Color Schemes for Formal Gardens 



THE old-time formal garden with its 

 terraces, vases and statues, severe- 

 ly trimmed hedges and trees, and 

 its walks, borders and flower beds, bord- 

 ered with narrow strips of grass, tiles 



A Corner Garden 



Planted for beauty and a practical purpose. It pre- 

 vents short cuts that mar so many lawns near busy city 

 streets.* Besides the type illustrated — a hedge bordered 

 with flowers — rockeries are as efficient and as ornamental. 



or box-edging, is practically unknown 

 in Canada. The "formal garden," as 

 we know it, is usually a lawn or garden 

 containing a number of flower beds and 

 borders. Sometimes it is laid out in 

 the form of a more or less pleasing de- 

 sign, but often no attempt at artistic 

 arrangement is made, the garden or 

 lawn being crowded with flower beds of 

 every size and description, lack of space 

 alone being the limit to the variety of 

 designs displayed. This is an all too- 

 common practice and one that cannot 

 be too severely condemned. If the ar- 

 rangement is bad, the design poor, or 

 imsuitable, or the beds are out of pro- 

 portion either in size or number, the 

 most skilful planting will never entirely 

 hide the defect. 



Color schemes for separate beds, es- 

 pecially if they are some distance from 

 each other, are easier to carry out than 

 when they are grouped together in the 

 form of a design. In the former case, 

 no account has to be taken of the effect 

 the colors used will have on those in ad- 

 joining beds. In either case, harmony of 

 color should be made the first considera- 

 tion. This may be produced by form- 

 ing sharp but pleasing contrasts, or by 

 a combination of different shades of one 

 color. To give an extended list of com- 

 binations suitable for single beds would 

 only lead to confusion ; therefore, a few 

 examples only will be given. Those 

 which follow have all been seen in dif- 

 ferent plans in this locality, some being 

 particularly effective: 

 1. Iresine Herbstii, purple red and 

 Abutilon Savitzii, planted alternate- 

 ly; border, alyssum, "Little Gem." 



"Wm. J. A^'^ilshire, Montreal 



2. Geranium, "Flower of Spring," sil- 

 ver leaf, coleus, "Glory of Autumn," 

 and dwarf silver leaf geranium; 

 border, Altemanthera amoena. 



3. Abutilon Savitzii, white and heHo- 

 trope "Montreal Bedder," purple; 

 border, alyssum, "Little Gem." 



4. Geranium, "J ^'ind," rose-pink, 

 jf^ Centaurea gymnocarpa, white, and 



Begonia Erfordii, carmine; border, 

 Dactylis variegata, white striped. 



5. Acalypha Macafuena, bronze-green 



and red, and Abutilon Savitzii. 



6. Canna, "Alphonse Bouvier," crim- 

 son, planted sparingly on a ground- 

 work of Abutilon "Souvenir de 

 Bonn," green and white; border, 

 Coleus Verschaffeltii, maroon. 



7. Dark blue ageratum, Centaurea 

 candidissima, white and light blue 

 lobelia; border, alvssum, "Little 

 Gem." 



8. Canna "J. Vaughan," yellow, plant- 

 ed with Eulalia zebrina; border, 

 Pennisetum Ruppellii, ornamental 

 grass. 



9. Canna ' ' Black Beauty," dark bronze, 



Coleus Verschaffeltii and bronze- 

 leaf geranium ; border, yellow al- 

 temanthera. 

 10. Heliotrope, "Montreal Bedder," 

 purple and celosia, "Sutton's Yel- 

 low Gem " ; border, alyssum, ' ' Little 

 Gem." 



adjoining beds. White can be used with 

 any color, and is often valuable for 

 separating colors which would do \i.o- 

 lence to each other if planted side by side. 



For smaller designs, different shades 

 of pink, yellow to bronze, Hght to dark 

 red or maroon, can be made to give a 

 fine effect; or, if desired, white may be 

 used in combination with either. Most 

 of the plants mentioned in this article 

 having either white flowers or foliage, 

 would be found suitable. It is impos- 

 sible to say exactly what varieties should 

 be used, or how the different shades 

 should be combined ; no particular form 

 of design being under consideration. 



For pink, geraniums present a num- 

 ber of fine shades, and can be used with 

 Begonia Erfordii, the pale and bright 

 pink varieties of B. Semperflorens and 

 the carmine-tipped Altemanthera versi- 

 color. For yellow and bronze, bronze- 

 leaf Cannas, yellow-flowered cannas, 

 Acalypha macrophylla, coleus, bronze 

 and yellow-leaved geraniums, Antheri- 

 cum picturatum, and altemanthera in 

 two or three shades. For red and ma- 

 roon, cannas, coleus, geraniums, achy- 

 ranthus, begonias "Vernon" and "Duke 

 Zephlin," and altemanthera. 



Narrow borders will of necessity have 

 to be planted in the "ribbon" line style; 

 but, for wide borders, a pleasant change 

 from that method may be made by 



Much Pleasure and Enjoyment can be had in a Backyard like this 



V'inca major variegata makes a fine 

 ground-work for a bed in any position. 

 It is very effective when planted among 

 upright growing subjects. 



Mass planting, that is, each bed in a 

 separate color, is probably the best for 

 large designs. Almost all the ordinary 

 bedding plants possessing one dominant 

 shade of color can be used, care being 

 taken to avoid harsh contrasts between 



planting the different varieties in groups, 

 irregular in size and shape, merging the 

 colors one into the other, or arranging 

 them to form agreeable contrasts. For 

 borders in shady positions, nothing can 

 beat fuchsias and tuberous begonias, 

 planted on a ground-work of Anthericum 

 variegatum bordered with Dactylis 

 variegata. Carpet bedding, once the rage, 

 is rapidly going the way of all fads. 



