special Features 203 



by protecting them and reflecting the sun's heat as well as 

 make them more secluded. The same situation will furnish 

 the opportunity of growing tender climbers. 



The beds of a flower garden should be symmetrical and fit 

 nicely into each other. All elaborate figures and scrolls are 

 generally undesirable, as they tend to multiply work and 

 cannot be so effectively planted. Beds of simple shape, in 

 which no very acute angles occur, will be the easiest to keep 

 in order, and will exhibit a good arrangement of plants best. 

 Flower beds ought never to be large, or it will be incon- 

 venient to attend to them; nor should the openings between 

 them be very narrow, lest they become inaccessible, or the 

 plants in each bed be insufficiently separated from those in 

 the others. Grass evenly laid in tolerably broad strips 

 constitutes the most effective division between flower beds, 

 as it sets off the colors of flowers best and gives greater 

 unity and breadth to the whole. Gravel, with box or stone 

 edgings to the beds, will not be unsuitable for some styles of 

 flower garden, especially where the beds are large, or com- 

 plex, or intended to be filled with mixed plants. 



The modern style in America has reached pronounced con- 

 clusions with respect to the use of flowers and flower beds in 

 landscape gardening. It is very generaUy held that in the 

 free and natural style of gardening flowers are to be used in 

 only two ways: first, where they can be naturalized in con- 

 siderable masses, as may be done with narcissus and crocus; 

 or, second, where they can be massed in irregular flower 

 borders. These borders may contain either hardy perennials 

 or hardy annuals, or both in judicious combinations. The 

 addition of tender greenhouse species to these informal bor- 

 ders is likely to give unhappy results, as palms, camellias, 

 cinerarias, or even geraniums, will always show their artificial 

 origin and thus contradict the naturalness of the landscape 



