I02 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



The frame-ground in Regent's Park has to be a 

 spacious one, to produce all that is required in the 

 way of spring and summer plants. The fogs are the 

 greatest enemies of the London gardener, and more 

 especially on the heavier soil of Regent's Park. Not 

 even the most hardy of the bedding-out plants will 

 survive the winter, unless in frames. Even wall-flowers 

 and forget-me-nots will perish with a single bad night 

 of fog, unless under glass. Although, on the other 

 hand, it is surprising how some species apparently un- 

 suited to withstand the climate will survive. Among 

 the rock plants growing in a private rock-garden within 

 the Park Azalia procumbens^ that precarious Alpine, is 

 perfectly at home. Clumps of Cypripedium spectabele come 

 up and flower year after year, and Arnehia echioides^ the 

 prophet flower, by no means easy to grow, seems quite 

 established. But to return to the frame-ground, from 

 whence all the bedding plants emanate. Violas are a 

 special feature in the Park, and one which is much to 

 be commended, as their season of beauty is so protracted. 

 They are all struck in frames, one row of fifty-three 

 lights being devoted to them, in which 23,750 cuttings 

 are put annually. The green-houses are used for stor- 

 ing plants not only for the decoration of the Park 

 but for some fourteen other places outside. The 

 Tower, the Law Courts, Mint, Audit Office, the 

 Mercantile Marine in Poplar, are all supplied from 

 Regent's Park. The Tate Gallery and Hertford 

 House have to be catered for also. Whether the 

 visitors to the Wallace Collection even notice the 

 plants it is impossible to say ; they might miss their 

 absence. But the gardeners have to give these few 

 pots considerable care, as they will only stand for a 



