with Hints for the Grouping of Plants. 73 



the reverse, is worse than an inharmonious amalgam of colours ; 

 because the mass of mankind cannot appreciate a scientific ar- 

 rangement of colours, whereas an uncultivated eye will discover 

 a want of harmony in the height of the plants. 



For illustration, I will take the diamond-shaped group of beds 

 numbered 1 to 13, and, assuming that the central bed 13 con- 

 tains a rustic basket or vase, to form a side wing to the fountain 

 in the central basin, which may be considered the axis of sym- 

 metry, I hold that, to form a harmonious whole, the large 

 oblong square beds, 3, 4, 9, and 10, should be planted with 

 plants that will grow to the height of 18 in., to support the vase 

 or basket, while the small triangular beds should be stocked 

 with plants that will not exceed 1 ft. in height. In this way the 

 large beds are thrown up or rendered more intense, by the small 

 beds acting as a shading to them, something on the same prin- 

 ciple that a speck on a sheet of white paper is rendered more 

 intense by being surrounded by a regularly shaded border of 

 black: in truth, the large beds are the bold strokes in the 

 picture, and the small ones the light and shade by which their 

 boldness is rendered more apparent. I think it will not be 

 denied that this group, thus arranged, would have a more im- 

 posing appearance than as it now is ; therefore, before I con- 

 clude this article, I will endeavour to name the plants with 

 which it may be grouped in accordance with these principles. 

 An important advantage of this kind of management will be, it 

 will tend much to simplify the grouping of plants : for, the beds 

 being divided into classes according to their size, and the plants 

 into classes according to their height, we should then have a 

 certain number of plants for each class of beds ; and the trouble 

 of arranging would be nothing comparatively with what it now 

 is, to select forty or fifty kinds from several hundreds without 

 any classification. Where the garden is on grass and warm 

 colours ought to prevail, a powerful effect might be produced 

 by stocking the large beds principally with warm colours; and 

 the reverse on gravel, where cold colours ought to preponderate. 

 The proportion which the height of the plant ought to bear to 

 the size of the bed is rather a difficult matter to determine, 

 because small plants are admissible in large beds, though large 

 plants cannot be tolerated in small ones ; but, as a maximum 

 guide, I think the plants ought not to exceed 6 in. in height in a 

 bed of 18 in. wide; neither ought they to increase more than 

 6 in. for every foot which the beds increase in width afterwards- 

 Much, however, will depend upon the size and form of the 

 garden, the situation from which it is viewed, and the taste of 

 the proprietor ; but, whatever is the height fixed upon for the 

 large beds, care must be taken that the plants in the smaller ones 

 bear a just proportion to it. 



