Chap. II.] THE PAEO MONCEAU. 35 



One of the most useful and natural ways of diversifying a 

 garden, and one that we rarely or never take advantage of, 

 consists in placing really distinct and handsome plants alone and 

 in groups upon the grass, to break the monotony of clump margins. 

 To follow this plan is necessary wherever great variety and the 

 highest heauty are desired in the ornamental garden. Plants 

 may be placed singly or in open groups near the margins of 

 a bold clump of shrubs or in the open grass : the system is 

 applicable to all kinds of hardy ornamental subjects, from trees 

 downwards, though in our case the want is for the fine-leaved 

 plants and the more distinct hardy subjects. Nothing, for instance, 

 can look better than a well-developed tuft of the broad-leaved 

 Acanthus latifolius, springing from the turf not far from the 

 margin of a walk or shrubbery ; and the same is true of the 

 Yuccas, Tritomas, and other things of like 

 character and hardiness. We may make 

 attractive groups of one family, as the 

 hardiest Yuccas; or varied groups of 

 one species, like the Pampas grass— not 

 by any means repeating the individual, 

 for there are about twenty varieties of 



. . Til n i^ I • T Group and single specimetis oj 



this plant known on the Continent, and plants isolated on the grass. 

 from these half a dozen really distinct 



and charming kinds might be selected to form a group. The same 

 applies to the Tritomas, which we usually manage to drill into 

 straight lines : in an isolated group in a verdant glade they are 

 for the first time seen to best advantage. And what might not be 

 done with these and the like by making mixed groups, or letting 

 each plant stand distinct upon the grass, perfectly isolated in its 

 beauty ! 



Let us again try to illustrate the idea simply. Take an import- 

 ant spot in a pleasure-ground — a sweep of grass in face of a 

 shrubbery — and see what can be done with it by means of these 

 isolated plants. If, instead of leaving it in the bald state in which 

 it is often found, we place distinct things isolated here and there 

 upon the grass, the margin of shrubbery may be made as free as 

 the fringe of a copse on the side of a mountain. If one who 

 knew many plants were to arrange them in this way, he might 

 produce numberless fine effects. In the case of the smaller plants, 



D 2 



