August 2, 1861. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



81 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



ot 



M'ath 



Day 



of 



Week. 



AUGUST 2—8, 1864. 



Average Temperature 

 near London. 



Rain in 



last 

 37 years. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 



before 



Sun. 



Day of 

 Tear, 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. b.. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 





m. s. 





2 



Tu 



Mug-wort flowers. 



75.9 



52.1 



640 



18 



27 af4 



45af7 



32 4 



9 7 







5 57 



215 



3 



W 



Common Bent Grass ripe. 



74.7 



51.1 



62 9 



19 



29 4 



43 7 



36 5 



33 7 



1 



5 52 



216 



4 



Th 



Honeysuckle berries ripe. 



75.6 



51.2 



63.4 



16 



30 4 



41 7 



38 6 



54 7 



2 



5 47 



217 



5 



F 



Yellow Succory flowers. 



73.9 



51.2 



62.6 



17 



32 4 



40 7 



41 7 



16 8 



3 



5 41 



218 



6 



S 



Prince Alfred Born, 1844. 



72.7 



50.9 



61.8 



17 



33 .4 



38 7 



46 8 



'37 S 



4 



5 35 



219 



7 



Son 



11 Sunday after Xrinitx. 



74.7 



50.5 



62.6 



13 



35 4 



36 7 



50 9 



57 8 



5 



5 2S 



220 



8 



M 



Saintfoin flowers. 



74.3 



49.7 



62.0 



16 



36 4 



34 7 



54 10 



21 9 



6 



5 21 



221 



From observations taken near London during the last thirty-seven years, tho average day temperature of the week 



is 74.5° 



and its 



nisrht ' 



temperature 



50.9°. The greatest heat was 92° 



on the 2nd, 1856 ; and the 



lowest cold, 37°, on the 6th, 7th, and 8th, ] 



S51. Tb 



e greatest fall 



of rain was 



1.03 inch. 













HARDY BEDDING PLANTS. 



HERE ought to be gardens for all 

 the months of the year, in which, 

 severally, things of beauty may be 

 had in season." This is Lord 

 Bacon's ideal of a perfect garden 

 in the seventeenth century. At 

 this time embroidered gardens had 

 been introduced from France, and 

 though not adverse to art being 

 employed to produce harmony of form and 

 colour by the panel-wort and its embroidery, 

 he was evidently of opinion that this form of 

 garden was not what a lover of Nature could 

 be satisfied with. 



In the present day, embroidered gardens, and poly- 

 chrome or parti-coloured figures have been introduced, 

 and I have seen them at many places, the flowers in 

 summer being skilfully arranged in geometrical beds, 

 ribands, compartments, or scrolls, separated from each 

 other by narrow paths or alleys formed of permanent- 

 coloured materials instead of gravel only, and the whole 

 resembling a many-coloured carpet, in which the plants 

 are trimmed or otherwise made to assume an appear- 

 ance little differing from that presented by the dead 

 colouring materials. I have also seen these gardens in 

 winter, and found the coloured materials, which are the 

 winter substitutes of flowers, not giving the effect pro- 

 duced by the glowing tints of life. In fact, in spring, 

 autumn, and winter, these fancy gardens with their parti- 

 coloured arrangements, and lively combinations of small 

 toy-like shrubs do not give that appearance in winter 

 which we were led to expect. 



My impression of embroidered parterres is, that they 

 cannot be pleasing to the real lover of Nature and art, for 

 true art does not see anything more beautiful than 

 Nature. The beauty of a picture consists in its near 

 approach to nature, and the beauty of a garden, no 

 matter how trim and well kept it may be. rests on each 

 occupant presenting a natural appearance. When art is 

 duly applied to Nature's works, their wildness and irre- 

 gularity only are rectified. 



My notion of a garden, no matter how limited or ex- 

 tensive the area may be, is, that it should be ornamental at 

 all seasons. To make it so, fair selections should be made 

 — 1st, of evergreea, flowering, and deciduous trees and 

 shrubs ; 2nd, of plants flowering or otherwise attaining 

 their greatest beauty at different periods of the year ; 

 3rd, and the whole should be arranged so as to form a 

 beautiful picture in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. 

 We should not then see every inch of available surface 

 occupied by plants yielding a mere monotonous blaze of 

 colour for three months out of the twelve. 



Having made these preliminary remarks, I may now 

 state my impressions as to the present system of arrang- 

 ing plants in beds, in order that I may be the better un- 

 derstood. 1st. I think the system of massing plants the 

 most natural of all, for in nature plants are distributed 

 No, 175.— Yol. VII., New Semes. 



in groups, yellow here, red there, white or blue elsewhere,. 

 2nd. That for producing an effect, and making the most 

 of some plants that appear diminutive when placed singly, 

 that system is unequalled. 3rd. That masses judiciously 

 introduced without taking up the ground required for 

 other plants, give a feature to a garden not otherwise to-. - 

 be obtained. 4th. That when all the contrivances, and 

 most of the labour and means of a place are devoted to- 

 bedding plants, and when every nook and corner is filled 

 with them, to the exclusion of other plants equally beau- 

 tiful, though not tender, for the sake of a short brilliant 

 display of bloom in summer, then is this system misapplied^ 



Now, for affording a fine display of bloom in summer, 

 no plants are more suitable than those having a decided 

 colouring, either of bloom or foliage, there being but one 

 colour, pure, distinct, and bright; the habit must be 

 dwarf and compact ; the flowers of good substance, borne 

 well above the foliage, but not so as to present an uneven 

 surface ; and the blooming must be profuse, and of three 

 months' continuance. The plants, moreover, should be 

 of good constitution, and capable of enduring wind, rain, 

 and other peculiarities of the climate. These being the- 

 conditions of a good bedding plant, it is evident that those 

 plants doing well in our climate without the aid of artificial 

 protection in winter, are the most likely to withstand the- 

 changes of our climate ; those requiring artificial protec- 

 tion in winter, or nearly at all seasons, being only em- 

 ployed as auxdiaries furnishing something in colour, form,. 

 or foliage not found in hardy plants. The day may be 

 distant, but I believe it will come, when the horticulturist 

 will be able to fill Ms beds with plants needing no more 

 protection in winter than that of a cold frame, and be 

 able to obtain an effect equal to that furnished by hardy 

 and tender plants combined. This is a desideratum for 

 which the hybridiser is striving, and the gardener long- 

 ing; and employers will then have handsome winter- 

 flowering plants at a dreary time of the year, in place of 

 thousands of Geraniums, &c, that contribute nothing to 

 the ornamentation of the structures, but entail a great 

 amount of labour and expense. 



Though the time has not yet arrived when we can sub- 

 stitute hardy plants for tender without destroying the- 

 splendour of the flower garden, I am persuaded that 

 many hardy plants might now be employed, especially in 

 places where the amount of glass is small, and that glass- 

 desirable for furnishing plants blooming in autumn,, 

 winter, and spring. We have so many fine hardy bed- 

 ding plants, that I shall begin with them, though I ought 

 to have taken shrubs first ; and I am the more induced: 

 to do so from a clergyman having given me an account 

 of the fine display of flowers which he keeps up without 

 wintering a single bedding plant except Geraniums, as- 

 he employs hardy plants instead. 



The merits of hardy plants are — they need little or no> 

 artificial protection, consequently the greenhouse is not 

 turned into a repository for fading, drooping plants every 

 autumn; and they require but little care one half the 

 year.. In their case no daily attention is needed to picking; 

 off dead leaves, watering, and giving air. They withstand - 

 No. 827.— Yol. XXXII., Old Series* 



