FIG. 133. 



FLOWER GARDENS, BEDS AND BORDERS. 



from these practical considerations, however, simple forms are best, for those having com- 

 plicated shapes are distracting to the eye and claim attention for their own sake, whereas 



they should be considered as a background to the flowers and not as a competing feature. 



Plain oblongs cannot always be employed, of 

 course, but these relieved by circular beds, such 

 as those shown in, the accompanying sketch 

 (111. No. 133), or the other arrangements shown 

 in illustration No. 134, are adaptable to a 



large number of cases where beds line either side of a path, and may be further varied 



by the insertion of posts for climbing roses at regular intervals, or rose arches across 



the path. The plan of the panel garden at 



Wraysbury, near Staines (111. No. 127), show an 



effective and simple arrangement of beds which 



will bear repetition, or might, whilst retaining 



the general characteristics, be alternated as in 



illustration No. 135. The spaces between the 



beds should not be too great where they are 



divided by gravel paths, or the gravelled area 



will appear obtrusive, but where the beds are 



cut out of grass, the remaining strips between 



them should be wide enough to take a mowing 



machine and to allow of the necessary trampling incidental to the care and trimming of 



the plants without growing bald. 



A further important point is the provision of beds large enough to allow of the plants Arrange- 



FIG. 134. 



being arranged in masses. Every student of the works of those artists who make a special 

 study of garden subjects for their paintings, will realize how one and all, they glory in 



large masses of brilliant colour produced 



J-^ ._ jcmr OF rtET by growing a quantity of one sort of 



plant together. Many years ago, Mrs. 

 Siddons, the actress, in her own garden 

 on the Harrow Road, set this most 

 estimable fashion, and one can only 

 wonder that it has not been more 

 universally followed. The sizes of the 

 beds for this purpose must, of course, 

 be regulated by the scale of the flower- 

 ing plants they are to accommodate ; 

 for instance, borders in which oriental 

 poppies, anchusas, delphiniums and 

 hollyhocks are to be planted, must be 

 wide, and should be long in propor- 

 tion to their width. On the other 

 hand, beds which are to be filled with 

 pinks, lavender, and plants of similar 

 scale may be much smaller. A good average width for a border to be planted with the 

 larger herbaceous plants is nine feet, while beds for smaller things may vary from this 

 down to only two feet broad. 



Again both formal and informal gardens may have their parterres devoted to one 

 special class of plant or flower, as in the case of the rose garden, herbarium for medicinal 

 plants, or the Alpine garden. Hogg, the poet, writing of the flowers which were 

 fashionable in his day says, " In some particular instances I am disposed to copy the 



Of 



masses. 



FIG. 135. 



