 

 next, Coleus Verschaffeltii, and, in the centre, a clump of 

 Canna, or Pampas Grass. 



For beds, at a distance, having a background of shrub- 

 bery, large and bright-colored foliage, or showy-flowering 

 plants only should be used ; of these, an excellent effect 

 is produced by having Amarantus sanguineus for the 

 background, a plant of crimson foliage growing 6 feet 

 in height; next that, Salvia Gordonii, with its scarlet 

 feather-like flowers, attaining a height of four feet, fronted 



