SUBURBAN GARDENS 151 



border. If a good many disused York paving-slabs can 

 be bought they make picturesque-looking paths, and by 

 leaving small gaps of earth between each we can have 

 a further garden of dwarf things planted between these 

 stones. 



Then, too, what a mass of extra flower can be fitted 

 into a garden by having ornamental pots and wooden 

 tubs everywhere ! Disused paraffin-casks answer the 

 purpose, or small lard-tubs look well painted a favourite 

 colour. 



In a garden not far from the sea were rows of green 

 and white wooden tubs with gay flowers planted in them. 

 They stood beneath several large cedar-trees on a lawn 

 where grass would not grow very freely. The garden 

 adjoined the house, and thus there was colour to look out 

 upon. Hydrangeas, solanums, giant herbaceous calceo- 

 larias, and fuchsias, all wintered in these tubs out of doors. 

 To give them a little more shelter, and to prevent the sun 

 in winter from hurting them when frost was on their leaves, 

 they were moved to near the shelter of some ilex-trees. 

 In this dense shade they remained unprotected until the 

 spring, when they were put back on the lawn near the 

 great cedars. It may here be useful to note that it is 

 important to leave the dead flowers on hydrangeas in the 

 winter. 



In Italy they often have near pumps low, flat, very 

 large terra-cotta pans for holding water. They are like 

 miniature baths with lovely wreath-decoration, and are 

 most ornamental for such a purpose. In our cold climate 

 it might possibly be unwise to use them in the winter 

 for holding water, because if the liquid froze the pottery 

 would crack. It would, perhaps, be best to arrange to 

 plant things in them instead. In this case they would need 

 to have holes bored in the bottom for drainage and this is 

 easily done. It is sometimes possible to obtain these 



