104 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GAEDENIITG. 



patterns are the most efiective, and as to their requir- 

 ing less labour to plant and keep, that goes without 

 saying. It is sojnetimes difficult to give a reason why 

 certain designs and arrangements, which are nearly 

 allied in every particular, have very difierent eflfects 

 when placed in juxtaposition with other beds ; but 

 this and the preceding design shall illustrate our 

 meaning. Both of them have been used in the posi- 

 tions mentioned as best for Pig. 3, and also as 

 " breaks " between the most formal carpet patterns, 

 and both answered their intended purpose very well. 

 But every one was struck with the superiority of 

 eSect which Fig. 4 had over Pig. 3, when in close 



done by the late Mr. Beaton, which simply consisted 

 of the old but still valuable Verbena venosa and 

 vai'iegated Pelargoniti/in Manglesii. The light purple 

 flower of the Verbena, the white and green fohage 

 and light pink flower of the Pelargonium, mixed in 

 about equal proportions, in a, bed some twelve feet 

 long and eight wide, produced a picture which, for 

 softness and chasteness of colouring, may have been 

 equalled but has never yet been excelled. Great 

 advances have been made in other directions; but 

 this piece of colouring was perfect at first, and could 

 never be improved. Viola Blue Bell, and Pelargo- 

 niimi Plower of Spring ; Purple King Verbena, and 



SCALE OF FEET 



Fi^. 2.— 1, Baised edging cf Sempervivum Calif ornicum and Sedum glaucum ; 2, Itand of Veronica 

 repens (green) ; 3, Alternanthera magnifica, or, in cold district, Ajuga reptans purpurea; 

 4, ground- work of Sedutn acre elegans variegata ; 5, dwarf Ageratum ; 6, dark blue Lobelia ; 

 7, Gnaphalium lanatum (pegged) ; 8, a central plant of Yucca recurva, and tlie bed filled out 

 with pink Pelargoniums and .Agathea cselestis ; and, in alternate beds, a central plant of 

 Betinospera plumosa aurea, and tbe bed filled out with dark red tuberous Begonias and rose- 

 coloured Pelargoniums. 



proximity to the carpet-beds. One can only surmise 

 that this was owing to the simpler lines of Pig. 4 

 being in greater contrast to the more intricate lines 

 of the " carpet " patterns. Such an occurrence only 

 shows how much has yet to be learnt before the per- 

 fection of flower gardening is attained. 



Any other illustrative plans are unnecessary for 

 this section of bedding-out. The four examples 

 given, and the hints as to colour, particularly with 

 respect to the garden as a whole, ought to be a suffi- 

 cient guide for any one that knows anything at all 

 about flower gardening. 



Shot-silk Beds. — We will, however, note one 

 or two mixttires, or what the late Mr. Donald Beaton 

 christened " shot-silk beds ;" not a bad name either, 

 for if well done, the colom-s, when seen from a 

 distance, present the characteristic of changeable- 

 ness, as do those of a shot-silk dress. Fortune 

 favoured the writer to see the very bed, and indeed 

 to plant it once, in the same way as it used to be 



yellow Calceolaria; Centaurea candidissima (white), 

 and pink Pelargonium, aU make excellent " shot- 

 silk " arrangements. For a very large bed or border, 

 the following mixture is grand in the extreme: 

 — pink Pelargonium, Coleus Versehaffeltii (dark 

 brown). Crystal Palace Gem Pelargonium (golden 

 variegated, with rose-coloured flowers), and Agera- 

 tum Imperial Dwarf (light lavender), with standai'd 

 plants of light-flowered Fuchsias a yard apart. 



The same plants are also very telling arranged 

 after " the ribbon border style." These mixtures 

 are every way to be prefeiTed to large masses of one 

 colour together, no niatter whether they be high 

 colours or the reverse. 



In closing our remarks as to arrangements, that 

 the injunctions as to variety and interest to be 

 derived from a free use of standard plants through- 

 out the garden may not be forgotten, we add a list 

 of plants which may be used for that purpose : — 

 Abutilons, Acacia lophantha (seedlings), Cannas, 

 Draccena Amtralis, Fuchsias (tall), Grevillea rohusta. 



