TROPICAL EFFECTS 331 



purple or metallic foliage or something else to "frizzle the eye- 

 brows," as Dean Hole used to say. The great lesson we should 

 learn is that abnormally coloured foliage is too different to be used 

 in any large way. The most objectionable bedding effects are 

 those produced by such unnatural looking foliage as coleus, horse- 

 shoe geraniums, alternantheras, acalyphas, and such foreign- 

 looking flowers as lantanas, and mesembryanthemums. Moreover, 

 all violent contrasts and intricate patterns are in questionable 

 taste. 



I said that there was a sweeter and purer way of getting 

 brilliant colour and a long season of bloom. It is by means of 

 hardy flowers, such as ever-blooming pinks, tufted violets, forget- 

 me-not, woolly chickweed, evening primroses, pyrethrums, bugles, 

 stonecrops, and many others mentioned in Chapter XXIV. And 

 if, for any reason, they will not do the required work, we can go 

 back to the loveliest of annual flowers for bedding purposes, such 

 as heliotrope, verbena, stocks, nasturtiums, catchfly, and scarlet 

 sage. 



I would not rule tropical plants entirely out of Northern 

 gardens for summer effect for I would not be extreme in anything, 

 but we lean on these plants altogether too much. We should make 

 them incidental, as England does. Until the desire for showiness 

 gives way to the desire for appropriateness our gardens will lack 

 charm. And until we stop looking to Europe for material and dis- 

 cover our own hardy plants we shall only make poor copies of 

 Old- World gardens instead of achieving a national style of our own. 



Since writing this chapter a notable book has been published 

 "Spring Flowers at Belvoir Castle," by W. H. Divers. Al- 

 though devoted only to spring bedding, it shows how to carry 



