and planting a Flo^wer-Garden, 285 



wish to form a flower-garden that would be mistaken for a work 

 of nature ? We would venture to say that such a flower-garden 

 never was made, and never can or will be made. The most 

 natural-looking flower-garden, that is, one in an irregular style, in 

 opposition to one in a regular or symmetrical style, is never for 

 a moment mistaken for a work of nature. It is in all respects 

 as much a work of art as a geometrical flower-garden ; and it is 

 as much admired for the art displayed in its construction, as 

 if it consisted of nothing but geometrical figures. 



What Lancastriensis meant to say, we believe, is, that square 

 lines indicate regularity, and that this is inconsistent with a plan 

 which, in all its great features, is irregular. 



The dicta, " let the trees and beds be so placed, as that to 

 remove one would disarrange the whole, and as if they had 

 fallen from Nature's lap," are rather contradictory. The first 

 dictum, " let the trees and beds be so placed, as that to remove 

 one would disarrange the whole," is just and correct; and no 

 better principle can be given for testing the details of any plan : 

 but the second dictum, " let the trees, &c., be so placed, as if 

 they had fallen from Nature's lap," is far too indefinite ; and, if 

 it means anything, goes to say, scatter them about irregularly at 

 random, or, in Brown's words, " here and there, as the maggot 

 bites." 



The plan given by Lancastriensis is shown in Jig. 33. We 

 can hardly say anything in its favour, unless it be, that the beds, 

 being large, a sufficient number of tall-growing evergreen shrubs, 

 such as hollies, arbutuses, phillyreas, &c., might be introduced 

 into most of them in such a manner as to disguise their unmean- 

 ing and peculiarly unartistlike shapes. 



Fig. 34. is given merely for the sake of showing that^^. 31. 

 is not the only mode in which a plot of ground of this shape 

 can be decorated with beds for flowers and shrubs, and yet the 

 same style be strictly preserved. The beds marked a are for 

 flowers only ; the others are for flowers and detached low-grow- 

 ing flowering shrubs. Some of these beds may be devoted 

 entirely to roses, standards and dwarfs. In general, the beds 

 containing shrubs ought to be devoted to bulbs in spring, and 

 afterwards to low-growing spreading annuals. The symmetrical 

 figui-e for flowers in front of the house should be planted with 

 herbaceous plants, such as pinks, saxifrages, &c., which will re- 

 main green during winter, and will flower in early summer ; 

 amongst these, bulbs may appear in spring, and the whole may 

 be removed to give place to pelargoniums, or other fine showy 

 plants, during autumn. Of course, this supposes a reserve gar- 

 den and a small glazed pit, without both which adjuncts a 

 flower-garden can never be worth anything. 



