46 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GAEDENIJTG. 



the form of ground, landscape, and general scenery, 

 that to place flower-beds of formal design in front 

 of them would he the height of bad taste. These 

 positions we shall presently indicate; but, as a 

 general rule, the nearer the flower garden is to the 

 house, the more will it be appreciated. All objec- 

 tions as to not liking to see workmen about, or to 

 the litter and untidiness consequent on mowing and 

 clearing up, are not worthy of being entertained ; 

 these operations, to real lovers of a garden, being- 

 part and parcel of their pleasure. Not but that 

 there are times when privacy from workmen, &c., 

 is desirable ; but those times, by sensible men, are 

 very soon learnt, and assured to their employers by 

 arranging the work at stated hours. 



This point — the garden close to the house — ^being 

 a,ccepted, the position must also be accepted as a fore- 

 gone conclusion, except in those cases where there 

 are two fronts, when the least objectionable with 

 regard to the well-doing of the plants should be 

 chosen. Aspects with a southern, south-west, or 

 western exposure are all of about equal merit for 

 flower garden purposes. ' Colder exposures may 

 answer in favoured parts of the kingdom ; but so 

 many tender plants are now used — and that, too, 

 with splendid effect — that the warmest aspects, for 

 this reason alone, ought to be selected. But there 

 are other considerations that must govern the precise 

 position to a certain extent. 



Style. — Here again the question of house, man- 

 sion, and surroundings must decide whether the form 

 of beds and general treatment shall be old-fashioned 

 picturesque, symmetrical, or of the true geometrical 

 type. 



The first type consists in laj'ing down almost any 

 form of beds, but princij)ally ovals and circles, 

 without any regard to regularity, but just in such 

 spots as the operator conceives will give the best 

 effect. For an old-fashioned mansion of the Eliza- 

 bethan order, standing in a slightly elevated position, 

 and well surroimded with shrubs as backgrounds for 

 the flowers, this plan answers admirably, if a further 

 informality be attended to, viz., that no attempt be 

 made at arranging the plants in the beds in a formal 

 manner. They should either consist of mixed her- 

 baceous plants, or, at most, two colours in a bed of 

 ordinary bedding-jjlants (see illustration). 



The symmetrical and geonutrical types may, for all 

 practical purposes, be classed as one ; being, as they 

 are, but complements of each other, the one adding 

 grace, and what may be called freedom of outline, to 

 the necessarily rigid angles of the other. The two 

 in combination may be termed the free geometrical 

 style, a style which the present system of bedding 

 out has rendered generally popular, and which is 



the prevalent mode of laying out gardens. It is, 

 we think, generally speaking, a long way the best 

 mode ; but, for aU that, it is not suited to the archi- 

 tecture of all houses, or to the form of ground in 

 some places. For instance, when the general view 

 of the landscape is on a level with the view from the 

 house, intervening beds of flowers, and especially 

 geometrically formed beds, look, and are, quite out 

 of character with the repose of such a flat land- 

 scape. If a flower garden of this kind must he 

 be madfi where the landscape is of this description, 

 the least objectionable plan is to bring it as close as 

 possible to the house, that the view be not inter- 

 cepted by the plants; but a far better method of 

 meeting the difficulties of the case would be, so far 

 as flowers are concerned, to be content with a border 

 of them close to the wall of the house, and then in 

 the nearest available position, outside the range of 

 such landscape scenery, to find another site for the 

 " flower garden " proper. A deep recess amongst 

 shrubs, or an opening on the lawn that cannot be 

 seen till the spot is reached, or the ground in front 

 of forcing-houses, or the entrance-borders to the 

 kitchen garden — these may aU be treated in free 

 geometrical style. 



But a mansion or house situated on a rising knoll, 

 of even but a few feet above the general landscape 

 (if higher, all the more appropriate), and where 

 terrace-waUs are necessary to insure evenness of 

 gTound, as well as to aid the idea of massiveness by 

 giving a broader base to the mansion, furnishes the 

 best site for a geometrical garden. By this term 

 we would not be understood to mean all and every 

 sort- of intricacies and unmeaning designs worked 

 out in box, stone, terra-cotta, coloured gravels, 

 sand, and the like ; but simple geometrical figures, 

 cut out on turf, of such size and form as best 

 suit the surroundings, the leading idea being that 

 there shall be nothing to offend the most cultured eye 

 when contrasting the architecture of the garden 

 with that of the mansion. Should the latter be of 

 the Gothic order, straight lines and pointed angles 

 may be the prevailing form of the beds, though cer- 

 tainly not to the exclusion of good bold cii'cles and 

 ovals; but these latter should occupy the central 

 position. For a massive, plain-built house, ovals, 

 oblongs, and circles are most in keeping ; arid there 

 should be no crowding of beds, as good broad belts 

 of turf between each add to the general effect of 

 the whole, particularly when in full growth or 

 flower ; a wide margin of turf being then necessary 

 to prevent any approach to gaudiness by a too close 

 juxtaposition of colours. 



The size of the ground to be treated will also in 

 some measure affect style ; for if the ground he small 

 the designing must be proportionately simple, and if 



