THE 



GARDENER'S MAGAZINE, 



NOVEMBER, 1838. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. L Notes 07i the Brighton and Shoreham Gardens } and on the 

 Garden and Grounds of William Borrer, Esq.., F.L.S., at Heiifield: 

 •with some preliminary Remarks on Tawdriness in Floive?'- Gardens. 

 By the Conductor. 



-Lhere is no fault that we find more frequent in flower-gardens, 

 than that of tawdriness, w^hich we regard as a greater abomi- 

 nation than neglect, or even than slovenliness. Tawdriness, as 

 applied to individual plants, is the opposite of neatness; and it is 

 the result, sometimes, of crowding plants together^ and after they 

 have been drawn up to a considerable height, suddenly thinning 

 them out, and leaving a few straggling stems leaning in all di- 

 rections, and generally naked, or, at all events, not symmetrically 

 furnished with side branches and flowers. Often, tawdriness is 

 the result of placing plants in confined situations, where there is 

 not a sufficiency of light and air; such as close under the north 

 side of a wall or fence of any kind, without training against that 

 wall or fence; under the shade of trees, or under the shade of 

 any object which excludes from them the free influence of the 

 sun and the atmosphere. There are some plants which naturally 

 grow in the shade, even under the shade of trees ; but these, 

 in a state of nature, are never found tawdry ; because the soil 

 in natural woods is not sufficiently rich and moist to cause that 

 rapid growth and elongation of the parts, which is ever attendant 

 on tawdriness in a state of culture. 



One of the grand causes of tawdriness in a flower-garden is, 

 the ambition of crowding a great many sorts into a little space; 

 and another is, the want of selection in the kinds of flowers cul- 

 tivated. There are various species that, both in a state of nature 

 and art, assume a neat bushy form ; such as the sea pink and the 

 primrose, among perennials ; some of the Oenotheras and stocks, 

 among annuals ; and the wallflower and double rocket, among 

 biennials. These, and other plants of the kind, will assume a 

 neat bushy appearance, even when left to themselves ; while tall 

 rapid-growing plants ; such as some of the mallows, lupines, 

 chrysanthemums, &c., either require a great deal of room, so as 



Vol. XIV. — No. 104, K k 



