220 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



"them into good ■winter arrangements as soon as 

 frost destroys the tender kinds. The arrangements 

 are designed on the principle of avoiding undue 

 excess of formahty, hy introducing what, for lack 

 •of a better term, we still call "dot" plants; thus 

 rendering the word " carpet " as applied to the style 

 inappropriate. This, however, is a matter of little 

 consequence so long as the change is an improve- 

 ment, which it undoubtedly is. 



bedding, being quite hardy, very little trouble to 

 keep in form, and almost pure white ; this, placed as 

 it is between Nos. 2 and 4, the one creamy-yellow 

 and the other a glaucous blue, forms a combination 

 of colour that no arrangement of flowering plants 

 can excel. 



This arrangement is the most formal that under 

 any circumstances should ever be attempted. It 

 would be a telling bed for the middle portion of two 



rig. 5.— Cabpet Beddinu. 



1, Baised edging of Sempervivii'm calca.Teum (commonly called S. calif ornioum in gardens) ; 2, Sedum 

 acre elegans variegata ; 3, Antennaria tomentosa; 4, Kleinia repens, or Echeveria Peacockii; 

 5, Spergula prolifera aurea, centre Chamsepeuce Gasabon^ ; 6, Altemanthera spectabilis, centre 

 Lady Plymouth Geranium ; 7, Pyrethrum, Gold Feather ; 8, dark Altemanthera, or Ajuga rep- 

 tans purpurea ; 3, Iresine Lindeni ; 10, Chamsspeuce diacantha. 



Plan Pig. 5 wiU, perhaps, best convey our 

 ■meaning as to what are to be considered " dot " 

 plants, by indicating the positions for them, these 

 being Nos. 5, 6, and 10 on the plan ; and to further 

 break the flatness of the arrangement, the ground- 

 work in No. 7 should be allowed to grow higher than 

 that plant (Gold Feather Pyrethrum) usually is, and 

 thus the height of the central portion ■will be con- 

 siderably greater than that of the outer part. 

 Though marked separately, the edging and enclos- 

 ing band, Nos. 1 and 2, may really only be one line ; 

 or rather, the Sempervi'vum should be conflned to 

 "the upright edging, and the Sedum planted in it 

 as weU as on the flat margin. No. 3, Antennaria 

 ■tomentosa, is the perfection of a plant for carpet 



sots of beds of a less formal pattern, or as a block bed 

 to divide a given set of beds in one aspect — 

 say south — from a similar set looking east, this 

 bed being placed in the south-east angle. . Of course 

 it may be of any size required, only the larger it is, 

 just to that extent should be the turf surrounding 

 it. The drawing of the design on the ground is 

 solely a question of exact measurements. Being 

 straight lines throughout, a line and Keasuring-rod 

 with pegs and string for describing the small circles 

 are all that is needed. 



Plan Fig. 6 is one of the best carpet patterns, 

 which, though it looks intricate, is not really so, 

 there being no difEculty at all in filhng out every 



