Introduction^ etc. 27 



needless, as it is in false taste, to follow the course 

 here pointed out. Hardy plants may be isolated 

 on the turf, and may be arranged in beautiful 

 irregular groups, with the turf also for a carpet, 

 or some graceful spray of hardy trailing plants. 

 Beds may be readily placed so that no such objec- 

 tionable stage-like results will be seen as those 

 shown in the preceding figure : tender plants 

 may be grouped as freely as may be desired 

 a formal edge avoided by the turf being allowed 

 to play irregularly under and along tjie margins, 

 while the remaining bare ground beneath the tall 

 plants may be quickly covered with some fast- 

 growing annuals like Mignonette or Nolanas, some 

 soft-spreading bedding plants like Lobelias or 

 Petunias, or subjects still more peculiarly suited 

 for this purpose, such as the common Lycopodium 

 denticulatum and Tradescantia discolor. Choice 

 tender specimens of Tree ferns, etc., placed in dark 

 shady dells, may be plunged to the rims of the 

 pots in the turf or earth, and some graceful or 

 bold trailing herb placed round the cavity so as to 

 conceal it ; and in this way such results may be 

 attained as those indicated in the first plate, in 

 those showing the Dimorphanthus, Musa Ensete, 

 and in the frontispiece. The day will come when 



