36 BIENNIA.L AND PERENNIAL PLANTS. 



or Ear-drop, Passion Flower, Heliotrope, Carnation, Petu- 

 nia, running Verbena, ^c, will, if layed in June or July, 

 exhibit their blossoms in perfection, and yield young plants, 

 ■which being preserved through winter, may be used to re- 

 plenish flower-beds the ensuing spring.* 



* In some countries the wealthy have changeable flower gardens, which 

 are so arranged that their productions can he changed at pleasure, so that 

 whenever any plant, or group of plants, hegins to decay, it can be removed, 

 and its place supplied by others coming into bloom. To effect this, a large 

 reserve-nursery is requisite, in which the plants must be Kept in pots, and 

 removed and plunged in the borders as wanted. Sir W. Chambers informs 

 ■us that the Chinese excel in this mode of gardening ; and that he has 

 known a mandarin (or noble) to have the whole furniture and style of his 

 parterre changed in a single night, so as to present next morning not only 

 a different description of flowers, shrubs, and dwarf trees, but a different 

 arrangement of the beds and compartments. Something of the same kind 

 is practised in the gardens of the Tuileries, in Paris 5 in some of the im- 

 perial gardens at Petersburgh, and in the vice-royal gardens at Monza. 

 Gardens of this description admit of a very perfect arrangement of the 

 flowers, whether in the mingled manner, in select groups, or according to 

 the natural method. It is only with such resources that a flower gar- 

 dener can " paint his way," as Sir W. Chambers says the Chinese artists 

 do, " not scattering their flowers indiscriminately about their borders, but 

 disposing of them with great circumspection along the skirts of the plant- 

 ations, or other places where flowers are to be introduced. They reject all 

 that are of a straggling growth, and of harsh colours and poor foliage, 

 choosing only such as are of some duration, grow either large or in clus- 

 ters, are of beautiful forms, well leaved, and of tints tliat harmonize with the 

 greens that surround them. They avoid all sudden transitions, both with 

 regard to dimension and colour, rising gradually from the smallest flowers 

 to those of the boldest growth; and \arying their tints, by easy gradations, 

 from white, straw-colour, purple, and incarnate, to the deepest blues, and 

 most brilliant crimsons and scarlets. They frequently blend several roots 

 together, whose leaves and flowers unite, and compose one rich, harmoni- 

 ous mass ; such as the white and purple Candytuft, Larkspurs, and Mal- 

 lows of various colours, double Poppies, Lupins, Primroses, Pinks, and 

 Carnations ; with many more of which the forms and colours accord with 

 each other ; and the same method they use with flowering shrubs, blending 

 white, red, and variegated roses together, purple and white lilacs, yellow 

 and white jasmines, altheas of various sorts, and as many others as they 

 can with any propriety unite. By these mixtures they increase considera- 

 bly the variety and beauty of their compartments. In their large planta- 

 tions, the flowers generally grow in the natural ground ; but in flower gar- 

 dens, and all other parts that are highly kept, they are in pots buried in 

 the ground, which, as fast as the bloom goes olT, are removed, and others 

 are brougiit to supply their places ; so that there is a constant succession 

 for almost every month in the year ; and the flowers are never seen but in 

 the height of their beauty." — Loudvn'f^ Encydupcedia of Gardening. 



